In the football industry, there is rarely ONE predetermined path. Often, things just happen. Of course, you have to be in the right place at the right time, have people around you who give you a chance, and ideally be prepared for whatever comes your way. I was very fortunate to be offered a position as U19 assistant coach and team manager at VfL Wolfsburg following my internship at the youth academy, this was not a given, but it certainly showed that I had made good use of my internship. After six years in various positions at VfL Wolfsburg in the youth academy, I was very tempted to move into the professional sector as an assistant coach. At first, it was a different world in some ways – and at the same time, it's still football, just very focused on a team whose happiness often depends on winning on the weekend.
The master's degrees then resulted from different constellations: Since further educational opportunities within Germany are limited in football, especially when access to the next license level is restricted, I decided during the coronavirus pandemic to complete the Master's in Tactical Periodization by Vitor Frade, which was offered in English for the first time in 2020 and took place predominantly online. I had heard a lot about the concept, but never fully understood it. After almost a year of study and a magical week in Porto, that changed...
Ever since my time in Wolfsburg, I have developed a fondness for Spanish football and the Spanish national teams, and I was eager to learn more about the context. After moving to the Hamburg Football Association, I met Marc Meister, who was a new youth national team coach at the time and had also completed a master's degree in Madrid. Through him, I learned more about the opportunities to study ‘football’ in Spain. I used the pandemic period to bring my Spanish skills up to a solid B2 level in order to meet the requirements for studying in Spanish in Barcelona and Madrid.
And then, of course, I was lucky that my employer supported and encouraged my further education plans in Spain, for which I am very grateful.
That's a very big question for a master's degree that took two years to complete – especially when you consider that Barca's youth academy has a special status even within Spain. FC Barcelona is a completely different world, which is why there is a master's degree that deals entirely with its own perspective on football (and, in general, on life). A central aspect is certainly the focus on playing space and ball position, and the dynamically changing conditions within a football match. The moment playing positions are abolished, the overall view of football naturally changes fundamentally. The focus on football athletic training is also completely different. Much of it is integrated into game situations and focused on the sport of ‘football’.
IMAGO / BSR Agency | Photo of Xabi Alonso during a match between Spain and France.
IMAGO / Marca | Photo of Xabi Alonso during a training session with Real Sociedad's second team during his apprenticeship
I really appreciate working with IMAGO, and especially with my contact, Damir Pasalic. For me, aesthetically appealing images are key to a book's success. There's a reason for the saying, ‘A picture is worth a thousand words.’ If the product is beautiful, I'm more inclined to engage with the content as a whole. I think you can already see the commitment and dedication to a cause in this.
IMAGO / Private Photo
Of course, I already had a general idea of the direction I wanted to take. Through our discussions, I quickly developed a more concrete sense of how the image selection should look.
There weren't any moments like that, although you can imagine that when you want to realize a project like this entirely on your own, there are always challenging moments. In this context, you have to differentiate: the purely content-related research into the background, the entire game analysis, and the technical and theoretical content naturally took time. But then it's like studying: once the content is there, I've always been quite good at ‘writing it down’. However, there were definitely some tricky moments, for example, when implementing the game graphics, meeting my self-imposed, time-consuming deadline, typesetting the book, proofreading...
I have to be honest and say that without the support of countless people, especially my graphic designer, Lukas Ullrich, who is a true magician, I would never have been able to realize the book. Producing the book is a masterclass in itself.
IMAGO / Beautiful Sports / Buriakov | Leverkusen Coach Xabi Alonso during a press conference.
8) How did you find the direct exchange with our team, and to what extent did it make your work easier or more rewarding?
I found the exchange to be direct, straightforward and goal-oriented. In such a demanding process as self-publishing a book, this way of working is extremely helpful, service-oriented and enriching. I am very grateful to IMAGO for this.
Interview and Picture Selection by Julian Stücke