Bundesliga
Tobias Rau played Bundesliga football for Wolfsburg, Bayern Munich and Arminia Bielefeld, and represented Germany, before retiring at 27 and retraining as a school teacher.
In our series Life After Football, bundesliga.com speaks to several legends about their time in the game and how their lives have changed since hanging up their boots.
bundesliga.com: Tobias, what learning processes would the 43-year-old teacher Rau warn the 19-year-old Bundesliga newcomer of?
Tobias Rau: "He would probably encourage him not to put up with everything, despite the strict hierarchy in a professional football dressing room, and to stand up for himself. I was young and naïve and put up with and followed behaviour and instructions that I could have stood up to."
bundesliga.com: You played for [Eintracht] Braunschweig, Wolfsburg, Bayern and Arminia Bielefeld - can you give a specific example of this?
Rau: "No - I won't go there, but let's put it this way: it's not necessarily the best guys and characters that are at the top of the hierarchy of a Bundesliga team, but the best footballers. That probably hasn't changed much to this day. Fortunately, other qualities count in real life."
Watch: The best of Tobias Rau
bundesliga.com: How often do you get talented footballers from your school asking you for advice?
Rau: "Surprisingly, quite often. They listen to me even more than to their own parents."
bundesliga.com: And what advice would you give to a teenager who really wants to become a professional footballer?
Rau: "I would always support him or her, but it's important to keep a healthy perspective on the matter. If this young person is toying with the idea of dropping out of school for the dream of becoming a professional, I would strongly advise against it. The chances of actually ending up in paid football are very slim. I've seen so many players in my career who were more talented than I was and then didn't make it. It's also important to never lose the fun of football. We all fell in love with football because we enjoy it, as I am currently experiencing with my six-year-old son. However, the fun can quickly be lost if the burden and pressure become too much."
bundesliga.com: Would you want your son to follow in his father's footsteps?
Rau: "I honestly don't know. Of course I support him in his pursuits. But at the same time, I would like to protect him from the many dangers and pitfalls that come with the job. I've seen a lot of young footballers who couldn't cope with the pressure to perform and were ruined by it."
bundesliga.com: You played together with people like Sebastian Deisler, who ended his career early due to mental health reasons. You were also lauded as a young player, moved to Bayern and never got beyond the role of squad player there. How much did you suffer from the stresses and strains of being a professional athlete?
Rau: "I always coped well with it and stopped in good time before the circumstances spoilt my enjoyment of football. I also didn't have to experience certain things. For example, I know of a few cases where relationships have broken down post-career because a partner couldn't deal with the dip in [the former player's] celebrity status and income."
bundesliga.com: Instead, you opted for another very stressful profession. According to surveys, one in three teachers in Germany feel overworked. How is it for you?
Rau: "Having been a professional footballer, I've actually developed a very thick skin, and that helps me in my job as a teacher. As a professional, I felt like I was plugged into a power outlet every day. I no longer have that feeling. I'm also lucky that, as a former footballer, I can afford not to work full-time at the school. This gives me the freedom to focus more on my private life, for example. That was virtually impossible during my years as a footballer."
bundesliga.com: Are there any similarities between the summer holidays and the summer break?
Rau: "I tend to discover differences in my own perception when it starts again after the holidays and break. The transition from the summer break to pre-season preparation was always the biggest challenge for me back then. When you know that there are agonising weeks ahead of you, weeks of pain and toil. Training three times a day, running, running, running, lactate tests. That was really tough. In contrast, the first day of school after the holidays is a real relief - even if some of my fellow teachers see it differently." [Laughs]
bundesliga.com: What type of teacher are you?
Rau: "I particularly enjoy my work when I manage to build up a healthy rapport with the pupils and meet them as equals. Of course, you sometimes have to act as a clear authority, but football was also good training for that."
bundesliga.com: What other career plans does Tobias Rau, the teacher, have?
Rau: "In terms of the basic concept, it will stay like this until I retire and that makes me very happy, because I've been happy with my new job since day one. It was exactly the right decision. I'll let myself be surprised by any other developments, as I did in the past. In the meantime, I sat on the supervisory board of Eintracht Braunschweig for two and a half years, and the DFB [German Football Association] contacts me from time to time when it comes to projects that combine school and football. There'll be more to come."
bundesliga.com: Are you in contact with other ex-professionals who have taken a similar path? Former Borussia Dortmund player Knut Reinhardt teaches at a secondary school, while European champion Dieter Eilts has become a teacher.
Rau: "Unfortunately, I never got to know Knut Reinhardt personally, but I had the honour of playing with Dieter Eilts for a long time in the Germany All-Stars. I didn't even know that he now works as a teacher, but I can imagine him doing that very well."
bundesliga.com: "You played in the UEFA Champions League, and won the Bundesliga and DFB Cup - don't you sometimes miss the feeling of playing football in front of 50,000 people in your everyday life as a teacher?
Rau: "I will remember those special moments and feelings for the rest of my life, but I don't miss them. I didn't need a stage as a footballer, and I certainly don't need one now."
bundesliga.com: Which of those moments do you remember most fondly?
Rau: "I can think of three. The international game against Canada in Wolfsburg in June 2003, shortly after I had moved from VfL to Bayern. We won 4-1 and I scored the first and last goal of my Germany career in the 90th minute. Then my first game for Bayern at the start of the 2003/04 season. We won 3-1 and I set up a goal. And the 2-1 win against Scotland in front of almost 90,000 people at the Westfalenstadion, which qualified us for the 2004 Euros. I was named Man of the Match."
bundesliga.com: What makes you happy about being a teacher?
Rau: "The fact that I get to work with young people all day long, which keeps me young at heart. The pleasant atmosphere at our school, where there are conflicts from time to time, but where there is still respectful cooperation. The fact that I now work in a professional environment where people are not judged on money, status or performance, but only on what kind of person you are. That makes me happy."
Interview by Alex Raack
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