Tim Wetjen named as CEO of Hamburg Football
Hamburg Football has confirmed Tim Wetjen as the franchise’s first ever Chief Executive Officer. A native Hamburger with more than a decade of entrepreneurial experience and a football career that spans the field, the sideline and the boardroom, Wetjen brings a rare combination of business instinct and football knowledge to the role.
Built for business
Wetjen has been building and leading companies since 2012, beginning in a Hamburg family business before expanding his activities across financial advisory, brand management and strategic business development. His career has taken in company leadership, investment and private equity, organizational development and digitalization, giving him the kind of broad commercial background that the CEO of a new professional sports franchise needs from day one. He is deliberately keeping the specific companies he has led out of the public conversation, choosing instead to let his experience and areas of responsibility speak for themselves.
A footballer through and through
What sets Wetjen apart from a purely business profile is what he has done on and around the football field. He played for the Hamburg Huskies from 2015 to 2025 as center, free safety and linebacker, while simultaneously taking on board responsibility for the club from 2021 onward. He then moved into coaching, serving as offensive coordinator before becoming head coach of the Huskies in 2025. He has experienced Hamburg football from every angle, as a player, as a coach and as a club leader, and that perspective will shape how he runs this franchise.
What this role means to him
Wetjen shared his thoughts on becoming the franchise’s first CEO:
“Hamburg is my home and American football has been an important part of my life for many years. I have experienced this sport as a player, coach and club official, and I know how much passion, dedication and togetherness lies behind it. The opportunity to help shape the development of a new Hamburg football franchise as its first CEO means a great deal to me personally. For me, it is a special chance to combine my entrepreneurial experience with my passion for this sport.
My goal is to build a professional, financially strong and long-term successful organization together with our team. We want to create clear structures, develop a strong identity and inspire people around our shared vision. For the upcoming season, it is particularly important to me to lay the foundations for a successful start, to compete with real ambition and to present the fans in Hamburg with a team they can identify with. We are consciously thinking beyond the first season. We want to build something sustainable that strengthens Hamburg as a football location in the long term.
What matters most to me is the connection to the Hamburg football community. We want to offer young players from Hamburg’s clubs a real pathway and create a bridge between local football and the European professional stage. I look forward to creating something together with everyone involved that Hamburg and the entire football community can be proud of.”
Growing from Hamburg, for Hamburg
Wetjen also laid out the vision for what this franchise should stand for at its core: “We want a team that does not just represent Hamburg but grows from Hamburg. Players who start out in Hamburg’s youth clubs and prove themselves in the German leagues should have a real pathway to the European professional stage here. And just as our players come from this city, so should our name and our logo. From Hamburg. For Hamburg. With Hamburg.”
With Wetjen as CEO, Hauke Seger as General Manager and Marcus Herford as head coach, Hamburg Football is building its leadership team with people who know this city, know this sport and know what it takes to do both properly.
