FC St. Pauli

"When I'm down there on the training ground and look up to the panoramic mountain backdrop, it's so impressive and almost surreal somehow," says Jannes Wieckhoff as he gazes at the lush green mountain ranges in the distance after the morning workout. It isn't the first time the defender has been up in the peaks. "I have been on a skiing holiday before, but that was years ago. To see these blooming landscapes in summer is really something else," he adds.

The training camp routine of high-intensity workouts on the pitch, strength training, recovery sessions and the meals in between is nothing new either. Wieckhoff signed professional terms with the Boys in Brown in July 2020 and took part in the 2021 training camp in Herzlake. And that's not all – the Schenefeld native (district of Pinneberg) has been with the club since 2012, rising through the youth ranks following his move from HSV. That would make him the longest-serving player in the current squad were it not for Igor Matanović, who began his St. Pauli career in the Under-10s.

"My father played a lot of football when he was younger and he was very good as well. I used to go the rec with him and my six-year-older brother, which is how my love for the game developed," Wieckhoff recalls. "When I think back to my time on the rec with my dad, I was often in goal, which wasn't ideal because I was always the smallest in my team. Fortunately, I was spared that fate," says the 6'2"/1.88m defender with a smile.

Jannes Wieckhoff (right) and Igor Matanović have a combined 22 years of service at the club.

Wieckhoff made rapid progress with the Young Rebels and remembers one season particularly well when the Under-19s challenged for the title in the U19 Division North under the stewardship of current first-team coach Timo Schultz, only to finish fourth in the end. Former players Finn Ole Becker and Marvin Senger were among that golden crop of players born in the year 2000 along with Wieckhoff, who recently signed a new deal with the Boys in Brown. "Timo was already very ambitious back then and I think that ambition is even stronger now, but that's how it has to be," Wieckhoff continues.

It was Schultz who eventually handed the dynamic full-back his second division debut. Wieckhoff made his first senior appearance in brown and white at Bochum on day one of the 2020/21 season and then - in the 4-2 defeat of Heidenheim in the opening home game - scored the third goal with a fierce shot into the far corner. "I look back on it fondly, of course. Unfortunately, there were only 3,000 fans in the ground. I used to go to the games when I was young and grew fond this special club. I'm now looking forward to playing in front of a sell-out crowd and walking out to Hells Bells again - I'm working hard with that in mind and I feel very good. I think I've a come on a bit now compared with back then," Wieckhoff adds.

The foundations are now being put in place here in St. Leonhard in Passeier and we too look forward to what will hopefully be a packed house for the season opener at the Millerntor in just over a week's time.

Photos: FC St. Pauli/Witters