Will the son of an FCB boss soon make his debut here? Curiosities at FC Bayern’s covert partner
Bayern Munich maintain close ties with Austrian Bundesliga club TSV Hartberg, a rather unusual club.
TSV Hartberg have yet to win a major title, but the Bundesliga club from a south-eastern Austrian village of 6,687 people are serial winners in one category: shirt sponsors. The logo-covered kit was already causing a stir in Germany in summer 2025, and this season it is "adorned" with a total of 19 logos.
Most striking of all, across the stomach, is the "Profertil" branding with the added line: "#1 Spermbooster". Lenus Pharma makes the product, the world market leader in dietary foods designed to optimise sperm quality in men with an unfulfilled desire to have children. Lenus Pharma founder and managing director Brigitte Annerl has also been president of TSV Hartberg since 2017.
Another key figure at the club is Erich Korherr. The 59-year-old combines an unusual dual role, running his own painting business while also overseeing TSV's transfers and squad planning as chairman and managing director since 2017. In May 2026, MUT Magazin reported on his work, and an attached profile made the priorities clear. It says: "Profession: master painter, head of the Malerei Korherr company in Greinbach near Hartberg with eleven employees. Hobby: club chairman at TSV Hartberg Fußball and managing director of TSV Hartberg Spielbetriebs-GmbH."
Annerl and Korherr took the village club from the third tier to the Bundesliga in a remarkably short time and have kept them there impressively since 2018, despite limited financial means, inadequate infrastructure and little fan interest. Hartberg reached European qualification for the first time in 2020, the Cup final in 2025, and last season TSV were back in the championship play-off. The climb brought criticism of structural deficiencies too. In the players' union VdF's anonymous summer survey on working conditions, Hartberg finished bottom among all Bundesliga clubs. At the same time, TSV developed over the years into a covert partner of Bayern Munich.
Bayern Munich: Red&Gold - and other covert partners
Bayern Munich run the international Red&Gold Football network together with MLS club Los Angeles FC to develop and promote young players. Racing Club de Montevideo of Uruguay, Jeju SK FC of South Korea, SD Aucas of Ecuador and the Gambions Stars Africa academy in Gambia are also part of the project.
Beyond that, there are also "some clubs with whose key figures we maintain a very good relationship, without them officially being part of the network", youth chief Jochen Sauer recently explained in an interview with SPOX. "For example TSV Hartberg in Austria or FC Arouca in Portugal. We have sent players to both clubs who have developed very well there."
Sauer, like sporting director Christoph Freund, previously spent many years at RB Salzburg and built up a network in Austrian football there. Bayern now use those contacts to place their young talents at Austrian clubs. Same language, same cultural sphere, short distances, it makes obvious sense. Austria Klagenfurt, who have since fallen away, once filled that covert partner role. Wacker Innsbruck are due to take it on in future, although they are still in the second tier and LAFC hold 99 per cent of the capital shares. For now, though, TSV Hartberg are the club most in demand.
Personal sympathies may also play a part alongside those strong connections. The aforementioned Erich Korherr profile also says: "Favourite club after TSV Hartberg: FC Bayern Munich. Favourite player: Harry Kane (FC Bayern Munich)."
Bayern Munich and Hartberg? "A win-win situation for all parties"
Since 2023, Bayern Munich talents have repeatedly ended up at Hartberg. Angelo Brückner and Maximilian Henning got game time there on loan. Goalkeeper Tom Ritzy Hülsmann joined TSV permanently in 2025, developed well and moved to France this summer in a €2.5 million transfer to Stade Reims. At Bayern Munich, it has long been part of the strategy to continue profiting from precisely such transfers in the long term thanks to sell-on clauses and thereby generate a steady flow of income.
Then Tom Starke, the Munich Campus goalkeeping coordinator, turned up at Hartberg's Profertil Arena for a home game in February. In a pitchside interview with Sky, Starke described it as a "win-win situation for all parties". Hartberg get well-trained players for little money, Bayern Munich can test them in a decent league and put them in the shop window. As for whether more Bayern Munich talents will move to Hartberg, Starke said at the time: "We are already working on being able to put the next ones in the pipeline,"
Through that pipeline this summer came Magnus Dalpiaz. Last season the 19-year-old left-back was still on loan with AC Milan's reserves. Now he is getting match practice in Hartberg.
TSV Hartberg rely on the sons of famous sporting personalities
Dalpiaz is the son of Austrian record international ice hockey goalkeeper Claus Dalpiaz. That makes him a perfect fit for Hartberg not only because of his Munich past, but because of his DNA too. Oddly enough, TSV have assembled a whole group of sons of famous sporting personalities.
At the heart of central defence is Konstantin Schopp, son of current TSV head coach Markus Schopp, who once played in the Bundesliga for Hamburger SV. Also in the squad are Nikolaus Feldhofer, son of former Austria international Ferdinand Feldhofer, and Lukas Fridrikas, son of former world handball player Ausra Fridrikas. Then there is Simon Freund, a 21-year-old defender and the son of Bayern sporting director Christoph Freund. In a way, the circle closes there.
Most recently, Simon Freund played for Austrian third-tier side SV Seekirchen before joining Hartberg in the summer after a trial. "Dad said he is very proud of me," he told the Kronen Zeitung at the time. "Of course he also helped me a little and took care of the contract. I don't have an agent myself." So far, Freund has played only for Hartberg's third-tier reserves. He made the professional squad for the first time in the last match before the international break, but did not come on. His debut may not be far away.
