Erkut Söğüt is daring. With his first thriller, which he recently released in London, he takes a stand against the ugly sides of “the most beautiful thing in the world”, professional football. His agency Family & Football advises almost 50 footballers, including superstar Mesut Özil. Söğüt’s self-published novel “Deadline”, written in English, can be read with a shudder of pleasure simply because one knows that the enterprising players’ consultant has looked into the abysses of a multi-billion dollar industry for years and seen how fraud, corruption, manipulation, Human trafficking and nepotism have become proven tools for success. So Söğüt knows exactly what he is writing about. And he wants to share this knowledge.
“I’ve experienced nepotism everywhere,” he says, “not just in Great Britain, but also in Germany. My first novel is about it.” His best German example – FC Bayern Munich: The brother of Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, who resigned in 2021 after almost 20 years at the top of FCB, is a football agent, as is his son Roman. The brother of Uli Hoeneß is no different. Matthias Sammer worked for FCB until 2016 and has been advising BVB since 2018. His son is also a player advisor. “If you don’t have such connections, you’re sometimes 1-0 down,” says Söğüt, who worked his way into the football business without such starting conditions. The starting advantages of others could never stop him. On the contrary.
