End of a Football Career – What’s Next?
Anyone who has made it as a professional footballer often speaks of a dream come true. It’s a profession that is mostly glorified in public and associated with lucrative prospects of money and admiration. But football is only a temporary occupation lasting a few years. And the vast majority of players in the second or third divisions have not secured their financial future for life. For them, an existential question arises after their career ends: How should my life continue?
After the career comes the void – at least for many footballers. They have to find a new professional direction and adjust to new life and work structures outside the world of football. How do players face these challenges? How proactively have they prepared for this transition?
Former footballers Hans-Jürgen Gundelach and Felix Schiller, as well as current player Maximilian Oesterhelweg, speak very openly about this with Sportclub Story authors Finn Rose and Daniel Brickwedde.
Hans-Jürgen Gundelach celebrated two cup victories and one German championship as a goalkeeper for Eintracht Frankfurt and Werder Bremen – yet he never made it beyond the role of backup goalkeeper. In 1997, after 14 years and 130 Bundesliga appearances, he didn’t receive a new contract and had to end his career. At first, he struggled to cope with the end of his football life and needed psychological support. Today, his son Maximilian is on the verge of a professional career. What has he learned from his father about planning for the future?
Felix Schiller once dreamed of a big career at Werder Bremen. At 15, he left Berlin to join Bremen’s youth academy, but he never made it into the Bundesliga team. At one point, he was unemployed for several months before finding success as a regular starter at 1. FC Magdeburg, where he climbed to the 3rd and then the 2nd division. But injuries increasingly took a toll. In 2019, at the age of 29, he had to quit. His body could no longer keep up. However, Schiller had prepared: he studied alongside his career. Still, balancing football and academics wasn’t always easy. Today, he works as a teacher in Berlin.
Maximilian Oesterhelweg’s career didn’t gain momentum until later. In 2014, he failed to establish himself at VfR Aalen in the 2nd Bundesliga. It wasn’t until 2017, at age 27, that he became a key player for Sportfreunde Lotte. In the 3rd division, he became one of the league’s top scorers, but despite his success, Lotte was relegated in 2019. Afterward, he couldn’t find a new club and became unemployed. Still, a life outside of football isn’t an option for him – he is followed as he fights to stay in the sport at all costs.