Explore Sercan Güvenışık's journey in the Celebrity & Sports Agents Industry

So, I was born in Turkey and my family moved to Germany when I was almost seven years old. Ever since I became a professional soccer player, I really felt rootless because I was living everywhere and nowhere, I was just travelling all over the world. I played in Turkey, Germany, in the Major League Soccer in the US. Until now, I really didn’t know where I belonged and this is what being rootless means to me. – Sercan Güvenışık

I think like most of the kids, I started playing in the streets. When I was three or four years old, I would be running on the streets and kicking the ball. After we moved to Germany, my dad took me to a soccer club there. I went to a tryout, they liked how I played and I officially started playing for the club. This is basically how I got started. – Sercan Güvenışık

It needs a lot of discipline, that’s for sure. It’s also a question of talent, how you grow up with this talent, a question of how much you train. If you can work hard, I think you have a chance to become a pro soccer player. – Sercan Güvenışık

I was growing up at the youth teams of FC Augsburg and Bayern Munich. I got my fist professional offer when I was 19 from MSV Duisburg. They were very successful at that time it was 1999. Meanwhile, they’re not doing that great anymore. Obviously, I’m not playing for them anymore. There are a lot of scouts looking for talented player. This is how they discovered me. Later on, in 2012, I was spending my vacation in the US, in Miami. I was always a fan of Miami, I wanted to live in the US after finishing my career so I got this offer from Son Jose Earthquakes and it felt like I had hit the jackpot. It also helped me get the green card which enabled me to stay in the US. So, I made that decision because I definitely wanted to play in the MLS and live here afterwards. – Sercan Güvenışık

It’s a funny story. When I was 33 years old my career ended because of an injury. I had pulled my hamstring and couldn’t play anymore. That was a bit unexpected so I spent the first six months in Miami and just went to the beach. One day, I met a guy from Switzerland in the elevator of the building that I was living in. We started talking and the next day he told me that he remembered me as a soccer player. His sons played soccer too and told me his son didn’t have a club at that moment but was very talented and asked me to help. I told him I had connections from the time I was playing. I knew some coaches, sporting directors and told him I could try to do something. I called a couple of clubs in Germany. The player’s name is Rolf Feltscher, He has played for LA Galaxy for the past few years and as a Venezuelan national team player. So, I was able to give him an opportunity to showcase his skills to the club that I signed my first professional contract. In three or four days he proved them how good he was and I got a call saying that they wanted to sign my player. I was very excited; it was the first deal I was getting done. I jumped on a plane, flew to Germany and made the deal happen. After that, I realized I had spent twenty years in soccer playing for myself and building those connections and maybe it was best for me to go and build my agency. – Sercan Güvenışık

My main job depends on the age of the players, what his status is. For example, we have young players that need to be helped with getting the right training and to focus on football because we all know that teens can get easily distracted. My job is to talk to the parents, to the kids, keep them on the right path and take them to the right clubs so that they can make progress to become professional football players. In the case of professional football players, they all do this job to earn money. My job is to speak to the clubs, contact them to know to their needs and when I have a player that fits the profile, present him to the club and see if he is a good opportunity or not. Once the player is interesting for the club, I meet the club negotiator and discuss the contract, his salary, transfer fee and things like that. This is basically what I’m doing day to day. – Sercan Güvenışık

Creating your own agency has become a lot easier. Years ago, you needed a license in order to become an agent. If you didn’t get licensed you could use lawyers because they can negotiate contracts. So, you could basically hire a lawyer, use his name and sign the contract. However, that process can get a little bit out of the control. So, it was decided that you need to be registered at the football federations. For example, this is what happens in Germany: you have to pay a yearly fee to the German Federation. They check if you have a clean police record, a registered company and that’s basically it. Due to this, nowadays it’s easy to register yourself as an agent. Consequently, there are too many agents going around and speaking to the kids which is not good because most of them don’t really have a football background. I always say:” How can I be in real estate and sell a house if I never learned that?”. I have twenty years of experience as a soccer player, I know how to negotiate contracts, I have relationships to the clubs and their representatives. For someone who doesn’t have a football background, it’s very hard to step into it. It’s important for the player to know who he is dealing with. Every player should have someone that has good working relationships to the club, the coaches, sporting directors on his side because at the end of the day my job is to contact them and speak about the player. In my case, I’ve been a player and the people in the football industry know my name, who I was and that I understand football. For this player it’s a plus to have someone like me on their side since I know the business and the people to contact when it comes to transfers. – Sercan Güvenışık

We have different ways to look for new players. There is a system called “Wyscout” or “InStat” that gives you access to data for every player in the world from certain level. We look around and decide which player could be interesting for which market. Besides that, it’s more about scouting, going to the games. If you like a player you have to find out whether he has an agent, what’s his situation like and get in touch with the player. I have my scouting group and agents working for my company that look for young players by going to games, practices, talking to the parents, that’s how it all comes together. – Sercan Güvenışık

I would say we start at 15 or 16. There are also parents calling me when their kids are 10, 11 or 12 years old. I always tell them to let their kids have fun, let them play. If you push your kid too young, you could lead him in a wrong direction. I always advise them to let them play and enjoy it. If a kid has the talent, he will be discovered anyway. To be successful in your job I think you also need to have fun. I always tell the parent to contact me when their kid is 15. That’s the proper time when we can talk and see what we can do. It’s very rare for me to take care of younger ones. – Sercan Güvenışık

Well, most of the times negotiations are really hard. Everybody makes mistakes, especially when you start a new business. I would negotiate a deal and afterwards feel like I might have gotten a better one had I done some things differently. I know that there are deals that could’ve gone better but it was a learning process for me. It’s been nine years now and I think I made these mistakes in the three years. – Sercan Güvenışık

Well, this is exactly when the knowledge comes in because every market is different when it comes to money. A player in England will never make the same amount of money in Romania or Serbia. When I was a football player, I had a lot of friends playing in different countries. I know the salaries each market is willing to pay. I also know that each market in each club had different financial power. Club X cannot pay what club Z can. That’s a learning process as well but it includes talking with the club, trying to understand their capacity, the type of money they want to spend and after that I try to find the right player. One player might want to make $1 million and the other $300,000. If a club is looking for a player and is willing to pay 400,000 it doesn’t make sense for me to offer them a player that is asking for 1$million. Some clubs think they are smart but because of my knowledge I know they try to poker a little bit, keep it low. For example, if they are willing to pay $5 but we are asking for $8, we might be able to find the solution at $6.5. In MLS, every salary can be looked up in the internet. I didn’t even know that before going there. A friend told me and I started researching and I was surprised because in Europe people don’t like to talk about their salaries and how much they’re making. Some players may be making more and some of them less while in the same team and it may be the cause of jealousy. I think everybody’s salary should be for himself. I am not interested in knowing how much someone else is making. My paycheck is my own and if I’m not happy, that’s it. Some players for example could be happy with $10 and see another player making $20 and not be happy about it. It’s not always easy. – Sercan Güvenışık

In the beginning, I was a little bit lucky because my first transfer was a good hit. The player did a good job and everybody was looking at who discovered this talented player. In this business that’s how it goes. If you do a good job, the players will talk with each other. There are players happy with their agents and those who are not.  A lot of friends have called me and told me about players they know that needed an agent and have asked me to take care of them. I signed seven or eight players through friends who asked me to help them. This is how we slowly started growing. All the players I helped became very successful. For me as an agent it is very important what the player delivers on the field because I always tell them I cannot play for them, that is their job. I can only open doors for them, how they step through the door is up to them. I can only give them a push but on the field, they are alone. – Sercan Güvenışık

Yes, 100%. I call it ‘babysitting’ sometimes because I know how players can be. Players go through good and bad times too. I think the mental part is very important, how you cope psychologically. I can put myself into the player’s shoes because I went through the good and bad times like having an injury for example. I have to guide them if they become successful to stay grounded, make good decisions career wise. – Sercan Güvenışık

There are players all over the world but there is not enough time for all these players. We have to put our focus on a special market and the best market for me is still the European one. I am more focused on Germany, Spain, Italy and also some Balkan countries. Croatia was doing a really good job a few years back. My main market is the European market because I live and also played in Germany for a long time. I also brought players from USA to Europe. I think the US is also doing a great job raising young talented kids who are passionate about soccer. I am open to anything but unfortunately, I don’t have the time for everyone. – Sercan Güvenışık

Of course. I get a lot of messages from players all over the world, Africa, North America, South America, Europe but it’s really hard for me, it hurts a little bit. I wish I could help all those kids to believe in themselves but I honestly don’t have enough time. Sometimes, even my fiancée gets mad at me because I spend too much time focused on football. When I get a new potential player, I have to get information about him, not just about his playing position or where he comes from. I need to know the way he plays and for that I have to do research. I have to look his speed, type of playing, positioning, his game. I can only focus really on a certain number of players and this is the hard part for me. – Sercan Güvenışık

This happens a lot because a lot of agents sugarcoat the footballer player life in order to get clients. This is not okay. I am always straightforward. I tell the player what his capacity is. I’m always honest with him even if it hurts him, he has to deal with it. It doesn’t make sense to make a player hope and make up stories so that he can sign with you. I make the players understand, in a nice, non-hurtful way, what they have to deal with or maybe let them know there is no chance to become a pro. It’s sometimes hard but I think it’s even worse to lie to them and let them dream and get disappointed at the end of the day. – Sercan Güvenışık

First of all, my reputation is on the line whenever a player signs a contract with a football club. We have to brand this player right. It’s very important what people in the industry think about him. For example, there are great players who go on parties on lot and people refer to them as ‘party guys’ and they stay away from them even if they’re good. Some players might be troublemakers in the team and the club might call me saying they don’t want the kid anymore because he is not a team player. Branding is about controlling the player, giving him good advice about his game, behavior, help with his decisions when he steps out of the door, when he is on the field. I think this is the most important branding for a player, how people see him. – Sercan Güvenışık

I am a personal success and I was the same as a football player. I always wanted to win. Our clients are like family to us so I want them to be successful, to find them the right club. When I get in an engagement with them, to work together it’s always important to me loyalty and hard work. If I do not put the hard work, I cannot expect they work hard on the field. Every day is a new challenge for me, I never know what’s going to happen in a day. One player may play amazingly, score a goal, one player may get injured, the other one may be experiencing personal problems. Every day is different and I have to be mentally prepared for it. I try to go with the flow a little bit. I’ve learned a lot. I know that not everything is going to go the way I want to. You need a plan B, plan C and when it doesn’t work at all, it is what it is. – Sercan Güvenışık

I made a lot of progress over the years and my agency is growing constantly. People see that we understand football and the importance of presenting the right players to the right clubs. Our players are very happy. Like every company, my goal is to make our company bigger, bring more agents, go worldwide, have more players, better players we can help on their way to be happy with the soccer life and make money or a good living. In 10 years, I hope to have a very well know and big agency that everybody is happy with. – Sercan Güvenışık

It’s important that they understand football. I always have a chat with them to understand their opinion on soccer, how they value different players, what they see in them and don’t, their weaknesses and strengths. They must also be ready to be out there, look players, drive around, etc. I try to teach them how negotiations go, how they should talk to the player and parents. This is all part of it. – Sercan Güvenışık

It’s takes a lot of time and work. One year ago, I moved from Dusseldorf to Hamburg and during this year I was home for only three months. So, I was basically on the road for nine months. Maybe I’m doing a bit too much but it’s important because I have players all over the world. I have to visit them, their clubs, have to keep up with the personal connections, open new doors for my players, find new clubs, know new people in the industry. Today I came to the office in seven in the morning and by 4 pm I am still sitting here and I have a meeting in two hours with a club representative. I don’t know if I’ll be home unless I work for 14-15 hours today. I’ll go to go home, check the results of the games today, check our players and how did they do. It’s a lot of work. People when they see on Instagram think that I am working 30 hours per week. My friends jokingly ask me if I’m on vacation. I was on the road for ten days ago, I changed seven hotels, had five flights, have to check in, check out, go to security, rent a car, turn it back, drive everywhere. It is very time consuming. – Sercan Güvenışık

Do not have too high expectations. You should have goals and dreams but I experienced too many instances where those dreams didn’t become real. Put hard work into what you’re doing whether it is playing soccer or being an agent. I try not to set my goals too high because I think you’ll only get upset if it won’t work. If it’s working, even better. You did a better job than you were expecting. It’s a hard and long way to become a professional soccer player and to become a successful agent. – Sercan Güvenışık