From the BZ editorial team
Union manager Ruhnert takes a deep look into his biography and speaks plainly about politics, the DFB and his youth.
Why is this man so successful? This question is currently being asked by many in football Germany. Union’s success has many fathers. One of the most important is Oliver Ruhnert (50).
With the help of the author Helge Meves, the manager publishes the book “The Secret of His Success” on November 8 (18 euros from Eulenspiegel-Verlag).
Ruhnert is not only a football-obsessed Bundesliga manager, but also an amateur politician and referee. Companions from sport (eg Urs Fischer, Christopher Trimmel) or politics (eg Sahra Wagenknecht) describe their impressions in the 192-page book.
His assistant Marc Lettau (37) also has his say, describing him as sometimes absent-minded: “Oliver likes to leave suitcases on trains, finds out at the check-in counter that he forgot his wallet in the office, or he sometimes just takes things from colleagues with him as a precaution – true to the motto ‘It’s better to have than to need’.”
► Ruhnert grew up in Sauerland. He remembers: “My father was a laborer, on assembly work and often only there at the weekend, my mother worked in retail. I have five siblings. We (…) lived in a high-rise complex directly on an expressway. (…) If there was anything positive about our living situation, it was that the apartment was quite centrally located. The stadium was within walking distance and just as easy to reach as the secondary school and later the secondary school. In terms of school performance, I was more of a seasonal worker: Whenever the semesters were coming to an end and the reports were threatening, I was doing just enough to get by.”
The book “The Secret of His Success” will be published on November 8th (18 euros from Eulenspiegel-Verlag) Photo: promo
► Ruhnert worked his way up. From Sauerland to Schalke, where he became junior manager and chief scout. There he met, among others, the then coach Felix Magath (69): “Felix Magath is undoubtedly an expert, the discussions with him are among the most well-founded I’ve had in my career. (…) The manners, however, depended heavily on the situation. For example, if the evening before I had spent hours enjoying a relaxed and pleasant Felix Magath over good wine and food, this could change suddenly when several people were present. Sometimes the mood got icy, so you wondered if that was still the person you had eaten with the night before.”
► Scouting – not always an easy job. About an incident with Magath’s successor, Ralf Rangnick (64): “Late on Friday evening, it occurred to him that a player in France was to be scouted the next day. I had to pull out all the stops to get it done. Shortly before Lorient, after an improvised journey, no sleep and twenty minutes before kick-off, he informed me that he no longer wanted the player. It was good that he told me that over the phone and we didn’t face each other…”
► Ruhnert is considered a critic of the DFB. Especially when it comes to youth work. He says: “We lack guys (…) not only on the pitch. With the egalitarianism in the training of trainers, individuality has also been lost there. (…) When I was at Schalke, I was one of the few people at the DFB conferences who sometimes voiced criticism. Most of them have come to terms with their job or are afraid to say something and jeopardize their future careers.”
They are responsible for Union’s success: coach Urs Fischer (left) and manager Oliver Ruhnert Photo: picture alliance/dpa
► Ruhnert’s hobby: politics. For “Die Linke” he sits on the city council of Iserlohn. is more possible? Ruhnert: “In the short term, there was already the idea and opportunity to go into big politics in Berlin and thus into federal politics. It would have appealed to me, I have to admit, to bring this descending left back into shape and give the party a new jolt throughout Germany. (…) One should never say never, as the saying goes. (…) I can’t really imagine it at the moment.”
Football is too important to him for that. In 2019 he was promoted to Union manager after being hired as chief scout in 2018. There were other options too. He could have gone to China as a junior boss, maybe to Wolfsburg. He chose Kopenick.
How does he see his future?
Ruhnert: “I’ve often said that I’d like to keep playing football, but I won’t do this exhausting and nerve-sapping job, sometimes 24/7, forever. Therefore, despite many other possibilities, it could well be that Union will remain my first and last stop in professional football.”