Leo Sauer has been playing for the red and white of Feyenoord since the summer of 2022 and made his debut for the Rotterdam main squad in the Champions League this season. At the age of 16, the Slovak winger moved from MSK Zilina to Rotterdam, where he is now working on his career.
Leo Sauer was already featured in Feyenoord’s talent books at a young age. In March 2022 he will play a tournament in the Netherlands with Slovakia U17. With head scout Mark Ruijl on behalf of Feyenoord in the stands, he scored against the Dutch team, among others. Ruijl then knows for sure: Sauer must go to Feyenoord.
And so it happens. In August 2022, Sauer will come to Rotterdam as a mercenary. His father is happy with his son’s transition. “Dutch football is perfect for young players, especially for attackers. Attacking football is usually played. But above all, Leo himself really wanted to go to Feyenoord,” father Julius Sauer tells Feyenoord Magazine. Less than a year later, Leo Sauer made the permanent move to Rotterdam and signed a three-year contract.
Sauer will make his debut for Feyenoord on August 20. Although Sparta doubled their lead shortly after halftime, it was Sauer who claimed the leading role. In injury time, fifteen minutes after Gimenez’s tying goal, the uninhibited debutant scored from the edge of the penalty area with a dry shot to make it 2-2. “That was a great weekend,” says father Julius Sauer. “We watch all Feyenoord matches and we screamed in front of the TV.”
Youth in Slovakia
In 2014, Leo Sauer and his farmer Mario are scouted by the largest club in Slovakia: Slovan Bratislava. Yet Sauer senior is not immediately enthusiastic. “Slovan Bratislava is a big club, but they are not known for providing good guidance to youth players. Leo, then eight years old, really wanted to make the switch, so we went on trial training with him. That’s where we got enthusiastic.”
In the youth academy of Slovan Bratislava, he has been coached for four years by Kovác, a former coach of Sauer’s father. “Leo was always one of the best, but never the best,” says Kovác. “He had a hard time because he was quite small and slender, and usually played against footballers a few years older. Despite his small stature, you could see the class.” Kovác discovered something else about Sauer: always wanting to win. “Leo grew up with an older brother who never let him win. That often ended in a fight, or worse. They always wanted to be better than the other.”
Slovan Bratislava players rarely progress to the first team and that was the reason for agent Julius Sauer to let both sons play at MSK Zilina in 2018. “This was the best step for their development. They both needed a different environment and MSK Zilina had the best youth academy at the time.” Leo Sauer was 12 years old when he and his brother attended a youth boarding school on the other side of the country. Tears flowed from his parents. “Leo was still young but he decided to follow his football dream. He had his emotions under control; or he hid them.”
Champions League
The level at Feyenoord is a lot higher than at his old club. After the first training, Sauer tells his father what it was like. “Just dad. We have been training. Everyone is good, I have to do my best, but I will succeed.” Sauer will make his debut in the Champions League on September 19, 2023. After his debut, Sauer’s father was in tears, but for son Leo it was a ‘normal match’. “He’s kind of impassive.”
After big games against Celtic and Atlético Madrid, Sauer has another game. He is graduating from high school in Slovakia. “He has to study at home and take online exams,” Julius Sauer begins. “Once, after a Champions League match that he didn’t get home from until late at night, he had to take an exam the next morning at 7 o’clock. Just a few more months and he should have his diploma.”
European Championship 2024
Last week, Sauer made his debut for the Slovak national team in the match against Norway. Although he was previously in the selection, he did not get any playing time yet. It is therefore not excluded that the 18-year-old Slovak will be part of the 2024 European Championship in Germany. “To get into the selection, you have to play a lot of matches. As a father you want to see your son play more often. It is a pity that Feyenoord does not have a promising team, otherwise he would play against better opponents more often. But I am convinced that he will will still get a chance.”
