Following Germany‘s win over Scotland, Niclas Fullkrug is trending but for a very different reason. You might have thought his thunderous goal was the reason, but no, far from it.
Some random football geek dug up his Wikipedia page info and found out about his nickname, “Lücke”, which translates to “gap” in English, a subtle nod to the gap in his front teeth. So what’s the story behind the gap? A missing tooth.
The question that came to mind was why Fullkrug was missing a tooth. One fan commented, “Maybe bcuz his fight with Rudiger.”
But no, that wasn’t the case. According to Focus, Fullkrug wore braces as a teenager and it increased the distance between his teeth. “The gap was widened to create enough space for an implant,” the former Bundesliga 2 player said.
The aforementioned nickname was bestowed upon him by former Bremen teammate, Marco Arnautovic. During an interview with Bundesliga.com last year, Fullkrug said, “I’m missing a tooth, and then I turned professional, and it didn’t bother me. I was positively treated and never had problems because of it. Marco Arnautovic started calling me Lücke. It kind of stuck, especially here in Bremen.”
After the information about his missing teeth leaked, it circulated on social media faster than his 68.35 mph strike against Scotland.
But what about his missing teeth?
Well, that worked like a charm for him as the forward credits the gap helped him get hooked with his current wife, Lisa. “That’s how I got together with my wife. She learned to love me that way,” said Fullkrug about his significant other half.
While fixing the gap in the teeth is no biggie in the era of technology, it gives him a reminder of where he came from.
Though Fullkrug admitted that he gave a thought about tooth implants.
“In Fullkrug’s case, the gap was opened, as he himself says, so that an implant could be inserted later,” according to Dr. Siegfried Marquardt, former team doctor of the German national team.
The average cost of the procedure in Germany is €1400 to €2200 per tooth. Given Fullkrug’s €115,385 per week salary, that shouldn’t be a problem.
“When you get your teeth fixed, you are sometimes unrecognizable. But it still plays a role in my mind and it is definitely an issue to have it done again,” Fullkrug told TV channel Sky. For him, the gap in his teeth is a part of him and that is what makes him who he is.
After pinballing throughout Germany, now, at 31, Fullkrug has finally emerged at the forefront of world football.
Following a smashing season with Bremen, turning out to be the top scorer of the Bundesliga in the 2022-23 season, he got his big move to Dortmund.
The season was a fruitful one, which included a trip to Wembley for the Champions League final.
The journeyman striker is also making his presence felt in the national team. He scored one goal and the other chopped off during the game against Scotland, keeping with the theme of the gap in his ever-white denticles.