Who is Volker Struth? Germany’s most renowned football agent with a €400m empire

Jacque Talbot

Updated: 18 Apr 2024 07:33 BST
6 min read

In Germany, Volker Struth’s Sports360 group is the company who are firmly rivalling the company’s’biggest - ROOF.

The agent is perhaps not as well-known outside the country, but the empire he has build is considerable.

But just who is Struth and which players does he represent?

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What is Volker Struth’s agency?

Struth owns and operates Sports360, an agency whose market valuation sits at around €398.6 million at the time of writing.

What players does Volker Struth represent?

Struth’s agency has a number of elite players as its clientele. But arguably the most famous name is Julian Nagelsmann, the former Bayern Munich boss who reportedly turned down a move to Chelsea last summer.

Other clients include Alan Varela, Timo Werner, Fabian Schar, Toni Kroos, Noah Okafor, Niklas Sule, Mario Gotze, Julian Weigl, and Kevin Trapp.

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How good is Volker Struth?

Struth founded Sports360 in 2007 and its gone from strength to strength since. It’s reported that though he initially retained full ownership, he later sold a 33% stake in the company to Dirk Hebel for €100,000. Further offers came in for the agent to sell on further stakes but he remains the man in charge to this day. His first big client was Gotze, who he moved from Borussia Dortmund.

But during his time with the Bundesliga giants, the pair decided to split from each other, with Struth reportedly suggesting Pep Guardiola was to blame for the breakdown in their relationship.

Gotze is back on the books at Sports360 following his move to Augsburg.

The biggest deal behind Struth so far is Kroos’ move from Bayern to Real Madrid, which took place in 2014 for around €25m.

The agent said of the move via Bild: “In September 2013, Bayern wanted to extend his contract but Toni didn't want to. They offered him €6m per season. Did they forget that I knew they were paying Mario Gotze €10m a year?

"We then asked for that much and Pep Guardiola wanted to keep him. 'I need you here', he told Kroos and I assume he told Karl-Heinz Rummenigge the same.

"In November I went to Munich and Rummenigge told me 'Since we appreciate Toni so much, we'll offer €6.5m a year'.

"I told him, 'We won't accept less than €10m and the conversation was over after 28 minutes. After that, Uli Hoeness came onto the scene. After defeating Eintracht 5-0, Hoeness came into the dressing room and shouted at Toni, saying 'Call your agent! You'll never earn €10m here'.

"Toni responded: 'I don't need to call him, we have the same opinion'. It was then clear than Toni wouldn't be at Bayern that following season. We told the top clubs around Europe that Toni was for sale. They didn't believe us at first because how could Bayern let a player like that go? He was the perfect man for Guardiola's style of play."