Becker: "I want to measure myself against the best"

Finn Becker has matured into a Bundesliga player at TSG. In his first six months at Hoffenheim, however, the native of northern-Germany hardly got a chance to play. It was a trying time for the former FC St. Pauli player: "I needed a bit of time to find my feet, I spent my whole life at home before that. But I'm self-critical enough to say that it was down to me. I needed some time to get up to speed." This ended with the start of 2023, a year in which things went steadily uphill. The midfielder has now played 25 Bundesliga matches and also made an appearance at the U21 European Championships. He is not yet a permanent member of the starting XI, but that is the 23-year-old's next goal: "I want to measure myself against the best. And in the end, football moves fast. You have to be there in the decisive moments."

Soon after arriving in the Kraichgau, Finn Becker realised that, despite facing a battle for a regular place in the team, he had to have other things in his life than football: "In my first six months at Hoffenheim, when I hardly played, the situation got me down. When you find other things in life that excite you, where you can learn something new, it also helps your performance on the pitch. I now have much less time to think negative thoughts about football." Becker began learning Spanish, playing golf and is currently considering starting a distance learning programme, even though he would have liked to become "a normal student".

Also in the January issue of TSG Magazine: Andrej Kramarić dispels clichés and prejudices about his home country Croatia in "Fact or Fake", Grischa Prömel answers questions without saying a word in "No Comment" and U17 World Cup winner Max Moerstedt is honoured. SPIELFELD also looks ahead to the upcoming European Handball Championship with Jannik Kohlbacher. This and much more exciting content can be found in the 104 pages of the latest issue.