Sporty combination of passion and work!

My name is Felix and I am responsible for activating the Tour de France and adidas partnership at Continental Tires for the EMEA region. My career at Continental started in 2009 with the corporate dual study program in business administration in Hanover. I really liked this program because during the three years I had the opportunity to get a taste of many different areas such as human resources, sales, logistics, purchasing and marketing. At the same time, I could build up my first network. For me the link between practice and theory is one of the clear strengths of the dual study program at Continental. At the end of 2012 I wrote my bachelor thesis in the sports sponsoring department about the activation of Continental at the UEFA EURO 2012 in Poland and Ukraine - I was also allowed to take part in a customer event on-site in Warsaw, which I still remember well to this day and which has decisively influenced my further professional career.

As another advantage of the dual study program, I would definitely highlight the stay abroad, during which I was employed at Continental Automotive in Brazil. I established first contact through the company's internal soccer tournament, the ContiTeamCup. Later I visited my Brazilian host family again during the FIFA World Cup 2014 and we are still in good contact today, despite the famous 7-1 in the semi-finals between our countries! I particularly enjoyed working in other countries with different cultures and languages.

After graduating, I went to Continental in England because I wanted to work outside of Hanover and I was offered an interesting online project in the local marketing there. In the end, I stayed there for four and a half years and fitting to my job I completed my Masters in Sport Management in London part-time. In the enthusiastic sports city with several soccer Premier League clubs, Wimbledon tennis and great stadiums such as Wembley (soccer), Twickenham (rugby) and Lord's Cricket Ground, I was able to get many exciting insights. My tasks at Continental England included various football sponsorships, a 24-hour running event with our partner adidas and the RideLondon bicycle race.

The high cost of living and an interesting job offer motivated me to return to my homeland in Hanover in 2017. Today I look after the Tour de France and adidas partnership in marketing communication for the EMEA region at Continental Tire’s head office. As an enthusiastic racing cyclist and runner, I have the opportunity to combine my passion for sports directly with my job and contribute with my knowledge. I also like to use the network in the sports industry and the local cycling and running community to stay up to date with platforms such as Zwift, Netflix or podcasts and use them for Continental.

I am still in contact with dual students from back then and I am always happy to see them again in the Continental world. I also like to get dual students and trainees from the current age groups to support me, who are then allowed to work in our team and carry out parts of my projects independently. That's why I'm particularly looking forward to communicative and sports-enthusiastic applicants in the future!

This article was written by our employee.