Roger Wittmann
Bundesliga Power Broker
. Germany
€270mm

Key Facts

Date of birth: 29 February 1960, Germany
Nationality/residence: German / Germany
FIFA Agent Licence: Works under FIFA Football Agent Regulations via ROGON Sportmanagement and affiliated entities; specific individual licence ID not publicly disclosed
Other registrations: Managing director and co-founder, Rogon Sportmanagement GmbH & Co. KG (Germany) and related entities; co-manages RRC Sports (Germany)
Primary agency / company: ROGON Sportmanagement GmbH & Co. KG
Job Title: Football Intermediary / Player Agent
Client capacity: Large multi-market agency (c. 120+ players under contract at ROGON, plus 50+ at ROGON U23) – Players – Total market value: approx. €270mm (ROGON) + €3.6m (ROGON U23)
Languages: German (native); works regularly in English; operates with club networks in Brazil, Austria and other markets
Base Locations: Frankenthal & Ludwigshafen (Germany HQ) – strong footprint in Germany, Austria, Brazil and broader European leagues
Specialisms: Bundesliga and German-speaking markets; Brazilian–German pipeline; player trading between Bundesliga, Premier League, Ligue 1 and Middle East; forwards, attacking midfielders and ball-playing midfielders
Email: info@rogon.tv
Phone / WhatsApp: +49 (0) 6233 30428-0 (Frankenthal office)
Website / Socials:

About Roger Wittmann

Roger Wittmann is one of the most influential and controversial football agents in Germany and the wider European market. Born in 1960, he co-founded Rogon Sportmanagement (now ROGON) and built it into a major agency focused on Bundesliga clubs and talent with a strong Brazilian pipeline. Over more than four decades in the business, ROGON has represented or still represents high-profile players such as Roberto Firmino, Julian Draxler, Marcel Sabitzer, Joelinton, Luiz Gustavo, Kevin Kurányi and others across Germany’s top flight and beyond.

Operating from Frankenthal and the Rhine–Neckar region, Wittmann positioned ROGON as a “to the max” full-service agency that guides players from youth development through their peak years and into the final phase of their careers. The agency’s model has placed particular emphasis on spotting young talent in Brazil and moving them via strategic stepping-stone clubs – a pathway highlighted by analyses of ROGON’s close ties to Barra FC and the broader network around Hoffenheim patron Dietmar Hopp.

At its peak, ROGON became one of the most influential forces in the Bundesliga, concentrating large groups of clients at clubs such as Schalke 04 and TSG Hoffenheim, and playing a central role in some of the league’s biggest transfer and renewal stories – from Julian Draxler’s contract negotiations and move to Wolfsburg to the careers of Firmino, Joelinton and Luiz Gustavo. Public databases currently list more than 120 players under the main ROGON entity and over 50 with ROGON U23, with an aggregate market value around €270mm for the senior portfolio and a few million more for the U23 structure. CIES Football Observatory ranks ROGON among the leading agencies in Europe’s big-5 leagues, with an estimated €137m in big-5 league squad value alone.

Wittmann’s influence has also brought scrutiny. German media and investigative outlets have repeatedly criticised his and ROGON’s perceived sway over club transfer policy, especially at Kaiserslautern in the early 2000s, Schalke 04 in the Draxler and Max Meyer eras, and more recently TSG Hoffenheim, where he received a stadium ban in 2025 that was later overturned by a regional court.

Parallel to his agency work, Wittmann has co-developed CUJU, a data-driven scouting and talent-identification platform co-founded with former client Luiz Gustavo. CUJU has been used in large-scale trials in Brazilian regions, with tens of thousands of youth players assessed via an app and AI-powered evaluation before a smaller group is invited to trials in front of scouts. He has also been a central figure in legal challenges to FIFA’s new Football Agent Regulations, with ROGON and the affiliated RRC Sports joining proceedings before German courts contesting aspects of the new rules.

Highlights

  • Negotiation style: Hard-nosed, unapologetically commercial and extremely experienced in Bundesliga politics, often favouring performance-linked fee structures and multi-club career planning

  • Network: Deep relationships across German clubs (Schalke, Hoffenheim, Leipzig, Wolfsburg, others) and a longstanding Brazil–Germany pipeline built through club and academy partnerships

  • Compliance focus: Runs operations through licensed structures such as ROGON Sportmanagement and RRC Sports; co-plaintiff in legal actions challenging aspects of new FIFA agent regulations

  • Data & tech: Early mover into AI-assisted scouting with CUJU, using large-scale trials and digital evaluations to identify prospects, especially in Brazil

  • Reputation: Simultaneously viewed as one of the most successful deal-makers in German football and as a symbol of agent overreach by sections of fans and media

Career Snapshot

Origin story

Coming from the Palatinate region, Wittmann built his career not as an ex-pro but as a businessman with a keen eye for opportunity in the growing player-representation market. In the 1990s he co-founded Rogon Sportmanagement and progressively shifted from local representation to international operations centred around the Bundesliga and Brazilian talent.

Milestones

  • 1990s – Co-founds Rogon Sportmanagement, focusing on Bundesliga players and building early relationships with clubs like Kaiserslautern and Schalke

  • 2000s – ROGON becomes a key player in German football, representing stars such as Kevin Kurányi, Jermaine Jones and Tim Wiese, and developing a reputation for aggressive negotiation tactics

  • 2010s – Consolidates the agency’s stature through major deals involving Julian Draxler, Luiz Gustavo and others, while expanding the Brazilian pipeline and placing top talents in the Bundesliga and Premier League

  • 2013–2015 – ROGON plays a central role in Draxler’s Schalke contract renewal and his later transfer to Wolfsburg, reportedly earning significant commissions over renewal and transfer phases

  • 2020s – ROGON continues to represent high-profile players such as Roberto Firmino, Joelinton, Marcel Sabitzer and Julian Draxler, and appears in global rankings of powerful agencies in Europe’s top leagues

  • 2023–2025 – Co-founds CUJU, scales AI-driven scouting projects in Brazil, and becomes a central figure in legal disputes around the new FIFA agent regulations and the Hoffenheim stadium-ban saga

Network strengths

  • Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga clubs, especially those with histories of collaborating with ROGON such as Schalke 04, Hoffenheim and Wolfsburg

  • Strong links between German clubs and Brazilian academies and teams, facilitated by intermediaries and corporate structures tied to figures close to ROGON (e.g. Barra FC)

  • Established presence in Austria and broader German-speaking markets, with clients placed in the Austrian Bundesliga and clubs connected to the Red Bull network

Support Team / Partners

  • ROGON Sportmanagement GmbH & Co. KG – Core agency platform for senior men’s football clients, headquartered in Frankenthal/Ludwigshafen

  • ROGON U23 – Sister entity focusing on youth and U23 players, operating from the same address with a portfolio of around 50 players

  • Christian Rapp – Partner and licensed agent within ROGON, often visible in public photos and announcements with clients and involved in high-profile transfers such as Firmino’s move to Al-Sadd

  • John Inglis, Paul Koutsoliakos, Kadir Özdogan, Régis Dorn – Regional partners and scouts listed alongside ROGON, helping manage players in the UK, Germany and other markets

  • Legal counsel (external) – Specialist sports-law teams involved in litigation against FIFA’s new agent regulations and in complex transfer or disciplinary matters

  • CUJU data & scouting unit – Technology and data-analysis partners supporting youth identification projects, especially in Brazil, feeding prospects into ROGON and partner clubs

Client Roster

(Representative snapshot – not exhaustive; based on public sources as of late 2025.)

Top players and talents (current)

  • Roberto Firmino (Al-Sadd SC) – Centre-forward – Brazil – Date of birth: 2 October 1991

  • Joelinton (Newcastle United) – Central midfield / forward – Brazil – Date of birth: 14 August 1996

  • Marcel Sabitzer (Borussia Dortmund) – Central midfield – Austria – Date of birth: 17 March 1994

  • Julian Draxler (Al-Ahli SC, Qatar) – Left winger / attacking midfield – Germany – Date of birth: 20 September 1993

  • Luiz Gustavo (São Paulo FC) – Defensive midfield – Brazil – Date of birth: 23 July 1987

  • Lucas Nmecha (VfL Wolfsburg) – Forward – Germany/England – Date of birth: 14 December 1998

  • Georginio Rutter (Brighton & Hove Albion) – Forward – France – Date of birth: 20 April 2002

  • Willi Orban (RB Leipzig) – Centre-back – Hungary – Date of birth: 3 November 1992

  • Felix Nmecha (Borussia Dortmund) – Central midfield – Germany – Date of birth: 10 October 2000

(Note: ROGON also manages a substantial women’s football roster through ROGON Women, with players in top leagues in Germany, France, Portugal and elsewhere.)

Coaches/Staff represented (if any)

ROGON is primarily documented as a player-focused agency. While it cooperates closely with coaches and sporting directors, there is limited public information on formal coach representation, and no consistently verified head-coach clients can be listed with certainty from open sources.

Notable former clients

  • Max Meyer – Former Schalke 04 and Germany international midfielder; long-time Rogon client whose contentious contract saga with Schalke 04 culminated in a high-profile split, with Meyer moving to a different agency in 2024

  • Kevin Kurányi – Prolific former Schalke and national-team striker previously listed among Rogon’s best-known players

  • Jermaine Jones – USA international whose Bundesliga career at Schalke and elsewhere was overseen by ROGON during key years

  • Tim Wiese – Former Werder Bremen and Germany goalkeeper represented by ROGON in his top-flight years

Notable Deals Led by Roger Wittmann

  • 2013 – Julian Draxler: Schalke 04 – contract renewal – Renegotiation that kept Draxler at Schalke on improved terms before his eventual departure

  • 2015 – Julian Draxler: Schalke 04 → VfL Wolfsburg – Big-money move within the Bundesliga that generated significant commission payments for ROGON

  • 2015 – Roberto Firmino: TSG Hoffenheim → Liverpool – Transfer from the Bundesliga to the Premier League involving ROGON, later scrutinised in investigative coverage of fee and ownership structures

  • 2019 – Joelinton: TSG Hoffenheim → Newcastle United – Record transfer for Newcastle at the time, with Joelinton’s representation by ROGON emphasised in English-language profiles of the deal

  • 2010s–2020s – Multiple moves involving Luiz Gustavo, Lucas and Felix Nmecha, and other ROGON-managed players between Bundesliga clubs and international destinations, often cited in analyses of the agency’s influence in German and Austrian football

Track Record (last 3 seasons)

  • Total transfers completed: Numerous international and domestic transfers and loans each window; public databases show dozens of movements involving ROGON clients across 2022–23, 2023–24 and 2024–25

  • Deals ≥ €10m: Multiple high-value transfers and contract packages in big-5 leagues; aggregate big-5 league client value estimated at €137m by CIES in 2025, underlining ROGON’s weight in the market

  • Clients in top-5 leagues: Significant presence across Bundesliga, Premier League, LaLiga, Serie A and Ligue 1, with stars such as Joelinton, Sabitzer, Draxler and others under ROGON management during the period

  • National team clients: Multiple current or former internationals for Brazil, Germany, Austria, Hungary and other nations (e.g. Firmino, Luiz Gustavo, Sabitzer, Draxler, Orban)

  • Renewal/extension deals: A steady stream of renewals and salary-structure revisions across German and European clubs, especially for long-term Bundesliga clients, though many terms remain undisclosed

  • Aggregate client market value: Approx. €272.4m (ROGON senior portfolio) + €3.6m (ROGON U23), with around €137m of that total in Europe’s big-5 leagues

Compliance & Accreditation

  • ROGON Sportmanagement GmbH & Co. KG listed as a verified and licensed agency on major football data platforms, with formal contact details and registration

  • Wittmann operates within the framework of FIFA’s Football Agent Regulations through ROGON and RRC Sports and has been a central figure in a lawsuit filed before German courts challenging aspects of FIFA’s rules regarding fees and licensing

  • Over the years, German media have reported criticism and investigations regarding ROGON’s influence at clubs such as Kaiserslautern, Schalke 04 and Hoffenheim, including high consultant fees and perceived conflicts of interest

  • Despite controversies and disputes – including the Hoffenheim stadium ban saga – there are no public records of criminal convictions against Wittmann in relation to his work as an intermediary; however, his actions and those of ROGON remain under intense public and media scrutiny

Testimonials

  • Roger Wittmann on the public image of agents (Sky Sport documentary): “It is a myth that the agent is always the bad guy.”

  • Dietmar Hopp, TSG Hoffenheim patron, on the stadium ban against his friend Wittmann: he described the decision as a “big disgrace” and strongly criticised the club’s handling of the case

  • Media description of fan sentiment in Hoffenheim: “Nie wieder Wittmann in Hoffenheim!” appeared on hundreds of placards as supporters protested his presence despite the overturned stadium ban

(Player-side praise for Wittmann and ROGON is less often quoted directly in public sources, with most coverage focusing on deal mechanics, controversies and his broader role in German football.)

Press, Awards & Recognition

  • Frequently cited in international and German-language rankings and think-pieces as one of the most powerful agents in football, particularly within the Bundesliga ecosystem

  • CIES Football Observatory (2025) lists ROGON Sportmanagement among the top agencies by aggregate transfer value of players in Europe’s big-5 leagues (approx. €137m), illustrating the agency’s sustained presence at the top end of the market

  • Described by blogs and agency-analysis platforms as “the most influential representation agency in the Bundesliga” and a global operator with high-profile clients such as Firmino, Joelinton, Sabitzer and Lucas Nmecha

  • Subject of extensive investigative and opinion coverage in outlets like Correctiv, Zeit, Kicker, taz and regional newspapers, which scrutinise his power, business practices and relationships with club owners and executives

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