Raphael Steinmetz, player-coach at Schwarz-Weiß Alstaden and former goal scorer for Rot-Weiß Oberhausen, takes part in the forecasting questionnaire.

In a total of 210 games, Raphael Steinmetz played for Rot-Weiß Oberhausen and celebrated 64 goals and 33 assists. However, in the summer of 2022, at just 27 years of age, the Oberhausen native ended the chapter of the Regionalliga West and returned to his youth club Schwarz-Weiß Alstaden. He is the player-coach of the district league team and caused a stir in September in the Lower Rhine Cup with three goals in a 4-3 win after extra time against Wuppertaler SV, for whom he played briefly himself in 2017. In an interview with Forecasting, he talks about the best moments of his career, explains why he didn’t make it to the top and who he would like to out-drink over a beer.

Raphael Steinmetz, please finish the sentence:

My greatest strength is… finishing!

My biggest weakness is… defending.

In our dressing room… we have fun, enjoy ourselves and have a great team spirit.

The best moment of my football career was… scoring the winning goal with a header in the 1-0 win against Rot-Weiss Essen in February 2015.

The best goal of my career was… my third goal in a 4-0 win against SC Wiedenbrück in March 2015. I scored three times and announced my contract extension before the game.

I didn’t become a professional footballer because… I didn’t have the fitness of Adonis.

The best thing about the Ruhr area is… everything! Lots of derbies, lots of football-crazy people and just awesome guys.

Make up your mind:

Dortmund or Schalke? Definitely Schalke!

Beer or water? Beer.

Club or bar? Bar.

Football on TV or in the stadium? Stadium.

Player type: fighter or artist? Fighter.

Bundesliga or Premier League? I prefer the Premier League.

And a few final questions:

Which star would you like to have a beer with? I think it would be Cristiano Ronaldo. He doesn’t drink beer, but I’ll drink his for him.

What can you live without? Water (laughs).

What is indispensable for you? Football.

What kind of music do you like to listen to and what do you play in the changing room? I actually listen to all kinds of music. But after a game, whether we win or lose, we always play party music in the changing room.

If you could start over, what would you do differently in your career? I might have done more for my fitness and at the same time tried to go up to the 3rd division with RWO and not quit so early.