The English footballer Steven Gerrard has announced his retirement from professional sports last week. After 854 (!) official matches for club and country, “Stevie G” decided to hang his boots up. But what comes after that? What does a man do, who has spent his whole life playing on the pitch and attending events of his sponsors? The Sponsoo-Team is taking a close look on the general situation of retired footballers.

The pension, which is highly debated in today’s politic world, is highly relevant for the majority of professional footballers. Not everybody is set for life after their active career. According to a study from 2013, only 10% of the players can enjoy life after football without working for another day. 90% are hoping for a job in the field of football once they retire, even though they are far less openings than retired players. A shocking 75% of all players are without a proper qualification and 25% won’t find a job at all. Those are alarming numbers!

Not a small amount of footballers are dragging themselves through a ton of Trash-TV formats to earn extra money. The former German International Eike Immel did so in 2008 and was followed by trash-TV icon Thorsten Legat some years later. But this is not necessary by any means. Retired footballers are popular testimonials for companies of all kinds. They are more flexible when it comes down to availability and are cheaper than their active counterparts.
But sometimes, a brand really establishes itself after the active playing career. A perfect example for that is the brand of Mehmet Scholl: While he was not a polarizing figure during his playing days, he is now endorsing  brands like Dacia and Krombacher Alkoholfrei. Another good example is the social-media icon and cult figure Hans Sarpei who was able to get some sponsorship deals thanks to  the widely popular jokes about his persona.

More often than not however, small companies do not have the opportunity to reach out to big names like Sarpei and Scholl. The team of Sponsoo is closing that gap with their platform. There are plenty of interesting sponsorship-offers available on Sponsoo, for example the Arne Friedrich Foundation who is supporting children and refugees in danger. Companies who are interested can create a profile on Sponsoo search the database for a perfect testimonial.

Speaking of Arne Friedrich: Germany’s most decorated advertising agency Jung von Matt hired the former German International to create the agency Jung von Matt/stars. The new agency is going to support athletes by creating their image and brand awareness beyond their active careers so they can look forward to their retirement without having any existential fear.

If you are interested in using retired football-players for your marketing-mix, contact us under support@sponsoo.de or search through our database. We are more than happy to assist you!