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View: Katharina Liebherr, we will reach you a few days after your wedding in Dubai. How is the honeymoon going?
Katharina Liebherr: We don’t even know if it’s our honeymoon yet. We simply added this trip to our wedding. My husband has lived here for a long time, he has many acquaintances here and we have a lot of work to do. And there is another wedding, this time we are invited as guests. We are enjoying it, these are great days.
If you can afford everything: what makes a great day?
The most important thing for me is that I have no deadline pressure and spend the day in a self-determined way. With a good breakfast, nice weather. And then end the day in the evening with good friends.
Do you remember the day you met your husband?
We met in Dubai through a mutual friend who lives here. Therefore, Dubai will probably remain an important destination throughout our lives. Later we met in Zurich. We immediately had a good connection. We talked a lot and created a foundation for our love.
So you didn’t meet at the Dior store in Zurich that your husband runs, as rumor has it?
No, we knew each other before that. We deepened our connection in Zurich until we knew where the trip was going. I visited him in Zurich in the store. And of course he became my fashion consultant.
What did he inspire you with?
We share the same values, even though we come from different cultures. He is very modest, he keeps to himself. We are both very social people and always try to help if we can. My husband is from Syria, so we are involved in helping children in that country, for example.
How was your wedding at the Dolder Grand in Zurich?
We tried to include both our personalities, both our cultures. The Syrian, the Swiss. We mixed it up, in the music, in the food. There was Arabic food, a sharing dinner, so everything was shared. That was a bit unconventional, we like that.
And your guests?
We invited all the people who have supported us in our lives. Everyone came, that was super important to us.
Your personal highlight of the day?
The moment when everyone was on the dance floor dancing to Arabic music. It was amazing.
We heard that Ralph Hasenhüttl was also there, the ex-coach of your Southampton FC. How did that happen?
When I met him, I knew very quickly: this is our coach. His fire, his passion, how he sees football and how he wanted to deploy our players, including our young people. And that is sometimes with coaches in one way or another… I experienced it differently, let’s put it this way. Everything fit. And from that emerged a friendship that went beyond football.
Your club fired Hasenhüttl about a year ago. Does it make you proud that he still wants to be friends with you?
Yes, it makes me happy. It shows that we have done something right, we try to deploy the people at our club based on their strengths and give them freedom and confidence. He didn’t have to come after everything that happened. He wanted.
What was it like when your father bought Southampton FC in 2009?
It was a shock when my father bought Southampton FC! As a family we had no experience in this industry. He bought the club in 2009 and passed away in 2010. I have never seen him as happy as that year. Even though he didn’t experience any of our promotions, he still achieved his lifelong dream.
Your father died in 2010 at the age of 62 from a heart attack. Suddenly you became a club owner.
Those were dramatic days. When his death was announced, there was a sea of flowers outside the stadium the next day, football shirts with his name on them. It was an incredible experience to see how much he was respected there. It shows that he did a lot of things right in the year he was there.
For example?
Without him the club would not exist. He took the plunge and took the risk. He acted very quickly. And this was very important to him, he immediately took over all outstanding accounts at Southampton to ensure that no SME anywhere could face financial difficulties if the club was threatened with insolvency.
He hadn’t forgotten that.
No. And I will never forget the reaction of the masses. People mourned him who didn’t actually know him. The people and staff who hugged me with tears in their eyes – that is what connected me to Southampton forever.
You inherited the club. In the beginning you were met with a lot of skepticism. How do you assess this 13 years later?
I understood that. The year before I had kept a very low profile. The fans didn’t know what to expect. It was okay that I had to prove myself first.
Have you become a football expert during your time as a club owner?
I think the most important thing is to accept that you don’t know anything about football unless you have been on the field for thirty years. You have to know what you can do and what you cannot do.
You have now spent 13 years in football. What did you learn from football during that time?
Football is emotional, it brings an incredible amount of bonding. You work during the week and get the reward in the game on the weekend. The whole atmosphere in the club depends on how you played. You cannot separate the two. It’s a business, but what happens emotionally on the field at the weekend is reflected during the week.
In 2017 you sold 80 percent of the club to Chinese businessman Gao Jisheng. Why?
You need a lot of capital. Especially in the Eredivisie. The heights are not a problem. With Ronald Koeman as coach and Ralph Krueger as chairman, we reached sixth place and things went very well during the period that I was sole owner. But it’s important to prepare for worse times. We started looking for partners for this. My concern was always to find someone to whom I could pass the club into good hands. I have always wanted to stay with it, but mainly because I have a strong emotional bond with the staff and can bridge the gap to a new owner. Mr. Gao had similar values to my father. His daughter is the same age as me, she was also at the wedding. Actually that would have been a good solution.
But?
The Chinese state has made Chinese investments abroad more difficult. That is of course fatal for a club. And so we had to find a new solution.
In 2021, Gao’s shares were then sold to Sports Republic under Serbian entrepreneur Dragan Solak.
He is also a very impressive personality, I think he can provide the club with a stable future.
A capital increase was carried out in the summer. You did not invest any new money at that time. How big is your share at the moment?
This is called share dilution. My share has therefore fallen far below 20 percent.
It is said that in 2017 you received about P205 million for the 80 percent you sold to Mr Gao. Sports Republic is said to have paid just over £100 million for the same stake four years ago. Why has the club lost so much value?
Of course, I cannot confirm the figures themselves. In short, sporting development has not been very good in recent years, and you cannot always influence that. Especially in a competitive league like the Premier League. Unfortunately we were relegated in the summer, which did not have a positive impact on the value of the club. We want to get back up and then I am convinced that the value of the club will recover.
What do you think of the development in world football, that the Saudis are no longer just pumping money into European football, but are bringing in top stars from European competitions for their own clubs?
Of course it is nice to put together such a dream team with a lot of money. But the Saudi league will never be able to compete with the Premier League. The excitement and enthusiasm that we experience in European competitions, that any team can become champions or be relegated, that is what football is all about. There are no guarantees.
So you haven’t been to the Saudi Pro League yet?
No. The Saudis can buy players, but not the soul of football. A club like Southampton means a lot. It is about youth work, about a social environment, about identity and prospects. It’s not just about scoring great goals, but also about the feeling of unity. Especially in regions that are not so economically strong. There are many people who are not doing well in terms of health or finances and who find support in the club. During Corona, the club supported many people who were alone at home. Homework guidance was given to children, drug addicts were resocialized through sports. In England, a football club is not just football itself, there is a lot going on in society. If the club in Southampton were no longer there tomorrow, there would be a huge hole.
Have you ever considered buying a Swiss club? Ralph Krueger could certainly help here too…
My heart is already occupied. My father’s estate is in Southampton. That is an attachment I will always feel. And I would also consider my football knowledge to be too small to invest in other football clubs.
You are very reserved in public and never actually give interviews. Why were we allowed to talk to you?
I am very attached to Switzerland, part of my family lives in the canton of Aargau. I love our Southampton story and I wanted to tell it in Switzerland. Where else would you do that if it wasn’t in sight?
|
team
|
SP
|
T.D
|
PT
|
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1
|
 Tottenham Hotspur
|
8th
|
10
|
20
|
|
|
2
|
 Arsenal F.C
|
8th
|
10
|
20
|
|
|
3
|
 Manchester city
|
8th
|
11
|
18
|
|
|
4
|
 Liverpool F.C
|
8th
|
9
|
17
|
|
|
5
|
 Aston Villa
|
8th
|
7
|
16
|
|
|
6
|
 Brighton & Hove Albion
|
8th
|
5
|
16
|
|
|
7
|
 West Ham United
|
8th
|
3
|
14
|
|
|
8th
|
 Newcastle United
|
8th
|
11
|
13
|
|
|
9
|
 Crystal Palace
|
8th
|
0
|
12
|
|
|
10
|
 Manchester United
|
8th
|
-3
|
12
|
|
|
11
|
 Chelsea F.C
|
8th
|
4
|
11
|
|
|
12
|
 Fulham F.C
|
8th
|
-5
|
11
|
|
|
13
|
 Nottingham forest
|
8th
|
-2
|
9
|
|
|
14
|
 Wolverhampton Wanderers
|
8th
|
-5
|
8th
|
|
|
15
|
 Brentford FC
|
8th
|
-1
|
7
|
|
|
16
|
 Everton F.C
|
8th
|
-3
|
7
|
|
|
17
|
 Luton town
|
8th
|
-9
|
4
|
|
|
18
|
 Burnley F.C
|
8th
|
-13
|
4
|
|
|
19
|
 AFC Bournemouth
|
8th
|
-13
|
3
|
|
|
20
|
 Sheffield United FC
|
8th
|
-16
|
1
|
Source : Blick
I’m Emma Jack, a news website author at 24 News Reporters. I have been in the industry for over five years and it has been an incredible journey so far. I specialize in sports reporting and am highly knowledgeable about the latest trends and developments in this field.
