MARKUS KRÖSCHE was named in SC Paderborn’s Team of the Century – and he even married the club MASCOT.
The Eintracht Frankfurt CEO, 44, is one of European football’s rising stars in the boardroom.
Markus Krösche, Sporting Director of Eintracht Frankfurt, met his wife Viktoria when she was a mascot[/caption]
Viktoria donned the costume for Holli the Mouse at Paderborn games in the early 2000s[/caption]
Krösche started his football journey in more modest surroundings, signing his first pro papers with Werder Bremen aged 15.
He would go on to spend the majority of his career with Paderborn, where he became a club legend.
As a tough-tackling midfielder, Krösche helped lift the club from the fourth tier all the way to the Bundesliga.
Krösche played almost 400 games for Paderborn and skippered the side in the top-flight.
But it was the club’s mascot – mouse Holli – that had a lasting effect on the former German under-21 international.
Speaking to BILD, Krosche revealed: “My [now] wife worked for an agency that marketed the mascot.
“She worked there alongside her studies and accompanied Holli to appointments as a photographer, among other things.
“That’s how we met.”
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Krösche confirmed that his wife Viktoria would also help out as Holli on some match days.
He added with a laugh: “It’s true, yes. That’s our story.”
The pair now have two teenage daughters – Maya and Clara – with the family still living in Paderborn.
Krösche worked as a sporting director at RB Leipzig before landing his current role with Frankfurt.
The club have enjoyed success in recent seasons, winning the Europa League in 2022 and finishing 6th in the Bundesliga last term.
Krösche admits he was fortunate to enjoy such a stunning career – as he lacked “outstanding skills.”
He added: “I wouldn’t sign me at all because I didn’t have any outstanding skills.
“No good technique, no outstanding header, I wasn’t particularly fast.
“I would definitely fail our scouting team.
“[Frankfurt Director] Charly Korbel once told me that he wanted to sign me to Eintracht in the mid-2000s.
“The manager at the time turned me down – I would have done the same!”
