My name is Pascal Welter, I’m 54 and I am married with two daughters.

I began my career at the bank in 1988 in the Securities and Investment Funds department, where I had several operational and managerial roles. In 2011, I reoriented my career around the Front Office and had the opportunity to join the retail bank. 

“Football is my passion”

The aim of this article is to share my passion with you – one that takes up most of my evenings. That passion is football.

For the past 10 years, I’ve been Sporting Director at Cercle Sportif FOLA (the oldest football club in Luxembourg founded in 1906) and for the BGL Ligue club (first link with the bank).

I joined CS FOLA as a player in 1989 and later took up several other posts: assistant coach, head coach and now sporting director.

“I have to take my cue from the person I’m speaking with”

What I really love about my current role is the range of human interactions I have. Just like when I’m at the bank, I have to take my cue from the person I’m speaking with and bear in mind his or her language, experience of the subject matter and/or culture.

At BGL BNP Paribas and CS FOLA alike, diversity is incredibly valuable.

I’m sure it would come as no surprise if I told you that I see lots of parallels between the role of the bank manager and the football team coach:

• Football is above all a team sport and a bank, department or unit can only function if members pull together as a team. It’s a well-known fact that we’re stronger when we’re united, and that’s true whether we’re on the pitch or in a bank – unless you’re the “Messi of banking”, and maybe even then!

• There’s another parallel when it comes to recruitment. Just like at the bank, I’m regularly called on to select the person with the right profile for posts that open up at the club for both coaches (for the youth teams or senior men’s/women’s sides) and players. CS FOLA currently has 20 teams ranging from a toddlers’ side (players aged between two and four) to the senior men’s and women’s sides.

• Lastly, coordinating or being the go-between for players, coaches and the board of directors at the club could be likened to the job of a team coordination middle manager. It involves listening to individuals, understanding, escalating issues, communication, decision-making, one-on-one meetings and more.

Having been champions three times and Covid-Champion once (the tournament was suspended because of the health crisis but we won it anyway) over the last ten years in the BGL Ligue, I can safely say that the sporting director’s workload is heaviest when it comes to preparing for the European cup (Champions League and then Conference League), since UEFA expects the same from CS FOLA as it does from PSG, for example.

This year, CS FOLA ventured as far as Gibraltar, Northern Ireland, Hungary (to play against Belarus) and Kazakhstan (100 km from China) and every trip was a genuine challenge because of the pandemic.

To close, in football, post-match celebrations are important because they’re a chance to go over the game and build bridges.

I hope these few short lines have helped you understand my role within the bank and my passion outside the bank.