When St. Louis CITY SC traded Tim Parker to New England earlier this month, the move came as a shock to fans. It also opened a sizable vacancy inside the club’s leadership council.
During the club’s first year and a half, Parker served as CITY’s vice-captain alongside goalkeeper Roman Bürki—the club’s primary captain. Parker’s absence raises a question: Who will fill the leadership void left by his departure?
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Over the past two weeks, Eduard Löwen is making his case.
Löwen is the glue that holds the St. Louis midfield together. He’s a player who continually shines—particularly as more talented players are added around him. He’s also someone to whom his teammates look for guidance. So when Löwen took the captain’s armband in CITY’s Leagues Cup match against Juárez last week, it felt momentous.
Löwen, though, downplays his own importance. To him, he’s simply using his voice as he sees necessary—and as anyone could.
“At the end of the day, being a leader of the team, or wearing the captain band, or being in a leadership council doesn’t mean you have a higher position than somebody else,” Löwen said.
Yet, Löwen’s status as the longest-tenured German is also crucially important as the club remakes its roster with the addition of highly-touted transfers from the Bundesliga ranks. Löwen’s growing chemistry with Marcel Hartel, for example, is hard to miss. It was highlighted recently when Löwen ceded his PK responsibility to Hartel, helping the newcomer score in his debut on July 27.
“Credit to Edu,” Hartel said of the goal after that memorable first match.
Hartel, Cedric Teuchert, and Jannes Horn have each leaned on Löwen as they acclimate to life in St. Louis, as both Hartel and Teuchert have talked about the difficulties in traveling stateside while waiting for their families to join them in town. While weighing the decision to sign with CITY, for example, Teuchert called Löwen to discuss the club and his potential fit in St. Louis.
“The last few weeks have been difficult,” Teuchert recently said. “I love Edu the player. I love Edu the person. He’s such a big part of this club.”
Löwen understands difficult. He took a leave of absence earlier this year to assist his wife, Ilona, as she fought brain cancer. Löwen returned to a team that was going through transformative changes on and off the field. In that time, he’s tried to put CITY on a steady path.
“I think this year has been very challenging sometimes,” he said. “To figure out the group and to figure out what was wrong, because, obviously, when you are winning, you are not questioning a lot of things. So, in this scenario, it’s not easy being a leader of the team.”
Löwen’s leadership style is born out of his early days in the FC Nürnberg academy—a time during the young player’s career when he wished to have received more guidance from the veterans who were protective of their spots. Young players in CITY’s organization often mention Löwen as lending a hand and offering guidance. That’s the sort of time and investment not every player is willing to spend with the generation behind them.
“First of all, that makes me happy—that humbles me—that the guys are mentioning my name,” Löwen said. “But at the end of the day, I’m trying to help the young guys, especially because I know how it is. You come in as a young guy, into a group of guys that are well more experienced, and it’s not that easy if other guys are not helping you and you are kind of in a situation where you don’t feel really wanted in a team. So, I think it’s very important that the young guys feel just as part of the team as everybody else. So that’s just what I’m trying to do.”
Löwen isn’t the captain, but his role in the foundation of St. Louis CITY SC is enormously important—especially as he continues to elevate those around him on and off the pitch.
