DFB star with a famous uncle – he was a Bundesliga professional

He discovered his talent

DFB star’s uncle was a professional

Keven and Nico Schlotterbeck have established themselves in the Bundesliga, the latter also in the national team. Her uncle played a crucial role in this journey.

The Schlotterbeck family has not only produced footballing talent with the Bundesliga professionals Nico (25) and Keven (27). Her uncle Niels Schlotterbeck was already active as a player in the top German league. He was promoted to the club in the early 1990s with TSV 1860 Munich and also played for Hannover 96 and Hansa Rostock, among others.

Niels Schlotterbeck, now 58 years old, has long since ended his active career. He now runs a soccer school in Weinstadt near Stuttgart – which Nico and Keven also attended as children and discovered their soccer talent thanks to their uncle. “Both were regularly in my support training, I even trained Nico in a youth team,” Niels Schlotterbeck once told the “Tagesspiegel”. Training cognitive skills is particularly important at a young age. “The foundation is laid between the ages of three and twelve when it comes to cognitive abilities. That’s what I specialize in – and both benefit from it.”

Ex-professional Niels Schlotterbeck finds it difficult to compare Nico and Keven. “Keven has a little more life experience, more routine. Nico is a little more athletic, he was in the KSC youth performance center. The work there was different than in the association league, where Keven played.” However, both have “a good understanding of the game, a strong left foot, a decent opening of the game and are strong in the air,” explained the former Bundesliga defender.

In his football school, Niels Schlotterbeck attaches great importance to promoting game intelligence and movement coordination. “We use life kinetics, for example. It’s about cognitive flexibility that you can’t directly recognize in game situations; game intelligence, peripheral vision, things like that,” explained the former professional.

The fact that this approach can be successful is shown not only by the development of his nephews, but also by the career of Hertha striker Davie Selke. “Davie was very, very tall as a child, he probably got that from his mother, who was also very tall,” recalled Niels Schlotterbeck. “I trained him for the first time when he was around eight or nine years old. He was with me longer and later had coordination problems due to his rapid growth phase.”