Football manager (profession)
A football manager is responsible for the administrative affairs of a football club or association. The position is designated differently depending on the club structure and hierarchy.
Job title and hierarchy
The job title varies depending on the structure of the association and the hierarchy in the organizational chart . The following job titles have become established in Germany.
- 1st level: Sports director ( stock corporation , registered association ), managing director Sports ( GmbH )
- 2nd level: Sports director , sports director , director of professional football , manager , sports director , head of licensed player department , manager of sports (at an association under the presidium / board)
While recruitment and dismissal at the management board / manager level is usually the task of the supervisory board, the management board, the presidium or the management takes responsibility for recruitment and dismissal at the lower levels.
It is not uncommon for the clubs to occupy the position at both levels in order to distribute the work among several people and to increase athletic competence. Examples are Fredi Bobic ( Sports Director) and Bruno Hübner (Sports Director) at Eintracht Frankfurt , Jörg Schmadtke (Sports Director) and Marcel Schäfer (Sports Director) at VfL Wolfsburg and Rudi Völler (Sports Director) and Simon Rolfes (Sports Director) at Bayer 04 Leverkusen .
In some cases, the sports department is not explicitly assigned at the executive / managerial level, but is only organized at the lower level. Examples are Ralf Rangnick (sports director) at RB Leipzig under the sole managing director Oliver Mintzlaff , Michael Zorc (sports director) at Borussia Dortmund under the management without sports manager around Hans-Joachim Watzke and Alexander Rosen (director professional football) at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim under the management without sports director.
Field of activity
The football manager is responsible for the administrative affairs of a sports club or association. In the sports management of large clubs, he has a management position in the following areas:
- The composition of the squad (including scouting )
- The design of schedules or game plans for competitions, training camps, arrival and departure
- The accommodation of the athletes at training camps and away games
Other management positions in club management are usually distinguished from this: general club management, financial administration, search for sponsors, public relations and club marketing. While the sporting director is responsible for the composition of the squad, the coach remains responsible for the implementation of the training and the formation of the teams formed from the squad.
The tasks can coincide with tasks of the coach, especially in small clubs; Occasionally, individual athletes or club officials such as the chairman take on the role of sports director.
In sports associations, the sports director is usually the manager of the national coach .