About Neururer, Calmund & Co.
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At the end of the year, we look back at some of our interview highlights from 2025. In February we published the article about our conversation with ex-professional Paul Freier.
Anyone who thinks of German football in the 2000s cannot ignore Paul Freier. The winger played over 350 games in Germany. and 2nd league, at times he was considered the national team’s great hope, and the number and successes would probably have been even greater if his body had not gone on strike in crucial situations. At Transfermarkt, the current Rot-Weiss Essen assistant coach talks about his breakthrough at VfL Bochum, health tips from Peter Neururer, the move to Leverkusen and missing the 2004 European Championship.
Born in Bytom, Poland, Paul Freier emigrated to Germany with his family as a child. During this time he noticed for the first time what a connecting and integrating function football has, and he ultimately learned the German language through it. “For me, football is the driving force for integration and a unifying element. We came to school without knowing a word of German. Football ensured that I quickly made friends. During every break I played football with the other children and over time we learned German,” remembers the former Bundesliga professional.
Freier came to VfL Bochum’s youth team via BSV Menden, but he could have ended up at Borussia Dortmund: “I was in BVB’s trial training with my brother and we were quite convincing. The only problem was that we would have needed a driving service to pick us up and take us back home, as our father (the Polish ex-professional Eugen Freier; editor’s note) couldn’t drive us to Dortmund for training due to his working hours. The BVB But I couldn’t realize it and so it didn’t work out in the end.”
Paul Freier’s beginnings at VfL Bochum with sponsor Bernard Dietz
As is well known, Freier should go his own way in Bochum. At Castroper Strasse, the winger quickly showed what great talent the club has in its ranks, especially since, in addition to his great sporting potential, he also demonstrated elementary things such as discipline early on. “In my opinion, in order to become a professional, values such as hard work, ambition, absolute will, but also a willingness to make an effort are essential. And you should be prepared to give up things. For example, I didn’t go to parties and behaved as a professional should.” When we ask him emphatically whether he has really never gone overboard, he admits with a laugh. “Well, okay. There were also times when I ate at McDonalds or treated myself to a bag of Haribo.”
One person who encouraged the rough diamond over time and became one of his greatest mentors was Bernard Dietz. The 1980 European champion gave the then young, shy Paul Freier the tools for professional football as VfL’s second representative. After Dietz was appointed interim coach of the professional team in 1999, he took his protégé up with him. “I looked up to Bernard Dietz for various reasons. He had made a name for himself as an active professional in the Bundesliga and had become European champion. Goals that I also wanted to achieve, of course. He was also very authentic in his dealings with the players. He always said to me: ‘Slawo, work hard and try to get better every day, then you’ll make it into the Bundesliga.’ This credo has accompanied me throughout my career,” says the now 45-year-old.
Paul Freier played 289 times for VfL Bochum in two stages
In November 1999, at the age of 20, Freier made his debut for the then second division team in the game against Waldhof Mannheim (2-0). It was only for a minute, but it meant the world to him: “I was so nervous and excited at the same time, my whole body was tingling. It was a dream come true for me. In fact, I didn’t keep the jersey from that time as a souvenir. In general, I wasn’t the type of jersey collector. The few jerseys that I still have are in a box in my basement. The only one that hangs in our house is Raúl’s. It hangs in my son’s bedroom,” he says Ex-professional smiling.
In the following season, Freier repeatedly showed flashes of his potential, but it wasn’t until 2001/2002 that he really took off – with clear emphasis. In the years that followed, Freier became an indispensable player at VfL Bochum, particularly due to his two-footed ability and his extensive technical repertoire. As an absolute top performer, with seven goals this season and seven assists, he played a major role in VfL being able to celebrate their return to the Bundesliga. A quota that he exceeded a year later in the football upper house. His scorers also ensured that the newcomer ended the season as a big surprise in 9th place in the table.
Freier’s big steps under Neururer and a call from Völler
He has to think for a moment about the question of whether he ever had the perfect game: “What does perfect mean? Everyone defines perfect differently. I had this unbridled ambition. I wanted to get better with every training session, which is why I was never satisfied. But my performance against Bayer Leverkusen in the DFB Cup in the 2001/2002 season (2:3; editor’s note) came close to the perfect game. I really have almost everything there “We succeeded, even if we lost unfortunately in the end,” says Freier, looking back.
The game against Alemannia Aachen on the last matchday of the second division season in the same year was particularly emotionally important for him: “We had to win in order to get promoted. In the end we managed it with a 3-1 win. The second game, which was an absolute highlight for me, was our game against Hannover 96 on the last matchday of the 2003/2004 season. We made it into the UEFA Cup with a 3-1 win. That was a great moment.”
Neururer always said after games: ‘Men, you don’t have to bring me Coke. Cola is unhealthy. Better drink a beer, it’s healthy.’
At that time, today’s cult coach Peter Neururer was responsible for Freier’s development but also the success of VfL Bochum. His former protégé cannot stop raving about the memories of working together: “Peter is absolutely iconic and outstanding as a person. I still remember our first conversation in which he said, ‘Slawo, I want you to go into every one-on-one duel from now on, you get absolute freedom from me.’ He gave you lightness and optimism. He knew how to grab the players,” said the current RWE assistant coach, who at that moment remembered with a laugh what Neururer always said after the games. “‘Men, you don’t have to come to me with cola. Cola is unhealthy. Instead, drink a beer, it’s healthy.’ That’s why there was often a case of beer in the locker room after games.”
Paul Freier made his debut for the German national team in 2004 – as a second division professional
Freier experienced this time like he was flying; he was riding the wave of success. A wave of success that even brought him a special phone call. On the other side of the line: the then DFB team boss Rudi Völler. As one of the few players in DFB history, Freier was allowed to make his debut in the national team as a professional from a second division team. The 45-year-old can still remember the international match against Kuwait (7-0) well: “That was an absolutely formative event for me. Suddenly Rudi Völler, your childhood idol, calls you and invites you to the national team. And you realize that almost all of Germany admires you on TV because you are now one of the selected national players.” He was particularly impressed by Bernd Schneider, “the white Brazilian. What he could do with the ball was brilliant. For me he was the best footballer in Germany at the time,” emphasizes the 19-time international.
Suddenly Freier was on everyone’s lips and became an idol for many children and young people. He particularly remembers the autograph requests on Hanuta/Duplo stickers with a laugh: “My popularity actually surprised me, even on vacation people recognized me and spoke to me. I didn’t run to the supermarket to buy a pack of Hanuta or a bag of Panini stickers, but I found it funny what I was suddenly pictured on.”
But just at the peak of his career, he was thwarted. Freier was considered a potential regular player for the 2004 European Championships in Portugal, but a torn medial ligament forced him to watch: “My family had actually rented a holiday apartment so that they could be there live. As we know, nothing came of it. For me, missing the European Championships was much worse than the injury itself. If you work towards a goal the entire season and then that dream falls apart, you have to struggle with it.”
EM interview series: 2004 with Torsten Frings and Fredi Bobic (read here!)
Why Freier went from Bochum to Bayer instead of BVB or FC Bayern
While the national team failed at the European Championships, Freier worked through rehab to get back on the pitch. A big step was to follow in the 2004/2005 season: he moved from VfL Bochum to Bayer 04 Leverkusen for 3.5 million euros – a record for the Revierklub at the time (statistics). He particularly thinks back to the negotiations with Reiner Calmund with a smile: “I know that Dortmund and Bayern would have liked to sign me back then, but I simply had the better feeling at Leverkusen. Reiner Calmund tried a lot to look after me. He also had this certain aura that impressed me. He knew exactly when to say something casual and when to be professional.”
When he talks about that time, you can see the sparkle in his eyes. He can’t even name a favorite teammate. “I’m happy to have played in a time when absolute legends shaped football. What I look back on fondly is the solidarity back then. We didn’t have cell phones or other electronic means, so we spent the time talking or playing cards. I remember a situation in which Sergej Barbarez lost while playing, threw the entire stack of cards out the window and the cards were spread out in our parking lot. We already had a great team together.”
He played 148 games for Bayer 04 Leverkusen, in which he scored 18 goals and added 30 hits. He particularly fondly remembers the 2004/05 Champions League games, such as against Real Madrid and Liverpool FC: “The atmosphere at Anfield Road (1:3; editor’s note) was incredible. I have never experienced anything like that before or since. My absolute highlight was of course our 3-0 win against Real Madrid, and in this game I met the worst opponent of my career: Roberto Carlos. He was fast, robust, strong in tackles. To put it bluntly In words: I was really screwed after the game,” laughs Freier, who returned to Bochum after his time in Leverkusen and was under contract there until 2014.
When the now 45-year-old looks back on his active career and Peter Neururer’s quote at the time, “There is no greater talent in Germany than Paul Freier,” he has to smile. “I was very honored by the statement. Of course you could have gotten more out of your career, but I look back on my career with great gratitude because I was able to live the dream that I had hoped for as a child.”
By Henrik Stadnischenko