We are excited to announce Catharina Schimpf’s appointment as our new Sporting Director. Since 1 September, she has been responsible for the sporting direction, development, and professionalisation of our team, with the aim of guiding us to the National League, the “Bundesliga”.
Why FC Viktoria Berlin?
C I In my previous role in Hamburg, I laid the foundation for success by recognising the potential of young talents and establishing professional sporting structures. The potential of FC Viktoria Berlin’s potential is clearly visible, and I’m excited to build on the existing foundation and tackle the ambitious goals together.
What excites you about this new role?
C I I'm particularly excited to bring my previous experience from different levels of football to FC Viktoria Berlin and work with the current team to ensure further development.
What do you bring to this position, and why are you the right person for it?
C I My journey over the past few years has been characterised by early experience as a coach and in developing high-performance women's football departments, even during my playing career. I’ve gained experience as a player from the “Bundesliga” to the 4th Tier league “Oberliga”, including helping to develop teams from the “Oberliga” to the second “Bundesliga”. Professionally, I prioritised a solid education in management. My HR training, combined with 15 years of work experience in this field, along with my sporting background, provides the perfect foundation for this exciting role.
What are your goals?
C I For years, I’ve been driven by the goal of building structures and visibility for women and girls in football, ensuring equal opportunities to play in the future. This also includes creating opportunities for women to fully focus on football as a profession. While there’s still a long way to go, we’re already on the right track nationwide. I aim to contribute to this effort alongside FC Viktoria Berlin.
Your biggest challenge?
C I For me, the person/talent is always at the center of everything I do. Maintaining humanity in the highly competitive world of top-level sports is a big challenge, and it’s one that I’m making my priority.
About Catharina Schimpf
Catharina Schimpf is recognised as a proven football expert thanks to her own playing career, her many years of experience in talent development, and her role in establishing several women's football departments.
She began her playing career at the age of six in a junior team in her hometown of Rostock. At twelve, she moved to a sports boarding school in Neubrandenburg. She played her first 2nd Bundesliga matches with FFV and, after turning 18, moved to then-Bundesliga club Hamburger Sport-Verein (HSV). She spent two years in the first Bundesliga with HSV before deciding in 2010 to join the Hamburg Oberliga club Bramfelder SV to focus more on her professional training as a Personnel Services Administrator, in which she now has 15 years of experience across various industries. Most recently, she held this role at HSV Football AG, where she was responsible for project takeovers and the development of processes and structures.
During her time as a player at Bramfelder SV, she also began coaching and built a high-performance girls' football department. She led the club to promotion to the 2nd Bundesliga North. In 2018, she returned to her former club, Hamburger SV, where she ended her playing career in 2021, taking on the role of Women's Football Coordinator. In this role, she implemented a sustainable women's and girls' football programme and built one of the most successful youth departments in German women’s football today. Under her guidance, several junior national team players emerged, forming part of the next generation of women's football. She led the club to a German B-Juniorinnen Championship and from the Oberliga to the 2nd Bundesliga.
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