In his first assignment as a ball boy, Noel Urbaniak from the German team helps a curious goal against Italy. In the morning, the 15-year-old scored the winning goal for the B-Juniors of Hombrucher SV.
Noel Urbaniak will probably never forget the March 23, 2025 and the Nations League semi-final against Italy in Dortmund. The 36th minute ran and Italy slept when the 15-year-old B-junior player from Hombrucher SV was wide awake and reaction fast and helped the German team to a curious goal.
What happened? Germany led 1-0, Italy’s goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma had just clarified a header from Tim Kleindienst to the corner.
“We had eye contact”
For Noel Urbaniak it was the premiere that evening. In his first assignment as a ball boy, he held the ball in his hand when Joshua Kimmich approached him to perform the corner kick. The 15-year-old recognized the situation and threw the ball to Joshua Kimmich at lightning speed, who took advantage of Italy’s inattentiveness in the penalty area and played flat in the middle, where Jamal Musiala stood completely freely and hit the empty goal.
“We had eye contact, I immediately thrown the ball to him, then the gate happened”Noel Urbaniak described the situation after the game. After the final whistle, the ball boy and Kimmich met for a photo together on the edge of the field. “Jo signed the ball and said thank you.”
Praise from the national coach
There was special praise from the national coach: “Very smart, incredibly smart, you do that very well”said Julian Nagelsmann. “From all three absolute world class.” He meant the world -class players Joshua Kimmich and Jamal Musiala – and the ball boys Noel Urbaniak. DFB sports director Rudi Völler promised: “He gets a free ticket at the next home game.”
For Noel Urbaniak it was not the first goal participation that day. In the morning, the 15-year-old had played an away game in the Volksgarten Mengede with the B-Juniors of Hombrucher SV III and scored the goal for the 6-2 final score.
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