Jerome Boateng is a Bundesliga champion, Champions League winner, World Champion and also Kevin-Prince Boateng’s brother. The half German, half Ghanaian truly has been blessed with a marvelous football career. Joltter has met Boateng a couple of times now, but never in his home-town, where it all began. Now he can cross that off his list.

As a kid Jerome Boateng wasn’t very different from so many other hopeful young footballers. Most of his free time he spent playing football in the backyard, with just about anyone who could kick ball. This is where it all began for Jerome Boateng, who today has won just about anything worth winning in football.

Boateng is certain the many hours spent playing on the hard concrete surface, helped shape and mold him into the footballer he is today. This combined with the fact that he played with players often much older and larger than himself, gave him tougher skin and made him stronger. Things must have been fairly rough, because the residents have now banned all forms of ball games in the area. Incredible when you consider what it has brought with it in the past.

Boateng enjoyed every second on the concrete, but there came a time when the still rough diamond that was his talent, needed to be polished. This started in Tennis Borussia Berlin, where Boateng played his first 11-a-side games. In his debut game he scored five goals playing on the right wing. What went wrong from there Boateng?

Alright, it would be a shame to say things went wrong, when the man eventually would go on to be crowned World Champion. Before things really took off for Jerome, he also joined Hertha BSC and they are very proud of having been a part of his career it would seem and have inducted him in their Hall of Fame. They had actually neglected to tell him this – which begs the question, how many Halls of Fame is he a part of without even knowing it?

It was fun spending a day with Boateng and a great way to get to know the German World Champion. And Joltter and Boateng certainly seem like they are getting along well. So well, in fact they go to the toilet together - or, was that a mistake? Well probably…

We got the chance to get to know Jerome Boateng a little better and that is not one we let pass. The result of our informal meet with World Champion can be seen in the above video. What would you ask Boateng if you got to spend an entire day with him?