Managing director duo Timo Luippold and Markus Kleber branches out to lead company tandem of LIGEN and LEAGUES in the future

LEAGUES GmbH was founded last summer as a subsidiary and spin-off of Die Ligen GmbH. The project is based on a long-standing idea of ​​LIGEN founder Markus Kleber. The goals are ambitious. The live-streaming platform that is already in place today is used by football clubs to enable their fans and supporters to enjoy streaming services in these difficult times. A platform for premium content is in development. This will lead to the creation of an ecosystem acting as an enabler between clubs and their supporters in order to strengthen their relationship and to bring classic club membership into the digital age.

Since this project requires significant time and attention, the two current LIGEN managing directors Markus Kleber and Timo Luippold have decided to branch out and lead the company duo from a single perspective. While Markus Kleber steps down as managing director of Die Ligen GmbH on April 1st to devote himself entirely to the start-up as LEAGUES CEO, Timo Luippold takes over the sole management of LIGEN.

Markus Kleber remains on the LIGEN board as a partner. In return, Timo Luippold takes a place on the LEAGUES board. The two will therefore remain in very close contact and exchange. Not least because there are a number of synergies between the two companies and a close cooperation provides benefit to both parties.

Markus Kleber: “For many years I have been concerned with how, on the one hand, football clubs can create closer relationships with their loyal supporters via digital means and, on the other hand, monetise the content from the stories that football tells. At the same time, platforms like TikTok show a very contemporary type of user experience. Bringing that together on a football platform has long been a dream that I am now able to work on with LEAGUES.
Now that the way has been paved for LIGEN and now that the company functions without my involvement, it is all the easier for me to concentrate on LEAGUES and to embrace new challenges here.”

Timo Luippold: “Markus and I have successfully built up LIGEN over the past 12 years with a clear and functioning business case that has a solid basis and good future prospects. We can be proud of that. With the founding of LEAGUES, Markus has accepted a new challenge which due to its special demands requires its own mantle. The subdivision of the two companies was a logical consequence. There will continue to be close cooperation on the one hand between LIGEN and LEAGUES and on the other hand between Markus and myself. Formally, these are two independent companies, but they will pull together as a company tandem within the football market.”