City SC center back Timo Baumgartl, right, talks with teammate Joshua Yaro on Monday, Jan. 13, 2025, at the team鈥檚 training facility during the first day of camp for the upcoming season.
Newly acquired 蜜芽传媒 City SC defender Timo Baumgartl admits it: He鈥檚 someone who speaks his mind.
Sometimes it can be a good thing. He鈥檚 done mental health ads in his native Germany, stressing the importance of talking about problems with others and about how it has helped him, either dealing with the pressures of possible relegation or with testicular cancer, for which he had surgery and chemotherapy in 2022.
Sometimes it can be a bad thing, like when he criticized his coach with German club Schalke and got suspended.
Sometimes it can be something in the middle, like when he talks about some of his first days in 蜜芽传媒, when he arrived just as the big snowstorm hit in early January.
鈥淣ow I know that when there鈥檚 snow, you guys are really confused and don鈥檛 know what to do,鈥 he said.
It didn鈥檛 help that he was staying in a hotel near City SC鈥檚 training facility, didn鈥檛 have a car and had to try to find an open restaurant that he could walk to at a point when much of the city shut down. He finally found one, where he ordered two helpings of nachos because he鈥檚 a vegetarian and it was only thing on the menu that didn鈥檛 have meat.
鈥淚鈥檓 a guy who always says we are as a player, we are role models, so we have a different chance to get our opinions or our things into the newspaper, to other people,鈥 he said, 鈥渂ecause we are known as players. So we have a different chance. And I always use it for good things. I was for mental health because it鈥檚 important part of my life to talk about mental health, to talk about that it鈥檚 a strength to talk with other people about their problems, and I want to use my publicity to do that.鈥
Baumgartl has a new world to explore and plenty to talk about after signing with City SC in November to strengthen its center back position, where the team鈥檚 first choice at the position, Joakim Nilsson, has missed more than half of the team鈥檚 games in its first two seasons to a string of injuries. Baumgartl brings experience, playing in the first and second divisions in Germany along with a season in the Netherlands, as well as experience with his teammates, having played on the German under-21 squad with most every other German on the team.
鈥淗e鈥檚 very good on the ball,鈥 said one of those past and present teammates, Eduard Lowen. 鈥淗e鈥檚 good at breaking lines. He鈥檚 good with his head, very good ball position player. And also very strong defensive-wise, I think he鈥檚 a great player for the team.鈥
When Baumgartl was just starting as a pro, he told his girlfriend he would one day play in America. (The two, who met in high school, are still together.) The seeds may have been sown in his hometown of Boblingen in southern Germany, home to a U.S. Marine Corps base offices of several American companies, like IBM and HP. He said sporting director Lutz Pfannenstiel first contacted him in May, and after two trips to 蜜芽传媒 with his girlfriend, he liked it and decided this was maybe the time to live in America.
鈥淚 like the culture,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 like the language. It鈥檚 also, for me, a good opportunity to learn the language better. Also for after the career, it鈥檚 a good thing. I saw that the league is developing.鈥
He may not have thought it would happen this soon, though. The 28-year-old Baumgartl signed a two-year contract with Schalke in the German second division prior to the 2023-24 season, but he didn鈥檛 make it to the end. He didn鈥檛 hit it off with the coach, and when he questioned some team tactics after an early loss, he got suspended for a week. That coach eventually was fired but it didn鈥檛 go much better with the second coach, and Baumgartl was benched and then suspended again.
鈥淚t was a difficult part of my life,鈥 Baumgartl said. 鈥淚t was difficult because I take the decision, and every time I take a decision, I鈥檓 confident, and I say it was the right decision afterwards. I think about it, and still, I don鈥檛 want to miss this experience because it鈥檚 helped me in such different ways, like mental strength. But it was not an easy year.
鈥淚鈥檓 a guy who has his own opinion, who has an opinion of football, who also tells the opinion. Because in my life, it鈥檚 about telling people the truth in the face. That鈥檚 one part of me. So I have my opinion, I going to share it. I鈥檓 just the guy who had the success of the team in my head. So I want to just bring every team further. So that was the reason why I said it. In fact, at the end, I thought about it, and maybe it was the wrong place to do it, but I did it also in meetings.
鈥淎t the end, it was a position of mine to do it. You can think about it, whether it鈥檚 good or not. I learned from it. We鈥檙e in Germany. We are more sensitive with words. So it may be a mistake from me.鈥
Baumgartl not only speaks his mind, but he鈥檚 studying it. He is in the process of finishing up a degree in psychology from a German university. He just has a paper left to write.
鈥淚鈥檓 always interested in what鈥檚 going on in the mind and the head of people,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 was always interested in how groups are working, so that鈥檚 why I chose it. And I always said, like, 鈥業 was good in school. Why I don鈥檛 use it for studying?鈥 Because here, as a soccer player, we have time in the afternoon, and I don鈥檛 want to waste it on playing (computer) games. I just want to do something for the head. It鈥檚 always important to have a second thing to do in life. That鈥檚 what I chose to do.鈥
And it鈥檚 one more thing for him to talk about.
