Gerrit Holtmann was a mainstay of the Bochum club in the Bundesliga (German national football championship). But he is going through a difficult period in his career.
Currently, Holtmann is no longer able to maintain stable performance and has lost his official position at Bochum.
Since the beginning of the season, Holtmann has only played 5 times, without any significant contributions. Meanwhile, Bochum is also at the bottom of the 2024-2025 Bundesliga rankings, having not won any matches after 12 rounds.
However, Holtmann's name is still remembered for a special record in the Bundesliga. He is the person with the fastest acceleration in the history of the tournament with a speed of up to 36.74 km/h.
This is an impressive number that no player in the Bundesliga has been able to surpass so far, including speed stars like Leroy Sane or Serge Gnabry.
Although he is no longer at his peak, Holtmann is still considered one of the important players of the Philippine team.
However, whether he can participate in the AFF Cup 2024 or not is still a big question mark. Because this tournament is not part of the FIFA system, clubs have the right to refuse to release players.
This could affect the ability to compete in the 2024 AFF Cup of overseas Philippine players such as Holtmann, Tabinas, or Ethridge,...
The Philippines team will need to convince the Bochum club to release the player, while many other players playing in national championships in Malaysia, the US, Thailand, etc. are also facing a similar situation.
In the group stage of the AFF Cup 2024, the Philippines team is in Group B with the Vietnam team. The two teams will face each other on December 27 at the Philippines' stadium.
