Bob Hanning on Füchse Berlin’s budget: Five or six clubs have more money than us
Füchse Berlin have established themselves among the leading teams in German and European handball in recent years, but managing director Bob Hanning insists that the capital club are still not among the Bundesliga’s biggest financial powers.
Speaking at a press conference ahead of the start of pre-season, Hanning openly discussed the club’s budget.
“Financially, I think we are in the upper third. We are not right at the top. There are certainly five or six teams with a bigger budget than ours,” the 58-year-old said.
Hanning explained that Füchse remain competitive by operating with a small administrative staff and relying heavily on voluntary work, while directing more of their resources towards youth development.
“We do a lot of work on a voluntary basis and have a very small office staff. We try to achieve a lot with very few people because we would rather spend the money on youth development and improving players. Without youth development, we would have no chance,” Hanning said.
The German runners-up rely on a mixture of established stars and talented young players developed within the club’s system. Hanning pointed out that signing players such as Mathias Gidsel, Simon Pytlick or Dika Mem requires significant financial resources.
“Let’s be honest: if you want Pytlick, Dika Mem or Gidsel, you do not get them for free. If we did not have the opportunity to keep bringing our own young players into the first team during pre-season, or to develop young players into internationals, we would have no chance in the circus of the big clubs,” Hanning stressed.
He highlighted Matthes Langhoff, Tim Freihöfer and Nils Lichtlein as examples of players who have benefited from the club’s development model.
“Without this model, we would have no chance of competing at the very highest level,” the Füchse Berlin boss concluded.
