“After six intense years”: Hitzlsperger announces his end at VfB


“After six intense years”
Hitzlsperger announced his end at VfB

Thomas Hitzlsperger is on a farewell tour as CEO of Bundesliga soccer club VfB Stuttgart. After eventful years in which the former international had to deal with serious conflicts, he will leave the club next year. He does not have any specific reasons for his departure.

Thomas Hitzlsperger sat in front of the sponsor wall of his current employer and left many questions unanswered. The CEO did not name one good reason for his decision to leave VfB Stuttgart “after six intense” years. It is “a sum of experiences and events,” said the former national soccer player, who will not extend his contract, which will expire in autumn 2022. That comes as a surprise – the 39-year-old had often spoken of continuity recently after the many quarrels and personnel changes as well as the two-time relegation.

But now Hitzlsperger said that he had come to the conviction that in 2022, after six years with various tasks at VfB, “a good time has come to draw a line”. At the request of the supervisory board, however, he will remain in office until the end of the contract.

Hitzlsperger, who played for Stuttgart for five years as a professional footballer and became German champions with them in 2007, did not give any details about his future plans. When asked whether he might want to become president of the German Football Association (DFB), he said: “For my part, there are no such ambitions.” The association wants to elect a successor to Fritz Keller, who resigned in May, on March 11th.

No tangible reasons

“We regret that Thomas does not want to continue his work for our VfB beyond the agreed term of the contract. However, we respect the motives for doing so,” said President Claus Vogt, who is also chairman of the supervisory board. However, he did not explain any tangible reasons for Hitzlsperger’s withdrawal either.

The Noch-AG boss does not want to associate his departure with the conflict with Vogt that escalated last winter. The native of Munich said that everything has leveled off again. In the course of the so-called data affair he had accused the club president in an open letter in an open letter, so to speak, inability, Vogt had hit back accordingly. Although the two officially settled the conflict later, they don’t seem to have become good friends anymore.

In 2016 VfB brought “Hitz” back to Stuttgart as an advisor to the board. Later he was initially director of sports and became head of VfB Stuttgart 1893 AG in October 2019. It will now be exciting to see how much influence the former England legionnaire will have on club policy in the rest of his time and how other responsible persons such as sporting director Sven Mislintat react to the new development. For the search for a successor, the club will now “take the necessary time”, said Vogt. “Because we are stable and strong in the AG.” Soon without Hitzlsperger.

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