Nadiem Amiri: At home on the Rhine
Nadiem Amiri radiates a lust for life that is infectious. The 23-year-old, alongside Kerem Demirbay the second new signing from Hoffenheim, is always in a good mood – and he has every reason to be, not least because of his performances. Everything is going well under the Bayer Cross for the agile, strong on the ball, attacking midfielder who made his debut for Germany in October. The fact he feels so at home in Leverkusen is also due to the second longest river in the German-speaking world…
It is a gloomy, typical November day when we meet up with Nadiem Amiri in Rheindorf. Unpleasant, windy, the sky grey and drab. And when the 23-year-old drives his dark brown jeep into the car park at the Villa Knöterich, it suddenly starts to rain. Not exactly ideal conditions for a short trip to the pontoon bridge at the mouth of the Wupper River. We want to take Nadiem to the Rhine because he has a special connection to the river.
He was born and grew up in Ludwigshafen am Rhein and he later moved across to the other side of the Rhine to play for Waldhof Mannheim. Now he plays in Leverkusen and lives in Düsseldorf-Oberkassel, again in the immediate vicinity of the Rhine. "Somehow the river is following my life," said Nadiem when we drive the car a couple of hundred metres to the pontoon bridge. First along the Rheindorfer Damm and then down onto the cycle and pedestrian way, then right over the first green Wupper bridge and finally under the A59 motorway. We have special permission and are following the Peugeot of Uwe Bertrams and Helga Voigt, board members of the Friends Association for the Wupper Pontoon Bridge who open up the floating jetty, which is usually only open to the public at the weekend.
The pontoon bridge at kilometre 702.5 on the Rhine is the last of its type in Germany and connects the two Leverkusen neighbourhoods of Rheindorf and Wiesdorf. Nadiem Amiri was born 281 kilometres further south along the Rhine on 27 October 1996. "We didn't have a view of the river but the Rhine was only five minutes away on foot from our flat," said the Werkself player. "My brother and I sometimes played on the river bank. Ludwigshafen is my hometown and it will always be my home."
His parents still live in the biggest city in the Palatinate, which is home to the company headquarters of BASF. The chemical group has a similar significance for Ludwigshafen as Bayer AG does for Leverkusen. But BASF does not feature in Amiri's life. "My father has a truck business, my mother has worked in an old people's home for 20 years," explains Nadiem. We are now under cover in a small café on the 'Freiheit', a flat-bottomed, Dutch-style tjalk boat, one of two single-mast ships. A couple of metres further on is the Aalschokker 'Recht' and then finally access to the pontoon. After the renovation is complete, the ‘Einigkeit' clipper will complete the historic maritime line-up. Nadiem looks round sees the showcases on the walls that contain the history of the bridge since 1920. Incredible: Although he has been close to the Rhine for so long, Nadiem has never been on it. He has to laugh himself when he becomes aware of that. "It's never happened. Perhaps I should make up for it soon."
He started playing football as a young boy. He began on the streets with his five-year older brother Nauwid. Nadiem often went with him to training at Ludwigshafener SC and he played on his own alongside the pitch. And then he joined the boys team himself. He only played there for two years before word spread across the Palatinate about his outstanding talent. Olaf Schmäler, a former Bundesliga player with VfB Stuttgart, constantly rang up Nadiem's parents for a year. Schmäler was then youth coach at FC Kaiserslautern and he definitely wanted to bring their younger son to the 'Betzenberg'. The Amiris give in to the constant approaches – and over the next five years, Nadiem travels the 60 kilometres between Ludwigshafen and Kaiserslautern nearly every day.
The once big club suddenly release him at the age of 13. "They said I wasn't good enough," recalls Nadiem with a smile. That assessment did not really bother him at the time. He just joined another club with a long history, SV Waldhof Mannheim. It was more practical because it is just round the corner from Ludwigshafen and he only has to cross a bridge to the other side of the Rhine. His brother played for the youth teams there and later for the first team. And his uncle was active amongst the Mannheim fans. Nadiem smiles, "There was a lot of family in the club."
During his time at Waldhof, he went on a special family trip. The 14-year-old Nadiem flew to Afghanistan with his parents. His mother and father were born there. Both of them came from Kabul, which they left after the Soviet invasion in the 1980s. Now they wanted to show their son the city of their childhood and youth. And it makes a deep impression on Nadiem. "A lot was destroyed. I saw tanks on the street. Of course, that was impressive and frightening and we had to take care. Nevertheless, I somehow felt at home there. My parents showed me their city where they spent their childhood. We also travelled out into the mountains. The countryside was wonderful."
He spent two weeks in Afghanistan. Only an uncle now lives in Kabul. All other members of his family emigrated to Germany and Canada. His mother's family and some relatives of his father’s live in Toronto. He is also in close contact with them; and recently they paid him another visit in Düsseldorf. "My family is extremely important to me and I really owe an incredible lot to my parents," said Nadiem. Asked about what was the most important thing they had passed on to him, Nadiem responded after a little thought: "That I should respect every person I meet, and being friendly and polite to others are important values for them and also for me."
Nadiem, who has both German and Afghan nationality, speaks fluent Persian. But he admits he does not follow the current political situation in the country of his parents and grandparents. "Because it would depress me and get me down."
In terms of football in Afghanistan, Nadiem is very well informed through his cousin Zubayr Amiri as he plays for the Afghanistan national team. "He said it's getting better and better. There are a lot of members of the team who play football in Europe. The equipment and management are also becoming more professional." Zubayr plays for FC Hessen Dreieich in the Hessen League. He almost nearly made it into Bundesliga. As a 20-year-old, he played for the Eintracht Frankfurt second team and was able to train with the senior squad that was coached by Christoph Daum at the time. Zubayr Amiri has explained why his professional career did not develop: "It all went to my head and nobody could help get my feet back on the ground." Nadiem, who has a close relationship with his cousin, can understand that: "He was more or less on his own and that at a relatively young age. You quickly start thinking about other things, are not as focused and you think you've already made it. I'm very grateful to my cousin and also my brother Nauwid for their valuable tips."
Zubayr has 25 caps for Afghanistan. Could he, Nadiem, have imagined wearing the red shirt of the team currently 149th in the FIFA world rankings if he had not been called up by Germany? "Yes, definitely!," said Nadiem sounding very convinced. A lot of Afghans are very proud of the Werkself player, proud that one of them is in the squad of the four-time World Cup winners. When he was called up by Joachim Löw for the first time, Afghanistan's influential media mogul Saad Mohseni put it on Facebook immediately after it was announced. A lot of his fellow countrymen are very happy for Nadiem on social media even if some regret he is no longer able to play for Afghanistan. "So many family members, but also many strangers, have called my parents and congratulated them. That's very moving," said Nadiem.
When he joined the youth set-up at SV Waldhof, it felt like he was light years away from a future as a Germany international. But his career really took off. After two years in Mannheim, TSG 1899 Hoffenheim came knocking at his door in 2012. And at that point, Nadiem also believed he could have a career in professional football. "Before that it was all just fun."
The pacey, technically impressive and dangerous attacking midfielder quickly developed in Sinsheim. Everything happened very fast: In 2013, he made his debut for the Germany U18 team, and in 2014 Amiri was a Germany U19 champion for the first time with Hoffenheim. A year later he made his professional debut for the first team. It is 7 February 2015, three days after being in the first team squad for the first time against Werder Bremen. That was followed by an away fixture at Wolfsburg. Coach Markus Gisdol posted the starting line-up in the team hotel and Nadiem Amiri read his name. Shortly after that, he called up his brother and just said: "I'm playing." Then he hung up and switched off his mobile phone. He didn't even say hello or goodbye. His brother set off for Wolfsburg with his parents and the three of them were in the stands for Nadiem's professional debut. TSG lost 3-0 at VfL but the debutant was happy.
Ahead of the kick-off, his team-mate Kevin Volland did not boost his confidence. "I was playing on the right wing and Kevin was the central striker. He came to me when we were warming up and said: 'Lots of fun with Rodriguez, lad', " recalls Nadiem with a loud laugh. "Instead of giving me a lift, he said something like that and I just thought: 'You idiot' and I was incredibly nervous in the opening minutes." But Ricardo Rodriguez, the much feared Switzerland international on the left side of defence, did not have a good day – and the 18-year-old Nadiem Amiri made his first impression in professional football.
Hoffenheim was a time for firsts. The U19 championship and Bundesliga debut were followed by first qualification for the Europa League and later for the Champions League. "Hoffenheim will always be in my heart. I never thought I'd stay there for seven years. It's crazy what we achieved together over that time." That also includes winning the European Championships with the Germany U21s in 2017 – as the youngest player in the team – and being runners-up at the 2019 European Championships. And he was one of the best players on each occasion.
Nadiem has had a model career for club and country. He was at the Youth Performance Centre in Sinsheim and the residential school at TSG, at the age of 17 he worked for year as a volunteer in a kindergarten next to the Dietmar Hopp Stadium where he did arts and crafts work, sang and played football with the kids. He made 51 youth appearances for Germany. The classic career of a Youth Performance Center player? "Yes and no," said Nadiem. "I'm still very much of a street footballer and nobody can take that out of me. That makes me strong and dangerous."
Players like him are very much in demand – also by the Germany Football Association. Tobias Haupt, the director of the new DFB Academy, said in an interview with Die Welt newspaper: "We've observed that recently too many similar players have made their way to the top. We need more leaders on the pitch. ... You learn how to come out on top and lead playing on recreational grounds." A job profile that fits players like Nadiem Amiri who have the desire to dribble, the ability to find solutions in tight spaces and to trust their intuition. "Thanks to his pace, ambition and his absolute desire to get forward plus his outstanding technique, he is exactly the type of player we were looking for to join our squad," said Bayer 04 sporting director Simon Rolfes in highlighting the qualities of the German-Afghan when he was presented at Leverkusen.
Nadiem has often shown in three competitions that his dynamism is an important element in the Werkself game. Whether in central midfield or on the left flank. "I'm very happy with my first months at Bayer 04 and grateful that I've been able to play so much," said the Werkself number 11. "I also think I fit in well here and can strengthen the team." The hip-hop and German rap fan was quickly integrated into the squad. Also because he was reunited with two former TSG team-mates in Kerem Demirbay ("He's like a big brother to me!") and Kevin Volland plus Jonathan Tah and Mitch Weiser from the Germany U21s. His first call-up for Germany and the debut against Argentina at the start of October came as anything but a surprise. "He absolutely deserved this call-up over a long period and he can be proud of that," said Bayer 04 head coach Peter Bosz about his player who made two more brief appearances in the Euro 2020 qualifiers against Estonia and Northern Ireland.
As it had stopped raining, we went back on deck to take a few photos. That wasn't so simple given the wind that was whipping round our ears. A reflector was even blown away and landed in the water. But Jörg, the photographer, reacted quickly ran to the other side and lent over the railing to pulled it out of the water. Lucky indeed. We take it as a sign to slowly bring the interview to a close after an hour. The Rhine was showing its uncomfortable side today. And Nadiem's parents had travelled up from Ludwigshafen and were already waiting for their son in Düsseldorf.
Christian Jacobs
