How futsal shaped Axel Witsel to become a top professional | OneFootball

Ahead of Borussia Dortmund’s clash with Werder Bremen, midfielder Axel Witsel opened up on his early futsal days and how it helped him become a top professional.

In an interview with the Bundesliga’s official website, Witsel explained that his father was always his number one source of motivation.

“My dad played football – not at a high level like first division, a smaller division in Belgium – so I was always at his game, every weekend.

“He played futsal also in the first division in Belgium for 12 years. At the beginning, I was more interested in playing futsal than football. I don’t know why.

“I was always with my dad and then my dad said to me: ‘you will have more future in football than futsal’.

“Because the level of the first division of football and futsal in Belgium – there is a big difference.

“Football is more famous than futsal. And then I came to Standard Liege when I was nine years old.”

When asked if being a professional footballer, Witsel claims that was always his top priority, even at a young age.

“Straight away. Like I said, at nine or 10 years old. You have the stadium and then a big road to go to the academy.

“I won’t say in the mountains, but it’s uphill. So in the rear-view mirror inside of the car, you can see the stadium and I just said to my dad: ‘one day I just want to play in this stadium’.

“We were driving to the academy. My dad said: ‘yeah, you can do it, but you’ll have to work really hard’.

“And I said: ‘yeah, I will, don’t worry’. And I was like nine or 10. So, at that time it was already my objective, yeah.”