Meet Team VOOR: Julian Ruck!
We’re all passionate about sports. That’s why we created a platform designed to simplify the lives of athletes, coaches, and club managers. Your sport, our sport. Our team is here for your team! Meet Julian!
Who are you and what exactly do you do at VOOR?
I'm Julian, 29 years old and I come from Reilingen (in the Rhine-Neckar district of Baden-Württemberg). I have several tasks at VOOR: I take care of customer support and customer success. I create some social media content and in the future I will be responsible to coordinate our local activities in Spain. I also still actively play amateur soccer.
What has your career been like so far?
After graduating from high school (majoring in business administration and economics), I applied for dual courses of study as well as for a vocational training. In the end, soccer was the deciding factor in my decision to train as an office administrator in wholesale. I worked in this field until this summer. Over the past four years, I have built up a sales base together with a sales representative and became team leader there - at the interface between office and field sales. As sport was still always present, I started looking for a new challenge and came across VOOR and Ronny Wangelin. Long story short: here I am now.
You live in Barcelona. How did you end up there?
My best friend and I had always dreamed of living abroad. In 2019/2020, our ideas and goals became a little more concrete and the decision to take this step was actually already in the bag at the time. Unfortunately, the Covid pandemic got in the way. After the pandemic, my buddy went on a one-and-a-half-year trip around the world and I continued to devote myself to soccer and work. At the beginning of the year, I made the decision: I wanted to move to Barcelona. It's not a temporary plan, but a long-term decision to live here. There were several deciding factors: the language, which I speak quite well, the weather, the sea and simply the search for a new challenge.
What would you like to achieve with VOOR?
I would like to connect the entire soccer community worldwide via our platform. It shall give them the opportunity to digitalize their club organization and structures - regardless of the country or continent. Of course, my primary goal is to promote our all-in-one platform here in Spain.
How can we help clubs?
With our tool, we have a great solution to further professionalize sports clubs of all sizes and leagues. Clubs can use it to work digitally and efficiently in areas such as administration and communication. We offer simple and clear solutions for the organization and structure of each club as well as transparent data for decision-making. Very importantly, the simple administration saves coaches and managers a lot of time, allowing them to concentrate on the essentials: sport and fun. Dates and squad planning are done quickly and easily.
Which sport does your heart beat for and are you active?
Soccer is clearly number one, I've been playing soccer since I was three years old. I was poached by good clubs early on and was able to play quite successful in my youth years, most recently in the regional league with the Ludwigshafen A-Youth team. I was active at VfB St. Leon until the summer of 2024, with whom I won the championship in the Rhine-Neckar regional league in my last season there and was promoted to the Verbandsliga. A crowning achievement!
My whole life has been dominated by training, preparation and match days. Of course, I also watch a lot of soccer when I'm not on the pitch myself. I'm currently looking for a new club here in Spain so that I can play for a few more years.
Are you a fan too?
Strangely enough, my godfather was the main influence on me and I've been a fan of FC Schalke 04 for as long as I can remember. Unfortunately, we're not having the best of times at the moment, but we've also played in the Champions League and had players like Raul in the team. I made it to the Veltins Arena a few times in the first division. As my love for the club and sport knows no league, I naturally also support in the second division. In general, I'm a very sports-mad person and enjoy watching all kinds of games, from the Bundesliga and Premiere League to Non league matches. Outside of the soccer cosmos, I follow various sports as much as possible, from tennis to American football and darts. A fan of sport through and through. You can't do without sport!
Which sport have you never tried, but would you like to?
I don't have to think about it for long, as it's one of my biggest wishes and dreams: surfing. I have created a bucket list of different destinations. Places where I can learn to surf have turned out to be a must-do. Whether Australia, Portugal, Costa Rica or Sri Lanka - they all offer the best conditions. They offer a stark contrast, but that's exactly what makes it so exciting and interesting for me.
What impact do you think sport can have on society?
I think sport has an impact, if not the biggest impact, on society as a whole. At various major events such as the World Cup or European Championships or the Olympic Games, but also from the local lower leagues to the professionals, you can see the joy and emotions that are triggered in people.
Sport connects and unites people. For some people, sport is the thing they look forward to most during the week - you can get away from the stress of everyday life and have fun in the community. Regardless of whether you play sport yourself or are a fan: sports involve everyone equally. That's the great thing: no matter which continent you live on, no matter whether you're a child, woman or man - sport speaks a language that everyone understands.
