Quality Time | Alessandro Schöpf, presented by GE Appliances

In this edition of 'Quality Time' presented by GE Appliances, Vancouver Whitecaps FC midfielder Alessandro Schöpf shares his favourite spots in Vancouver, his experience playing in Europe, and his passion for helping youngsters develop.

Yeah, of course. A lot of people, especially my friends, family, and people who I know they follow the league. Also, other people recognize the league more and more there. I think moves like Messi did now, he moved here also, it’s good for MLS because a lot of people will be watching Messi so even more people will be interested.

What are the main differences between playing in MLS and in Europe?

The difference between playing in MLS and Europe is, I would say, it’s more technical, the technical level I think is way higher than here, it all goes a little bit faster but individually here there’s really good players and especially the defenders most of the time are very strong and fast, so in a duel, one-v-one, I think it’s even harder here to win those duels and it’s also hard because there’s a lot of transition in the game, so you need to run a lot, you need to cover a lot of space during a game so I would say those are the most different things.

In the past couple years, we’ve seen many Bundesliga players make the move to MLS, do a lot of people follow the league over there and is it growing more?

Yeah, of course. A lot of people, especially my friends, family, and people who I know they follow the league. Also, other people recognize the league more and more there. I think moves like Messi did now, he moved here also, it’s good for MLS because a lot of people will be watching Messi so even more people will be interested.

There’s a lot of young players on the team, what’s it been like to pass on your knowledge and experience from your time in Europe to them?

It’s great fun here with the young players because all of them are pushing very hard and training very well. They try to do their best every day for themselves but also for the team, giving their best. I think we have very good young players here in our club, especially the players that are coming up from last year’s second team and also players that have joined our team in the transfer window. But yeah, I try to give them advice, try to give them the confidence for what they need, try to help them in terms of playing the game, in terms of how is this in Europe to try to explain to them what football is about and what matters the most about the game. I think those are the main points I talk to them about and I feel like they also understand and learn so I’m happy to have those guys around me. I can also even learn from them because sometimes they’re just having fun with the game and not thinking about other things so yeah, it’s a win/win situation for both sides.

Who’s been your best mentor during your career?

My best mentor during my career has always been my wife so she gave me the confidence, I think if it’s going very good and well, she doesn’t need to talk to me but if there’s like bad moments or worries or hard moments then she’s always there for me, always trying to push me, to keep me in form or to do even better and she’s looking out for me even more [in tough moments] and to carry me. Yeah, she’s the one.

What is one thing outside of football you are really interested in?

Maybe the real estate market, so I bought already some properties in Germany and Austria and yeah, I like it, I like to look, to search for houses, also how the houses look like. Here in Vancouver, it’s a different style of how they build the houses and what the houses look like so yeah, it’s very interesting to me.

Describe what it’s like to play at BC Place.

To play at BC Place, it feels like home, it feels like our stadium, our turf, it feels great to play in front of our fans and to be a strong team at home. I think we are a strong team at home, most of our games we win so for me it’s always special to play there and yeah, of course I hope that we can keep it up, that we are that strong at home.

Describe what it’s like to sing ‘Stand By Me’ with the fans after wins at BC Place.

Yeah, that’s a very good moment because we know then that we won the game and we have good feelings after the game, good energy when you win games and especially we get to celebrate it with the crowd so that makes it a lot of fun to that.

What’s your favourite moment of your career with the ‘Caps so far?

My favourite moment I think is to win back-to-back Canadian Championships. It was a very special moment for all of us and it was a very special moment to see it, to feel it, and to be with the team. That was I think the best experience.

What do you love most about Vancouver?

What I love most about Vancouver is the flexibility, you can do a lot here. You can go to the beach, you can go on a hike in the mountains, you can go to Downtown to walk around or drink a coffee so there’s lots of things you can do and that’s what I love the most.

Is there a favourite spot you have in the city? Could be a restaurant, park, shop or place.

My favourite spot is Robson Street, I like it there the most because there’s a lot of shops, there’s coffee shops but you can also do a little shopping.

What is one thing you haven’t done yet in Vancouver but want to do soon?

The Harbour Air flight, that’s what my wife and I want to do one day and go for a flight over Vancouver to see it from up in the air.

How is your family enjoying Vancouver?

They are enjoying Vancouver a lot so far, they love it as much as I do and we are happy here. My wife’s very happy here, [my son] Romeo is doing very good here and happy. Especially in the summer, we love it here because the weather is always nice, always beautiful, always good weather and for me the city of Vancouver is even more pretty, more beautiful, so we are enjoying our time here a lot.

Who’s one celebrity you’d most like to meet?

I’ll go with Justin Bieber I think, because he’s like a world star and there’s so much pressure on him, all the people know him. I would like to talk to him about how it feels, how he feels, and maybe also to see his perspective about things and about life. It would be very interesting.

What’s your favourite genre of music?

R&B, I’m listening most of the time to R&B but also German rap a lot.

Who’s your favourite music artist?

I’ll go with RAF Camora, I listen to him the most.