I captained Christoph Klarer and I will never forget the way he treated me
Birmingham City are set to be captained at Wembley by Christoph Klarer, who has taken over on-field leadership duties from Krystian Bielik since January
Christoph Klarer started his first season at Birmingham City on the bench – he looks set to end it by leading the team out at Wembley.
Klarer, a summer signing from German side Darmstadt, watched Blues open their League One season with a 1-1 draw against Reading in August. He replaced Dion Sanderson in the heart of Blues’ back-line within a week and has taken the captain’s armband from Krystian Bielik since the turn of the year.
No-one has played more minutes for Blues in their mammoth 2024/25 campaign than 6ft 4in centre-back Klarer.
“As soon as I saw him play for the first time I knew he would put his head where other people wouldn’t put their feet,” Blues manager Chris Davies said. “He’s brave, he’s aggressive, he’s strong and will come through and win the ball every single time. We know we need a dominant centre-back and he is absolutely dominant.”
There’s every chance Klarer’s performances will be recognised at Blues’ end-of-season awards dinner and maybe even by his peers in League One.
But the way in which Klarer, still 24 and learning his trade, has led Blues alongside club captain Bielik this season has arguably been more impressive.
It’s a quality Davies pointed out quite early on having watched Klarer lead by example in training, despite being given a watching brief at the start of the season.
Not every player would behave in such a selfless manner. Klarer always has.
“What I like about Christoph is the way he treated me while I was on the pitch and he was on the bench,” says Andre Hoffman, a central defender and former team-mate of Klarer at Fortuna Düsseldorf. “That was the main point when I got the feeling he is a really good guy.
“Of course, he showed in every session that he wants to be on the pitch and absolutely focussed, but I liked the way he treated me when I was in front of him.
“The way he treated me in that time and when we played together, and the time we spent together out of the pitch, he was so clear in his mind and for a player of his age I had never seen this before.”
Klarer was only 20 when he joined Düsseldorf from Southampton, where he spent the final part of his youth career. He stayed at Düsseldorf for three years before moving to newly-promoted Bundesliga side Darmstadt in 2023.
As the captain of Düsseldorf, Hoffman is well placed to comment on Klarer’s leadership credentials.
He added: “It was not the time or age where he could be the captain on the pitch, but I quickly got the feeling that he could be captain of a team at some point. I’m not surprised he has been captain in some games for Birmingham now.
“He was clear in his mind, absolutely. He always had a clear opinion about the game and he communicated a lot, on and off the pitch. He has the quality to make players around him better, this is the main point where I can say he can be a captain.
“We often went out for coffee and talked about football when we were together. He was the guy who also thinks about the team and the club off the pitch. He really loves football and thinks so much about the team.
“I think the Southampton step at a really young age was a big experience for him. In Dusseldorf he grew as a person and a player, at the beginning he was on the bench most of the time, but at the end he was absolutely a starter.
“The move to Darmstadt was a big platform for him to play in the first German league. That was the step where I think he grew as a player a lot because it was tough to be the defender of Darmstadt in the Bundesliga.
“Now, in Birmingham, he decided to sign for a traditional club. He can see a big chance to be successful with a big club. He should get promoted and be a player in the Championship, which is maybe the best second league in the world. He sees a chance there.”
Hoffman was only too happy to talk about Klarer. The pair have remained friends from their Dusseldorf days and discuss their respective fortunes over phone calls and messages regularly.
Like most of Klarer’s inner circle, Hoffman was taken aback when he swapped Germany’s top flight for England’s third tier last year. Klarer bought into the idea of journeying from League One to the Premier League with Blues and step one – return to the Championship – has been relatively straightforward.
“Of course, it was a surprise for me,” Hoffman admitted. “At the first look it is a step down from the Bundesliga, where he played 30 games, to a third league club in England but everyone knows Birmingham is not a typical third league club. The signings they did last summer, including Chris, are all signings for the Championship.
“He sees a big, big chance to play in the Championship in just 12 months. Everyone knows how big that platform is.”
Klarer’s bet on Blues has paid off and he’s played a bigger role than even he could have imagined.