Alexander Baumjohann’s goal: Sydney FC as a top springboard for Europe

Transfermarkt interview

After his professional career, Alexander Baumjohann wants to achieve the optimum in his second career: The 36-year-old is responsible for the sporting fortunes at Sydney FC and wants to make Australia’s record champions an even more attractive address. Baumjohann explains in the Transfermarkt interview how he does this and what he thinks of the young generation of German sports directors.

Transfer market: Mr. Baumjohann, you have been “Head of Player Management” at Sydney FC since mid-May. How’s it going?

Alexander Baumjohann: I’m keeping busy, there’s a lot to do at the moment because the transfer window is open. It never gets boring. For me it is the second transfer phase. Preparation for the next season is particularly intensive because we can already agree contracts with players for 2024/25. Of course, the work started beforehand, but now it’s entering the hot phase. I have appointments with players, potential newcomers and advisors every day. But we’re also trying to do something else in January.

Transfer market: Where is your current focus?

Baumjohann: Because we have filled all five places for foreigners this season, it is currently more about talking to clubs about players we want to sell in the next few months. With, among others, Nestory Irankunda (the 17-year-old is moving from Adelaide United to FC Bayern for 3.4 million euros in 2024/25; editor), Connor Metcalfe, Jackson Irvine (both active at FC St Pauli) and Jordan Bos ( KVC Westerlo) there are enough examples: the Australian market is becoming more and more on the radar for European clubs.

Transfer market: You and your players would like to jump on this bandwagon.

Baumjohann: We have some incredibly talented players in our squad who are continually playing. They definitely have the potential for Europe, and not just for the 2nd league or Denmark or Belgium, but I am firmly convinced that they can also make a breakthrough in one of the top 5 leagues. We want to prepare them for that. That’s why it’s important to me to talk about our players using my contacts with European clubs. But the exchange takes place in both directions. I get calls almost every day from clubs in Europe asking about our players. That’s why I’m very optimistic that we’ll sell one or the other to a good club – perhaps also in the MLS.

Transfer market: In our last interview in autumn 2022 you said: “There is not the classic position of sports director here. Because the clubs are privately run, there is an owner, CEO and coach – but nothing in between. It is therefore a longer process for this new position to be implemented.” How far has this process progressed in your club?

Baumjohann: I do everything that is part of the responsibilities of a sports director. This position has been newly implemented. I am responsible for the entire football area. Previously, the managing director took on these tasks together with the trainer. When I started in May, over 90 percent of the players from last season were still under contract and we try to optimize the squad with each transfer window. We also fired coach Steve Corica, who was at Sydney FC for 19 years, in November and hired a new coach, Ufuk Talay.

This is how Baumjohann’s start to his managerial career at Sydney FC went

Transfer market: What other challenges did you have to contend with?

Baumjohann: It was the first step into my second career. Of course, a lot of it was new territory for me. I had previously sat in on a few clubs and had a lot of conversations in order to learn a lot and learn as much as possible. But it is not comparable to when you bear responsibility yourself. I was thrown into the deep end at the beginning, everything was on my desk and I had a lot of work to do. But we have already implemented and initiated a lot of things.

Transfer market: Among other things?

Irvine in top 10
The most valuable Australian players
It’s this way!

Baumjohann: We significantly reduced the average age in the team from almost 29 to under 24 and won the cup competition straight away. So it’s going in the right direction. But it is a process and we will move it forward with every transfer phase. We have many players with expiring contracts (ten; editor). That’s why there will be several changes and upheaval for the new season – and the squad will be even younger. The team gets a new face. We are the record champions and number one training club in Australia, but we have the potential to set ourselves even further apart. We also want to become the top club as a springboard towards Europe. We have a lot of quality in the youth sector, we have to make the most of it and get the most out of our academy. We are already on the right track, but this process cannot be completed overnight.

Transfer market: Is this exactly how you imagined working at Sydney FC?

Baumjohann: In the end, things always turn out differently. But in general I knew that it was a task with a lot of challenges in terms of the salary cap and the club’s financial situation. Almost all Australian clubs are in the red every year. By generating transfer revenue, the club should become healthy and eventually be in the black. We want to become sustainable, develop and sell players at the same time and still be successful. We have to make sure that when we sell players, the next players from our academy are already in the pipeline to follow in their footsteps. At the same time, we want to win every title.

Transfer market: How do you manage this in reality?

Baumjohann: Many clubs in world football handle it similarly to Ajax, PSV, Porto or Benfica. The best players have been bought away for decades – and yet it has been ensured that the next players are already in the starting blocks in order to perform confidently nationally and sometimes go far in international competition. I am optimistic that we can achieve this too. Because nobody can be relegated in this league, there is less pressure, although our aim is to always become champions. It’s all the better to see that the young players we’ve raised over the last few months are gaining a foothold in the professional game so quickly and delivering such good performances.

Sydney FC: Baumjohann doesn’t just want to look at the money when selling players

Transfer market: Who, for example?

Baumjohann: Jake Girdwood-Reich, who could also receive a German passport, is in the sights of the national team. He can become a real top player in one of the top 5 leagues, he has a great character and a great mentality. I’ve seen few players who are that far along at that age (19; editor). Several clubs are queuing up for him. I think he could become one of Australia’s next superstars and has a great future ahead of him. We have also loaned one of Australia’s greatest offensive talents, Adrian Segecic (also 19), to FC Dordrecht in Holland, where he plays regularly and was named one of the ten most talented players in the league a few weeks ago.

Alexander Baumjohann in the last TM interview about his playing career and managerial plans (October 2022) – read here!

Transfer market: You have a UEFA certificate in football management and a degree in international sports management and wanted to work in Australia because you see a lot of potential and room for improvement there. “I would say that the A-League is now where the MLS was about 15 years ago,” you said. Has that been confirmed?

Baumjohann: Yes. I noticed that when I was still active myself. That’s why it’s all the more important to me that we don’t just look at the money when selling players, but also make sure that we sell our players to clubs where they can assert themselves and don’t come back to Australia after just six months in Europe. It helps us as an Australian market a lot more when local players establish themselves and be successful at European clubs. I feel it is my responsibility to help Australian football gain a higher status in world football. The potential for this is definitely there.

Transfer market: The younger generation of sports directors around Sebastian Kehl in Dortmund, Marcel Schäfer in Wolfsburg and Simon Rolfes in Leverkusen certainly serve as role models for you. When will we see you in a leading role at a club in Germany?

Baumjohann: At some point, definitely. I make no secret of the fact that I am very ambitious and want to make the most of my second career. I want to work at the highest level and am not just focused on Germany because I speak four and a half languages ​​(German, English, Portuguese, Spanish and a little Italian; editor) and have traveled around a lot. But when I see what Simon Rolfes does at Bayer Leverkusen, he is, in a sense, a role model. However, there are plenty of other managers who have been there longer and from whom I learn a lot. However, I think it’s good that the trend is towards younger sports directors.

If I manage to overcome the challenges here and get certain things done, things can only get easier for me at other clubs.

Transfer market: So you’re ready for the next step…

Baumjohann: I can’t say when exactly it will happen. First of all, I would like to take as much as possible with me and implement it in my current job. If I manage to overcome the challenges here and get certain things done, things can only get easier for me at other clubs. Of course the pressure is higher in Europe with higher expectations, but that pushes me to achieve even higher levels.

Transfer market: How long do you want to stay in Australia at least?

Baumjohann: In football you can never plan for the long term, I discovered that during my playing career. But I’m not someone who, halfway through a project, says, ‘I’m off.’ After all, we are in the process of restructuring the entire identity and philosophy of the club, and I play a big role in this and would like to help. In ten years I will certainly no longer be here because I want to get to the top as quickly as possible, to one of the top leagues. But until then I still want to learn a lot and I’m glad that Sydney FC is giving me this opportunity. I enjoy every day and what happens in the future remains to be seen.

Transfer market: You said: “As a young player you have to make certain mistakes in order to learn from them.” What mistakes did you have to make as a manager?

Baumjohann: You do that often – and you have to in order to develop further. With Sydney FC I am at exactly the right club where I can allow myself to make certain mistakes because I know that there is more pressure elsewhere and mistakes may have greater consequences.

Interview: Philipp Marquardt

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