Das Leben fing im Sommer an

"Das Leben fing im Sommer an" (Kiepenheuer & Witsch, 2025) is the debut novel by Christoph Kramer, the German footballer who won the 2014 FIFA World Cup and is now a television pundit and podcaster. The book shot to number one on the SPIEGEL bestseller list and has sold over 170,000 copies.

It's the summer of 2006: heat records keep falling, the World Cup is transforming the country, and fifteen-year-old Chris's whole life is quietly turning a corner. He spends his evenings with friends on the roof of an old barn and sleeps through the hottest days at the public pool, chasing a dream of becoming a professional footballer while wanting, above all, to finally seem cool. Then Debbie — the most sought-after girl at school, and the one he's liked for years — starts noticing him back, at a party that changes everything.

Though framed as fiction, the novel draws directly on Kramer's own life — same name, same age, same hometown, same football dream — and reads as a nostalgic, warmly observed coming-of-age story about friendship, first love, and the last carefree summer before adulthood starts asking questions.