Christoph Freund: ‘Need to be made of good stuff’

Christoph Freund was only 24 years old when he took over responsibility for 20 employees at the family joinery after the sudden death of his father. Does one become a leader overnight? And what can be transferred from this experience to his current role as sporting director at Bayern? A conversation about development and the process of maturing.

Interview with Christoph Freund

Christoph Freund, after 100 days in office, it's traditional for politicians to draw their first conclusions - how do you feel now that you've been Bayern's sporting director since 1 September?
"Bayern is a very, very exciting and impressive club. The way the club is structured, being so approachable despite its size, is unique in the world. The annual general meeting and the members' Stammtisch the evening before were completely new experiences for me. The way the members live this club is something very special. It was an intense three months. The conclusion is positive across the board, it's fun, and I'm glad that I took the step out of Salzburg into the big football world after 17 years."

Seventeen years is a long time. Is continuity important to you?
"I'm not someone who’s in favour of rapid change in life. I want to build something and create connections, put down roots. That's my nature and that's why it wasn't so easy for me to leave Salzburg. My plan is definitely to work for Bayern for a long period of time."

Consistency is not a given in football. Was it more down to you or the club that you were at Salzburg for so long? And what was your perception of Bayern from there?
"At Salzburg, you have continuity in change. The direction of the club and the people involved have not changed in the past 10 years, and this has allowed us to give many talented players and coaches the opportunity to take the next step. Bayern are focussed on achieving maximum goals in European football. What's more, the club has not only been outstanding in sporting terms for decades, but also financially. That also creates security. You know what you're getting at Bayern."

What connection did you have to Bayern as a child in Leogang?
"I was a big fan of FC Tirol. Hansi Müller and Bruno Pezzey were my heroes. Bayern Munich, on the other hand, was a whole other world for me, quite far away from Austrian football. As an 11-year-old, I went with my dad to the UEFA Cup semi-final against Napoli at the Olympiastadion. I can still remember Diego Maradona warming up and juggling the ball to ‘Live Is Life’. Those were formative experiences."

What do you bring to Bayern from Salzburg?
"Perhaps a slightly different approach, because I come from a different structure. Back when Red Bull got involved at Salzburg, it was said that they simply have the most money now and buy success with a lot of older players. But we reorganised the club. Today, the club stands for a clear direction. That's also very important to me now. If it says Bayern Munich on it, it has to be Bayern Munich in it. I also bring good football expertise and the network that I have built up over the past 17 years."

As a club, Salzburg stands above all for the training and development of young players. How do you rate the work at the FC Bayern Campus?
"Of course, the Campus will continue to develop young players for our senior side in the future, but it will never be as extreme as in Salzburg because we have different goals here. It has to work for Bayern - and the youngsters also need to know that they will receive such a good education with us that there is a high probability that they will make the transition to professional football. The link between the Campus and Säbener Strasse is a very important factor. That applies not only to the youngsters, but also to the coaches, fitness trainers and physios. We want to manage the balancing act of being successful internationally and at the same time doing good youth work. I've already worked with Campus director Jochen Sauer at Salzburg. We hold each other in high regard and have the same views, which is a great advantage."

How would Christoph Freund the sporting director have dealt with Christoph Freund the player?
"I've always enjoyed playing football and am passionate about it, I really love the sport. In that respect, the sporting director would certainly have had no problems with the player Christoph Freund. I'm just afraid I wouldn't have had enough talent [laughs]. It's just fine the way things have turned out."

There was a major turning point in your life when you were 24 and you suddenly had to take over the family business after the death of your father. How did you manage all of that alongside football?
"I retired as a professional and continued playing in the third division. It was a total career change, and I only managed it because my father had formed a really good, well-drilled team in the company. Back then, I learnt what’s possible when you stand together in a difficult situation and support each other. For me personally, it was the greatest success of my life that I managed to keep things going together with the employees. The joinery still exists today, it’s one of the largest joineries in the Salzburg region, and I go there every time I’m at home in Leogang. It was a very difficult time emotionally, because I always had a close relationship with my father, but in hindsight I also learnt a lot from this phase for my life."

You suddenly had responsibility for 20 employees. Does that also make you grow up?
"Up until then, as a young professional in the second division, I had a laid-back life, no worries, no responsibility. And then the rug is pulled out from under your feet. I remember going to the workshop for the first time after the funeral on Monday morning. The employees were standing in there, nobody knew what would happen next. People were worried about their livelihoods. That's when I spoke up and said that I would be staying on from now on and that we would manage it together. And at that moment I realised that no matter what happens in my life now, nothing is going to knock me off track any time soon."

How did these experiences shape your later role as sporting director at Salzburg and now at Bayern?
"Regardless of whether it's in business or football, it's always about people. If you engage with your counterparts and take an interest in them, you build a completely different basis and get much more in return. Everyone has their own issues that are important to them at the moment. The more you know about each other, the better you can respond to each other."

What personal maturing processes have you gone through?
"That things always go on, no matter how bad they seem at the time. Even if nothing is the way it used to be. It's part of it that you grieve, that you sometimes feel despair. But then you have to get your head back up and look ahead."

Who knows, you might not be sitting here today.
"I certainly wouldn't, because I got in touch with Salzburg through the joinery."

As you have already mentioned, your CV makes you a perfect example of a career changer. How important is it to gain different experiences in order to be able to think outside the box?
"I think it's very important because you can judge certain situations differently and give them a different value. If you've only ever been in this business, it's easier to lose sight of normal life outside the football bubble than someone who can judge from their own experience how hard a tradesman has to work to feed their family. I always remind myself what a great privilege it is to be able to work in football."

What parallels do you see between working in a carpentry workshop and working with young talent at Bayern? Do you need patience, with something then developing over time?
"I did an apprenticeship, but I was never a gifted joiner. I just always wanted to be a footballer [laughs]. I really enjoy working with young people and supporting them over three, four or five years. When you then see how talented people develop into established personalities, it gives you an incredible sense of satisfaction. It's similar to a joiner who has a few planks of wood in front of him and creates something from them thanks to his imagination and craftsmanship. In both cases, you need a very concrete plan - and neither are created overnight."

What factors are needed to mould a player into a Bayern player?
"We're talking about the very highest level here, so of course you need the footballing prerequisites such as technique and tactical understanding. But mentality is crucial. You have to trust yourself to deliver at the highest level time and time again. It's important to work with young players on what it means to deal with pressure."

But that makes scouting all the more difficult - winning mentality can hardly be summarised in data sets, can it?
"These soft skills are absolutely crucial in our assessment of players. We gather a lot of insight into the players off the pitch. How they deal with other players, how they behave in certain situations - we talk to a lot of people who are around them. You have to be made to give your all to get to the top and stay there. There are plenty of examples of players who were huge talents, but who nevertheless took a different path. That's perfectly fine, but you have to admit it to yourself before you become unhappy."

Making the connection to joinery again, what kind of wood do you have to be made of to achieve lasting success at Bayern - both as a player and as someone in charge?
"Then let's stick with the metaphor: there are different types of wood in the forest too. Monocultures are not as stable as mixed forests. There must also be different types of players in a team, and in management everyone has individual strengths. The more different the types, the broader the performance spectrum that can be mapped. The important thing is to always find a common foundation."

And you shouldn't fall over with the first bit of wind.
"That too, of course. You can't be too delicate in this job, there has to be a bit of bark on the tree [laughs]."

Photos: Fritz Beck