Antonio Rudiger: This is the story of my life

By Antonio Rudiger

I am Antonio Rudiger and I was born in Berlin on 3rd March 1993. My father is German, my mother is from Sierra Leone but my whole family comes from Africa.

Our ‘team’ is made up of four sisters and a brother. I am the youngest one, the little one, although I am 190 cm tall.

We were never a wealthy family. My parents had to undergo sacrifices, especially after escaping from Sierra Leone due to the civil war.

However, they always insisted on the meaning of the word dignity and encouraged us to nurture our dreams. By the way, the other young boy of the house, my brother Sahr, is also a football player.

He played both for Borussia Dortmund and the German national team at youth level. Borussia was my springboard too, after playing at Hertha Zehlendorf.

At Dortmund, I played both for the U17 and U19 teams, before moving to Stuttgart, the club that gave me a reputation in professional football.

By the way, as a defender, Jerome Boateng and Mats Hummels are my role models.

Let’s take a step back. I began kicking a ball around at VfB Sperber Neukölln, a small club based in Berlin It was a tough neighbourhood, densely populated by immigrants, nothing to do with the wealthy students and artists it is nowadays. However, that neighbourhood runs through my veins — it is something that belongs to me.

The same applies to my African roots: it means a lot to me, they affected my culture and my way of being. I visited Sierra Leone when I was 15 and I would like to go back there as soon as possible to see how things are going. It is a country that needs help and I will try my best to do my bit although the magnitude of the problems is such that everyone’s help is needed.

So, to recap: Africa and Germany, different cultures, the opportunity to integrate and perceive the world through different eyes.

Thanks to my friends on the street and my mates in the dressing-room, I have never felt alone. In this melting pot of ethnic groups, I had the destiny in my name. If your name is Antonio, how can you not end up playing in Italy?

Last summer I chose Roma.