[ Background ]

I had a short, but I would say decent, playing career. We had a very successful youth club and my year was full of incredible talents. I had two wonderful coaches who coached us all the way through the age groups, we were winning regional titles indoors and outdoors. Two of my teammates even played professionally later for Karlsruher SC and Hoffenheim but I didn’t have the ‘guts’ to go to a bigger club. Back then the structure was much different too, we were playing in the top regional league but there was no possibility to play in a youth Bundesliga like today, so I stayed with my hometown club all the way through.

I started playing at senior level for the same club in the Verbandsliga and did a decent job. Some people said I had a lot of talent! But in the end, I maybe didn’t have the right desire needed to make it all the way to the top.

I was fortunate enough to found my own company in the music industry at 19. This began to steal a lot of my time and I wasn’t able to practice 4x per week anymore. Still, I played a few more years before I retired from active playing.

[ You became a coach at a young age, how did you get started? ]

When I was 18 - and still playing in the U19s - I recommended the younger brother of one of my teammates to a coach (Thomas) at my local club in charge of the U15s.

Thomas kindly asked me if there was any chance I’d join his coaching staff. I was always a football nerd! I would study Kicker magazines with all the basic data about all the players, I read books about football and my dad had been a coach when I was younger, so I had a coaching influence from a very young age. So of course, I joined. I think Thomas must have thought I’m talented because he gave me full responsibility - at the age of 18 - for the U14s.

So I started coaching and it was great, we were pretty successful and I began a deep dive into coaching and coach education. I did my first 2 two licenses that year. The next year I moved up with the same players to U15 and again we were super successful and a lot of fun. I moved up to the U17s and stayed a couple more years. That was the beginning of my coaching career.

Then, I started studying - pretty late compared to most people. I sold the company in 2004 and decided to follow a ‘regular’ career path and started studying economics and business law at the University of Mainz.

[ Getting started as an analyst ]

I actually stepped out of the game for a year but in the meantime - I had an old family friend who we’d spent numerous vacations with as a big group before. Anyway, obviously we were talking a lot about football and the friend - he was Daniel Memmert, a professor at the University of Heidelberg in the Sports Science program, who has become one of the most famous and well-known football data scientists.

His study group started a project between the University and a regional Bundesliga club. It was the first video analysis program in professional football in Germany. The club, Hoffenheim, was in the 3rd division back then but were utilizing video analysis in their first team and in the youth teams as well.

Daniel was in charge of the program - which we did with Bernard Peters, another outstanding coach and personality with a lot of knowledge. I got involved when Daniel asked me if there’s a possibility to join his research project as a ‘freelancer’. I said, ‘of course, what should I do?’. He told me to get a camcorder and a laptop and then he’d let me know which games to go to and tape and then I’d bring individual scenes into a presentation.

I was still living in Mainz at the time and was traveling ~100km between my home and the training ground. Eventually, our working group (4 people) all moved from our positions as research assistants at the University of Heidelberg to employees at Hoffenheim. Two became full time - and they’ve gone on to big things in football, including Johannes Spors who is the Sporting Director at 777 Group and Lars Kornetka, an assistant coach for the Austrian National Team.

[ Were you mostly analyzing opponents or Hoffenheim’s own matches? ]

For scouting purposes. I don't know if I'm breaking a big secret but it was 20 years ago so maybe I can share it. They sent me to at least 10 Darmstadt games to watch a player there. I was just videotaping this guy and sharing my analysis and reports. In the end, he joined a Bundesliga side with a bigger budget (at the time we were about to get promoted to the 2. Bundesliga).

[ How did you end up in the US next? ]

I worked for Hoffenheim for almost 4 and a half years. But sometimes in football your life cycle is limited. In my last year, a young kid came to Hoffenheim from 1860 Munich - he was very knowledgeable about football, and they gave him a full time role. Slowly but surely, he started taking over a lot of my responsibilities. I mean from the club’s perspective it was the right decision because that kid is now the head coach of the German national team! Anyway, I felt that my time at Hoffenheim would be up soon.

I had a friend from Heidelberg - Heidelberg was the headquarters for the US military forces in Europe - who fell in love with an American woman and moved with her to Huntsville, Alabama. He was working for a startup and became involved with football - at some point most MLS clubs and even some big European clubs were using his software. He called me in 2010 and told me he’d invested in an NPSL club and had big plans to reach the next level. They wanted me to help them with some strategic planning.

Coming from Heidelberg, I always wanted to spend some time in the US. Through the military forces, I’d gotten in touch with the culture, listened to rap music and during my startup days, had traveled back and forth to New York. I always liked the American mentality towards work and I already had the feeling that football (or ‘soccer’...) was becoming the next big thing in America.

After I went to Alabama for the strategic planning, I traveled a bit, watched some MLS games and checked out the infrastructure of the clubs and some colleges. I was positively impressed!

Then, I flew back home, the season in Germany was starting and as I mentioned, my responsibilities were shrinking. Then, the owner of the club (Rocket City United) called me and asked if there was any possibility to bring me over and help build the club.

[ You mentioned seeing football’s potential in the US - how was your experience in the NPSL? ]

It was different. It was a very short season and I mean, just some ridiculous limitations and regulations about signing players and paying them. I spent so much time dealing with college coaches and spoiled college players!

I’d say the level was probably equivalent to the 5th or even 6th division in Germany but nonetheless, we attracted good crowds of at least 5,000 at home games. The whole game day operations were amazing.

The other thing, in the US, you have 4 different time zones and every different climate. The traveling was extensive, we’d be playing on a Friday in Seattle at -20C and on Sunday in Miami at 30C - which is pretty hard to get used to!

[ Return to Germany ]

It wasn’t the best feeling to be part of a club so dependent on a sponsor and we had budget problems and a lot of blame being passed around.

I had the opportunity to stay in the US and already had a working contract but I needed to apply for a different visa. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the visa - which meant I had to move back to Germany. I was devastated to be honest. I was fed up with football for a moment. My entire life was in the US by then. I was 30 and needed to move back into my parents’ place. There, I filed an appeal and waited desperately for my visa to get approved. But, they turned it down a second time.

I met one of my ex-players from Hoffenheim who had joined Mainz U19s at the time. I watched two or three games and I saw they didn’t have any support, no one doing video or analytics. I asked if I could get in touch with the coach. After a few conversations and interviews, they took me on in a similar role as the one I had in Hoffenheim.

[ Stepping back from full-time roles ]

As sometimes happens in life, things change. I met my wife during this period and we became pregnant. She was living in Berlin and with the knowledge that I’m becoming a dad, football is not necessarily a family friendly business. I decided to step out of the business for my family. By then, I was working in tax consulting and took on a full time role working there.

Even though I’d been ‘out of the game’, I still kept up my network - especially in the US. I coached at an annual summer camp in Toronto and was helping teams and players that would come over to Germany to play against academies here. That was a lot of fun and fulfilling. We were housing a young kid - Ryan Raposo - for about one and a half years who is now playing in MLS. I was really proud and it was enough to be a ‘football dad’.

I ended up being out of the game until 2022. I was missing it a lot but I was able to build a decent career. I founded another startup with a partner - a construction company that’s still running today. Then, about 3 years ago, I had an accident sliding down a concrete stair. I fractured my spine and was forced to stay in bed in rehabilitation for almost half a year. I was really lucky, just centimeters from being paralyzed or even dead. At that time, you have a lot of thoughts like ‘what should I do with the second half of my life?’

[ Getting back into football ]

So, one day, it must have been March 2022. A friend of mine from Toronto - Marco - a very honorable coach called me with an emergency. There was a young player from Canada playing at a club in the Leipzig area and, let’s just say, there were some not so good agents involved who had set up a ‘3rd party’ club. At this point, they were running out of money and didn’t pay the players anymore - and were even changing the locks to the players' apartments! So, Thomas, this young Canadian kid was actually homeless.

I met him and picked him up - his visa was still valid for a year and he wanted to have another shot. Normally, I don’t recommend players that I haven’t seen or scouted - especially after my experience in the US where college coaches are regularly offering you the ‘next Lionel Messi’, I was pretty careful. Still, I called one of my former youth players and asked him if he would take a look at him. He said, ‘sure, but under one condition - we have to get lunch!’

I went to lunch and even though I’d been out of the game for quite some time, he wanted a guy like me in his coaching staff - and if I could imagine going back to doing some analysis work. I spoke with my wife, of course she said yes, and I started pretty much immediately!

I got started and it was a great time - this is of course where my passion is - and we started being really successful with quite some of our kids starting to appear in the 1st team.

Roughly a year later, the club decided to shut down the U23 team for financial reasons. Part of the story is the U20s are still there and ‘replaced’ them. The existing staff were not going to renew their contracts. I was offered to continue in a different role but the offer wasn’t right.

After negotiations with another club came to nothing at the last minute, I was left with nothing. I was very frustrated and decided to call Daniel again. After I explained my situation, he passed on my information to the CEO of a startup. I was very fortunate that a few days later, my phone rang and I had an unexpected ‘job interview’.

After a couple minutes, it was clear that he thought I was the right fit. I can’t go into great detail but I’m dealing with the Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga game day scouting feed operations. So a lot of data plus the goal line technology and VAR umbrella.

[ Would you be interested in getting back into some kind of scouting, or working with a club more directly? ]

100%, I mean, as of now, I'm getting more and more responsibilities. It’s fulfilling and rewarding and, at the end of the day, you work in cool stadiums and still get to see the fans, the players and the energy of working in football.

But my real passion is the 24/7 atmosphere you can only get as part of a coaching team or staff at a club.

[ Football sustainability startup ]

This actually came to me from my last job. As I mentioned, the entire coaching staff weren’t extending their contracts and two of our former members - an assistant and the kit manager, called me in April 2023.

They had been working on something - like an online shop for drop shipping stuff - that wasn’t going anywhere. They knew I had experience as an entrepreneur and asked if I could consult with them. We did a few brainstorming sessions - ultimately, they decided to work closer to their passions, football.

Eventually, we started developing a sustainable shin guard. It’s still in the R&D process and we’re going through the steps to get certified - nothing happens in Germany without bureaucracy! We have a lot of positive signs and feedback and it’s a lot of fun to work on this.

[ Lecturing ]

My teaching job came about serendipitously as well! Another friend, he is running the sports business department at a university. I was asked to speak to a group of students from Mexico about football in Germany and my experience in professional football. I said, sure! I did this a couple times during a summer school class for exchange students.

In one of the classes, the Dean was in attendance. And, now I’m teaching a class about the sporting goods industry - where I've picked up a lot of insight in the last few years and co-lecturing a class on sports and agencies with another teacher.

A lot of my opportunities are happening out of strange coincidences or something! I was always in the right place at the right time, so to say.

[ How is getting started in the football industry different today than when you started? ]

I think the entire scenario has already changed. When I was in university in 2007, we had, I don’t know, maybe 10 areas of study - all the classic topics like business, politics, medicine and so on. The football scene in Germany was much more limited, clubs were much less professional and had fewer staff.

But now, almost 20 years later, there are a ton of different studies that you can take that are specific to football and sport. A lot of companies have been founded too - a lot of my students of my coworkers at the Bundesliga are always telling me about this or that company. When I graduated, the opportunities were within clubs, the league or on television - nowadays chances are everywhere.

I think it’s a great development. If you’re passionate about something, working in that industry doesn’t feel like work. I think we’re still at the very beginning too - there are hundreds of companies providing job opportunities and it will keep increasing.