Remove ads
Jürgen Ludger Born (born 24 September 1940)[1][2] is a German banker and the former chairman of the board of management of the German football team Werder Bremen. He resigned in 2009 when accused of misconduct in connection with a player transfer.
Born was an only child. His father died when he was young.[2] Born in Berlin, he grew up in Bremen,[3] where he played football as a defender for TuS Schwachhausen in the 1960s.[4] He emigrated to Argentina in 1969.[3]
Born worked for more than 30 years in South America with Deutsche Bank, directing the bank's operations in Paraguay, Uruguay and Brazil;[1][3] after his return to Germany, he was made a Uruguayan honorary consul.[5]
In 1999, Born became chairman of the board of management of Werder Bremen,[6] where he was also head of finances and public relations, but did not draw a salary.[7] He played a major role in putting the club on a sound financial footing and also making it successful on the field; he drew on his South American contacts to assist in recruiting players.[1]
In March 2009, Born was accused of accepting unauthorised payments in connection with the transfer of the Peruvian forward Roberto Silva to Werder Bremen in 2001.[4][8] After Peruvian sources reported accusations of corruption in other player transfers,[9][10] he resigned his positions with the club for the sake of its reputation.[5][7][11] Accountants from PricewaterhouseCoopers, engaged by Werder Bremen to investigate the allegations, exonerated Born in their report, released in August 2009.[11][12] The following month, the club awarded him a lifetime season pass to mark his official retirement;[13] in 2011 they awarded him their Goldene Ehrennadel ('gold needle of honour').[3]
In 2012, he published his autobiography, Die Born Identität,[14] with the proceeds from its sales to be donated to charity.[15] In the book and elsewhere, he accuses Willi Lemke, who succeeded him as chairman of the board at Werder Bremen, of presuming he was guilty of corruption.[2][3][16]
Remove ads
Remove ads
Wikiwand in your browser!
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.
Remove ads