Brazilians in an interview
A few months ago, when Cauly felt Brazilian soil under his feet again after a long time, it got emotional. When he signed the contract with EC Bahia, he could no longer hold back his joy – also because he was briefly thrown into the past. At Transfermarkt, the 27-year-old talks about the challenges of his trip from Brazil to Germany and back, as well as European evenings in Bulgaria.
Born in Porto Seguro in the north-eastern Brazilian state of Bahia, Cauly emigrated with his family to Germany, more precisely to Heimerzheim in the Rhein-Sieg district, when he was just eleven years old. Without German language skills, it was not exactly easy for him to settle in the new country. The most important companion in this phase of life was football. “On the last day in Brazil I just cried and threw up. For an eleven-year-old, it’s very hard emotionally when you have to leave everything behind and then go to a foreign country. For me, football was the most important anchor for arriving in Germany, mainly because I couldn’t speak German in the early days. Football is international, it has its own language and it makes you feel free. As soon as the other kids saw that I could play football, I quickly caught up,” Cauly recalls.
It was evident early on that he knows how to handle the ball and was particularly noticeable to 1. FC Köln. At the age of 14 he switched to the FC youth team, where he played with later Bundesliga professionals such as Marcel Hartel and Yannick Gerhardt and won the DFB Cup for the A-Juniors. Cauly was considered talented and talented, but other players landed the big leap – he was denied the path to the professional squad.
“If you live at the FC boarding school and see what the pros are doing almost every day, who is playing for the pros, then of course you would like to play at the Rhein-Energie-Stadion one day. For me, the end was a moment of shock and a wake-up call at the same time. From today’s perspective, several factors have ensured that I did not become a professional at FC: For one thing, I never saw football as a business. I should have paid more attention to my stats, that I need to score as many goals and provide as many assists as possible. For me, however, the most important thing was to have fun. On the other hand, I was always a reserved type, I preferred to listen than to tell stories. But sometimes it’s good when you talk in football,” explains the attacking player, who switched to local rivals Fortuna Köln at the age of 18.
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Cauly quickly realized: no matter how charming the 3rd division can be, different skills are required here than in the Bundesliga. He played a total of 93 games for Fortuna, scoring 19 goals and setting up eight goals. He describes the time in the 3rd division as a major learning session: “The first few weeks in men’s football were tough. After every training session, after every game, I had bruises all over. I’m incredibly grateful that in Uwe Koschinat I had a coach by my side who always believed in me. His most important sentence was always: ‘Cauly, if you play with heart, nobody can stop you.’ During my time at Fortuna, I questioned a lot in order to move forward. I asked questions about what good mental training looks like, for example, or what good error analysis looks like. I just wanted to be the best that I could be.”
The move to men’s football meant that he had to give up his original position as a playmaker and move to the wing. “Unfortunately, most of today’s systems no longer allow for the playmaker type, which is a shame. As a child, I was always impressed by players like Zidane, Ronaldinho or Rivaldo. The videos of them exude a touch of magic and sorcery and not only inspired me,” says the Brazilian, who was drawn to the then second division club MSV Duisburg in 2017.
Cauly on ex-Paderborn coach Baumgart: “I celebrate him as a coach and as a guy”
But instead of playing with the “Zebras” for promotion to the Bundesliga, relegation followed two years later – and for Cauly the move to the then Bundesliga club SC Paderborn. The attacker is still enthusiastic about coach Steffen Baumgart: “He is absolutely authentic. He doesn’t matter or wear a mask. He lives and burns for football. You can tell from the first training session that he is very committed, demands a lot from his players, but at the same time gives a lot back. In short: I celebrate him as a coach and as a guy.”
The collaboration did not last long, because in January 2020 Cauly went somewhere else again. Some Paderborn fans and neutrals were amazed when the transfer to the Bulgarian champions Ludogorets Razgrad was announced. “I’ll be honest: When the offer came, I naturally thought three times. But the overall package was just right. It was financially lucrative and what was even more important to me was the fact that Razgrad is an absolute top team in Bulgaria and is therefore always involved in international business. For a footballer it is of course a goal and at the same time a highlight to be able to compete internationally. As a family, we felt very comfortable in Bulgaria, also because the city is not particularly big and there is no hustle and bustle. It was ideal especially for the children. However, if you switch alone, you could get bored,” Cauly smiles.
In Bulgaria, the playmaker rose to become the league’s best player, winning three league titles and twice the Super Cup final. But he remembers the games in the Europa League against Inter Milan, Tottenham Hotspur or AS Roma, which were very special for him, even more than the titles: “These are games that are just fun. You enjoy them from minute 1 to 90. In these games, I noticed the clarity, simplicity and, above all, precision with which the star players act. Whether Harry Kane and Christian Eriksen at Tottenham or Sergio Canales and Joaquín at Betis Sevilla. You don’t see them the whole game and then suddenly they are 100 percent there. That is very impressive.”
He describes it as a mixture of luck and coincidence that he was drawn to his home country of all places in February and specifically to the region in which he grew up, namely Bahia. In the conversation, he makes it clear how much the move to Salvador fulfills him internally. He is particularly enthusiastic about the atmosphere in the Arena Nova Fonte, which has a capacity of more than 50,000 spectators: “When I wore the Bahia jersey for the first time, I felt goosebumps all over my body. I’m from the region, I spent part of my childhood here. I know how important this club is for the region. I just feel pure joy and gratitude for this opportunity. The fan scene in Germany is already at a very high level, but football is lived and breathed in Brazil. Most of the time you don’t hear your own words on the field, because the atmosphere is created by the ranks for more than 90 minutes without a break. That is very impressive.”
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In the midfield of the “Tricolor” he should play a key role. The club has officially belonged to the City Football Group since May of this year and the German-Brazilian was signed as an important player as part of this takeover. For this, the club transferred 2.3 million euros to Bulgaria. The task is clear: relegation. From a sporting point of view, things have not gone well for the two-time champion in recent years, and the relegation in 2021 was repaired in the last season. “In the conversations with long-time players you get the idea that something is under construction here. In general, the quality of the players and the league is incredibly high. You can see that anyone can beat anyone by looking at the different champions in recent years,” says Cauly.
For Brazilians, and not just in Bahia, football is “a way of life, a philosophy of life. You see people who don’t have much money, but they save their money to follow us in the stadium. Knowing that does something to you. It keeps you down to earth and humble. In general, I’ve matured over the past few years. Football offers so many colors and tones and that’s why I’m grateful that I was able to experience some of these impressions.”
Interview and text by Henrik Stadnischeko
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