FC St. Pauli is on the right track of realizing the relegation in the Bundesliga. Only leader Bayern Munich conceded fewer goals than the promoted team, which is also a great earnings from Hauke Wahl. The central defender with the moving life story is the rock in the Hamburg surf. He would much have preferred handball players.
One like him, who is perfectly anticipated by situations and almost always solves without the use of unfair means, could have used the DHB selection well on this tragic Wednesday evening in Oslo. But instead of standing on the record for Germany in the World Cup quarter-finals against Portugal, Wahl in Hamburg prepared for the game of St. Paulis today (3:30 p.m., in the live center at NDR.de) against FC Augsburg.
But the tree -long defender may have cribed in his fingers during the drama in distant Norway. Because as a child he dreamed of fighting for handball titles for Germany. Football? Not particularly interesting for the young Hauke Wahl.
Even the calls from HSV Barmbek-Hillenhorst, youth club of the later world champion Andreas Brehme, left him cold. “The coach wanted me at the time, but I really wanted to play handball. I come from a handball family. My father always played handball,” revealed the Hamburg native.
His original plans to make a career on the record was crossed through a move. The fate of Hauke Wahl was called Witzhave. The family moved to the small Schleswig-Holstein community when today’s St. Pauli professional was still a steppke.
“And everyone plays football in the village. Then you come to school and all your buddies play football. Then the boys say that you should come with you, and then I stayed with football,” said the 30-year-old.
Election statistically better than long-term first division professionals
Fortunately, election was more or less forced to do. He will no longer be evil from his “boys” today that they dragged him along to the beautiful lawn of the Witzhaver SV on Rausdorfer Weg. Finally, his career began here, which had found its preliminary climax last summer with the promotion to the Bundesliga.
“I think I have a very good building game and can defend well. And I would be happy to take responsibility.”
– Hauke choice about his strengths
For the time being because the 30-year-old can not only keep up in the German Beletage, but is one of the top defenders. Already in the past second division season, election was one of the most important players at FC St. Pauli.
The journal “Kicker” classified him in his ranking winter 2024/2025 in the “National Class” category. His grade average of 3.42 is better than, for example, by the long-time first division professionals Marco Friedl (Werder Bremen) or Kevin Vogt (Union Berlin).
Only six fouls in 19 games, no yellow card
A formidable intermediate certificate for a player who plays his first Bundesliga season and acts like a very, very old hare. Examples? Wahl committed exactly six fouls in 19 games! Yellow cards? Zero! His odds have arrived? 87.1 percent! Values that impress. But only numbers that only illustrate the athletic qualities of the defender. However, the no less important skills to lead the team.
Sometimes his own strengths outlined: “I think that I have a very good building game and can defend well. And I would be happy to take responsibility.”
Forming years at Holstein Kiel
A self -description that you will probably not begin to contradict at Holstein Kiel. Because at KSV, the defensive specialist not only took his first steps in the men’s area and gave the club the first six -digit transfer fee in the club history by moving to SC Paderborn in 2015.
In the “storks” he was also an absolute leader after his return in 2017 and a face of the continuous upswing, which for Holstein last summer – but without the election that was already playing for St. Pauli – culminated by the promotion to the Bundesliga.
“The club gave me a lot and means a lot to me. Nevertheless, it is time for me to do something new again to want to prove me again in a new environment,” the defender said when he said goodbye .
In Ingolstadt at the absolute low point
Hauke Wahl and Holstein Kiel – that was more than a professional connection. It was one of the rare love relationships in professional sports. Giving and taking in good times as in bad times. So the club brought back the defender when he had not found his luck at Paderborn or FC Ingolstadt and also at 1. FC Heidenheim.
“I had arrived at the low point, I couldn’t get out of alone.”
– Hauke Wahl about his time at FC Ingolstadt
“There were very difficult times. But I learned a lot from it,” said Wahl in an interview with the KSV YouTube channel. His intermezzo in Ingolstadt in particular had hit him very much. There he was not used in the professional team for half a year. And when he then helped out the “Schanzer” in the U23, the defense lawyer showed a catastrophic idea that finally tore him away from the ground under his feet.
“I had arrived at the low point, I couldn’t get out of it alone. And then I found someone with Holger Fischer who supported me enormously and also gave me a lot of things that also brought me in private,” said Wahl .
After moving to St. Pauli no more commuting
At Holstein, choice was made again, became captain and one of the best central defenders in the second division. But fate still struck a few more – and this time not the sporty. In 2022, the defender fell ill with the glandular fever and failed for months. Although it was completely uncertain, when he would get fit again, the KSV presented him with the offer to extend his contract. A proof of love that really appreciated the choice.
But after all the years away from the Hamburg homeland, the longing for a return to the Elbe was ultimately greater. With the move to St. Pauli, the eternal commuting was also done.
Because election had his center of life together with his wife in the Hanseatic city. Strictly speaking in Hamburg-Barmbek. So where he once didn’t want to play with football. Life sometimes writes crazy stories …
This topic in the program:
The NDR 2 Bundesliga show | 30.01.2025 | 3:00 p.m.
