Maximilian Vollmar: the good shepherd

For TSG fans, Maximilian Vollmar is indeed a well-known face on the television – not so much because of his footballing skills or even his early acting career, but as the man with the board. Be it for substitutions or injury time, the now 36-year-old Vollmar – whom everyone just calls Max – is always there, holding up the board at Hoffenheim games. But who is the man behind the board? Anyone looking for Max Vollmar's place of work at the TSG administrative office in Zuzenhausen will find a Spartan, above all functional and tidy office on the first floor. And the most important thing for Max: a clear view of the training ground. That is because the Bonn native always keeps one eye on training, even when he is not standing right down by the pitch himself. "Head of Team Management & Players Service" is his official job title, but the short title "Team Manager" has long been established as the standard term. Vollmar acts at the interface, as a go-between, linking the coaches, staff, players, sporting director and the board. But there is not a single job description that could sum up everything he is responsible for. "Every person interprets this job differently – and at every club it is slightly different," says Vollmar, who came to the Kraichgau in 2019, having spent just under eight years as Team Manager of 1. FC Cologne.

And whereas he was a highly lauded jack of all trades in the cathedral city, his focus in Hoffenheim is on the higher-level, structural side of things. At TSG, Vollmar can rely on his colleagues in the Players Service department, Christoph Kraatz and Cesar Thier, who take care of the classic, very player-oriented topics such as when a player is looking for a place to live, moving house, registering a car or trying to find the right kindergarten. Vollmar's most frequent destination, on the other hand, is Alexander Rosen's office. Vollmar is in close contact with the director of professional football and the coaching team led by head coach Sebastian Hoeness. When do we have to leave to go to the game? How do we actually get to Leipzig? What do we need to consider when we are there? What is there to eat and when? Where should we set up our training camp? All these questions are just some of the activities undertaken by the restless Vollmar, who ensures that everything runs as smoothly as possible so that the team can concentrate solely on matters on the pitch. And if it all goes smoothly, without any murmurs of discontent, Vollmar has done everything right – as he has done time and again.

"Resilience, empathy, organisation."

Anyone who asks the cheerful man from the Rhineland which characteristic talents are required to do his job will quickly be met with a three-word response: "Resilience, empathy, organisation." After all, as a team manager, he has to keep a lot of balls in the air and has to keep his group together, acting as a sort of spiritual leader. "You couldn't have a maverick in this position," says Vollmar. "You need a very clear structure." And someone with the ability to essentially put themselves into someone else's shoes, but without mollycoddling the players. "It's always about mutual respect," says Vollmar. "Because you sometimes have to confront the lads with things they might not like. You have to ask them to do things that they don't always want to do at the drop of the hat." After all, professional footballers have managed to achieve what millions of children dream of (in vain). "So the players are more like alpha males than meek sheep. They have a claim to leadership of their own and also the ability to assert themselves. You don't make it to that level otherwise."

His own path to professional football, on the other hand, involved "a mixture of good fortune, happy coincidence and then also a lot of hard work and effort." While working as a young actor (his most notable role coming in "Die Welle"), he started a Business Studies degree in Maastricht – and later added a Bachelor of Science in Sports and Event Management from Iserlohn. For the work placement required as part of his course, he applied to 1. FC Cologne for a job in the marketing department. But Cologne's team manager at the time, Marcus Rauert, saw his application and liked "my mixture of entertainment, acting and honesty", as Vollmar recalls with a laugh, and said: "I'm sure he will get on well with the lads." And so he became a team management intern. Vollmar made himself indispensable, worked extra shifts and even added flocks to hundreds of jerseys while his friends were having fun at the lake in the summer – and was ultimately appointed as the new team manager by Cologne's sporting director at the time, Volker Finke, at the age of just 25 years – and he was thrown right in at the deep end with the club in dire straits. "It was a real baptism of fire, but it taught me a lot," is how Vollmar remembers that season, which ended with the club's relegation from the top tier. At TSG, on the other hand, the Bonn-born manager has an easier job when it comes to the players, not only because of the better prospects on the pitch: "This team here – and this shows the good eye for squad planning – do not get up to no-good and they have no airs and graces."

But in any case, it is the strategic issues that appeal to Vollmar most. That was another reason behind his desire to seek out a new challenge in Hoffenheim after several years in Cologne. "If you want to continue to develop, you will eventually have to get out of your comfort zone and fly the nest." The 36-year-old knows to appreciate the freedom that the board and sporting directors give him. After all, trust is the greatest asset for a team manager who, operating at the critical intersection between the players, coaches and sporting director, naturally receives an incredible amount of information about internal affairs. "You always come across information that has a certain level of sensitivity. You have to have it in you to say: 'I know a lot of things, but it wouldn't serve me well to brag about it.' You need a lot of tact in this job, you need to know what is useful and you must never abuse your position of trust," says Vollmar. At TSG, they quickly recognised the potential of the adopted Rhinelander, who courageously threw himself into the job. "This is where I get the chance to develop in the best possible way. I can really apply myself here and achieve something."

From October 2020, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, TSG sent Vollmar on the management training course run by the DFB and the DFL, alongside former Bundesliga stars Stefan Kiessling, Marcel Schäfer and Thomas Kessler, and also the former Hoffenheim team manager Timmo Hardung, who now works at Eintracht Frankfurt. Vollmar and his 13 coursemates spent eighteen months dealing with issues such as squad management and match analysis, as well as licensing, media rights and sports regulations. And on 10 May, Vollmar will be awarded his certificate. For him, it is a further step in his development, which should lead him to an executive position in the medium term. After all, as he says: "Standing still is not for me. I'm not someone who can sit comfortably and say: 'So, now I'm done.'" But there is one thing that he has always taken to heart: former actor Max Vollmar knows that he is not the one playing the leading role in the drama known as the football Bundesliga: "Everyone here who doesn't play always has to remember one thing: we all have these great jobs because of the guys down there on the pitch – not the other way around." Then he smiles – he can live with that very well.