Jörg Schmadtke

Jörg Schmadtke (born 16 March 1964) is a German football executive and former player who is currently the managing director for Hannover 96. He previously held managing director roles at 1. FC Köln and VfL Wolfsburg and was a former sporting director of Premier League club Liverpool during the 2023–2024 season. Schmadtke was involved three times in improving the financial and sports situation of a club considerably.

Schmadtke played as a goalkeeper for Fortuna Düsseldorf (until 1993), SC Freiburg (1993–1997) and Bayer 04 Leverkusen (1997–98), all together 266 games in the German Bundesliga.

From summer 2009 up to June 2013, Schmadtke worked as sporting director of Hannover 96. In 2011, his contract was changed to an indefinite contract, and he joined the executive board as "Geschäftsführer Sport". Hannover had a few very successful seasons, both from a sports perspective (they reached the fourth position in the league and played in the UEFA Cup), as well as financially. For private reasons, Schmadtke reduced his workload and also took a couple of weeks timeout in 2012. In April 2013, he asked to terminate his contract. Transfers included Didier Ya Konan, Mohammed Abdellaoue, Lars Stindl, Emanuel Pogatetz, Ron-Robert Zieler, and Mame Biram Diouf.

After being in short talks with Hamburger SV, he started to work as a sporting director for 1. FC Köln in June 2013. Köln managed to be promoted to the Bundesliga and to improve its sports and financial status since then every year. In April 2017, Schmadtke and Wehrle signed a contract extension until 2023. Transfers included Dominique Heintz, Anthony Modeste, Leonardo Bittencourt, Marco Höger, and Jorge Meré.

In 2011 and 2017, Schmadtke received the "manager of the year" award.

Schmadtke resigned on 23 October 2017.

On 22 May 2018, VfL Wolfsburg announced through Twitter the hiring of Schmadtke as the club's new sportvorstand. He was slated to start on 1 July, however on 1 June, VfL Wolfsburg announced on its web page that he was able to start immediately, thanks to a negotiation between 1. FC Köln and VfL Wolfsburg. It was reported in papers that Wolfsburg paid a half-million Euro to Köln to lift the occupational ban that was set on Schmadtke, thus allowing him to work one month earlier than originally planned.

Schmadtke left Wolfsburg in January 2023, and in May of the same year, he joined Liverpool as sporting director. In the summer of 2023, Schmadtke orchestrated a comprehensive midfield overhaul at Liverpool by signing four new players, Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai, Wataru Endo, and Ryan Gravenberch, to replace outgoing midfielders Jordan Henderson, Fabinho, James Milner, Naby Keïta, and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, thereby rejuvenating the team's central core. He left Liverpool in early 2024.

Schamdtke returned to Hannover 96 as managing director effective 1 January 2026, succeeding Marcus Mann, who was signed by Red Bull Salzburg.

Personal life Schmadtke is married to Andrea and the couple have a son, Nils, who currently works as a sporting director for Borussia Mönchengladbach.