Hermann Gerland saved his career: a fake pass led to FC Bayern's exit for Ngwat-Mahop

Created: 03/02/2022, 14:11

By: Corbinian Kothny

Louis Ngwat-Mahop (left) once went through the tough school of Hermann Gerland (right).

© Imago

Louis Ngwat-Mahop once played for FC Bayern amateurs.

However, a forged passport was his undoing.

Today the Cameroonian assistant coach is in Austria.

Munich/Altach

- “I really wanted to see snow in autumn.

I like the quiet and the proximity to the mountains.

Sometimes I go hiking.

I've also been snowboarding, but I always fell down," says Louis Ngwat-Mahop in the

interview, describing the advantages of his adopted home of Altach.

Ngwat-Mahop is originally from Cameroon.

His footballing talent drew the African to Europe in 2006.

The then 18-year-old moved to Bayern Munich.

But he had to leave the record champions after just one year because of a passport affair.

Today Ngwat-Mahop seems to have found happiness in Altach, Austria.

Loius Ngwat-Mahop: First encounter with the German mentality

But back to the beginning of his career.

"It was done through a player agent named Yalla Krüger.

His cousin was still living in Cameroon.

He happened to see me playing there and told Yalla about me,” reports Ngwat-Mahop of his 'discovery'.

And since Krüger was in contact with Franz Beckenbauer's son, the former talent was invited to a trial in Munich.

The change to FC Bayern was far from agreed.

Ngwat-Mahop had to prove himself in a trial session with three other strikers.

The Cameroonian came into contact with the German mentality for the first time.

"After training, Hermann Gerland told Yalla that he didn't like my body language because I always let my head hang.

In Germany that means you're tired or sad - but I wasn't at all," says the young talent about his first training session on Säbener Strasse.

Loius Ngwat-Mahop: Strong first Bayern season including Bundesliga debut

From day two, Ngwat-Mahop kept his head up and was eventually signed.

A dream came true: "Yalla negotiated the contract, it was more than two years, I think.

I didn't even check my salary.” And the dream would continue.

The Cameroonian became an immediate fixture in the second team, appearing in 33 regional league games in his debut season, scoring seven goals.

The reward: Ngwat-Mahop made his Bundesliga debut on matchday 33 of the 2006/07 season under Ottmar Hitzfeld against Energie Cottbus.

Hermann Gerland was one of the people who accompanied the young talent from the start in Munich.

“He had two faces: one as a person and one as a coach.

His voice could always be heard on the pitch.

You knew immediately: The tiger is here!

As a coach, he was very strenuous,” says Ngwat-Mahop, describing the Bayern legend.

And what would a time under the “Tiger” be without the appropriate anecdotes.

Ngwat-Mahop also felt the hard hand of the talent grinder: "The day after a game, we usually walked or rode our bikes.

But once when he was angry about our performance, we had to walk around the pitch for an hour.

We were not allowed to be slower than 1 minute and 20 seconds per lap.”

Loius Ngwat-Mahop: Passport forgery leads to Bayern end

But the youngster's dream came to an abrupt end.

In the run-up to a preparatory trip to Asia in 2007, a forged passport became known.

When he arrived from Cameroon, Ngwat-Mahop needed a residence permit to play in Germany.

The then-teenager entrusted the task to other people, who ended up forging a French passport for him.

"I was incredibly sad because I knew that I wasn't allowed to stay at Bayern because of that.

At the time I just wanted to go back to Cameroon.

I also told Hermann Gerland that,” Ngwat-Mahop looks back.

But the "Tiger" stood by his player, believed in his innocence, encouraged him to stay, arranged a trial session with RB Salzburg and even testified for him at the DFB hearing.

With support from Gerland and Salzburg, Ngwat-Mahop was ultimately able to prove he was innocent and joined RB.

After an eventful playing career with other stations in Greece and at KSC, among others, the Cameroonian is now assistant coach at SCR Altach in the Austrian Bundesliga and is pursuing his next goals.

When asked whether he would rather coach FC Bayern or the national team of Cameroon, he answers with a laugh: "First Bayern, then Cameroon." (kk)