Günter Netzer is 65
Germany’s football legend and sports business pioneer continues to act as Board Member and ambassador extraordinary for Infront
Over 30 years ago Günter Netzer has moved seamlessly from pitch to professional sports business. As a Member of the Board for the international sports marketing company Infront Sports & Media, today Günter Netzer is still one of the most influential characters in European football. He plays a key role in representing the company in the world of sport as its “ambassador extraordinary”.
A true football legend
Germany’s Footballer of the Year in 1972 and 1973, Günter Netzer represented his country in 37 international matches during the 1970’s. In 1972 he was member of the DFB team winning the European Championship. He was considered to be one of the greatest passers in the game’s history.
Netzer started early, playing for the FC Mönchengladbach from the age of eight before changing to city rival Borussia Mönchengladbach in 1963 at age 19. He turned Bundesliga professional in the 1965/66 season, the same year he was called upon to play for the German national side for the first time. Netzer continued his career for Borussia until 1973 and – in his 230 matches for them - he scored 82 goals. He joined Real Madrid in 1974 and played for the royal Spanish club until 1976, winning the Spanish Championship in 1975 and 1976 and the Spanish Cup in 1974 and 1975. In 1976, he joined Grasshoppers Zürich where he finished his sporting career in 1977.
Over 30 years in sports marketing
One of Europe’s pioneers in the fledgling sports marketing business, he discovered the commercial potential of sport while still playing football, as the publisher of the stadium magazine for Mönchengladbach. When he became Manager of Hamburger SV in 1978, he was able to record impressive achievements both in sporting – the HSV won three national championship titles (1979, 1982 and 1983) and the European Champions' Cup in 1983 – and business terms.
In 1986 Günter Netzer became Managing Director of CWL, one of Europe's first and most influential sports marketing companies, run by Ceasar W. Luethi. The Swiss-based agency was one of the component companies of what was ultimately to become Infront Sports & Media.
CWL was purchased by KirchMedia as part of its expansion programme in sport and then integrated with Prisma Sports & Media (at the time rights holder for the worldwide media rights to the FIFA World Cup™) and ISPR as KirchSport in 2000. When KirchMedia collapsed in 2002, Netzer was part of the management team which led the bid to buy-out the KirchSport subsidiary and its valuable media rights from the Administrator. This was achieved with the assistance of Robert Louis-Dreyfus and the Jacobs family. In 2003, the company was renamed Infront Sports & Media and went on to grow into the substantial, international operation that it is today, with 500 employees and 23 offices in 10 countries.
Philippe Blatter, President & CEO of Infront Sports & Media, said: “On behalf of Infront and all colleagues I wish Günter Netzer a very happy 65th birthday. He is one of the early masterminds in European sports business and also a co-founder of our company. We are all very proud that he is playing on our team. Every day we continue to benefit from his tremendous experience, strong network and popularity all across the world. Since the inception of the company, he has played a valuable role in securing the success of Infront. We hope we can rely on his support for many years to come.”
In addition to his work in sports business and with Infront, his football career has been followed by a successful involvement in television and journalism. He is still active as commentator for German public broadcaster ARD and as such one of the country’s best known football experts.
About Infront Sports & Media
Infront Sports & Media, based in Zug, Switzerland, is one of the top international full service sports marketing companies with a capacity for innovation that is helping to transform the industry in the areas of rights distribution, sponsorship, host broadcast and production, event operations and even online entertainment. Infront has 500 employees across 23 offices in 10 countries.
Infront has an extensive football portfolio. The Group is a partner of top European football leagues, including Italian's Lega Calcio and the French Football League (Ligue 1) - national football associations including the DFB in Germany and several clubs like SV Werder Bremen, FC Schalke 04, U.S. Città di Palermo and S.S. Lazio Rome. Infront is also best known for working with the sport’s governing bodies. It successfully delivered the global media rights sales and host broadcast of the 2002 and 2006 FIFA World Cup™. Today, Infront is involved in the distribution of the Asian media rights to the 2010 and 2014 FIFA World Cup™ (in a joint venture with Dentsu). The company’s dedicated and highly specialised host broadcast organisation Host Broadcast Services (HBS), is handling the host broadcast of the 2010 and 2014 FIFA World Cup™ and also contributes to UEFA Euro™ events.
Other partnerships in summer sports include an exclusive relationship with the European Handball Federation (EHF) for the media and advertising rights of the EHF EURO events. Through Infront Motor Sports, promoter of the FIM SBK Superbike World Championship, Infront has a major, long-term property in motor sports. The group is also involved with the CEV European Volleyball Championships.
In the winter sports arena, Infront is the strongest, most experienced agency, representing six out of seven Olympic winter sport federations at international level. This includes exclusive partnerships with the international federations responsible for biathlon (IBU), curling (WCF), ice hockey (IIHF), luge (FIL), bobsleigh / skeleton (FIBT) and skiing (FIS) as well as with many national federations.
Infront has also successfully entered the Asian market with China as its first point of entry. With its office in Beijing, the company is now an established player. Infront has already made a real impact through a strategic partnership with the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA).
-Ends-
For further information, please contact:
Jörg Polzer
Manager, Communication & PR
Infront Sports & Media AG
Tel. +41-41-723 15 15
Fax +41-41-723 15 16
press infrontsports.com
www.infrontsports.com
Please find on the right hand side a German language PDF version
of this release for download.
Eine deutsche Fassung der Pressemitteilung finden Sie auf der
rechten Seite als PDF-Download.
