Waldemar Anton: Why you can always rely on him | OneFootball

What are your aims, hope and dreams for the new year?Both the team and I have set ourselves a points target. We want to do as well as possible this season, so it's important that we perform at our best in every game.

Can you tell us what this points target is?

Actually, I can do tell you. We've divided the season into blocks, and we need four wins in each block to reach the points target. Everyone can work out how many that is themselves (laughs).

If the tabloids are to be believed, you no longer have any goals for this season after your unfortunate exit from the DFB Cup...

Our exit from the DFB Cup against Leverkusen was very, very tough to take. We had actually set ourselves the goal of winning the whole competition because you have more chance of winning the cup than the other two competitions we're in because there are far fewer games. But that doesn't mean the season is over and we still have ambitious goals. It would be the wrong approach if we went into games without believing we can win. Our initial goal is to win the next few games and perform at our best, and then  we'll see how everything else turns out in due course.

The myth that a professional footballer's working day ends after 90 minutes of training has long been dispelled. What does a typical weekday look like for you?

If I don't have to take the children to nursery, it's great for me because it means I get an extra half hour in bed and can still get to training quite early. As you get older, it's crucial that you recover well and activate your muscles properly. Then you have training followed by strength exercises, recovery exercises and treatments. It all adds up. It sounds simple, but it's really time-consuming. But I can't complain. It's exactly how I imagined it would be as a child. But of course, you have to invest a lot to be able to perform at your best on the pitch.

Is it the icing on the cake to play in front of over 81,000 fans at SIGNAL IDUNA PARK on a Saturday?

Even though I've already played a few games, it's an incredible feeling to play in front of the fans. I always think back to my first games when things like this happen. I'll probably only really understand what it all means when I hang up my boots and reflect on it.

You got your secondary school diploma with advanced courses in biology and mathematics. Are you still a fan of numbers?

Yes, and I'm looking forward to being able to help my children a little when they have their first maths lessons. I hope I still know how to do it, because it's been a long time. I've always had a knack for working with numbers and an understanding of numbers. Maths has always come very easily to me.

84%.

Impressive! It was exactly 83.3% away against Mainz. In which game did you contest the most tackles? That's a good question. I need some help.

24 at home against Stuttgart. Where did you win every header?  I'd say against Heidenheim.

150 kilometres away as the crow flies, in Munich. In which game did you have the most shots at goal? I think it was Köln, wasn't it?

Correct. Three shots, but none of them went in unfortunately. Karim Adeyemi has clocked over 35 km/h. What was your top speed? 33! (Editor's note: Correct! In the match against Köln, Waldemar Anton was recorded at a top speed of 32.8 km/h).

On paper, that's not much slower than the speed of a fast sprinter. Or does 2 km/h make a huge difference on the pitch? No, not at all. As a centre-back, you're in a different position. If you don't necessarily start running together from a line, then you have an advantage as a centre-back because you anticipate where you need to be and how to run to the ball. Because there's always a ball in play...

Who have you had the most touches of the ball against so far?

Wow, those are really good questions. I haven't thought about that before. Most touches of the ball were against Union Berlin, right?

Heidenheim. That's right, we also had an extra player. (Editor's note: Heidenheim's Budu Zivzivadze was shown a red card in the 22nd minute.)

As a right-sided centre-back or central defender in a back three, are the demands on you as a playmaker greater than when playing as a centre-back in a back four?

Not really. The system is a bit different, but the tasks are basically the same for a centre-back: first and foremost, you have to defend.

Where do you prefer to play: on the right or in the centre of a back three? 

I like both positions very much, but if I could choose, I would play in the centre because you can control more from that position and communicate more with the boys, which is very, very important throughout the game. The main thing is to be able to communicate with both defensive midfielders and not just one. But that's not always possible because of the crowd and the atmosphere.

In Jürgen Kohler's day, defenders were considered to be tough guys. However, we have found only one Bundesliga match this season in which you conceded more than one foul: you had two in Augsburg. Has the coach instructed you to give the opponent as few free kicks as possible? 

No, not at all. We have very, very good centre-backs here at Borussia Dortmund. Everyone aims to win the ball and keep it in play. Whether it's the number of tackles, touches of the ball or shots,  your personal performance data varies significantly from game to game depending on the opponent.

What is striking, however, is that the distance you cover ranges from 11.1 to 11.6 kilometres per game, a range of just 500 metres. Can you explain this? 

That has actually changed dramatically compared to the past. We want to have as much possession as possible, and nowadays, even the centre-backs have to be able to open up the game, so it's important to make runs off the ball. Even if you don't get the ball, it's still very important because it opens up other spaces. Those are the metres you cover with and without the ball. And that's also the way we play: defending on the front foot, keeping the pressure on, not waiting around, playing man-to-man. That's how you rack up the kilometres.

Note: The interview was conducted at the beginning of December, so Bundesliga match days 1–12 formed the basis for this performance data.

In his first year at BVB, Waldemar Anton clocked up fewer kilometres. One of the reasons for this was two consecutive muscle fibre tears, which were the first serious thigh injuries in his ten-year professional career. This happened at a time when Borussia Dortmund was in the midst of a worsening crisis and could have really used the experience and leadership qualities of the former VfB Stuttgart captain. That has completely changed at the start of this season. "Whether he's playing at right centre-back or in the centre, where he has even more responsibility, he's a constant presence," says Niko Kovac about Waldemar Anton.  

How important is it for you that Niko Kovac has absolute confidence in you? Confidence is very important for a player. The desire to always play doesn't come from nowhere – you have to be mentally prepared and put the hard work in yourself. Last season didn't go quite as the team or I would have liked, especially at the beginning. We were definitely unlucky at times, but I don't really believe in that, to be honest. I think it's more about performance and if you work hard whether you play or not. Towards the end of the season, things became much more stable and we still managed to qualify for the Champions League after performing significantly better and climbing back up the table. That was extremely important. We generally have a good atmosphere in the team, where everyone pushes themselves to their limits in training and in matches. You can't rest because there's a player behind you who also wants to play. That's crucial. It's the only way we'll get better.

Work. Work hard for everything. That's what his parents taught him. Waldemar Anton was born as Vladimir Anton in Olmaliq in the former Soviet republic of Uzbekistan on 20 July 1996. His parents are Russian Germans who moved to Hanover with their son as ethnic German resettlers in 1998. Waldemar could hardly speak German when he started nursery, but he attended a good secondary school and successfully passed his secondary school exams with advanced courses in mathematics and biology. His nickname is ‘Waldi’, but his actual first name is ‘Wowa’. Anton describes himself as a street footballer and said in an interview with Sport-Bild: "We lived above a kebab shop. We turned the bicycle racks in front of it into goals and played three against three. At the end, the winner got a kebab." He played for a club for the first time at the age of seven, and in 2008, at the age of 12, he joined the youth academy of Hannover 96. In August 2015, shortly after his 19th birthday, he played his first game in the Regionalliga, and just under a year later he made his debut in the Bundesliga 2. In 2017, he was promoted to the Bundesliga. In the summer of 2018, shortly after his 22nd birthday, he was named captain by then-coach André Breitenreiter, making him the youngest captain in the Bundesliga.

You came to Germany 27 years ago as an ethnic German resettler. What shaped you? What were the moments that you would now say were decisive?

Seeing how my parents built everything up here was probably the most important thing as a child. My mother told me that she, my father and I came here without any luggage or belongings. And then, as a child, you think that you have to help too. That shaped me.

In your first months at nursery, you are said to have spoken hardly a word of German, but you managed to pass your secondary school exams. What advice would you give to young people who come to Germany with a similar background – especially here in Dortmund, where the Nordstadt district is characterised by immigration?

You have to have a dream, and you have to believe in it. That's something that can always lift you up when things aren't going so well. And, of course, you have to do everything you can to achieve what you set out to do. And it helps to listen to your parents. You may not always want to admit it, but they often give good advice. I'm sure I've also done things that weren't necessarily what they advised, so then you fall down. The second time around, you realise that you can't do that now and they were right after all. I could imagine that it might also help if you have an older brother or sister.

Did you grow up with any siblings?

No, I didn't have any siblings.

Would you have liked to have had any siblings? Yes, I would have liked to have had some siblings. But thankfully, I always had a few older friends who looked out for me a bit and who had also gone through some tough times.

When you walk past a kebab shop today, what's your first thought? My childhood and playing football in front of the kebab shop. Those are things that will stay with me forever.

And the winner got a kebab? Yes, that's right. They always got a delicious kebab.

Photography: Alexandre Simoes

The text is taken from the member magazine BORUSSIA. BVB members receive BORUSSIA free of charge every month. Click here to access the membership application form.