Almost every WhatsApp user should know it: As soon as you have installed the app, you are invited to a group. Whether family, work, friends or all together. It’s no different for sports celebrities. Now Formula 1 driver Nico Hulkenberg has revealed who is in his Monaco WhatsApp group. As it turns out: an elite circle from FC Bayern, from tennis or from the DFB team.
Nico Hülkenberg lives in Monaco, just like Kevin Volland, who is under contract with the top club there and has also played for the German national soccer team. So the Formula 1 driver and the soccer star thought that nothing would be more obvious than founding a German WhatsApp group to organize private activities in the principality.
“It was clear to both of us that it only makes sense if we connect all the Germans who live here in a WhatsApp group. At the time, I was in early retirement, so I had a lot of time and said to the boys : ‘Come on in the pot.'” Hulkenberg said to “Bild” and added: “Then we had our first meeting in a timely manner. The rest is history.”
According to the Haas pilot, around ten people belong to the selected circle, which is “a colorful bunch”, as Hulkenberg added.
“Besides the two of us, Alexander Nübel, Ismail Jakobs and Alexander Zverev are three other prominent faces from the sport,” revealed the 35-year-old, who has been active again in the premier class of motorsport since this year.
Nübel, who was last loaned to Monaco for two years but actually belongs to FC Bayern, and Jakobs, who like Volland plays at AS Monaco, are footballers. Zverev, on the other hand, who is currently in action in Halle / Westphalia, is the German number one in tennis.
There are also other celebrities who have nothing to do with sports, such as Robert Geiss, who became known through the RTL2 show ‘Die Geissens’.
Monaco celebrities arrange private meetings
Although 2016 Formula 1 world champion Nico Rosberg also lives in Monaco, he is not part of the group so far. “He hasn’t sent us a membership application yet. But he’s welcome to do so at any time. A CV and a nice photo should suffice,” said Hulkenberg.
Volland added: “There are many German-speaking celebrities living here who are not part of the group. It’s not because we don’t like them, but because the contact is just not that close.”
The group of around ten holds a fun get-together at least once a month: at the booth, on a member’s terrace or on a boat. Then it’s time to switch off from the stressful (sportsman’s) everyday life.
The fact that Monaco keeper Nübel will soon officially have to return to Munich to FC Bayern, at least for the time being, and thus turn his back on the principality, does not seem to be a problem.
“Honestly, we have never thought about that because it hasn’t existed in a year and a half. But since Alex is a founding member, one could also be merciful. We are generally very tolerant,” said Volland about the Causa Nübel.