SFV missed out on future Germany legend The crazy story of Oliver Neuville: "Yes, I should play for the Nati"
Is there a connection between the Nati and Tenerife, where Switzerland are playing Spain today? Yes. DFB legend Oliver Neuville was playing on the island in 1996 when the national team recruited him. He remembers it for blue Sport - and why he ended up playing for Germany.
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- In 1996, Oliver Neuville moves from Servette to Tenerife and coach Jupp Heynckes, who had already wanted to bring Neuville to Duisburg in the Bundesliga. In the same year, the Swiss Football Association also approached the striker.
- "At the time, I was asked if I wanted to become Swiss. I said: Why not?", Neuville tells blue Sport and recalls: "Then he told me that he would get in touch in a week or two."
- The crazy thing was that he never called again. The Swiss FA missed out on a striker who was set to become a global star.
Oliver Neuville (51) laughs as he talks to blue Sport on the phone. "In Tenerife, an international match? I think I was even there for the last one ... Spain won 4:1 against Slovakia - and I was in the stadium." Today, Spain will play Switzerland on the Canary Island for the first time in 28 (!) years. The stadium was sold out in no time.
It was 1996 when Oliver Neuville moved from Servette to the island. To Tenerife, to coach Jupp Heynckes and his assistant Ewald Lienen, who had already wanted to bring Neuville to Duisburg in the Bundesliga. It is the year in which the Swiss Football Association also approaches the striker - and then misses out on him.
The Swiss FA's omission
But first things first: Oliver Neuville was born in Locarno in 1973, the son of his German father Jupp and his Italian mother Carmen. He grew up in Ticino, played as a child for Gamborogno, Locarno and then Servette, where he scored 41 goals in 141 games - before moving to Tenerife.
"One day the phone rang and a representative of the association was on the line," says Neuville. "I still remember it clearly, I was in my house just outside the capital of Tenerife." He continued: "One of the CEOs of the national team in Switzerland asked me at the time if I wanted to become Swiss. I said: Why not? Then he told me that he would get in touch in a week or two."
The crazy thing was that he never called again. The Swiss FA missed out on a striker who was set to become a global star. Neuville: "I would have played for Switzerland because I was still in Tenerife at the time and a national team was a dream ..."
Two World Cup appearances with Germany
Well, things turned out differently. In 1997, Jupp Heynckes went to Real Madrid and Ewald Lienen to Rostock. Neuville joins him at Hansa - and takes off.
First at Rostock, then at Leverkusen and Borussia Mönchengladbach. He played in the 2002 Champions League final, the 2002 World Cup final and the 2006 home World Cup in Germany. He made 69 appearances in DFB kit and scored ten times.
His connection to Switzerland today? As an assistant coach at Borussia Mönchengladbach, he worked closely with players such as Yann Sommer, Granit Xhaka, Breel Embolo, Jonas Omlin and Denis Zakaria. He is still a regular visitor to Ticino, where his son from his first marriage was born.
His memories of Tenerife? "The climate is great, even now in November it's still nice and warm. And in sporting terms, things went well back then: we reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup that season, where we were eliminated by the eventual winners Schalke. The only problem was that you had to fly two and a half hours to every away game, even in the domestic league."
He is still in contact with former teammate Pablo Paz, the Argentinian former international and father of Como player Nico Paz. Logically, he has no regrets about playing for Germany: "It had to be that way," he says.
