Would you rather go out into the sun and lose two days of travel or save time, train at home and freeze? Borussia Dortmund chose the warm variant to prepare for the second part of the Bundesliga season after a short Christmas break, Frankfurter Eintracht opted for the cold one. On Friday (8:30 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Bundesliga and on Sky) the two teams will meet in the arena in Frankfurt’s city forest. Whoever wins has made the right decision.
The training ground opposite the stadium’s opposing stand was in immaculate condition on Monday despite an outside temperature of minus three degrees, and the Eintracht professionals were unfazed by the cold, the defenders Arthur Theate and Rasmus Kristensen even wearing shorts.
One player managed to make an impact in a different way – Younes Ebnoutalib. Recently signed by second division club Sportvereinigung Elversberg in the hope of scoring as many goals as possible as quickly as possible, he scored four goals in a three-game series of small-field training games. The way he anticipated, moved and prevailed in some scenes against the best Eintracht defenders at least suggested that things could work better with the new Burkhardt replacement striker than with the old Wahi and Batshuayi.
“An honor to play for my city”
“It’s an honor to be here, a dream to play for my city,” said Ebnoutalib after training. The striker has two big advantages over his predecessors. Firstly, he came to the Main in very good form (twelve goals this season), and secondly, he returned to his homeland, so he didn’t have to get used to a new environment or football culture. Growing up in the north-west of Frankfurt, where Kalbach, Heddernheim and the north-west city were his territory, Eintracht was his main point of reference for football from an early age.
Dressed in bed linen printed with the eagle, he dreamed of his great career. He not only dreamed, but worked towards his goal with much greater meticulousness, consistency and passion than his peers. It may be normal that he skipped school to play football, but that he refused to eat fast food to stay fit is rather unusual. “Cristiano Ronaldo has always been my great role model. And he also trained a lot to optimize his body,” says Ebnoutalib.
Much of his attitude and discipline was instilled in him by his father. Faissal Ebnoutalib won Olympic silver in Taekwondo for Germany in Sydney 2000 and runs a martial arts school in Frankfurt after ending his career as a high-performance athlete. “Since I was three, he took me to training, like my sister and brother. From him we learned to never give up, to always keep going.” Which helped him deal with the bitter side of professional football.
Just yelled at in Perugia
At 18, he accepted an offer from Italy that seemed promising to him and his advisor. AC Perugia was playing in the second division at the time. But the club treated the talent with anything but compassion. At his very first training session, the manager shouted at him about what he was doing on the pitch and to go to hell. “The communication wasn’t exactly straight,” commented Ebnoutalib smugly on Monday.
Today he can smile about something like that, but back then it was torture for him. Also that he had to share a room with several players and that no one looked after him when he broke his foot. “Actually, I should have left straight away. But it was good that I held on, otherwise I probably wouldn’t be in Frankfurt today,” says the striker. “I’ve developed a lot in terms of character and mentality during this time. I was too quiet back then, I learned to defend myself.”
FC Gießen convinced him to continue his career in the regional league because of its proximity to Frankfurt and because no higher-class clubs were interested. His talent did not go unnoticed there; Elversberg signed him during the 2024/25 winter break. After six months of getting used to it, Ebnoutalib became a two-league goal hunter in this first half of the season. And Eintracht trusts him to score regularly in the first division. She transferred almost ten million euros in transfer fees to Elversberg.
“Taekwondo helped me a lot”
Does he think he’s ready for the Bundesliga or does he still have to learn? “I feel ready, I want to be ready,” the professional answered the question on Monday, but added: “Of course you can always learn, and I definitely want to do that.” In his first major media appearance, Ebnoutalib conveyed a confident but not boastful impression. He can speak unbiasedly about his strengths: “finishing, speed, liveliness, physicality.” His ball handling is also more than decent; he describes himself as a street footballer.
All coaches have highlighted his rare mix of size (1.91 meters), agility and speed. Which, in addition to his football-specific talent, also has to do with the elementary school of taekwondo that he enjoyed through his father. “Taekwondo has helped me a lot; for example, I have never had a muscle injury.” Football icons Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Robert Lewandowski also benefited from their martial arts past throughout their football careers.
Anyone who saw Ebnoutalib compete against Robin Koch in training can imagine that his skills will also apply at Bundesliga level. But that is far from certain. What is certain: “I will do everything I can to meet expectations.”
