You don’t always have to make a lot of appearances for a higher-class club to discover talent in a player. This man can tell you a thing or two about that.

A career leap for 20-year-old Benedikt Bauer: He is moving from third-division club SpVgg Unterhaching to Karlsruher SC in the Bundesliga 2 for the 2024/25 season. Bauer has made just seven appearances for Haching in the current series.

The reason: Following a lengthy knee injury in the fall of last year, the full-back made his comeback for Haching’s third division team at the beginning of April.

The U20 international can play both positions on the defensive wing. However, he prefers the left side. At the age of just ten, he joined the youth team of 1860 Munich, followed by a move to SpVgg Unterhaching five years later. He turned professional with the Upper Bavarians in 2021, and Bauer played his first international matches for the German U20 national team in September 2023.

“The move to Karlsruher SC is the next step in my footballing development. I’m looking forward to my new challenge and can hardly wait to make my first appearance in front of the Gegengerade,” explained Bauer.

Sebastian Freis, Head of Sport at Karlsruhe, is delighted with the addition from the 3rd division: “With Benedikt Bauer, we were able to convince a very talented challenger for both full-back positions of our path. His qualities, flexibility and great development potential will increase the competition for our established players in these positions. We are delighted that Benedikt is fully fit again after his knee injury and that he will be able to fully attack with us at the start of training in the summer.”

Three matchdays before the end of the season, KSC are in a good 5th place in the table. However, with a seven-point deficit to third place in the promotion relegation places, the Bundesliga dream will probably not last much longer. Perhaps then in the new season with Benedikt Bauer in the team