Rouven Kasper will return to Bayern Munich on Jan.1 2026. (Photo credit should read GREG BAKER/AFP via Getty Images)
AFP via Getty Images
Bayern Munich has found a replacement for Dr. Michael Diederich, who stepped down as executive vice chairman and chief financial officer in September. As of Jan. 1, 2026, the board will be complemented by Rouven Kasper. Kasper will join Bayern Munich as director of marketing and sales.
Kasper joins Bayern from Bundesliga rival VfB Stuttgart, where he served on the board. The 43-year-old began his career at the marketing agency Sportfive and served as President for Asia at Bayern Munich from 2016 to 2021.
During that time, Kasper was the central figure behind Bayern’s establishment in China, overseeing, among other things, the establishment of the Shanghai office. In 2022, Kasper returned to Stuttgart, where he oversaw the club’s internationalization as the director of marketing and sales.
“We have agreed to Rouven Kasper’s request to take on this new professional challenge because he has rendered outstanding services to our club during his time at VfB and made a major contribution to our resurgence,” VfB Stuttgart chairman of the supervisory board and president Dietmar Allgaier said in a club statement. “Without his work, VfB would not be as strongly positioned as a company, business platform, and brand as it is today.”
There is no doubt that it is true. Since his return in 2016, Stuttgart has, after an initial period of fighting against relegation, gone from strength to strength. In the 2023/24 season, Stuttgart finished second in the Bundesliga, ahead of Bayern Munich, and qualified for the Champions League. Last season, the club won the DFB-Pokal and once again qualified for a European competition, this time in the form of the UEFA Europa League.
Off the field, Stuttgart has also made significant improvements. The club welcomed Porsche as a major partner and shareholder. Porsche, alongside competitor Mercedes-Benz, is now one of two major shareholders at the club. Indeed, Stuttgart is in a unique position to have not one but two major car companies as major shareholders and sponsors.
Under the direction of Kasper, VfB Stuttgart has established a relationship with the two car companies. In fact, Porsche’s arrival as a shareholder in 2024 has led to a renewed interest in the football club by Mercedes.
“It allowed us to bring a lot of pressure to the table when we discussed things with Mercedes,” Kasper said as part of a roundtable ahead of the Franz-Beckenbauer Supercup in August. “That helped us to bring more dynamism into our equity story as it made stronger companies interested in our story.”
The dynamic of having the two car companies work together with the club also helped when the club redesigned what is now the MHP-Arena. As part of a major reconstruction of the stadium, Stuttgart opened the second-largest VIP area in South Germany, setting a new hospitality benchmark in which both car makers were heavily involved.
Stuttgart’s Christian Gentner, head of the VfB Stuttgart professional team, Stuttgart’s sports director Fabian Wohlgemuth, Alexander Wehrle, chairman of the VfB Stuttgart board, Stuttgart’s president Dietmar Allgaier and Stuttgart’s marketing and sales director Rouven Kasper celebrate winning the DFB Pokal in Berlin last May. (Photo by Tom Weller/picture alliance via Getty Images)
dpa/picture alliance via Getty Images
Unfortunately, for VfB, the growth of the club on and off the field with the help of Kasper wasn’t left unnoticed by Bayern Munich. With Diederich’s decision to leave the Rekordmeister, rumors about Kasper potentially returning to the Bavarian capital started circulating in the summer.
Back then, Kasper and VfB Stuttgart seemed somewhat reluctant. However, a constructive dialogue between all parties seemed to have convinced Kasper that returning to the Bavarian capital was the best for his career.
“I would like to express my sincere thanks for the trust and fruitful exchange with the supervisory board over the past few weeks,” Kasper said in a statement. “This great task is both an honor and an incentive for me. As a team, with reliability and ambition, we must continue to increase our appeal as a global top club with Bavarian roots and, at the same time, lay the foundation for a successful sporting future for FC Bayern through economic growth.”
At Bayern Munich, the return of Kasper is also highly anticipated. The Supervisory Board is convinced that Rouven Kasper is the right choice, both professionally and personally, to help us achieve FC Bayern’s ambitious goals in the areas of marketing and sales, especially since he already knows our club very well,” Bayern president Herbert Hainer said in a club statement. “I would like to express my sincere thanks to my colleague Dietmar Allgaier, President and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of VfB Stuttgart, for the constructive and trusting discussions.”
Kasper’s resume speaks for itself. The 43-year-old has demonstrated his excellence in both roles at Bayern and Stuttgart. Now at Bayern, Kasper will be in a leading role at one of the biggest sports brands on the planet.
It is an enormous task. Despite a period of success, Bayern is currently grappling with the financial challenges presented by the Premier League. Internationally, the club aims to continue growing while maintaining its financial stability. It is the sort of tasks Kasper navigated well at Stuttgart, and his track record with the Swabian shows that Bayern might have picked just the right man for the job.