After his time as managing director, Rudi Völler changes roles at Bayer Leverkusen at the end of the season. For the former top striker, club loyalty is still an important value in football.
“I admit: I’ve always been a bit romantic,” said the sporting director of Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen in an interview with the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung”.
He actually still has a connection to the clubs he played for. “You might call it old-fashioned, but it’s in me,” said the 61-year-old. Even after the respective transfers, he usually had the feeling that he somehow “wanted to stay loyal” to the old club.
At the end of the season, the 1990 World Champion will give up his post as Managing Director Sport and move from operational business to the club’s Shareholders’ Committee.
Völler came to Leverkusen in 1994 and stayed at Bayer – interrupted by his time as DFB team boss and as coach of AS Roma.
“There’s hardly a position I haven’t held here,” reflected the former world-class striker. He was a player, captain, sports director, coach twice, head of sports and managing director of sports.
“But I could always be who I am now,” he said. “After a certain time I didn’t want to leave here anymore, even if I had the opportunity to do so in between.” When you experience a club from so many different perspectives, “you end up totally identifying yourself”.
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