Ilkay Gündogan has had an almost perfect European Championship so far. He is also trying to do justice to his captaincy and father role with equal success.
Midfield strategist Ilkay Gündogan (33) is currently impressing the German national team at the European Championships. Reaching the round of 16 is already a done deal, and the group victory is now to be sealed in the match against Switzerland on Sunday evening (9:00 p.m., Das Erste). Before the game-changing match, captain Gündogan spoke to the German news channel about the difficult balancing act of balancing the European Championships in Germany with life as a family man.
Gündogan has been married to model Sara Arfaoui (29) since 2022, he has been under contract with FC Barcelona since 2023 and their son Kais was born in the same year. At least during the European Championships, he does not see his family nearly as often as he would like: “It’s not that easy. […] The little one shouldn’t have to sit on a plane every week or stay in hotels. Luckily, these days there are things like Facetime – of course, that doesn’t even come close to replacing personal closeness, but I can still talk to my wife every day and see the little one too.”
The last time he visited his family was after the friendly match against Greece on June 8th, “for two days in Barcelona.” In the near future, he hopes that it will be the other way round: “I’m sure they’ll visit me again at a game soon.” After the tournament, the family holiday is next.
What language is spoken in the Gündogan household?
Although the German captain has Turkish roots, another “official language” prevails in the Gündogan household: “When speaking to Kais, we both try to focus on English.” This is due not only to his own origins but also to that of his wife: “My wife’s mother tongue is French, but she also speaks Italian because she lived and worked in Italy for years. And I come from a German-Turkish household. In Barcelona, almost everyone only speaks Spanish. The compromise between all of this is usually English.”
Source: Stern
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
