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Richards: ''I dream big''
After his decision to focus on playing football, Chris Richards's career progressed at incredible speed. However, he was forced to make a difficult choice early on: at the age of 16, the defender decided to leave his family home in Alabama to join Texans SC in Houston: ''Obviously that was tough and I was homesick in the first few weeks. I'm a very family-oriented person. At the time my brother was just three years old and my sister was nine. It was clear that I would probably never live at home again. It wasn't an easy time, but my family always supported and encouraged me. That helped me be rid of any doubts I was having.''
He soon moved to FC Dallas, who just a year earlier had rejected him after a trial session. Before long, he was under contract at Bayern Munich, one of the world's top clubs. Playing in Europe was ''always a dream'' for Richards. The high standards in Germany and the fact that ''not many Americans were playing in Europe at the time'' meant that he had never considered a move to the record German champions to be ''particularly realistic.'' ''As an American, you always dream big. But so big? No way. I had never previously played for my country at youth level, I had been rejected by Dallas, and then all of a sudden I'm on the same pitch as players like Robert Lewandowski and Manuel Neuer. These were guys I'd played as on gaming consoles,'' says TSG's number 28.
. In the 2019/20 and 2020/21 seasons, Richards won the German league title with Bayern, the UEFA Supercup in 2021 and the 3. Liga title in 2020, with the latter coming under the management of Sebastian Hoeness. Nevertheless, the 21-year-old "doesn't define himself by trophies". For him, other things are more important: "Of course you want to win trophies and be successful, but that is not my main incentive. I want to play a lot of international matches for the USA. But my most important goal is to provide for my family. They have always supported me and spent the last dollar on me so that I can fulfil my dream. When you're a little boy, you don't have such an understanding of money. But now I know what my family has sacrificed so that I can play football. It goes beyond the ordinary and I appreciate that very much. I want to take care of my family because I owe everything to them."
During his first loan spell at TSG Hoffenheim, Richards repeatedly caught the attention with ambitious statements. The native of Birmingham, Alabama still stands by them: "If we were to play in the Europa League again this season, winning it would be my goal. That's me, that's in my DNA. When I compete in a competition, I want to win it, not just take part in it. I dream big."
