Christoph Klarer conducted an exclusive interview with BirminghamLive after penning his contract extension at Birmingham City
Birmingham City captain Christoph Klarer has signed a new contract
Christoph Klarer could have been forgiven for having doubts when Birmingham City came calling in the summer of 2024.
The Austrian defender had just completed his maiden Bundesliga season – albeit one that ended in relegation for Darmstadt 98 – and plying his trade in the third tier wasn’t part of his script.
But the Blues ‘project’, which by now everyone has learned is an ascent to the Premier League to play in a super-duper new stadium that will be showcased this week, attracted Klarer’s attention.
“Initially, when you are playing in the Bundesliga and you get a call from League One, that’s not what you’re looking for,” admits Klarer. “But as we saw – and happily it turned out that way – we were going on a mission that wasn’t going to end in League One.
“This club was never a League One club in terms of the players that we had and the manager that we had last year, and the fanbase behind it.
“There have been clubs that have been relegated and invested into squads before and it hasn’t been successful, so I definitely took a risk and I’m happy that it paid off.
“We’re obviously not done yet. I’m happy but in the first instance there were obviously question marks over whether it was the right move for my career.
“Sitting here now I can happily say it was.”
Klarer is speaking to BirminghamLive in the Players’ Lounge at Blues’ training base fresh from signing a two-year contract extension that will keep him at the club until 2029.
His wife Lara has joined him to mark the occasion.
“I can see my future here,” added Klarer. “I’m happy where I’m at and I also want to be part of the places that this club is trying to go to. I’m delighted and it motivates me to work harder to achieve our goals.”
The Blues skipper will be in attendance at Digbeth Loc. Studios on Thursday for the unveiling of the design of the club’s new stadium.
Owners Knighthead want to open the proposed 62,000-seater arena in 2030 which begs the question: will Klarer be around to lead them out when that day comes?
In response to that question, Klarer said: “You’ve always got to be careful what promises you make in football because it can go quite quick from both sides but it’s definitely something that I can see myself doing.
“I’m happy here and I’m happy with where the club is trying to go and what they’re putting in place.
“That big Sports Quarter is something we as players are looking forward to. It would be special if I could be there.”
Birmingham City’s Christoph Klarer with the League One trophy
Despite the off-field noise, Klarer’s bread and butter is the Championship and the central defender has stepped up seamlessly.
Player of the Year in his first season at St Andrew’s, Klarer is a good bet to retain that award having been Blues’ only ever-present across their first 15 matches.
There has been a blend of good and bad for Blues, who have their sights set on a tilt for the Premier League, but Chris Davies’ newly-formed squad showed signs of progress leading up to this international break.
“We’ve had disappointing results, disappointing performances, we’ve had some really good performances that haven’t been rewarded, we’ve had some performances away from home where we’ve had to really dig in deep, so we’ve had it all,” Klarer said, in a frank assessment.
“I think that reflects the position we’re in at the moment, 11th. What we saw is that we still need to improve, but the first 15 games should also be really encouraging because you could see that when we’re on it there’s no one to fear in this division.
“It is a very hard division, we have said that. There are a lot of teams who are trying to go to the Premier League.
“What we should take from the first 15 games is encouragement that we’re not far away, but we need to be there every single time to get wins.
“It takes time, we’re not the only club which has brought in a lot of players but you can see there are some teams in this league that have been together for quite a long time and that does help.
“That win at Preston was really another step for us to show that maybe we don’t always have to be dominant to get a result away from home against a team that has started really well. The Preston game was important and the two home games (Portsmouth and Millwall) showed what we can do.”
There have been points during this season where Klarer has had to demonstrate the leadership qualities that prompted Davies to make him captain when Krystian Bielik departed in the summer.
“There’s obviously expectation this year playing for Birmingham City and when results don’t go your way there will be criticism.
“As a player you can never listen to the outside noise too much, you’ve always got to focus on what you can control and that’s what I tried to do.
“I tried to show up every day and be the best version of myself and tried to make other players better, to give them confidence, and our results did improve after that sticky period.”
Christoph Klarer heads home a goal for Birmingham City against Portsmouth
At 25, Klarer is one of the younger captains in the Championship, but it is something that he has been preparing for.
Andre Hoffmann, the German defender who captained Klarer during his three years at Fortuna Dusseldorf, noticed Klarer’s ability to put the team before himself quite quickly. Hoffmann is one of many leaders Klarer has learned from.
“What really helped me was being able to learn from a lot of good, experienced senior pros,” he says. “I was fortunate to have very good senior pros from very young.
“I had some big characters at Southampton and at Dusseldorf I had some people who had played in the Bundesliga all their lives and I could really learn from them.
“Ultimately I always wanted to be that person, to lead a team and to be able to have a positive impact on other people.
“Coming here last year we had Jukey and Grant Hanley who I could learn a lot from. I have tried to take as much information as possible from players who have been there and done that, but obviously still trying to be my own person.”
The dream for the boy from Böheimkirchen – “Just say ‘close to Vienna’,” joked Klarer – who left home for England at 16 is to be the man to lead Blues back to the Premier League.
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