Away from football
The Bayern star has completely different plans after his career
Updated on November 5, 2025 – 6:29 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
With four goals in eight games, Lea Schüller is one of the top performers at FC Bayern Munich. She is already thinking – and worried – about life after her professional career.
Contrary to what many fans might expect, Lea Schüller is not aiming for a career in sports after her time in professional football. Instead, she decided to do a distance learning course in industrial engineering for Industry 4.0 at the International University “iu” in 2019.
In an interview with the university, she explained that her choice was no coincidence: “Unlike many of my teammates, I decided against studying sports because I wanted a balance with professional sports.” She also explained: “With this course I have a broad base after my sporting career.” Her grandmother is also said to have provided the idea, as she reminded her of her interest in cars after she passed her high school diploma. This was the impetus for the teenager to ultimately examine the career profile of an industrial engineer.
According to his own statement, Schüller has not yet decided on a fixed career path. And the 27-year-old also seems to be flexible when it comes to choosing her course of study. According to “Bild”, she is said to have recently changed her course of study and decided on financial management.
Although Schüller is successful as a national player and professional at FC Bayern Munich and, according to a report in “Bild”, earns around 180,000 euros in salary, she is worried about her financial security after her football career. She is particularly worried about the comparatively late entry into “normal” working life.
“I’m already afraid. If I start at 35, it will be more difficult than at 24,” she said in an interview with Sky at the beginning of 2022. “My studies alone don’t help me because I haven’t started working yet. I hope that I can somehow do an internship on the side so that I have something on my CV.”
She emphasized that she could of course save something – but it “won’t be enough for a whole life after football.”
Schüller’s concerns are directly related to the financial situation of many female soccer players. Because in the Bundesliga only the players from the top clubs can live on their salaries.
“I would really like our league to be balanced. That every woman who decides to play football in the future will choose the professional sport of football and not just kick balls in the Bundesliga as a ‘hobby’ alongside her 40-hour job,” she told Vogue two years ago. “I just think that if that were to happen, the quality would increase enormously. Then women’s football would become so much better and, accordingly, the popularity and media presence.”