We Win - They Lose: When Rich Men Gamble

By Klaus Kirchhoff

Sigi Strammsack was in sheer heaven being given this assignment as he approached his seventieth birthday. He had married Mariandl Meinhofer a year earlier and they remained in Birkenried from which Strammsack developed his program to further youth soccer development in Germany. The men in charge of the DFB did not like it and made several attempts to persuade Fischer and Strammsack to bring this program under the DFB umbrella. But this did not happen and since the invitations to the Fischer Foundation training facilities in Birkenried were not mandatory to attend, it was perfectly legitimate and it was Strammsack’s well-known reputation that brought young talented players to their program.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jan 31, 2023
• ISBN: 9781728378893

Klaus Kirchhoff

GERMAN-BORN KLAUS KIRCHHOFF immigrated to the United States in 1964 and settled in the Los Angeles area. There he met and married Brigitte, his wife for fifty-four years. Klaus brought a degree in Architectural Engineering from Germany and obtained a Professional – Civil – Engineers in California. But he spent most of his professional career in Project Controls management on some major engineering/construction projects in several countries around the world, among them Iran and Saudi Arabia. After retiring in 1998, he moved with his wife to Carlsbad in San Diego County and he now resides in Oceanside after his wife passed away recently. He enjoys good music, traveling, creative writing and hours of companionship with friends, sharing his great sense of humor by telling jokes and funny stories.

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© 2023 Klaus Kirchhoff. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 01/30/2023

ISBN: 978-1-7283-7890-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-7283-7888-6 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-7283-7889-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023901738

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

About The Author

Dedicated to my wife

Brigitte in loving memory

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Good morning, moron. What in the world did you do last night? Karsten Fischer, a German industrialist in his late forties was staring at and talking to his image in the bathroom mirror of his suite in the Sofitel Hotel in Warsaw, Poland. He was a multi-billionaire, one of the most successful businessmen in Europe owning several major companies in a vast variety of industries. He continued, At this moment, I can only think of one thing of which I am absolutely certain, I am looking at the biggest idiot I ever met in my life. Your only excuse is that you were drunk and you should know better than to make deals when you are in that condition. All I can say as I look at you, I am totally pissed off.

He was genuinely mad at himself about his action the night before, it was the reason for his bad mood. Even though he had only gotten to bed at two a.m., he woke up at six-thirty this morning because he had been an early riser all his adult life. The reason he was in Warsaw was attending with friends the European Championship semi-final soccer match between Germany and Italy the evening before which Italy had won by a score of 2:1. After the game, he had been invited to an exclusive international party at the hotel and during those three hours, he had consumed a few glasses of wine too many. He had been deeply disappointed since Germany had been considered the favorite to win the title and therefore, of course, this game. It so happened at the party that he had overheard the Italian automobile industrialist Frederico Ferragamo brag about the victory. Ferragamo claimed that Germany could never win games against Italy when it counted and he referred to the many times where this had actually happened before.

This upset Karsten Fischer and he told Ferragamo to stop bragging; after all this was just a soccer match. He had added, the German Bundesliga was overall in terms of team strengths more than even if not clearly stronger than the teams in the top league in Italy. Ferragamo, who owned the team of Juventus Turin, the current Italian soccer champion did not like Fischer’s rebuttal comments but continued in his arrogant way and declared that he would bet that no German soccer team would ever win the European Champions League title again. Fischer now got truly angry and he challenged Ferragamo how much he would be willing to bet on that. Ferragamo answered, Eight hundred million euros!

Karsten Fischer responded, Great, I will take that bet. And within minutes they had signed a piece of paper to make it official. It was witnessed by several other guests at the party, among them the prominent German soccer legend Hans Steinhauser. He was a close friend of Karsten Fischer and he had even co-signed the paper as witness of this agreement. As best as Fischer remembered, Steinhauser had then somebody else make copies of the contract between the two billionaires and passed them on to both of them.

Realizing all this at this very moment, Fischer checked the suit he had been wearing the previous evening and found a copy of this so called ‘contract’. He saw his own signature and it was somewhat different because he had been intoxicated and some letters had been distorted. This was not the way his signature looked at normal times. He checked the time and decided to call Hans Steinhauser since they were staying at the same hotel. But instead of doing so right away, he would wait for an hour.

After shaving, taking a long shower and getting dressed, he drank some coffee in his room and now began to think about what he should do next. There were several options and he realized that damage control was an absolute priority. He had to try and make sure that the story would not be made public right away. But how could he do that knowing full well that Frederico Ferragamo owned several Italian newspapers and would most likely be inclined to brag about this bet because he was convinced he would win. Fischer also felt he needed a few days to consider his options before he would make a final decision with respect to this bet.

He called his pilot Georg Severin and instructed him to get his plane, a Gulfstream 550, ready for take-off as soon as possible. Severin told Fischer he could do that in about two hours and would rush to the airport to be ready for take-off no later than nine-thirty or ten o’clock. Fischer then called the hotel switchboard and asked to be connected with Hans Steinhauser. It took less than a minute before they talked and Steinhauser began, Karsten, I apologize for letting you sign that piece of paper with Ferragamo. I knew you were more than slightly intoxicated and hot under the collar about Ferragamo’s bragging and I should have tried everything to keep you from agreeing to this ridiculous bet.

Hans, you do not have to apologize. I know I had way too much to drink but still take full responsibility for what happened. The reason I am calling you is to ask you a favor. I need a few days to evaluate my options and check with my attorneys about the legality of this bet and the validity of the piece of paper we signed. Is there a chance you could help me with this by contacting Ferragamo and telling him that you believe the bet is illegal and that I am considering legal action against him if he should go public with it?

Hans Steinhauser responded, I will be happy to do that. But I have to find out where he is staying. Once I know that, I’ll call him and set up a meeting to explain this to him. I will tell him that my attorney has indicated to me that the three of us signed that piece of paper not legally binding and that it could not be enforced in a court of law since it carries the wrong date. I remember dating it yesterday while we did sign it this morning after midnight. I have your phone number and will call you as soon as I have done it. But let me ask you this, are you seriously considering accepting this bet and supporting a German soccer team that could win the European Champions League title in the next five years? You know there are only two or maybe three teams in the Bundesliga who could do so and Bayern Munich probably would have the best chance to make it.

To be honest, it’s one of my options and I am only asking for a few days time to evaluate them and then decide what I want to do. Believe me, I would like nothing more than to teach that Italian bragger a lesson that would cost him a lot of money. But I need about a week to decide that and it’s important for me right now that this does not become public knowledge. I would look like a coward if it would become news in the next few days in case I want to back out of this deal.

I understand. I will try and reach Ferragamo as soon as I can and will let you know what the result of my conversation with him is. Where will you be? Are you flying back to Munich right away?

Yes, in less than two hours and I will be in my office by noon time. But you have my cell phone number and you can reach me direct. Thanks, Hans, you are doing me a great favor if you can stop Ferragamo from going public with this for the time being. And, of course, you and I have not spoken this morning, okay?

That’s a given. I will just talk to him as a friend and warn him not to do something hastily. Servus Karsten, I will talk to you soon.

Thanks, Hans, I appreciate it, servus.

It was nearly eight o’clock and Fischer decided to call his Executive Secretary, Stefanie Huber in Erding to let her know he would be back in the office by noon. It was a brief conversation and he asked her to set up a senior staff meeting for three o’clock in the afternoon. When he asked her who all was in the office, she told him everyone except Ryan Betz who was still in Holland and would not be back until Monday from what he had told her the day before.

Steffi, that’s okay. I would like you to attend the meeting as well. And one more thing, if anybody calls and wants to talk to me, you do not know when I will be back in town and you cannot give anybody my cell number, okay?

Of course not, you sound so mysterious. It must be very important why you are calling this meeting so urgently.

Steffi, it is very important and I need to share it with all of you, servus.

He hung up and now got ready to take a taxi to the airport. He checked out of the hotel and arrived before nine o’clock. His pilot informed him that they could take off in twenty minutes which pleased Fischer. He was now eager to get back to his office but enjoyed having over an hour to think about his new problem.

Right after take-off, he consumed a sandwich, drank a glass of orange juice and strong coffee. It gave him now time to collect his thoughts and think about his next decisions. He was, of course, still very upset with himself for getting into his current predicament.

As if he did not have enough personal problems. His wife Renate had died three years ago and his two children were still teenagers. His son Michael just finished high school and did not know what he wanted to study. It was very obvious to him that Michael missed his mother a lot and had become a loner of sorts. Fischer knew he had to do something about this since he did not wanted him to lose interests in the future but pursue studying what he liked. Fischer’s daughter Ursula was fifteen years old and still attending highschool. She had grown very close to her aunt Liesel; Renate’s older sister who ran the Fischer household since Renate’s death. Liesel was a fiftythree year old divorcee, had no children on her own and loved to manage his household and take care of Michael and Ursula. And while he appreciated this very much and continuously thanked her, he could not see anything serious developing between himself and Liesel that would possibly lead to something like marriage.

For nearly two years he had mourned the loss of his wife and still missed her every day. Yet in the past year, he had gone out with women for dinner or other occasions. Women he had met at parties or had been introduced to him by friends and acquaintances. Some of his friends had even suggested to him he should not rule out ever getting married again.

One of those ladies he had found attractive was Angela Hofbauer. She was a Vice President of a major insurance company in Munich. She was fourteen years younger than him, charming, very good looking, elegant in her demeanor and from what she had told him she was not married nor did she have children. They had met at a party in Munich where a mutual acquaintance had introduced them. Karsten liked almost everything about her. Since she worked for a firm he was doing insurance business with, they had met twice for a working lunch discussing insurance policy issues. He could tell from the way she acted towards him that she liked him but that had been it. He imagined that she was dating someone or even in a serious relationship. Thinking about her reminded him he had not spoken to her for several months and decided to do so in the next few days. He was convinced, had she been with him the evening before, he would not have gotten drunk and made this foolish bet. He resolved to make contact with her again.

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After landing in Erding, he drove to his office and arrived just a few minutes before twelve noon. He asked his secretary to briefly tell him what had taken place since he had left for Warsaw. He added, But, Steffi, only the important stuff.

She understood and began, Actually, it was very quiet but you got an important phone call twenty minutes ago from a Signore Ferragamo and he sounded very arrogant. He told me he wanted to discuss an important matter with you immediately and he asked me for your cell phone number. I told him I was not permitted to give it to him. I then asked him if I could tell you what specifically he wanted to discuss. He told me that it was none of my business and he hung up. Forgive me for saying so, but he must be some kind of jerk.

Karsten smiled for the first time this day and said, Steffi, you are right. He is a complete asshole, don’t take it personal what he said to you. I know what he wants to talk about. That’s why I called this impromptu senior staff meeting and I want you to attend as well. I possibly made the biggest mistake in my life last night; that is, early this morning when I allowed myself to be lured into a bet with Signore Frederico Ferragamo of Italy. I had too much wine to drink and he irritated the hell out of me and so it came to pass that I did something absolutely stupid. I will tell you all about later. Please get me Hans Steinhauser on the phone.

Two minutes later, Steinhauser was on the phone, Hello Karsten. I was just getting ready to call you. It took me a little while to reach Ferragamo and I told him it was important for me to meet with him in person. We met at his hotel less than an hour ago and I said to him what you and I had spoken about earlier. He was at first shocked and responded angrily by accusing you of wanting to back out of this deal. It took me a few minutes to convince him that he better slow down and instead of making accusations, check with his own legal team to verify the potential shortcomings of this contract instead of believing that it was ironclad. I urged him not to go public with this but instead wait for a week to get your call about your decision about this bet.

Thank you, Hans, you did what you promised to do and hopefully he will comply and not go public. I assume he will remain in Poland or Ukraine to see the final match against Spain on Sunday. But he already called here a short time ago and told my secretary I should call him right away. She told him she did not know when I would be back in the office but would pass on his message. I will probably now wait until Monday to call him back and I should by that time have a better idea what I want to do in this matter. Thanks again, Hans. I will keep you posted about what’s developing. Servus.

Servus, Karsten, I will be flying to Kiev tomorrow to see the final match between Italy and Spain on Sunday.

Well, enjoy it, I hope Spain beats the shit out of Italy.

I know what you mean, Karsten. I will be back in Munich next week and will call you to find out where things stand.

Fischer now briefly considered calling Frederico Ferragamo back but decided against it for the time being. Instead he called the office of the German Soccer Association in Frankfurt. His call was answered by Mrs. Wagner, the executive secretary of the President of the organization who informed him that her boss was still in Poland and would not be expected back in Frankfurt until the following Monday afternoon.

Fischer said, I saw him last night in Warsaw at the game and would expect him to attend the final match in Kiev as well on Sunday. Would you mind looking at his schedule for next week and see if I could meet with him as early as possible on an important matter?

She responded, If you give me a minute, I can do that right now. She came back on the line and said, He could meet you next Tuesday morning at ten o’clock if that suits you.

Fischer was pleased and answered, That’s great, I will be there, please schedule me for about twenty minutes. Mrs. Wagner said, I have put you down for half an hour, see you then.

May I ask you one more favor? Would you know by chance where former national soccer coach Siegfried Strammsack now lives and how I could get in touch with him by phone?

Yes, I have a phone number for him, let me find it. She gave it to him a few seconds later.

He was pleased, thanked her and ended the call. He decided to get in touch with this coach who he had admired and befriended some time ago but had lost touch with in recent years. The reason he admired coach Strammsack was because he had been the last German coach to put a national team together that won the World Championship many years ago. He wanted to talk to him about the possibility of building a team that could rise to the top and possibly win the European soccer Championship. He felt this to be critical in his decision whether or not to pursue this issue and then accept the crazy bet he had made in the early morning hours with the Italian billionaire. If nothing else, exploring this with the coach he admired greatly would determine his future actions.

Since he had a few hours until the staff meeting, he dialed Siegfried Strammsack’s number and it was answered after two rings when a strong voice said, Strammsack here.

Hallo Sigi, this is Karsten Fischer, do you remember me?

Of course, Karsten, I remember you. How are you? I saw you last night while you were seated among the prominent guests at the Germany-Italy game in Warsaw. How nice of you to call me, what can I do for you?

Sigi, where do you live right now, I know you are retired, correct?

"Yes Karsten, I live ‘am Arsch der Welt’ (the anus of the world). It’s a small village called Georgsberg near the border to Holland. You are right, I am retired and I am a widower since last year when my wife Gudrun died of cancer."

Fischer responded, I am sorry to hear that. I remember Gudrun, she was such a nice woman. Is it the Georgsberg near Ostenhorn?

Yes, it is. And thanks for saying that about Gudrun. The only reason I am residing here is that most of her relatives live here and she wanted to be near them when she was diagnosed with cancer. They are all very nice to me and very supportive and helpful to me.

Fischer said, Sigi, let me come right to the point why I am calling you. Do you have plans for the weekend? If not, I am wondering if you could visit me here in Munich for the weekend to discuss a major project. If you have time and are interested, I can have my secretary make flight reservations for you from Muenster for tomorrow and I would pick you up at the airport in Erding.

Karsten, it would be a pleasant experience for me to see you again and get out of here for a few days. I gladly accept.

Good, my secretary will be in touch with you shortly and I will see you tomorrow night. She will arrange the flight for you and give you the details.

Great, I look forward to seeing you again, bye.

Fischer asked his secretary to hold all calls for him for the rest of the day and just to tell everybody who might call she did not know where he was. He also wanted her to arrange immediately the flight for Siegfried Strammsack from Muenster to Erding for the next day and to book him for three nights into a suite at the local Bergsteiger Hotel, a property, Fischer owned.

He decided to drive to his home near Munich where he talked to his sister-in-law Liesel and son Michael. He told them he would not come home until later that evening. He mentioned to his son not to schedule anything for the weekend and added, I might have a big surprise for you. Unless you have already made other plans, we will drive to our hotel in Erding to meet someone you have known for years. We will leave here at eight thirty Saturday morning.

When Michael asked him who it was, Fischer said, I rather wait until later since this person hopefully will arrive tomorrow evening from northern Germany. But I can tell you, it has to do with soccer. Michael smiled and said, Great, I will be ready Saturday morning, thanks Dad.

Fischer changed clothes before he returned to his office at two p.m. He locked himself into his office and now had to think about how he could share the news with his senior staff.

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At three o’clock sharp, with one exception, all senior staff members were present in Fischer’s conference room and eager to find out what it was all about.

Fischer began, "Thank you for being available for this impromptu meeting. I know how busy you all are and the last thing you need are unexpected changes in your schedules. But this matter is of great importance. To make it short. I did something last night into the early morning hours I wish I had not done. In other words, I really screwed up big time. I attended a party in Warsaw last night after Germany had lost the game to Italy. I already had a bad feeling about the game when they were playing the national anthems. While the Italian players were singing loud and enthusiastically along, our players looked like they were at a funeral. Beyond that, I don’t think our national coach Detlev Schwarzhaar sent the best team onto the field and so we lost in the end. Being disappointed, I drank too much wine at the party and then got very irritated when Frederico Ferragamo began and continued to brag about how superior Italian soccer is over Germany. When he even criticized our Bayern Munich team, I responded by telling him to shut up. He said he would bet anybody that no German soccer team would win the Champions League Cup in the future. That got to me and I asked how much he was willing to bet. He said ’eight hundred million euros’."

He continued, In my drunken stupor, I told him to write it down and that I would take the bet. Well, he wrote it down and we both signed that piece of paper. Among those present was Hans Steinhauser. He saw the entire exchange and he signed it as well as witness. The content of the bet is that no German Bundesliga team will win the European Championship in the next five years and if it turns out that way, Ferragamo will have won and I will have to pay him.

He paused for a moment and continued. "I know, you are all looking at me now and rightfully in your mind wonder, how I could do such a stupid thing. I already spoke to Steinhauser this morning and Hans thinks that it would be easy for me to rescind the bet if I wanted to since I was obviously drunk and there might be other legal loopholes to invalidate this document. On top of it, Ferragamo had the gall to say that after winning the bet, he was looking forward to owning our Bergsteiger Hotel chain."

This brought a loud reaction from Markus Auerbach, the V.P. of the hotel division, This is crazy. Is that already written down somewhere? If so, I better look for another job right away. It was clear to the others he was extremely upset.

Fischer responded, Markus, rest assured, Ferragamo will never own our hotels, period. Please wait and let me share with you my thoughts at this moment. First of all, I have a little bit of time before I have to make the final decision in this matter. Most importantly, this is a situation that I am entirely responsible for. It is my mistake to have gotten myself into this mess and I am ready to rescind this stupid bet. I don’t care what Ferragamo would do or try to do to me with his newspapers. I can take it if it comes to that. I have in Hans Steinhauser a reputable and reliable witness to this event. He will testify that I was doing this in a moment of extreme carelessness while being seriously drunk. So, don’t worry about losing our hotels. As of this moment all options are on the table. In a worst case, should I proceed and lose the bet, it will come out of my private funds and will not affect you in any way or your careers.

He continued, "What I am asking of you right now is to just listen what I have to say about my options and then you can give me your straight and honest opinions as to how you see this. You have been my closest advisors over the past years and I value this immensely. To my mind, there are several possibilities for me to pursue. First of all, I can rescind the bet with Ferragamo regardless of the consequences, I can live with anything that comes my way.

Secondly, I could investigate the possibilities to invest financially in Bayern Munich to provide them with the ability to attract a few international soccer superstars who could strengthen the team so that Bayern might win the Champions League title in the next few years. The only negative thing in that is the reality that I would not gain any control over their operation. They would gladly take my money but I would not be able to tell them what to buy with it.

The third option would be to buy a Bundesliga club and then manage it the way we would see fit by investing in additional player personnel. As you know, I have been an avid soccer fan all my life and I could warm to this idea. It would be a major undertaking and challenge since I could not lose site of the five-year deadline of the bet. This is how I see it and I would like to hear from you now as to what you think about this crazy story."

Attorney Susie Weinhausen was the first to speak, Do you have a copy of the piece of paper you signed last night? That would be for me the first thing I would like to lay eyes on before I comment.

Yes, I do and I want you to look it over and check out if it is legally binding in a court of law. It’s in my office and I will get it to you.

Toni Zeltinger, the Vice-President and manager of the Telecom Division of the Fischer Konzern spoke next, Karsten, I want to be totally frank with you, I am struggling to come to grips with this situation and my initial advice to you would be to rescind this thing. I know it sounds negative but we all have enough on our plates and by walking away from it, you might save yourself a lot of grief.

Fischer responded, "I don’t disagree at all with you, this would be the simplest solution, no