Michael Schwarzer wants to modernize sport

Michael Schwarzer is used to change. The former managing director of the first division football club Frankfurt Universe has been working for the American Football Association Germany (AFVD) for three years. At that time, the association hired him because Schwarzer was supposed to advance the final for the title of the German Football League (GFL). The game of the so-called German Bowl is something like the calling card of German football.

In Frankfurt, the event should return to the strength it once had in the 1990s, when more than 20,000 fans came to watch the final. It was Schwarzer’s job to make this possible in the city on the Main. The mission was successful – although no Frankfurt team took part in the final in the World Cup arena because Universe had missed qualifying for the highlight of the season. Almost 21,000 fans cheered the 10:7 victory of the New York Lions from Braunschweig over the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns. The German Bowl had regained its luster.

Schwarzer has been the new managing director of the AFVD since the beginning of the year. Last year, the league final in the Frankfurt Arena was a success under his leadership – again without Frankfurt participation, but with more than 14,000 spectators, it was remarkably well attended despite the pandemic times. The fact that Schwarzer had landed a new name sponsor for the league and the final in the form of the drinks manufacturer “Shark Water” were further arguments in favor of the 34-year-old former competitive athlete.

Hard sport on runners

Schwarzer hasn’t been active on the football field, but in another sport where helmets are worn: ice hockey. He started as a teenager and was so gifted that he managed to get into the EV Füssen ice hockey boarding school. “When I went there, I still had the dream of earning my living as a professional,” he says. But he quickly noticed: “Shit – there are so many better than me.” For example, there was a man named Thomas Greiss in the goal of his team. Today he plays for the Detroit Red Wings in the National Hockey League. “I was just not that good.” Nevertheless, Schwarzer remained true to the tough sport on skates, playing for the Frankfurt Lions that year when they succeeded the insolvency of the Lions professional team in 2010.

The fans came in droves to the ice rink on Ratsweg – although the lions only went hunting for the puck and points in the regional league. Schwarzer quickly became a crowd favorite. In the first eight matches of the Hessians, he was always the player who scored the first goal for Frankfurt. This was also the case in the first home game, when Schwarzer quickly gave his team a 1-0 lead against Iserlohn. “I’m very grateful for this time,” says Schwarzer, who was able to make important contacts in ice hockey that he still benefits from today.

Road to football official

Michael Bresagk, the former Lions professional and Löwen partner, paved the way for “Blacky” to become a football official after he had to give up ice hockey for health reasons. “I had problems with an intervertebral disc and was faced with a choice: surgery or the end of my career.” After only being used a little as a player, he decided in 2012 to hang up his skates. The first step from puck hunter to desk clerk was done.

The German Football Association values ​​Schwarzer’s flair for event management. The bankruptcy that he slipped into with Universe in 2017 seems to be over. Under his leadership, the football club had lived extremely beyond its means and was heavily in debt. The insolvency administrator had saved the club, which is still competing in the GFL under new leadership. Schwarzer’s Universe Chapter ended on December 31, 2018, and he joined the AFVD in January 2019.

In the association, which still has its business premises at the German Olympic Sports Confederation in the Otto-Fleck-Schneise, Schwarzer should continue to take care of the development of the final of the German Bowl, advance digitization and optimize cooperation with the many volunteer employees. Challenging tasks await. The American Football World Cup will be held in Germany next year. Until then, the national team must be resuscitated after a few years without a German selection. The corona crisis and the high costs were the reasons for this, says Schwarzer, who has already had talks with potential sponsors on this topic.

The expensive live broadcasts of the GFL games on television are another important point of his future work. Of course, he knows the appeal of the European League of Football, which is a tough competitor to the GFL in a very small market. “The new league doesn’t help anyone the way it is now,” says the AFVD managing director. The range of high-class players in Germany is actually too small for two competing leagues. “And it’s our clubs that train the young players.”

Schwarzer has meanwhile learned that few industries are as fast-paced as sport. Staying mobile is also advisable for officials. The AFVD will soon be moving to new business premises in the north end. The hope for an early, busy office life is certainly not only in this industry. Because in times of rapidly increasing corona incidence numbers, almost all employees of the association are in the home office.