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Bebou: ''Racism has no place in our society''
Bebou spent most of his youth in the Rhineland after moving to Germany aged 11, where he joined his mother, who was already working in the country. Last summer, he made Heidelberg his new home. ''I feel really happy here, Heidelberg is a great place. It's peaceful and quiet, which suits me perfectly,'' says Bebou, who is equally happy at his new club: ''I'm overjoyed to be here at TSG. This is easily the best team I've played in so far and the conditions are perfect for me to keep developing and improving.''
The 25-year-old can trace his footballing development back to Togo - where he played under completely different conditions to those he's used to now. ''I played football outside every day - and in the most stereotypical way you can imagine: barefooted, with a homemade ball.'' The move to Germany was a leap into the unknown: ''I didn't know anything about Germany. We didn't have any internet or social media back then. We got there and found ourselves in a completely different world.''
Football helped him adjust to his new life and make new friends. But he never thought he would make it as a professional. ''Until U18 level I was still just playing for VfB Hilden, a bog-standard amateur club where the first-team players would have beer and bratwurst after games. Before I moved to the Fortuna Düsseldorf U18s, I had only ever played football for fun. I had no desire to become a pro because I just didn't think it was a realistic goal. It was more a remote dream than anything else. But then, as I moved up a level, I started to take the sport more seriously and that sent me on my way to where I am today.'' Bebou is grateful for all the years in which he was able to enjoy football as a hobby, without the pressures that come with it now. In 2017, he left Fortuna Düsseldorf, where he made his first-team debut aged 19, and joined Hannover 96. Then, last summer, he moved to TSG Hoffenheim.''
