Beyond the horizon: Viktoria Schnaderbeck in conversation

She won the championship twice with Bayern and was Austria's captain for many years - but Viktoria Schnaderbeck knows that it can all end quickly. Today, she advises athletes -  but with a sustainable approach. The key question: What do I want to stand for? (Photos: Priscillia Grubo)

Much in life is a question of perspective. Viktoria Schnaderbeck always thinks back to an experience she had in Tanzania a few years ago. Back then, she was an FC Bayern player and travelled to East Africa during the winter break because the development of children and young people is close to her heart. One day, she visited Liberata, a young girl who lives with her parents and grandparents in a hut in the hills above Lake Victoria, an hour's sandy, bumpy journey from the nearest town.

Liberata dreamed of becoming a footballer. She had written "Ronaldo" on a T-shirt and carved the name of the multiple FIFA World Player of the Year into the clay floor of the living room. At first, the girl was still shy, Schnaderbeck recalls - "but then Liberata suddenly took my hand and proudly showed me around: through the two rooms of the hut, outside, across the fields down to the lake where they fetch their water every day". The experience was so memorable because Schnaderbeck was extremely impressed by how proud the girl and her family were of what they had built up. And suddenly the privileged guest from Europe was the one who had to be taken by the hand to show what is really important in life - and that it is also essential to have dreams.

Viktoria Schnaderbeck, 32, takes a seat in the conference room on the first floor of the FCB headquarters on Säbener Strasse. A lot has changed, she realises; she used to sit with her teammates in the canteen next to the training pitch with Luca Toni or Franck Ribéry - now everything has been revamped. "But inside, FC Bayern has remained the same club, which is something special," says Schnaderbeck, who found herself shaking hands with lots of old acquaintances during her visit.

She arived in Munich from her native Austria at the age of 16, made 131 competitive appearances in an FCB jersey, first won the DFB Cup and then became German champion twice before moving to London to join Arsenal in 2018. Last year, she ended her playing career at Tottenham Hotspur - and immediately embarked on the next one. Today, she's the one who takes others by the hand and discusses changes in perspective.

Time out in Australia and Asia

The transition was seamless - and should serve as an example: Following Schnaderbeck's last appearance on the pitch, she took a few months off and went to Australia and Asia. She was already making big plans. On the one hand, the long-serving captain of the Austrian national team was able to call time on her playing career, while on the other, she regularly exchanged e-mails with experts at home. In autumn, her vision of founding a sports marketing agency took shape, and she officially launched it in March. Her agency supports elite athletes in their marketing decisions and advises them on their subsequent careers.

Schnaderbeck knows what it's like to play for her home country in a European Championship semi-final. She knows how it feels to hold up the Meisterschale on the town hall balcony in front of 20,000 Bayern fans on Marienplatz. But she also suffered a lot of injuries during her career: She had knee surgery several times and was often on the brink of having to retire at a young age. She's no stranger to having to ask herself: Where do I actually stand in life? What are my prospects? "I was able to live my dream - but as a competitive athlete, you can suddenly have a rude awakening," says Schnaderbeck. "I thought to myself, there has to be something to prevent you from falling into a hole." She admits that the thought of suddenly having to start from scratch pretty much horrified her at the time, and the conversations with her current clients also confirm this: "It takes a lot of pressure off you if you can concentrate on your sport and at the same time know what paths are open to you." In the past, she would have liked to have had someone by her side from time to time to point out these paths and outline the first possible steps together.

Portfolio including Lina Magull

The long-standing FCB player started off on a small scale with her agency a year ago. "You have to be down-to-earth, work hard on yourself and put in the work before you reap the rewards," she says. And in principle, this is also the motto that she explains to athletes if they're interested in working with her. Her team now has five staff who look after a total of seven athletes - not only from the world of football, but also speed skating and wheelchair tennis. In addition to traditional marketing, which involves helping to build networks and broker partnerships, the unique selling point of Schnaderbeck's agency is its advice on building a sustainable brand that should also be recognisable beyond the horizon of a playing career.

The basis for moving forward together is always mutual trust - and this is perhaps even more true here than in other areas. The athletes have to be willing, says Schnaderbeck, "it has to be a good fit on a personal level and it has to be clear that you also have an obligation and responsibility that you have to fulfil". If misunderstandings arise there, "it doesn't work, it doesn't make sense - everything we want to build together then goes up in smoke".

Schnaderbeck began her second career as a test balloon with her former FCB teammate Manuela Zinsberger, who has been Arsenal's goalkeeper for the last four years. Her portfolio now includes FC Bayern's Lina Magull, Alexander Schlager from Red Bull Salzburg, Austrian wheelchair tennis pro Nico Langmann and speed skating world champion Vanessa Herzog. Diversity and an inclusive approach are important to her, and already during her playing career, she always looked beyond the touchline. "We live in quite a bubble in our sport, we're really spoilt - in fringe sports you need even more extra willpower to work on yourself. That impresses me personally immensely," she says. "They are all characters who want to achieve something - beyond sport as well."

The plan for the future is to take things step by step. Viki Schnaderbeck also makes keynote speeches on topics such as teamwork, leadership and dealing with setbacks, and she expands her network with every talk she delivers in Germany, Austria, Switzerland or London. She had the idea of establishing a second career as a speaker while she was recovering from yet another operation. "I know from my own experience how important it is to realise that you can also be passionate about something else, outside of your sport," she says. "It's not easy, you need a certain intrinsic motivation for that." What shouldn't happen is the following scenario: "That at the end of your career it's a case of: 'Congratulations on everything you've achieved, really well done' - but then at the same time you ask yourself: And what good will that do me now?" There's more beyond the horizon, there has to be more. It's all a question of perspective.

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