Thomas Hitzlsperger is not your ordinary soccer player. He played in the Bundesliga, Premier League, and Serie A, amassed half a century of caps for Germany, came out as gay, embarked on a mission of advocacy, and today he is invested in Danish club Aalborg BK and London restaurant L’Escargot. Hitzlsperger is curious about the world. On a recent trip to the Women’s World Cup, he bombarded his companions with questions of politics and economics, but building a career after the heights and adulation of a successful career, crisscrossing Europe’s major stadiums and featuring in the Euro 2008 final, is not easy.

He is a proprietor at L’Escargot, a London institution in a four-story Georgian townhouse with French staples on the menu, including snails and soufflé. Drawn by its history and intimacy, the German became a regular at the restaurant before investing. He still pinches himself at the idea that he is a Soho restaurateur, in the heart of the English capital where competition is fierce. “The restaurant is almost 100 years old,” explains Hitzlsperger. “There is a legacy, so you have to protect that. You've got to respect that, but adjust to modern times as well.” Ultimately, he believes, that it boils down to “Being profitable, being successful and making sure, the guests have a great experience in your restaurant.”

Hitzlsperger honed his leadership and management skills at VfB Stuttgart, where he was the CEO from October 2019 to April 2022. He has taken those skills to L’Escargot, a small-scale operation. Stuttgart had 70,000 members and more than 300 staff during his time.

“Soccer is business, but also a lot of emotion,” says Hitzlsperger. “ In the beginning as part of the executive committee, I was responsible for the members and the different divisions like hockey, table tennis, and athletics. Understanding the German model - that the club is still run in the end effectively by members, but has a hybrid organization where part of the club is a professional entity. To see both sides and then having the responsibility to make the club successful was a really steep learning curve. To always involve all stakeholders, tell them what your plan is, and to actually execute the plan. In the end, it's like every business, you have to raise money in order to buy quality players, find good talents and nurture them, find a good manager, and bring success to the club. In the end, that's what people like the most but, at the same time, soccer clubs in Germany, from what I've experienced, are there for the community. That's a strong sense. You are part of the community and with that comes more responsibility.”

He experienced Germany’s 50+1 model as a challenge, balancing economic concerns with the needs of the members. The German ownership model is at times contentious, but one that German fans have long protected as a sacrosanct cornerstone of their game. With money from the Middle East engulfing soccer, the model has come under pressure more and more, and yet German clubs remain competitive in European competitions. “I see the fear of people that the club ends up in the hands of the wrong sort of people, in a consortium that perhaps won't run the club in the best interest of the fans,” says Hitzlsperger.

He adds that, “The model can't be an excuse for not being successful.” Union Berlin is perhaps the ultimate success story of a member-owned club. This season, the club from der Alten Försterei will feature in the Champions League.

Europe is a distant dream for Aalborg, Hitzlsperger’s other investment. Founded in 1885 by English engineers who were building Jutland’s railway system, Aalborg was relegated last season. Through Sports Strategy Excellence 22, Hitzlsperger and his business partners acquired 20% of the club’s stakes. Like L’Escargot, Aalborg is an existing brand with a legacy to protect.

In a competition overrun by foreign investment, Hitzlsperger and his team want to focus on player development and getting back to the big time. “Aalborg fans are longing for the Superliga,” explains Aalborg co-owner. “That’s what everybody wants. At the same time, we have to make sure we find the best talents in the north of Denmark, in the area that Aalborg is in, and give the fans something that they can identify with - it is success as well as players from the region. It may not happen overnight but it is what we're striving for.”

And so, he remains deeply involved in the game that he bade farewell to in 2013 at the end of a season with Premier League club Everton. He had contemplated coming out during his playing career but ultimately decided against it after a lawyer pointed to the potential impact, which discouraged him. “I wanted to see how the players react, how the fans react, the media, but I just wasn't ready,” recalls Hitzlsperger. “I did consult various people and almost everybody said don't do it. The pressure is big, you know. It has a huge effect on everything, on my life, and maybe on the team's performance. I was not as comfortable and as confident as I am now and that's just a journey I went on. I don't really have regrets.”

Today, openly gay players in the game remain rare. A midfielder for Cagliari in Serie A, Jakub Jankto is the most profile openly gay player in Europe. Josh Cavallo, 23, in Australia’s A-League and Jake Daniels, 18, in England’s League One, have also come out, but they remain exceptions. Being gay in men’s soccer remains a taboo. In a recent article for the Players Tribune, Arsenal’s Aaron Ramsdale, whose brother is gay, argued that he would no longer tolerate homophobia in the game. Jordan Henderson perhaps moved in the opposite direction, signing for Saudi Arabia’s Al Ettifaq. At the time, Hitzlsperger tweeted his dismay, with a bit of self-depreciation, “Curious to know though how the new brand JH will look like. The old one is dead! I did believe for a while that his support for the LGBT community would be genuine. Silly me.”

So do Henderson’s actions - advocating against discrimination in the past - and Ramsdale’s words not extend beyond simple PR? “Probably not,” thinks Hitzlsperger. “If I compare my time as a player from 10-15 years ago to what is happening now, it’s that the world has changed drastically. First China, then Qatar and now Saudi Arabia are investing heavily in soccer as part of a bigger strategy. Players become big brands. They earn massive amounts of money. They're sometimes looked after by PR agencies. The Henderson incident - at the time he thought he would support a good cause and now he had to make that decision whether it's money or still sticking to his values and he chose the money, and that’s all.”

It points to a deeper problem in the game, in his view. Soccer as an industry is more than happy to take quick money, without questioning where it comes from or what the implications could be. The game has long embraced Qatar and Saudi Arabia, two countries where homosexuality is a criminal offense.

“What I find irritating is that many people in the soccer world just do not look beyond,” concludes Hitzlsperger. “They accept the status quo. It shows the immense pressure, most clubs are under. More money is supposed to bring more success and make the fans happy, that's often the argument. And if the money comes from sovereign states with a poor human rights record, the officials believe, they have no choice, because turning money down would risk future success. It takes courage, a lot of energy, and power to persistently speak up and I've chosen that way. I don't say it every day but I feel like it's my responsibility to stand up at times.”