As of: February 6, 2024, 1:37 p.m
By: Philipp Kessler
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Oliver Bierhoff founded FINVIA Sports GmbH last year.
© Federico Gambarini/dpa
After the 2022 World Cup, Oliver Bierhoff resigned as DFB managing director.
He has since founded FINVIA Sports GmbH.
In the tz interview, Bierhoff talks about his new life.
Munich - After leaving the German Football Association (DFB), Oliver Bierhoff (55) is brimming with enthusiasm again.
In the big
tz
interview he talks about his new life.
After the 2022 World Cup, you resigned as DFB Managing Director for National Teams and Academy. Have you gained quality of life?
I really enjoyed working at the DFB, but if quality of life means less stress, then definitely.
At the DFB I was on the road 150 days a year and was exposed to constant media pressure.
Operating in a political association also means a lot of active management.
But it was a great job that fulfilled me.
When I finished my playing career in 2003, I spoke to world-class sprinter Michael Johnson.
He said: Anyone who quits quickly realizes how much pressure they were under during their playing days.
As an athlete, you are constantly listening to your body.
If I compare that with my time as a manager: I often went to bed in the evening with the pressure of having to be in ten to 15 meetings the next day and answer important emails in order to push projects forward.
How did you use your free time?
I did what has been neglected in recent decades: spent time with family and friends and went on a trip or two.
I also had a lot of conversations and listened to a lot of offers.
During my two stays in America, I visited the New England Patriots football club, which I advise.
I was also part of the Bundesliga sports directors' trip to Boston in October, which I initiated myself at the DFB.
A nice mix of further training, maintaining contacts in the USA and a friendly reunion.
In the media, however, things have become quiet around you.
I consciously withdrew a lot because I didn't want to run the risk of giving the impression that someone else was trying to shift the blame afterwards.
I am convinced that in such moments you have to consistently take the step and keep your mouth shut.
It was good for me to have some media distance and to be able to think about what I wanted to do in the future.
This process can be called active waiting.
It was good for me to have some media distance and to be able to think about what I wanted to do in the future.
Oliver Bierhoff
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What opportunities have arisen for you?
I was on the phone just two days after I resigned from the DFB.
It was about an opportunity in the area of private equity, about investor processes.
I've had a lot of conversations - in all directions - about what I want my third career to look like.
Was a job at a top football club an option?
There were one or two inquiries.
But I had the impression that many clubs were already aware that certain options were out of the question for me.
If you've looked after the German national team, there aren't many tasks that are comparable.
Basically, however, I don't just determine the attractiveness of a task based on its reputation, name or size.
The project itself and the people behind it are much more important to me.
I decided relatively quickly to rule out getting involved in a club.
I wanted to consciously take a new step.
After my career as a player and then as an association and national team manager, the combination of sport and business felt right.
Oliver Bierhoff in an interview with tz.
© FINVIA Holding
Sounds like an intense phase. Was a long break not an issue?
I'm not the type to do nothing; I've always been looking for new tasks since I was a child.
Sometimes I wish I had more peace and serenity.
However, it is also important to me to step back every now and then, to create space and distance for myself in order to see the big picture.
I realized relatively quickly that I still have the drive.
Last November you announced that you had founded FINVIA Sports GmbH. It's about investing assets for top athletes. How can you specifically introduce this?
We take care of the assets of people, especially athletes, who often concentrate fully on their job at a young age, at the same time have a good income and have to make provisions for the time after their career.
We stand by the athletes and discuss with them where the journey should go, what goals and wishes they have.
And then we advise you on a precise strategy as to where you should invest your assets in the best possible way.
The tax advisor does your taxes.
The lawyer represents you in court - and we take care of your assets.
As a neutral authority.
How much money do athletes have to bring with them for care?
The interesting thing is that many people still associate a family office with being super rich and having huge fortunes.
The super rich has his own family office.
The very wealthy takes a multi-family office.
With our offering and our digital platform, we also manage to take care of people with smaller assets.
The services are different.
Athletes can come to us with assets of 500,000 euros and use them to build something.
But things get interesting when you have assets of two to three million euros.
A Bundesliga player with well-paid contracts can accumulate such a sum over the course of his career.
What investment opportunities does your company offer?
Basically, we try to offer everything the customer wants.
We have top experts in-house for classic asset classes.
For special requests such as art and antiques, we find the right experts and accompany the customer.
FINVIA now has assets under management of almost six billion euros.
This means we have different conditions at the banks if our customers want to buy gold or open a securities account or want to get into private equity.
We also want to enable our customers to make investments in sports.
We are actually democratizing the elite family office.
Our family office takes care of everything that we have defined together with the customer in their strategy.
Oliver Kahn, for example, believes in Bitcoin. You too?
I have a hard time with cryptocurrencies.
I wouldn't advise anyone to do this.
But if the customer does want to invest, he must know that this form of investment is highly speculative.
My information is that the market for cryptocurrencies is still very small and therefore reacts quickly.
This can go well, but it can also go badly.
Many footballers invest in luxury watches or expensive limited-edition cars. How clever is that?
We would also include such assets in our reporting.
But they are asset classes or areas that we don't actively pay much attention to.
If the customer says they would like to have a car collection, then we support them.
But for us it's more about liquid investments, alternative investments and real estate
.
Less about hobbies.
Watch prices go up and down.
Similar to art or vintage cars.
I have a friend who had several Porsches.
In the end he was happy that he came out with a plus minus zero.
Many professional footballers are broke after their careers. Why?
To put it simply: too little comes in and too much goes out.
In addition, most people underestimate inflation.
If I spend the same as I did a few years ago, the value of my money will become less and less over time.
Many people have no overview of what they have and how they can live with it.
I always told my national players - and that's how I approached it myself: at the end of your career, do an accounting, think about what you want to spend and then let them tell you how you have to invest it in order to be able to maintain your standard of living.
But that doesn't happen.
The professional has lived at a very high level most of his active career.
A lot of money came in.
If you want to maintain your standard of living and no longer work after your career, I think proper financial planning is absolutely necessary and crucial.
An average professional football player has built up a good fortune.
But if he proceeds without a strategy, it will hardly last until the end of his life.
I would like to see more openness and a playful approach to the topic of money in schools and academies.
Oliver Bierhoff
During your time as DFB manager, you regularly invited successful people from business to give lectures to the national team. How important is it for young athletes to think about money? Should clubs and associations take this into account in the development and training of footballers?
This is neglected throughout society.
People don't like talking about money.
I would like to see more openness and a playful approach to the topic of money in schools and academies.
Our market system is based on this.
This helps everyone. I'm thinking about what else we can give players as aids.
Since when have you been fascinated by the world of finance?
When I was 16, I won third prize with friends in a Sparkasse stock market competition.
So I became interested in finance quite early on.
I became a professional at the age of 18, which was a happy coincidence.
Back then the starting position was completely different than it is today.
Until I became an international player and moved to Inter Milan, I had no idea that I would be able to live on my earnings forever.
It used to be the case that as a professional footballer you could create a great basis for yourself after your career.
When you stop, you might have one or two condominiums, maybe a semi-detached house.
So I started thinking early about how I wanted to structure my finances.
You studied economics. An advantage?
It helps to have an understanding of the financial products.
My most important advice, not just for finances, is: get good experts on your side.
Use your network and don't go into every investment naively just because the person who advises you is likeable.
I took one rule with me: You can have luck and money, but greed shouldn't add to it.
Greed is always dangerous: at work, in private life and when it comes to finances.
If you're greedy, you'll fall flat on your face.
What was your best and worst investment?
People always like to talk about their good investments.
But there are always bad ones too.
Me too.
But I have never done anything wrong or made a wrong decision due to negligence.
For me it was always important: only do what you understand.
If not, stay away from it – no matter how attractive the opportunity seems.
One of my properties once had a total write-off.
I have shown a good hand in my entrepreneurial investments.
I had a small agency with my advisor at the time, Peter Olsson, which was ultimately sold very successfully.
The company I co-founded, Project b, which focused on marketing athletes, was also successful.
I hope that FINVIA Sports will also be successful.
I still want to work for what I spend and not live on my savings.
That is my claim.
Interview: Philipp Kessler