When they wrote the famous play “Le Prénom”, the first performance of which took place in 2010 and which recounts the dispute between a group of friends when one of them announces that he wishes to name his future son “Adolphe”, Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de la Patellière probably did not know of a certain football coach, who then ran SC Rheindorf Altach (Austria) and whose story looks terribly like their plot.
A man born in 1970 in Hohenems, Austria, and who is today the favorite to succeed Philippe Clement on the AS Monaco bench according to information from Foot Mercato. His name: Adolf Hütter.
A tribute to his great-uncle, who died tragically
In addition to his country of birth and his first name, the phonetic resemblance of his surname to the German dictator, founder of Nazism, obviously makes him a very heavy surname to bear. And one question is on everyone’s lips: but why did his parents knowingly name him as such, their child being born 25 years after the fall of the Third Reich?
There is, of course, a rational, simple and even a little moving explanation. “Of course, when I was born, my parents wanted to name me differently, explained Hütter in 2018 on German radio FFH. But my father’s brother died in an avalanche of stones at the age of 27. My grandmother really wanted to have another Adolf in the family and my parents were persuaded. On the one hand, it’s very, very tragic. Of course, I would have liked another first name. But my mother just called me Adi from the first day and in principle, everyone calls me Adi. There’s only one school friend who wanted to call me Adolf, so I said to him: OK, but you’re the only one. »
Hütter will not lead Geubbels
“We can perhaps imagine that if we receive this first name, we are perhaps not 100% happy. When you’re a child, you don’t notice it, but at some point my name has always been associated with the past. Despite its very strong association with a nefarious character in history, it is not forbidden to call one’s son Adolf either in Austria or in Germany – even if such a prohibition explicitly existed in the former GDR after the war.
AS Monaco supporters and followers will no doubt soon have the opportunity to get to know “Adi” Hütter, the man behind the first name, former coach of RB Salzburg (2014-2015), Eintracht Frankfurt (2018-2021 ) or Borussia Mönchengladbach (2021-2022). The resumption of training is scheduled for Monday July 3 in the Principality, with a first friendly match on July 9 against Union Saint-Gilloise.
A recovery in which the young Willem Geubbels (21), who left ASM last January and whose transfer in 2018 had already provoked a whole series of reactions due to the proximity of his name (which is pronounced “jebels”) with that of Joseph Goebbels, one of the most influential leaders of the Nazi regime. There are definitely some names that are easier to wear than others.