National soccer player Niclas Füllkrug (30) likes to tell his teammates jokes right before kick-off. “Sometimes that helps us a lot,” he said with a laugh in an interview with “Bild am Sonntag”. The aim is to “consciously let the tension drop a little” shortly before the kick-off. Sometimes one of the players will make a humbug and tell a joke. Next time, talk about a funny situation. “If you listen to it, your head is automatically somewhere else. Too much doggedness is not good,” said the Werder Bremen professional.
The 30-year-old is not only very popular because of his sporting success. He is also known for his honest statements. “If I just want to throw out phrases, I don’t need to give interviews,” says Füllkrug. That would “not fulfill” him. He thinks: “We’re almost all entertainers. People pay money to watch us.” That is why they deserved “transparency”. He also has no problem telling something “out of the box”.
The native Hanoverian also values authenticity. “It’s real what I show and how I come across,” said the attacker, who is also called “the gap” by his teammates because of the gap in his teeth. “I don’t pretend and that goes down well,” he is convinced. This applies, for example, to his enthusiasm for the national team.
The Werder striker also makes it clear: Family is his top priority. “Of course I pay attention to the well-being of my three-year-old daughter. It’s important to me that she’s doing well,” he emphasized. His wife Lisa stands behind him and fully supports his decisions. Both are also “relaxed” with regard to his professional future.
The athlete has been married to Lisa Füllkrug since 2015, and he has known her since elementary school in Hanover. Their daughter Emilia was born in 2019. The little one was even allowed to enter the stadium with her dad at a Werder game in November 2022. The proud dad later admitted, “I think I was more excited than her.”
