This guest interview was conducted by Zach Lowy, Chief Editor and Social Media Manager of BreakingTheLines.com. Zach is a successful journalist and can be followed at @ZachLowy on X and @zachlowy.bsky.social on Bluesky. Zach’s work can also be found on FotMob, BetUS and others.
From Denmark to Italy to England to the Netherlands, Thomas Hitzlsperger’s footballing journey has taken him to various corners of Europe. However, the place where he first started his trajectory was in Munich – then West
Germany – on April 5, 1982.
After joining the VfB Forstinning youth team in 1988, Hitzlsperger signed to the Bayern Munich Junior Team, spending a decade there before heading abroad. He trialled at Celtic before making the move to Aston Villa, where, after a loan spell at Chesterfield, he broke into the first team. He returned to Germany in 2005, helping Stuttgart win the Bundesliga title, before heading to Lazio in 2010, followed by brief spells at West Ham, Wolfsburg, and Everton. He enjoyed a fantastic career, which saw him make 52 caps for Germany, winning the bronze medal in the 2005 Confederations Cup and 2006 World Cup, as well as the silver medal in the 2008 European Championship.
Since hanging up his boots in 2013, Hitzlsperger has made the headlines for quite a few different reasons. He became the first high-profile footballer to come out as gay in 2014, and he’s served not just as an LGBT+ activist, but as a journalist, pundit, and commentator for a number of leading outlets like Sky Germany, ESPN, and Fox Sports. He’s also remained active in football administration, working at Stuttgart as sporting director and then CEO from 2019 to 2022. Today, he’s dealing with three clubs, sitting on Hellas Verona’s board as well as working as a co-owner of VVV-Venlo and Aalborg.
Bavarian Football Works spoke to him about a number of topics.
BFW: Over the past 20 years, only five teams have stopped Bayern from winning the Bundesliga, your Stuttgart being one of them. What does it take to break Bayern’s hegemony in the Bundesliga? Obviously, it’s possible, but it’s one of the toughest things in European football.
Hitzlsperger: It is, and even now, I think it’s more difficult, because you see the imbalance is getting bigger and bigger. They have a roster of 20-25 players that are just incredible, and they can move things around. But I have to give credit to Vincent Kompany: he’s just incredible. Because with them, they have the best roster, and yet, they have this hunger to work hard every game.
I was at their opening game against Stuttgart: even if they’re a goal down, they just come back, and every single player understands that they can make a difference. Whatever they do is important for the team, and it’s not like just relying on somebody else. In my time, even then they had outstanding players, but there was always that odd year where you could kind of sneak in, which happened. I can’t really remember what happened in that year with Bayern, but now it’s harder and harder.
The only one I would pick out is Xabi Alonso at Bayer Leverkusen. He was new to the scene, coming from Real Sociedad, but his knowledge as a coach, his charisma as well, his aura, and Leverkusen being known for always having a good roster, always bringing in good talents, that really, really worked well. I know they’re just the exception. You’d have to speak to somebody from Leverkusen. Now I look at Bayern; it’s almost impossible to break them down and to be better than them over 34 games.
BFW: The same year you left Stuttgart (2010) was also when you made your final cap for Germany. What do you think of your Germany legacy? You definitely helped them go from rock bottom to on the road to success. Do you kind of feel any regret that you missed out on that 2014 team, or are you happy and content with how your Germany career ended up?
Hitzlsperger: Yeah, overall, I’m happy and content. When I came in, as you said, it was a good time for Jürgen Klinsmann to change the way we were training, and there was just this one big event: the World Cup in Germany. Everybody was kind of focusing on that, so we had a clear goal: to have an exciting team for the 2006 World Cup. And that’s what Jürgen did for two years: he turned every stone and challenged the Federation. He said, ‘We have to do something different here, not for the sake of it, but because it’s necessary,’ and that helped. He created this really good connection between the players and the fans, because suddenly you had some exciting young talents like Bastian Schweinsteiger and Lukas Podolski. They were good players, good guys, likeable guys, and suddenly we became so popular, even in training sessions. There were 10,000-15,000 people watching us in training, and we became really good to watch. That was great, and then the 2006 World Cup was only the beginning.
There were many years then when you could feel the style of play; they always looked at the Spanish team, the way the Spanish were playing, possession-based, not playing long balls, and it took several years for Joachim Löw to perfect it. Because also in the academies over the years, better players came through, and it all came together in 2014. Of course, I would have loved to be a part of it, but it was too late for me. I had some good years, but then I had to realize that, as of 2010, I couldn’t keep up with the new generation the way they were playing, but it was fine. I’m really looking back, thinking, ‘Yeah, I had a good time, and that’s good.’
This guest interview was conducted by Zach Lowy, Chief Editor and Social Media Manager of BreakingTheLines.com. Zach is a successful journalist and can be followed at @ZachLowy on X and @zachlowy.bsky.social on Bluesky. Zach’s work can also be found on FotMob, BetUS and others.
You can also read some of Zach’s other work below:
- Ricardo Faty Reflects on Transition from Playing Career to Coaching
- Michael-John Tate Building Youth Soccer Legacy in Pacific Northwest
- D.C. United Show Progress Under René Weiler in 1-1 Draw
- Is Bayern Munich’s Michael Olise running on fumes?
- “Difficult Times Made me Stronger”: Bertozzi Opens up on Turbulent 2025
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