Numerous players are still without a club around two months after the end of the transfer window. The Association of Contracted Football Players advises young footballers in particular to take a “step back”. Very few people can afford to wait for the best offer.
Marvin Plattenhardt (left), Shkodran Mustafi (middle) and Timo Horn are all still without a contract. imago images (3)
The 21st edition of the summer camp for unemployed professionals of the Association of Contractual Football Players was already a few days ago. Coach Peter Neururer’s work is over, but the VDV’s work is far from over. Around 70 percent of the 40 registered players have now found a new club and they continue to play on the nation’s pitches, albeit mostly in a slightly lower league than before. “That doesn’t look so bad,” says Ulf Baranowsky about this year’s statistics.
The managing director of the players’ union knows that the situation on the labor market for footballers below the big meat pots is difficult. “Many clubs in the 3rd league and regional leagues are still suffering from the after-effects of the COVID period, there is not much money available and the squads are full.” For those looking for kickers, this means curbing their expectations of salaries and the level of football.
Nevertheless, “young players in particular generally have quite good chances if their demands are realistic.” The older the footballers are, the more alternative options have to be considered. “When players reach a certain age, they should start thinking about coming to a clear end and preparing for the time after their career,” advises Baranowsky
Distance learning or training as insurance
The VDV offers opportunities for prevention, insurance, education and career planning. There are opportunities to combine vocation and career, especially for younger footballers who have rarely received training alongside sport. “This can be done, for example, with distance learning,” explains the VDV boss, “some regional league clubs also offer parallel in-company training.” While those selected who have played in the Bundesliga for many years should be free of any economic worries, there is a broad mass of people, mostly from the regional leagues, who need to start thinking about things early enough.
The time of prominent footballers in the VDV camp seems to be over anyway. While two ex-national players, Lukas Sinkiewicz and Christian Rahn, used to train with us, the currently more prominent unemployed footballers such as former DFB selection players Nico Schulz (most recently Dortmund), André Hahn (Augsburg), Marvin Plattenhardt (Hertha), Karim Bellarabi (Leverkusen) are going ) and the 2014 world champions Skhodran Mustafi (Levante) and Jerome Boateng (Lyon) usually take a different path, says Baranowsky: “They often keep themselves fit and wait, hoping to get a new job in professional football.” This is a “poker game that usually only those who are older and have earned more can afford.”
Plattenhardt: “Of course I imagined it differently”
Timo Horn, long-time number 1 at 1. FC Köln, is one of those people. He has been without a club since the summer. “There were two or three offers from abroad that I rejected,” he explains, “simply because it would have been difficult for me to find my motivation given the requests. But I’m open to everything.” This also applies to Plattenhardt, who is waiting for a new job after nine years at Hertha. “Of course I imagined it differently,” the left-back admitted in the “Berliner Zeitung” and hopes that “there are still three to four good years left for me.” Tanguy Coulibaly (66 Bundesliga games for Stuttgart) has almost his entire career ahead of him. The French winger is only 22 and scored four goals in 14 appearances in 2022/23 – which wasn’t enough to find a new club.
Baranowsky gives young players a different recommendation anyway: “You have to play and, if necessary, take a step back.” Professionals without a contract can still find new employers freely until the end of the winter transfer period, after which they would have to wait until the start of the new season. But the VDV wants that to change soon. “We are working on ensuring that these transfers are still possible in the second half of the season,” says the managing director. “That would relieve the state of unemployment benefits and take pressure off the players.”
2023-11-14 21:59:08
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