Frans Krätzig: Get the Bayern DNA in your blood from day one

He was one of the first to move into the FC Bayern Campus in 2017, and now Frans Krätzig is a bayern first-team player. He chatted to club magazine '51' about growing up in the club's boarding school, family, pressure and the Campus ghost who came one night.

Interview with Frans Krätzig

Frans, to start with, a question that you've certainly been asked before: why is your first name spelt with an "s"?
(smiles) "There's no particular reason, it's not a Dutch influence or anything, as I once read. My parents liked the name Franz but they wanted something special. And then they just spelt it with 's'. I sometimes get some funny looks in Bavaria, in Franz Beckenbauer country, but I'm used to that by now."

You were one of the first youth players to move in at the newly opened FC Bayern Campus in summer 2017. Take us on your journey, what did you have on you back then?
"Not much. A big bag, a rucksack, that was it. I was actually delayed moving in because my parents had booked our summer holiday a long time before – and we didn't want to cancel that. I remember how much respect I had on my first day, when I stood on the site. I'd visited the Campus before that but when you move in there on your own at 14 years of age, everything seems massive to you."

What's it like growing up as a footballer on Campus?
"You get the Bayern DNA in your blood from day one and realise very quickly that here it's all about winning, winning, winning. I found that very good because you learn from an early age how to handle pressure. I still remember what an unbelievable feeling it was in my first few games when I looked down and saw the Bayern badge on the left of my chest. Until then I only knew it from the TV."

Your friend Johannes Schenk, who's currently on loan at Preußen Münster, said that your Campus room was the meeting point for your group  because you had the biggest room.
"Tuesday and Wednesday was Champions League, Friday to Sunday was Bundesliga – and in between that we played on the console. We had lots of cool nights. I can reveal why I had the biggest digs, though. Before the rooms were allocated for the coming year, they always looked at who the tidiest is – and that person then got the honour of being given the biggest room. So, I earned it in some way (grins)."

You surely got up to a few pranks, too...
"That comes with the territory, doesn't it? But we never ran away – that wouldn't have been much use around the Campus anyway (laughs). We played hide-and-seek, for example, over the whole Campus grounds, including the fitness area and offices, until late at night. And one of the guys once snuck into the announcer's booth at night in the stadium, turned on all the speakers and pretended to be a ghost haunting the campus: 'Boo-hoo, I'm the Campus ghost' – that was very funny."

You've seen every year that many players don't make it. How do you handle that pressure?
"In the younger age groups, you don't realise how performance-based it is. I really felt the pressure from the U17s and U19s onward. There are phases in between when you think: this is exactly what I've wanted to do all my life – but what happens if it doesn't work out? In my second year with the U19s, I was out for seven months because of pubic tendinitis and a hernia. A hell of a long time, during which a lot went through my head. Will I come back? What would it be like to live at home again? What kind of studies would I be interested in? My U19 coach Danny Galm helped me a lot back then and supported me mentally."

So what exit strategy did you have?
"My parents have creative occupations. It's always impressed me when you can develop and design something freely. Interior design, for example, would've been an option. I think it's good to have something else to occupy your mind alongside football. I enroled on a course last year, which is ending soon. It's called 'Sport Management in Football', but it soon became clear to me that I can't think about football for 24 hours a day. I got back from training, had to study – and then it was again about football."

When you ask around on Campus, everyone raves about your determined character. Where does that come from?
"My entire family is very open and communicative. I learned early on how important friendliness and manners are in life. In addition, I had to find my own way as a young boy and was on my own. So, it's a mix of good upbringing and early independence – I hope my parents like that when they read it (laughs)."

How hard is it not to get swept away? 
"I was taught at home always to stay grounded. You should never get arrogant. On the flip side, a healthy confidence on the football pitch is not a bad thing if you want to assert yourself at FC Bayern."

We followed  Krätzig's progress in the Campus Stories series:

You played in central midfield for years at youth level. How did you end up as a left-back?
"You have to ask Holger Seitz actually. David Herold was sent on loan to Austria in the last winter break, and because of a lack of players Seitz thought he'd try me on the left of defence. After one training session I went to his office, he explained what he expected of me – and it worked really seamlessly. I like the role of full-back very much, but I don't want to rule out ever playing as a six, eight or 10 again."

It's not unusual for players who train as midfielders to take their first professional steps as full-backs: Philipp Lahm, Joshua Kimmich...
"Joshua Kimmich is a good role model in general. How you can be so fired up in every training session, how you want to win every training game so much – I sometimes stand next to him and think: wow, I want to be like that, that's exactly why we play football. Josh frequently impresses me."