VfL Wolfsburg
Schmadtke successor Schäfer: “Want to play internationally”
Want to go into European business with Wolfsburg: sports director Sebastian Schindzielorz (l) and sports director Marcel Schäfer. photo
© Michael Matthey/dpa
Even after Jörg Schmadtke left, Bundesliga club VfL Wolfsburg is sticking to the philosophy of the long-time head of sport.
Even after Jörg Schmadtke left, Bundesliga club VfL Wolfsburg is sticking to the philosophy of the long-time head of sport.
“We want to play internationally. We want to sign young, hungry players with potential for development. This is exactly the path we will continue to take,” said Marcel Schäfer, who was promoted from sports director to managing director, at the official presentation of the new sporting director.
Schmadtke ended his career this week after his contract with VfL expired. In the past four and a half years he has worked closely with his successor in Wolfsburg. The new sports director and thus new partner of Schäfer is Sebastian Schindzielorz, who had great success as sports director of VfL Bochum from 2018 to 2022 and is now formally taking a step back in the hierarchy.
“You have to make the decision: Do you continue as managing director or are you also open to the second row in quotation marks,” said the 44-year-old. “I thought it through very carefully for myself and discussed it with my family. And then I decided for myself: The role of sports director is conceivable for me if I have a connection to the location and the management. That’s the case here.”
Schindzielorz was already in Wolfsburg from 2008 to 2013, became German champion with VfL in 2009 and also played with Schäfer during this time. “Both of my children were born here. I never lost touch with Wolfsburg,” he said.
Schmadtke is to be said goodbye to the Volkswagen Arena on Sunday before the home game against FC Bayern Munich (5.30 p.m. / DAZN). The end of his career was “the end of an era” in Wolfsburg, said the chairman of the supervisory board, Frank Witter.