Brief introduction of my today´s interview partner:
Welcome to part 2 of the interview with Erik Meijer! Feel invited for sort of a goose bumps feeling, when he is telling a story before the UEFA Cup Final between Liverpool and Alaves. Since he had a ligament injury he could not play. So before the game started, he was outside the stadium in Dortmund with some friends of him, but when the LFC supporters recognized him, they lifted him on a big rock – after having had some beers together 😉 – amid the centre of downtown Dortmund and he had to sing a song for them “You´ll never walk alone …” and thousands of LFC supporter started following him. A day he will never forget in his life!
Being good in communication is something he did not only prove in this situation, he is somebody especially when travelling who loves to meet people being abroad in foreign countries. As he says “Look at people´s eyes and you will always see something in them!” He loves travelling the globe together with his wife because “it makes you richer in your head and helps to see life more relaxed!” As he states “people abroad are happy with smaller things, where sometimes we are not happy with a lot.” How true …!!!
His grandfather told him: “Always remember where you come from!” His first paycheck was about 516 Gulden, and he remembers quite well how hard he had to work for this in his father´s butcher shop. This he appreciated even more later on, when he earned much more during his sports career. His close friends see in him still the same Erik as he was before he became a famous footballer or today a TV presenter in sport shows. His attitude and his values did not change at all, and although this is nothing special for him, he is happy about this appreciation and sees it as compliment.
Another interesting statement is that from his perspective stress is something what comes up when getting out of your regular basis. Therefore in certain professional situations he has been always trying to do the same things following a routine, where he knows that he is well prepared. That brings calmness to your head as he states.
A great sportsman who has been able to transfer his sportive passion and attitude also to his professional life after his active sports career. That´s also something what makes this character so special.
Simply lean back, listen and enjoy!
Profile interview partner
Name: Erik Meijer
Age: 49
Place of birth: Meerssen/ Netherlands
Residence: Lanaken/ Belgium
Marital status: Married
Professional education: Finished his education as butcher and became then football professional.
Current Profession: Today TV presenter, analyses football for Sky Sports in Germany and for Fox Sports in Netherlands.
Interests, hobbies: Sports, especially Golf, biking, skiing and reading a good book.
„I work hard and party hard!“
(Erik Meijer)
„No-no“ that he is unwilling to tolerate at all: Racism
Professional career
At young age he finished first the butcher school when working in the butcher shop of his father. But quite soon after having finished the butcher school, he started his football career. And it all started with a sort of amusing story, when his former club Sittard wanted him to sign a contract with only half of the salary of what he had earned that time in the butcher shop of his father. Luckily his father was leading the negotiation that time for him. So at the end of this negotiation, his father decided to pay off the transfer fee by signing a cheque of 225.000 Dutch Gulden. And after that he joined Antwerp, who paid with pleasure this transfer fee back to his father. This was the starting point of a remarkable football career with many different highlights.
After all these splendid football stations as Antwerp, Eindhoven, Bayer Leverkusen, Liverpool, Hamburg etc., he ended up at Alemannia Aachen at the end of his active career. Even though that he thought, he would have had already experienced everything in his career, Alemannia became another and a final milestone in his football career. Besides the fact that as captain he led Alemannia back to the first Bundesliga and that his heading goal against Oliver Kahn kicked out Bayern Munich in the Quarter-Final of the German Cup (and they continued even moving to the final), that time means even today something very special to him. That special, that he even wrote a book about this life chapter with Alemannia! It is simply wonderful and bringing back good old memories – not only for Alemannia supporters – listening to him when football was not that commercialized as it is in our days.
Today as a football presenter he analyses football matches for Sky Sports in Germany and Fox Sports in Netherland, and he is happy that he can continue making out of his hobby a profession. Being in a men´s room surrounded by 20 TVs showing only football and nobody is going to tell you, you have to do this or that, is just nice as he states with a big smile in his face … How true, could be worse! J
And not to forget that he is giving lectures, where he shares also with managers his principles for becoming successfully, independent if in sports or outside the sports world.
An all around enlightening and entertaining interview partner, where one can take a lot out of it, if open minded for it…! 😉
Enjoy and have fun by plunging in this interview with this special and super nice character! 🙂
Interview content – part 2
In part 2 of this interview (30:13 min.) you will hear amongst others about …
- what´s behind the saying of a good friend of him: “Erik, you are still the same guy as with 18 when you staggered drunken during Carnival through our village.”
- an unforgettable moment in his life before the UEFA Cup final Liverpool against Alaves, when he started singing in front of thousands LFC supporters “You´ll never walk alone…!”
- what he loves so much by doing his today´s job as a TV presenter
- what he considers as his success factors today and in the past
- what he is looking for most when travelling abroad to different countries
- how travelling is enriching his life
- why Hermann Rieger († 2014) the legendary physio from Hamburg was the one who impressed him most during his career among all the various and famous personalities he met
- his biggest professional challenge (injuries!) and why it is so important having head and body in balance for it
- why the yearly team tour to Mallorca/ Spain was always already the preseason for the next season
- which important lines his father and his grandfather gave him for his future path of life, and which he is still carrying inside him
- why he thinks a company with a sportsman can always do better than without one
- “You´ll never walk alone…” and team spirit
- his first principles when it comes to leadership
- how he avoids stress situations
- what means quality of life to him, what brings him happiness
- what freedom means to him and why it is so important for him
Further links
Erik Meijer Sports & Media: https://www.meijersportsmedia.nl/
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_Meijer
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