From rags to riches - the American dream, which the pulp novelist Horatio Alger repeatedly described in dozens of his stories for a mass audience in the 19th century, is a widespread phenomenon in professional football. Countless teenagers from poor backgrounds have found immense wealth thanks to their talent, some of them great wealth.
However, the legendary rise of Younes Ebnoutalib came with so many trials and tribulations that it would have enriched Alger's stories according to the principle "from rags to riches", which has become a household word in various translations in many parts of the world.
The 23-year-old from Frankfurt, the son of Moroccan parents, became a German national soccer player on Thursday evening in Amsterdam. In the 1-1 draw between the DFB team and the Netherlands, the center forward was brought into the game after 30 minutes for the injured Kai Havertz. “He was great,” said national coach Jürgen Klopp, praising the newcomer after his first game in office.
An assessment that is understandable. But only taking into account the fact that Ebnoutalib came to the national team with the experience of nine Bundesliga games. Under objective standards that define international class, the quality assessment would be different. Courageous, committed, fearless, athletic, but with deficiencies in understanding and interpreting game situations and, in some cases, in ball control.
Ebnoutalib is tailor-made for Klopp's football
The German coaching luminary appreciates the attacker because Ebnoutalib is tailor-made for his style of football and team management. Klopp relies on passion, assertiveness, determination, resilience and resilience. Football art, individually and as a team, is welcome as an enrichment, but not the basis of one's idea of the game. Klopp also likes robust personalities who can tolerate a clear word and don't just accept every word.
When the 59-year-old attended Eintracht training three weeks ago, he was so impressed by the chat with Ebnoutalib and his behavior that he asked him whether he would rather play for the German national team than the Moroccan one. The Frankfurter hadn't really been able to imagine it before, but quickly agreed: "If Klopp asks, you can't say no." His dream of becoming a professional footballer stretched from a young age to making it to the Moroccan national team.
Even this utopia was not very realistic. As a teenager, Ebnoutalib never made it into one of the major performance centers. It wasn't Eintracht or Mainz 05 that brought him from the Frankfurt suburban clubs he played for as a child, it was SV Wehen. And his professional career didn't seem to work out at the second division club at the time either. He was given to Rot-Weiss Frankfurt, who played in the association league. But Younes continued to dream.
Faissal Ebnoutalib won silver in Sydney
“I learned early on from my father to never give up,” said Ebnoutalib in an earlier conversation with the F.A.Z. Faissal Ebnoutalib won Olympic silver in taekwondo for Germany in Sydney in 2000 and has been running a martial arts school in Frankfurt since he ended his career as a high-performance athlete. “Since I was three, my dad took me to training, like my sister and brother.” He also inherited the discipline and asceticism of an Olympian from his father. Not only did he train more than any of his teammates, he also gave up all forms of junk food as a teenager. Not to mention cigarettes and alcohol.
At 18, Ebnoutalib's dream seemed to become more concrete. The Italian second division club Perugia became aware of the fast and powerful young striker from the German association league. The cash-strapped club was looking for talent all over Europe for free. The Frankfurter was promised football heaven in Italy and found hell. Instead of training with the first team as promised, he was relegated to the youth team. When he showed up for his first professional training session, the manager shouted at him about what he was doing on the pitch and to go to hell.
As an Eintracht professional, he can smile about something like that today, but back then it was torture for him. Also that he had to share a moldy room with several players, and that no one looked after him when he broke his foot. "Actually, I should have left straight away. But it was good that I persevered. I developed a lot in terms of character and mentality during this time. I learned to defend myself."
The contract in Italy was finally terminated, Ebnoutalib returned home to Frankfurt - and couldn't find a club. FC Giessen finally convinced him to join them, even though the club only played in the regional league. Younes, the professional footballer? It just seemed like an illusion. But his talent did not remain hidden in Giessen. After six months, Elversberg signed the attacker, who after a short period of getting used to him became a second division goal hunter. After 12 goals in 17 games, Ebnoutalib was worth almost ten million for Eintracht Frankfurt during the 2024/25 winter break. And when Ebnoutalib scored in his first Bundesliga game in his hometown to make it 3-3 against Borussia Dortmund, his fairytale story was written for the first time.
But the twists and turns weren't enough. In the second game he suffered a serious knee injury, and when the Eintracht striker was fit again, the coach was no longer Dino Toppmöller, but Albert Riera. The Spaniard largely ignored Ebnoutalib and only allowed him three short appearances until the end of the season.
His prospects for the new season were better again with the new coach Adi Hütter. But no one could have imagined that Ebnoutalib would be able to make it into the German national team. Once again it became clear to what imponderables individual football happiness can depend. What was crucial for the 23-year-old was that sports director Markus Krösche was unable to borrow Arnaud Kalimuendo from Nottingham Forest as the number two striker behind Jonathan Burkardt as planned and hoped by the transfer deadline, as he had done in the second half of the season.
This was the only way Ebnoutalib remained number 2 in the Eintracht attack and suddenly had a chance of starting eleven because Hütter is an offensive-minded coach who likes to play with two leaders. And that's what happened on the first Bundesliga matchday. Ebnoutalib played alongside Burkardt - and scored all three Frankfurt goals against Union Berlin to make it 3-3. Jürgen Klopp has also known him since then and asked Eintracht, “Where did you get it?”
On Sunday (8:45 p.m. in the F.A.Z. live ticker for the Nations League and on ARD) the Eintracht storm could also be the German one in the international match against Greece. Klopp nominated Burkardt for the match in Augsburg after Havertz's injury. Since Ebnoutalib demonstrated his strengths on his debut, there is a good chance that the national coach will rely on the well-rehearsed Frankfurt duo, who have scored seven goals after four matchdays in this Bundesliga season. So Ebnoutalib's dream will continue for now. It is to be hoped that he will not be torn out again so quickly.
