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Robson Sharuko
Senior Sports Editor
A WORLD Cup bronze medalist, a Copa America gold medalist, a UEFA Champions League winner and a Danish giant helping his country to write one of the beautiful success stories at Euro 2020 .
Two are still standing, in the tough trenches of the English Premiership where, last year, a member of their Foreign Class of 2011, helped Liverpool end 30 years of pain, by winning the league championship.
One is still going strong, in the Bundesliga, and would certainly have been at Euro 2020, had his dreams not been crushed by an injury.
Another was the subject of legal proceedings, in November 2014, after a horror knee-high challenge on Cote d’Ivoire’s Gilles Yapi Yapo.
Two of them went searching for a chunk of the oil-rich Gulf fortune but one was sanctioned by his club’s leadership, in the United Arab Emirates, for his use of social media.
Six years later, another member of their Class of 2011, has joined the bandwagon to the Gulf, for an adventure in Saudi Arabia, where he has joined Al Tai FC.
Inevitably, others have retired from the game, age having finally caught up with some of them while, for others, they just felt the time had come, to explore life’s other interests.
Meet the TSG Hoffenheim Foreign XI!
The players, who were on the club’s books, when Knowledge Musona, arrived at the Bundesliga side, ten years ago.
Now, as the Warriors captain completes his European adventure, we look at what happened to the other foreigners, who were his teammates, in his first season in Germany.
ROBERTO FIRMINO (BRAZIL)
The pick of the Hoffenheim Foreign Class of 2011, the 29-year-old Brazilian is playing for the Samba Boys, as they try to defend their Copa America title.
The Brazilian forward arrived at the Bundesliga side, on January 1, 2011.
Two years later, he was subject of a €12 million bid, from Russian club, Lokomotiv Moscow, but it was Liverpool, who got their man, in June 2015, after splashing £29 million, for his services.
Firmino has helped his club finally win the English Premiership title, for the first time in 30 years, the 2019 UEFA Champions League, the 2019 FIFA Club World Cup and the 2019 Copa America.
RYAN BABEL (HOLLAND)
A former Liverpool forward, the 34-year-old Dutchman arrived at Hoffenheim, from the Reds, on January 25, 2011, for a fee of around £8 million, on a two-and-a-half-year deal.
However, after 18 months at Hoffenheim, in which he scored six goals, in 51 matches, he was released by the club on August 31, 2012, and returned to his boyhood team, Ajax Amsterdam, on a one-year deal.
He moved to Turkish side, Kasimpasa, before joining Al Ain, in the UAE where, in December 2015, he ran into trouble, after flouting the strict disciplinary protocols, at the club, with his use of social media.
Babel was demoted into the reserve side but Turkish giants, Besiktas, came calling for his services, in January 2017, where he became a key member of the side, which won the club’s 15th league title.
His performances attracted the attention of Fulham, who were in the English Premiership, and he signed a one-year deal, until the end of the 2019 season, before another move followed to Turkey, in the colours of Galatasaray.
He has a year left on his contract with the Turkish giants.
JANNICK VESTERGAARD (DENMARK)
The giant Danish defender, who is helping his country write one of the feel-good stories of Euro 2022, now plays for English Premiership side, Southampton.
He is set to turn 29, on August 3.
He began his senior career at Hoffenheim before moving to Weder Bremen, in January 2015, where he impressed Borussia Monchengladbach, who took him on board, in June 2016, on a transfer fee of around €12 million.
Three years ago, he moved to the English Premiership, after signing for Southampton, on July 13, 2018, on a four-year deal.
KOEN CASTEELS (BELGIUM)
The 29-year-old goalkeeper would have been at the Euro 2020 championships, with Belgium, had he not suffered an injury, which required surgery, in May this year.
He left Hoffenheim in January 2015, for VfL Wolfsburg, where he was immediately loaned to Weder Bremen.
Casteels was part of the Belgian squad for the 2018 World Cup where the Red Devils won the bronze medal, after beating England, in the third-place play-off.
OTHER MEMBERS OF THE FOREIGN CLASS OF 2011
Danny Williams, the 32-year-old American international, joined Hoffenheim on August 31, 2011, moved to English side Reading on June 25, 2013, on a four-year contract, before joining Huddersfield Town, on July 4, 2017.
Two years ago, he emerged in Cyprus, after joining Pafos but, in May last year, the club announced he had left, by mutual consent.
Fabian Johnson, the 33-year-old American international, arrived at Hoffenheim in July 2011, before moving to Borussia Monchengladbach, two years later, where he even scored a goal against Juventus, in a Champions League game, in November, 2015.
He is looking for a club, after leaving Monchengladbach, in May this year.
Joe Gyau, the 28-year-old American international, is now playing for MLS side FC Cincinnati while 37-year-old Srdan Lakic, of Croatia, has been in retirement in the past five years.
Ghanaian defender, Isaac Vorsah (33), played for a number of clubs, after leaving Hoffenheim in August 2012, including Red Bull Salzburg and in the Middle East where, just like Musona, he landed in Saudi Arabia at Al Ohod.
Andreas Ibertsberger, the 38 Austrian, has been in retirement, since May 2012, while 28-year-old Sandro Wieser, from Liechtenstein, was only capped in the Bundesliga just once, before moving to Austria, Switzerland and England.
He now plays for Vaduz, in his home country, but his career will always be remembered for that horror tackle on Yapi Yapo.
Dutchman Edson Rene Braafheid is now at Palm Beach Stars, in the United States, after a career which took him from Hoffenheim to America, via a stint with Italian side Lazio.
Bosnian international, Sejad Salihovic, went to the Chinese Super League before retiring, on April 9, 2019, after stints at St. Gallen (Switzerland) and Hamburger SV (Germany).
Online Reporter