René Seifert – Entrepreneur & Global Citizen

Although I am not a completely-out-of-my-mind football fan, FC Bayern Munich still epitmizes something like home for me, as since I was a little boy, I was "Bayern" and clearly not "Sechzig", the other football team from Munich (the spineless bastards ;-)

So yesterday, I felt very privileged to get an invitation from my former Lycos-colleague Daniel Nathrath who heads the German, Austrian and Swiss business of Viagogo. The company operates a marketplace for private individuals who intend to sell and buy tickets for football matches, concerts, comedy and the like. As a major differentiator towards eBay, Viagogo includes an additional layer of transactional certainty for both parties by also acting as an escrow-intermediary. Hence, the buyer and the seller can be assured to receive their money and their ticket respectively. 

Just approaching the stadium in the north of Munich by night is like seeing a red lit unidentified fying object which has just landed. The "Allianz Arena" is truly a stunning architectural masterpiece. Inside I had access to the sponsor lounge to the Viagogo-table with delicious food and drinks; Boris Becker as a staunch fan of FC Bayern was also around (no new woman by his side, to answer the most pressing question …)

Getting into the arena for the match was spectacular. It is hard to believe that this rather cosy stadium can accomodate 69,000 people. Needless to mention that is was fully sold out and I heard that another 140,000 had tried to receive a ticket in vain. The atmosphere was absolutely crazy, especially as the match was top-noch in the German series "Bundesliga". FC Bayern, the absolute superstar for decades, currently at the second place halfway through the series 2007/2008 receiving TSG 1899 Hoffenheim who came out of nowhere into the league this year and are currently heading on the pole position. 

During the fierce, yet sportive match both teams gave their very best to prevail, with the balance of power being quite equally distributed. Hoffenheim scored 1:0 after the break, but Bayern Munich came back and equalized. Everybody thought that it would end with a tie which would have been fair until the typical "Bayern Luck" turned the table in the last minute of the additional time with 2:1 by Bayern's Italian forward Luca Toni. Whistle and over, standing ovations of the boiling and cheering crowd.

Thanks Daniel, indeed, for your generous invitation and this unforgettable evening. As promised, you are my guest now for a round flight over the Bavarian Alpes when I am next time around in 2009. For some "Vorfreude", a few pics from my flight last weekend.