Thomas Wüstefeld didn’t seem to feel completely comfortable in this situation. The then Hamburger SV board was standing in the catacombs of the Volksparkstadion in mid-August when the HSV players trudged back into the dressing room after a 2-1 draw against Darmstadt 98. It is now well known that footballers like to be left alone after defeats, but at that moment Wüstefeld was obviously aware that he had to act now. What else would that look like? Loud HSV players who simply sneak past their superiors in front of the assembled media landscape without even glancing at them?
No, such a fatal image must not be created in football. Wüstefeld took a few steps in the direction of the cabin door, his hand seemed ready to be high-fived by other hands. But the HSV players didn’t care. They passed the man who, in his position as chief financial officer, was responsible for paying their salaries. And they didn’t look at him.
In the night from Wednesday to Thursday, HSV announced that the Wüstefeld file had been closed once and for all. “Dr. Thomas Wüstefeld is resigning,” said the traditional club around 11 p.m. after an extraordinary meeting of the supervisory board, and it fits into the overall picture of his work at Hamburg that even something as banal as a headline in a press release has a strange aftertaste.
The personnel of Wüstefeld is an example of the decline of HSV
“Dr.” Thomas Wuestefeld? There are serious doubts about his academic career, during which he says he also acquired a professorship. Just like Wüstefeld remained a single mystery until the very end. “A dream dancer and cutthroat,” says someone who worked with him in the HSV office.
And that is one of the more subtle comments that have been heard on the subject of Wüstefeld in recent months, not only from HSV employees, but also from local politicians in Hamburg, former business partners and those responsible for other professional clubs. One thing is certain: Wüstefeld, 53, is one of the strangest figures that has recently worked in German professional football – and she tells a lot about why HSV, which is viewed as a potential giant in the industry, has been struggling in the second division for five years.
Marcell Jansen (centre) and Jonas Boldt (left) now have to think about how things will continue at HSV without Wüstefeld.
(Photo: Daniel Reinhardt/dpa)
It is not even entirely clear when the relationship between HSV and Wüstefeld will begin. The entrepreneur officially took the stage in October 2020 when he bought 5.11 percent of the shares in HSV Fußball AG from investor and billionaire Klaus-Michael Kühne for 14.2 million euros. But the ramifications of the background go further: contact with Kühne came about through HSV President Marcell Jansen, with whom Wüstefeld has been on friendly terms since the two met at an event. Wüstefeld presented a PCR test device there, the alleged flagship product of his medical company; Jansen was delighted.
HSV President Marcell Jansen and Wüstefeld also maintained business relationships outside of football
The HSV was therefore not only equipped with the devices during the peak phase of the Corona crisis. There were also further business relationships between Wüstefeld and Jansen, which ultimately resulted in the purchase of shares. Then everything happened very quickly: Wüstefeld became head of the HSV supervisory board almost overnight and a little later moved to the HSV board on an interim basis, pro bono, as those involved were happy to tell. In Hamburg, however, such a post is primarily paid for with immaterial value, because hardly any other football club guarantees such rapid advancement into social circles that would otherwise have been unattainable.
HSV, no matter how crisis-ridden the club may have been in the recent past, is a ticket to the Hanseatic establishment. As a person in charge, you suddenly get access to the Hamburg Senate and to the most important merchants and companies, you become a public figure. The structures of HSV have been attracting people who expect to gain status for decades. All of a sudden, Wüstefeld was also in the limelight. And he seemed to like it.
He had nothing to do with football throughout his life, and little else is known about him. Wüstefeld says of himself that he has been an HSV fan since he was a child, but very early on he used to sleep in Schalke 04 bedding. Apart from that, his biography is full of inconsistencies, which have been revealed in recent months, in particular through research by the Hamburger Abendblatt came up.
It started with reports of million-dollar lawsuits against Wüstefeld’s companies, criminal charges of fraud and breach of trust, alleged sales of unauthorized medical products. The doubts about his academic titles continued, the origin of which Wüstefeld was never able to explain plausibly. Even in popular databases are noisy evening paper no references to be found.
For a year, the entrepreneur was one of the most reliable headline producers HSV had ever had. And he managed during this time to mess with everyone who otherwise has something to say in Hamburg: with sports director Jonas Boldt, from whom he withheld the transfer budget that had actually been promised for weeks, with which the professional team should be strengthened in the summer. With the investor Kühne, whom he accused of having sold HSV shares to him over their value.
Wüstefeld allegedly wanted to push Boldt and Kühne out of the club in order to gain more influence and make further, cheaper share purchases at HSV. He has achieved the exact opposite: Boldt has been appointed interim head of the entire operational business. And Kühne is still in the starting blocks with his EUR 120 million financial injection, which should contribute to the economic recovery of the traditional club.
Wüstefeld fantasized about a 200-million-dollar project for the Hamburger Volkspark
With Wüstefeld, who denies all allegations, it was never entirely clear what role he was playing. In this case, that is to be understood literally: sometimes he gave the warning that the financially ailing club was doomed, only to shortly afterwards be raving about a 200 million euro project that would turn the Hamburger Volkspark into a state-of-the-art event area should be expanded. In reality, Wüstefeld did not manage to find a guarantor for a loan in the tens of millions to ensure the renovation of the stadium for the EM 2024. “The EM is not in danger,” Wüstefeld had assured again and again. Now that doesn’t seem so certain anymore.
The fact that Wüstefeld was able to stay in office for so long is due to his good relationship with HSV President Jansen, who has also chaired the supervisory board since January. The former Germany international put a strong protective umbrella over Wüstefeld, which deflected all accusations, and he saw no conflict of interest in the two doing business with each other outside of football. There have long been voices in the club and among the supporters calling for Jansen’s resignation. But the damage has already been done: Telekom wants to end its commitment as a major sponsor at HSV, allegedly because the group fears a loss of image due to the Wüstefeld personnel.
Wüstefeld should now disappear from the scene. It is also hardly conceivable that the entrepreneur will at least be able to say goodbye to the professional team on Friday evening, when leaders HSV play the top game in the second division at Hannover 96. Hamburg’s coach Tim Walter banned Wüstefeld from the dressing room at the beginning of the season because he suddenly deducted the ticket costs for family members from his salary. Wüstefeld had not previously announced this maneuver.
