Frankie Hejduk first made headlines as UCLAÆs surfing soccer player, before moving on to the 1996 Olympic team and the Tampa Bay Mutiny. After playing in the 1998 World Cup, he traded beach life for GermanyÆs Bundesliga.
STADIUM. The BayArena is Frankie HejdukÆs home away from home. ôItÆs got a built-in hotel, where we stay the night before every home game,ö he says. ôWith a league home game every other week, German Cup and European play, it means weÆre there a lot.
ôItÆs first-class. ThereÆs a nice restaurant, plus a built-in McDonaldÆs …ö
After a night at the Lindner Hotel, whose 122 rooms on six floors are integrated into the north stand, the team takes the field in one of GermanyÆs most modern stadiums. Every seat in BayArena is under a roof.
ôItÆs not too big,ö he says. ôItÆs closed in and holds about 25,000. So itÆs loud.
FANS. ôThe fans are rockinÆ,ö says Hejduk, who left the Tampa Bay Mutiny to join Leverkusen midway through the 1998-99 Bundesliga season. ôThereÆs two sections that really rock ù where they chant all game long. They support us really well and all the players respect the fans.
ôYeah … they chant my name when I do something good. They also like to do a æU-S-A, U-S-AÆ chant.ö
Hejduk lives in Cologne, which is just south of Leverkusen.
ôIn Leverkusen I get approached by fans,ö he said, ôbut not so much in Cologne. I had the long hair when I first arrived, and thatÆs when I did get approached all the time.
ôI loved it, because I didnÆt have that in the U.S., but after a while, it got tough to eat a restaurant meal and sign 15 autographs. So now I have short hair and people donÆt notice me so much.ö
THE RHINELAND. Few people would know about Leverkusen, a city of 161,493, were it not for the Bayer chemical plant and the soccer club that grew out of it in 1904. But Leverkusen lies in the middle of the Rhineland-Ruhr region ù the spiritual home of German soccer. The most densely populated area in Europe boasts 11 First and Second Division teams.
Cologne (K÷ln in German) is the jewel of the area.
ôI cruise around Cologne every day,ö he says. ôI like to hang out by the Rhine river, drink coffee at one of the cafes. At night, thereÆs an Irish pub where I watch soccer games.ö
The city is famous for the cologne 4711 (Echt K÷lnisch Wasser), invented by an Italian resident in the 18th century, and the Dom, a world-famous Gothic cathedral whose construction was begun in the 13th century and completed in 19th. It miraculously survived the RAFÆs 1942 bombing ù the first 1,000-bomber raid.
Ninety percent of the city centerÆs buildings were destroyed in the war. CologneÆs population is almost 1 million.
ôDuesseldorf is also a great city,ö Hejduk says. ôItÆs about 20 minutes away from Leverkusen and has a wonderful æAltstadtÆ ù æold city centerÆ ù but I donÆt go there that much.ö
DRIVING. ôIt takes me about 15 minutes to get to Leverkusen,ö Hejduk says. ôDriving here is great. ThereÆs three lanes. The right one is slow, the middle one is faster ù about 60-70 mph ù and the left lane is about 100 mph.
ôI take the fast lane.ö
FAMOUS COACHES. Few American players have, in such a short period, played under a trio of personalities like Christoph Daum, Rudi Voeller and Berti Vogts.
Current coach Vogts was a world champion as a player in 1974, Franz BeckenbauerÆs assistant coach when Germany won the 1990 World Cup, and head coach of GermanyÆs 1996 European Championship team.
ôHeÆs been great,ö Hejduk says. ôHeÆs really a good coach and itÆs night and day between him and Daum.ö
Daum was hailed as a miracle worker for turning Leverkusen into a perennial title contender after arriving in 1996. But a failed drug test in August led to his exile. Voeller, then GermanyÆs interim coach and Leverkusen general manager, stepped in for a few weeks before Vogts showed up. Voeller was one of GermanyÆs most popular players and the 1990 world champion has been credited for putting the national team back on track after his surprise appointment as coach.
ôI really had no chance under Daum,ö says Hejduk. ôI donÆt know why. When Rudi came, I got to play in a German Cup game and did decently, and then I started and played 75 minutes in a 0-0 tie with Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League. I also got my first league start of the year under Rudi.ö
Vogts gave Hejduk his second Bundesliga start of the season in a 4-2 win over Kaiserslautern. He was a reserve a week later when a loss at Bayern Munich knocked Leverkusen out of first place on goal difference.
ôUnder Daum,ö Hejduk says, ôI felt at times that I wasnÆt enjoying myself. I always gave 100 percent, but I found myself going to practice and not looking forward to it. ThatÆs never happened before.
ôDaum was much more of a tactician, and his practices were a lot about drills. VogtsÆ are about playing, just like RudiÆs. We play 5-against-2, 5-against-5, 8-against-8 … we do a lot of playing, and thatÆs what players want, because when you play, you work on everything ù shooting, dribbling passing …
ôThe first day Vogts arrived, he went into the treatment room and greeted every single player, asked each of us how we were doing. He pretty much does that every single day. With Daum, we exchanged maybe three words in three seasons.ö
THE SCANDAL. Tabloids reported on DaumÆs alleged drug use, and other alleged sordid details of his private life. The coach denied all of the charges. He stated he intended to take over from Voeller as Germany coach at the end of this Bundesliga season.
Then he failed a drug test.
ôIt was crazy,ö Hejduk says. ôI got back from the Olympics and thought, æOh God, whatÆs going on?Æ All these rumors were in the paper and we heard that he passed a urine test. Then we hear he failed the hair test and the next thing heÆs gone, reported to have left for Florida.ö
Hejduk said he did not suspect drug use. ôIt was really just one big rumor,ö he says. ôThen heÆs gone, and for me? Well, you donÆt want to see that happen to somebody, but, for me, it didnÆt matter.ö
LAST YEARÆS DEBACLE. Needing only a tie against unfancied Unterhaching in the last game of last season to clinch its first Division I title, Leverkusen lost 2-0, giving up first place to Bayern Munich on goal difference.
ôI traveled to the game but didnÆt suit up,ö Hejduk says. ôThere were all sorts of parties planned in Leverkusen, but when we got back it was a ghost town. It was a major buzz-kill. I had planned to stay four days for celebrations, but left the next day.ö
SCHEDULE. ôOur league games are each Saturday, usually at 3:30,ö Hejduk says. ôWe usually fly to road games the night before, after practicing in Leverkusen. The coach gives us the lineup the night before the game.
ôOn Sunday, players who played go on a 20-minute run. Players who donÆt play 5-against-5 for about 45 minutes.
ôMondays we have off. Practices the rest of the week usually last two hours. Afterward I go to the gym for a couple of hours. I do that to try and get bigger, because in Germany other defenders tend to be 6-foot, 6-1.ö
LANDON DONOVAN. The other American on the Leverkusen roster has yet to see First Division action but he practices with the first team.
ôI got to know him a lot better during the Olympics,ö Hejduk says. ôLast year I didnÆt see that much of him because he always played with the amateurs, but now I see him everyday. We joke together. We hang out at the gym.ö
The 18-year-old Donovan signed with Leverkusen in 1999.
ôHeÆs doing well and heÆll make it in the future,ö Hejduk says. ôItÆs just that thereÆs a lot of competition for playing time. HeÆs got to compete with world-class players like Ulf Kirsten, Paulo Rink, Oliver Neuville … but heÆll make it.ö
FOOD. ôI almost always go out to eat,ö Hejduk says, ôand itÆs easy to find good places in Cologne. ItÆs real meat-and-potato cuisine. I didnÆt eat much meat before I came, now I eat a couple steaks a week.
ôAnd Cologne has itÆs own special beer, K÷lsch, which is a good brew.ö
MEDIA. Ten to 15 reporters show up to Leverkusen practices.
ôThe players get along pretty much with the press,ö Hejduk says. ôEveryone keeps cool. The press even travels on the same plane with the players. In general, the reporters tell it like it is and donÆt step overboard.ö
German newspapers and magazines grade the players on every game.
ôThe players always want a good rating,ö he says, ôeven if they had a bad game. A player can have the worst game of his life, but heÆll still want a good rating. I really donÆt pay attention. A player knows if he played well or not without reading the paper.ö
THE FUTURE. Hejduk says that heÆs enjoying Germany more than ever because it takes a couple of years to get to know teammates, and his command of the language has improved.
ôNow that IÆm getting a chance to play again things are looking up,ö he says. ôItÆs cold here and of course I canÆt surf, but I decided when I came that IÆd be here for a long time and enjoy what there is to offer. And thatÆs what IÆm doing.
ôItÆs great being in a place where soccer is so important.ö
by Soccer America executive editor Mike Woitalla