No one is as polarizing as player agent Sven Helfenstein: he irritates Swiss ice hockey

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“That’s a robber’s gun,” he says into the camera to make clear what he thinks of six foreigners in the competition. Or asks cheekily on the same topic: “What exactly did we drink?” Sven Helfenstein (41) is the sharpest tongue in Swiss ice hockey. When he is in the studio as a MySports expert on live hockey evenings, something is playing on the channel. It’s entertaining and provocative at the same time. No one polarizes like him.

In his main job, Helfenstein has made a name for himself in recent years with his “Helpstone Sport Consulting” as a player agent and is one of the pacesetters in the industry. His clients include Nati stars like Janis Moser or Christian Marti, as well as future hopefuls like Rodwin Dionicio or Mischa Ramel.

Young star with three liters of milk

His story begins in Neftenbach ZH. Helfenstein grew up here, played for EHC Winterthur, moved to Kloten as a junior and made his debut in the NLA at the age of 16. “I drink three liters of milk every day,” he explained in November 1999, when Blick first dedicated an important story to him. The following summer, he was drafted in the sixth round by the New York Rangers. The hockey world seems to be at the feet of Helfenstein.

But things turn out differently. Early on, back problems become a constant companion due to improper loading while training with too high weights. His career stalled, he could not progress in Kloten, he did not settle anywhere, playing for a total of eleven clubs during his playing days before he had to end his career at Lausanne at the age of 30 due to urgent medical problems. advice. The back problems are too serious. “Sometimes it took me 40 minutes in the morning to put on my socks. “It just didn’t work anymore,” Helfenstein recalls.

Three years to start

The fact that nothing came of his truly great career no longer bothers him. Despite the many words of praise beforehand, he is able to assess it: “I was not more talented than other boys, I just had a lot of courage, trained much more than the others and was therefore better as a teenager. But at some point the others caught up with me. In addition, constant back problems prevented me from getting better.” Things did not go as desired for player Helfenstein. But this is exactly what helps him in his work as a player’s agent – including the many club changes that have allowed him to build a large network throughout Switzerland.

Yet he did not intend to become an agent after his playing career. “I couldn’t imagine that at all at the time,” he admits. While still active, he continued his education, became a financial planner and entered the business world with Swiss Life. He starts advising players on financial matters and his client base continues to grow. The first players ask him why he doesn’t negotiate the contracts for them as well, since he also handles everything else in this area for them. Helfenstein is initially skeptical, but makes an arrangement during his vacation – and enters the real estate business with four players as clients. “I gave myself three years and packed it all in, sometimes working multiple jobs at the same time. With the condition that it will be reburied if it is not successful within this period. That’s how it was agreed with my wife.” He sometimes works more than 14 hours a day, even on weekends.

Conflict of interest? Not for Helfenstein

The father of a nine-year-old daughter and a five-year-old son is successful. Today, ten years later, he and his “Helpstone Sport Consulting”, together with Daniel Giger (4sports) and Gaëtan Voisard (The 6ix Sports Leadership), are one of the largest players with the most extensive portfolio in the national real estate world. Helfenstein has found his calling where he can live out his passion and courage as he once did when he was active. “I have an absolute dream job,” he says.

And he also brings life to the hockey stand with his expertise at MySports: “I am not there as a players’ agent, but as Sven Helfenstein, who loves hockey and wants to have a great evening.” He can live with the fact that his style is polarizing and not well received everywhere: “I don’t care what others think of me. That’s how I was as a player. I see that as one of my strengths: I just do my thing and give my opinion.”

There are also people who think that Helfenstein actually has no place as an expert in the MySports studio because there is a conflict of interest for him as a player agent. He replied: “I’m not afraid to criticize any of my players. That’s how it was communicated to them, otherwise I wouldn’t be credible.” The “robber’s gun” is sometimes also available to your own customers.

Source : Blick