Melbourne United Multicultural Stories: Ariel Hukporti

Growing up in Germany, Ariel Hukporti wanted to do everything just like every other kid.

Despite being nearly 5,000km away from his parents home country of Togo, Ariel embraced his surroundings of Freiburg im Breisgau in Germany’s South-West, which meant embracing his first sporting love, soccer.

Speaking about some of his favourite memories of growing up in Germany, Ariel touched on his love for soccer on the field and in the stands.

“I would say just my friends, hanging out with them, going to soccer games, especially when Bayern Munich is playing against Dortmund. That was a big rivalry.

“I would play on the soccer fields, basketball isn't that big in Germany. I was pretty good, I was playing for the national team… then I started growing, I got to about 6’5” and then started playing basketball and it just worked out.”

Perhaps fueling his sudden growth spurt was a German food staple, schnitzel, something the now seven-footer still enjoys since landing in Australia to play for Melbourne United.

“The food is pretty similar to here, y’all got schnitzel as well so that reminds me of home a lot.”

Outside of a homely schnitty, Ariel and Nigerian/Canadian teammate Caleb Agada have been getting in touch with their African culinary roots, often enjoying a bite from some traditional North African restaurants around Melbourne.

Having Agada, as well as other players with African heritage, such as Jo Lual-Acuil Jr and David Okwera, playing alongside Ariel has been huge for the teenager as he adjusted to life in Australia.

“It’s good because we’ve got a lot of African people on the team, we can talk about home, talk about how it was back then, and how it is now.”

The adjustment has clearly been a smooth one for Ariel, who has quickly established himself as the league’s best bench-bigman, and a force to be reckoned with on both ends of the court.

To see Ariel in full force, tickets remain available for The Multicultural Game, happening this Sunday at 1pm at John Cain Arena.