He played in the Champions League with Schalke, finished runner-up in the European Championship and embarked on a coaching career after his career. Heiko Westermann talks about his life in soccer.
Heiko Westermann has had an eventful career. The 27-time international played a total of 318 Bundesliga matches for Arminia Bielefeld, Hamburger SV and FC Schalke 04. 1.90 meters tall, he was one of the best central defenders in the country.
After his European tour of Seville, Amsterdam and Vienna, the now 40-year-old native of Lower Franconia ended his professional career in 2018 and began his coaching career as assistant coach of Fortuna Düsseldorf’s U17s in 2019. The ex-professional then held the same position from the U15 to the U18 national team of the DFB. He has been assistant to U19 national team coach Christian Wörns since summer 2023.
In the podcast “Im Vereinsheim brennt noch Licht” by Fabrice Sell and Tobias Bartschat, Heiko Westermann spoke about …
… his four years at Schalke:
I lived right in the middle of it. One neighbor was a tiler, the other a roofer. I like the mentality in the west. My most formative experience was my last game with Bielefeld in the Arena in 2007. The championship was still at stake. When Schalke scored the 1:0 and Stuttgart were behind, the fans cheered so loudly that the ground shook. I said to myself: ‘You really want to play here. That was also the deciding factor for the move. Experiences like the first derby win or the Champions League quarter-final against Barcelona are something you take with you forever.
… the hard training under Felix Magath:
What we ran under him in my career, I’ve never experienced like that again. We weren’t fit for the first two matchdays and were simply tired, even though we were the best team in the last ten minutes of the second half of the season. It all had its advantages and disadvantages. I was also injured a lot during that time because I sometimes trained beyond the point or played with injuries. That’s also part of it.
… the most emotional of his eight professional seasons:
That was HSV, because in my last two years there it was already an extreme downhill slide. We had eleven coaches, three sporting directors, two presidents in five years and were relegated twice, where things didn’t look good for us. For a short time, we wondered how we were going to manage that. You leave a lot of energy and a lot of heart on the pitch
Schalke and Hamburg are the two clubs I still have the most contact with today.
Heiko Westermann
.. today’s connection to his ex-clubs:
Schalke and Hamburg are the two clubs I still have the most contact with today. I play for Schalke’s traditional team from time to time, so of course you see each other there. When I’m in Hamburg and watch matches, I also have a close relationship with many of them. Both clubs naturally belong in the first division, but they have a lot of legacy issues to deal with.
… his cult status “HW4”, which originated in Hamburg:
I never promoted it much. The idea came from HSV’s media department and then spread to the stands at some point. You don’t know beforehand that it will take on such proportions. But everyone was always respectful and never ridiculed it. But I personally never made much of it and always concentrated on playing soccer, even in difficult times.
… his decision to become a coach:
That took a bit of time. I spoke to a lot of successful managers from companies and clubs who told me to take my time and look at everything. I then did my degree in sports management at the University of St. Gallen. After just two or three years, it became clear that I wanted to get back on the pitch, teach the boys things and get moving. I can’t sit at a desk all day.
… the job as a coach:
We didn’t have any youth performance centers yet. When we were 16, five of us lived in a house in Fürth and everything was done on our own responsibility. Today, you have to know what you want as a coach. How do I make players better, where are the positive qualities, what can I teach, how do I understand the game and where do I need help? Hannes Wolf’s new DFB training philosophy for clubs involves getting talented players back into the game, after many years of focusing more on passing drills and the Guardiola style with lots of positional play. You don’t need to do much, the kids and youngsters will automatically get better
Sooner or later I would like to return to the professional game.
Heiko Westermann
.. his future:
Sooner or later, I’d like to return to the professional game. I don’t know where I’ll end up. I’ve always listened to my gut feeling and I definitely want to stay true to soccer. I’ve been doing that for 35 years now. I enjoy it and I still want to achieve something.
You can listen to the full interview in the podcast “Im Vereinsheim brennt noch Licht”. A new episode is released every Thursday. You can find them wherever there are podcasts