Balls and beards, Berlin and Brazil. Bellevue Palace and the Federal President. A lot on his plate, a lot to talk about ahead of the European Championship qualifier against Gibraltar on Friday (20:45 CET) in Nuremburg and the friendly against European Champions Spain on Tuesday (20:45 CET) in Vigo. Benedikt Höwedes spoke to DFB.de’s Steffen Lüdeke about the aftermath of the World Cup, the upcoming games and his charity work.
DFB.de: Mr. Höwedes, Darmstadt 98 are top of the table but your team are currently in twelfth. What’s going wrong?
Benedikt Höwedes: Currently with Schalke, we’re eleventh. And Darmstadt?! I don’t follow.
DFB.de: Not the Bundesliga table, but the “MoBros” table.
Höwedes: Ah, now I understand, the “Movember Football Challenge.” Twelfth place isn’t satisfactory. I’ll have to try harder to get more people involved and get them enthusiastic. My team, Schalke’s MoBros, will become even bigger and therefore more people will start to donate so that we can move up the table.
DFB.de: You’re taking part in “Movember” this year but this time as an ambassador. The initiative aims to inform people and to raise money for the research and the prevention of prostate cancer and other health problems in men. What motivates you?
Höwedes: I’m lucky that I don’t have any family history. But prostate cancer is the most common disease among men and I’m a man, so therefore I care about it. Health is the most important thing that we have. And it’s often the case that a small trip to the doctors at the right time decides whether you stay healthy or not. I’m in the public eye and that gives me the opportunity to not only donate money, but also to reach more people due to my fame and make them aware of this topic.
DFB.de: What does your girlfriend think about the yearly change?
Höwedes: She doesn’t find it too bad. I’m aware that the whole thing looks a bit strange, especially when everywhere else is clean shaven and the moustache is the only thing there. But that’s the whole point. Of course some people look a bit stupid, but that’s the point. People constantly ask me what I have on my face but that gives me an opportunity to inform them about “Movember.”
DFB.de: You’re not the only Germany player to be taking part. Do you compare notes with the other players? How often do you talk about the moustaches with the Germany squad?
Höwedes: You can see that players here are doing it and therefore I speak about it with both the other Germany players and my club teammates. But here, I don’t need to bring it up with anyone. Some of them wondered how I could turn up with a moustache to such a formal meeting such as the presentation of the Silver Laurel Leaf at Bellevue Palace with the Federal President. We laughed about it. But I think that you have to go through things like that.
DFB.de: You went from Bellevue Palace to the cinema, where the team watched “Die Mannschaft.” Did you enjoy the film?
Höwedes: Yes it was good, they were great pictures from great moments. I think I can speak on behalf of everyone when I say that we got goosebumps.
DFB.de: The World Champions have started their European Championship qualifying campaign with room for improvement. Is that a coincidence or just bad luck? Is it the most logical thing to happen after such a big triumph?
Höwedes: It’s not got any easier for us. The expectations were already very high and now they’ve become even more so. Everyone wants to beat the World Champions and prove themselves against us. Ireland scored a 94th minute equaliser against us (1-1 in Gelsenkirchen) and we could have won the game against Poland (2-0 loss in Warsaw). But we haven’t had an easy start and that was to be expected. We didn’t have a holiday after the World Cup and only had a short time to prepare for the season with our clubs. It’s no surprise that we aren’t 100% as a team yet.
DFB.de: You play Gibraltar in Nuremburg on Friday. Surely you have to win that game?
Höwedes: Yes, but it’s not our right to. We want to give everything and we want to use every game in order to develop as a team. We’ve got to live up to our expectations as favourites. We have to win the game so no one can cast any doubt over us.
DFB.de: The final game of the year will be on Tuesday when the current World Champions meet the former World Champions as Germany take on Spain in Vigo. There are a few things to be settled against Spain…
Höwedes: It wasn’t a problem for me personally because I didn’t play in the EURO 2008 final or the 2010 World Cup semi-final. But as someone from Germany and as a fan, it rankled a bit that Spain won those games. But I don’t think see Tuesday’s game as a chance for revenge. If we win, it doesn’t change the fact that Spain won those important games. It’ll be a great game against a top team. Spain always play at an incredibly high level, even if they are in a rebuilding stage. They are one of the best teams in Europe and in the world. It should be a good game and we want to round off this unbelievable year in the right way.
[mmc/fs]
Balls and beards, Berlin and Brazil. Bellevue Palace and the Federal President. A lot on his plate, a lot to talk about ahead of the European Championship qualifier against Gibraltar on Friday (20:45 CET) in Nuremburg and the friendly against European Champions Spain on Tuesday (20:45 CET) in Vigo. Benedikt Höwedes spoke to DFB.de’s Steffen Lüdeke about the aftermath of the World Cup, the upcoming games and his charity work.
DFB.de: Mr. Höwedes, Darmstadt 98 are top of the table but your team are currently in twelfth. What’s going wrong?
Benedikt Höwedes: Currently with Schalke, we’re eleventh. And Darmstadt?! I don’t follow.
DFB.de: Not the Bundesliga table, but the “MoBros” table.
Höwedes: Ah, now I understand, the “Movember Football Challenge.” Twelfth place isn’t satisfactory. I’ll have to try harder to get more people involved and get them enthusiastic. My team, Schalke’s MoBros, will become even bigger and therefore more people will start to donate so that we can move up the table.
DFB.de: You’re taking part in “Movember” this year but this time as an ambassador. The initiative aims to inform people and to raise money for the research and the prevention of prostate cancer and other health problems in men. What motivates you?
Höwedes: I’m lucky that I don’t have any family history. But prostate cancer is the most common disease among men and I’m a man, so therefore I care about it. Health is the most important thing that we have. And it’s often the case that a small trip to the doctors at the right time decides whether you stay healthy or not. I’m in the public eye and that gives me the opportunity to not only donate money, but also to reach more people due to my fame and make them aware of this topic.
DFB.de: What does your girlfriend think about the yearly change?
Höwedes: She doesn’t find it too bad. I’m aware that the whole thing looks a bit strange, especially when everywhere else is clean shaven and the moustache is the only thing there. But that’s the whole point. Of course some people look a bit stupid, but that’s the point. People constantly ask me what I have on my face but that gives me an opportunity to inform them about “Movember.”
DFB.de: You’re not the only Germany player to be taking part. Do you compare notes with the other players? How often do you talk about the moustaches with the Germany squad?
Höwedes: You can see that players here are doing it and therefore I speak about it with both the other Germany players and my club teammates. But here, I don’t need to bring it up with anyone. Some of them wondered how I could turn up with a moustache to such a formal meeting such as the presentation of the Silver Laurel Leaf at Bellevue Palace with the Federal President. We laughed about it. But I think that you have to go through things like that.
DFB.de: You went from Bellevue Palace to the cinema, where the team watched “Die Mannschaft.” Did you enjoy the film?
Höwedes: Yes it was good, they were great pictures from great moments. I think I can speak on behalf of everyone when I say that we got goosebumps.
DFB.de: The World Champions have started their European Championship qualifying campaign with room for improvement. Is that a coincidence or just bad luck? Is it the most logical thing to happen after such a big triumph?
Höwedes: It’s not got any easier for us. The expectations were already very high and now they’ve become even more so. Everyone wants to beat the World Champions and prove themselves against us. Ireland scored a 94th minute equaliser against us (1-1 in Gelsenkirchen) and we could have won the game against Poland (2-0 loss in Warsaw). But we haven’t had an easy start and that was to be expected. We didn’t have a holiday after the World Cup and only had a short time to prepare for the season with our clubs. It’s no surprise that we aren’t 100% as a team yet.
DFB.de: You play Gibraltar in Nuremburg on Friday. Surely you have to win that game?
Höwedes: Yes, but it’s not our right to. We want to give everything and we want to use every game in order to develop as a team. We’ve got to live up to our expectations as favourites. We have to win the game so no one can cast any doubt over us.
DFB.de: The final game of the year will be on Tuesday when the current World Champions meet the former World Champions as Germany take on Spain in Vigo. There are a few things to be settled against Spain…
Höwedes: It wasn’t a problem for me personally because I didn’t play in the EURO 2008 final or the 2010 World Cup semi-final. But as someone from Germany and as a fan, it rankled a bit that Spain won those games. But I don’t think see Tuesday’s game as a chance for revenge. If we win, it doesn’t change the fact that Spain won those important games. It’ll be a great game against a top team. Spain always play at an incredibly high level, even if they are in a rebuilding stage. They are one of the best teams in Europe and in the world. It should be a good game and we want to round off this unbelievable year in the right way.
