The former national coach Joachim Löw praised his long-time protégé Jonas Hector in the highest tones before his career ended at 1. FC Köln.
“Jonas has a great gift: He learns incredibly quickly,” Löw told the “Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger”: “He was always able to implement all the things that we gave him on the way very quickly from the start. And that’s how it was , as if he has been with us for a long time. Over the months he has become irreplaceable on our left.”
However, Löw admitted that he also had concerns before Hector’s first call to the DFB team in November 2014: “My coaching staff and I weren’t entirely sure whether he would make the leap to the national team, even though we had watched him a few times. After a few days of training, however, we were sure that he could do it,” the 63-year-old recalled.
Hector, who was born in Saarland, was only promoted to the Bundesliga with 1. FC Köln in the summer of 2014. Shortly thereafter, Löw called up the inexperienced left-footed player to the world champion’s squad.
Last game for 1. FC Köln against FC Bayern
Hector got stuck in the problem position of left-back, won the Confed Cup with Germany in 2017 and played a total of 43 international matches.
On Saturday against FC Bayern Munich (3:30 p.m. / Sky), Hector will play his last game as a professional for 1. FC Köln. As for Hector’s life after paid football, Loew isn’t worried.
“Jonas has his feet on the ground, so he will make the right decisions for his future.” Hector is “as a person a role model for reliability, honesty, empathy and tolerance”.