Salvatore Belardo has been part of FC Augsburg since 1989. Five years later, he began to work part-time as a kit manager for the FCA – and he still holds this position today. The 64-year-old has been involved in the entire development of Augsburg in modern times, from the withdrawal of the license in 2000 to the first European Cup game in the club’s history.
In an interview with SPOX and GOAL, Belardo talks about his start as a kit man, the sadness at FC Augsburg in the 1990s and the “angel” who revived FCA.
Belardo also talks about the biggest disappointment and the best player of his time in Augsburg and explains what has to happen to stop his job.
Mr. Belardo, first of all we have to clarify something personal: On the FC Augsburg homepage January 17, 1958 is given as your birthday. However, your profile on transfermarkt.de shows August 8, 1958. What is true?
Salvatore Belardo: January 17 is correct. It actually happened that I was also congratulated on August 8th. I was perplexed the first time, but now I know where that came from. So if that someone from transfermarkt.de reads – please change! (laughs)
You have already played as a dangerous left winger for FCA’s second team. How did you first come to the club?
Belardo: I’ve always played soccer. I started out in the district league. Because I was quite fast, I regularly had offers from other clubs. In 1989 an elderly man approached me. He was responsible for the FCA second team, which was registered again and needed players for the restart in the district league. I then switched there from TSG Stadtbergen.
You then celebrated a few promotions with the FCA second team, going up to the Bayernliga. Is it true that you were still playing football when you were over 40?
Belardo: Yes. I quit when I was 45.
Since you’ve also been FCA’s kit manager since 1994, have you already done this job even though you were still playing yourself?
Belardo: That with the year is such a thing. I really only became a kit man, as I am today, after my career ended in 2003.
So why is it that 1994 is written everywhere as the beginning of your activity?
Belardo: At that time, I was still a player and I started to help the kit man at the time. The colleague who did this before only had time for the job twice a week. That’s why Giacomo Belardi, who was head of the football department at the time and used to be my coach in Stadtbergen, asked me for help. I said to him: Okay, I’ll take a look. After the first season I wanted to quit again. But they didn’t let me, because the other colleague was less and less able to do it and eventually couldn’t do it at all. You really persuaded me – fortunately!
Why did you want to quit, didn’t you enjoy it?
Belardo: I just wasn’t really interested in it. I wanted more free time. A lot of people think being a kit man isn’t really work, but of course that’s nonsense. The opposite is the case, you are busy almost around the clock. I then continued for the love of the club, basically to this day.
Where were you working full-time at that time?
Belardo: I was at Siemens for a long time. Only when they closed there in the early 2000s did I go to the aircraft manufacturer EADS, which is now called Premium Aerotec. There I assembled the Eurofighter for over 15 years. I’ve been retired for a year.
Were you temporarily employed by the FCA?
Belardo: No, I never was. The club wanted that, but I didn’t because I was very happy with my main job. When I worked for the club, I got unpaid leave from Aerotec and a lump sum from FCA. Four years ago I went into semi-retirement. The FCA is basically my part-time job. I am satisfied, I continue to enjoy my work.
What was the work as a kit manager like at the very beginning?
Belardo: That was still really classic and of course significantly less extensive than today. At that time I had two or three suitcases. Inside were the shoes, jerseys, and warm-up clothes. Compared to today, that’s nothing. In recent years everything has become more and more, partly due to the different wishes of the coaches.
Your wife Marlene has been taking care of the players’ laundry for around 25 years. How did it come about that she is also part of it?
Belardo: She took over the job from an older woman who was previously responsible for the laundry. Nowadays she is also something of a kit man. She continues to do the laundry but also works from the office and organizes the orders for the goods when we need something for our daily work.
In Augsburg you took part in the entire development of modern times. From 1994 until the license was revoked in 2000, FCA languished in the middle of nowhere in the regional league. How sad was that time, which was also threatening the club’s existence?
Belardo: We all had to cope with numerous disappointments at that time. It was often clear early on that we would neither be promoted nor relegated. Audience interest also waned. You could feel that money was getting tighter and tighter. In 2000, in the licensing process for the two-track regional league, a bank guarantee of three million marks was suddenly not provided on time. That’s why we had to be relegated to the Bayernliga, for the first time in the club’s history we were in the fourth division. Luckily our angel fell from heaven.
Namely Walther Seinsch, who became CEO and patron, and who attracted a group of investors who compensated for the missing money. Seinsch led the club into the Bundesliga in just eleven years. Was it initially foreseeable that his measures would bear fruit?
Belardo: He was a businessman who made sense of everything he did. He stood up early and said to the fans: ‘You’ll see – I’ll build you a stadium and we’ll play in the Bundesliga.’ We all asked ourselves: What is he dreaming about at night? But eleven years later, that was actually a reality – and it is to this day. I have the utmost respect for him.
How secure was your job as kit manager when your license was revoked?
Belardo: A few people have quit, but I’ve never been approached about it. I didn’t think about leaving the club either. I wasn’t particularly confident now, but it could only get better. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the task itself. That’s why I signaled early on that I would like to continue – on a voluntary and unpaid basis.
