Stuttgart look to rekindle South American ties through digital scouting hub | OneFootball

Fresh off a dream 2024/25 campaign that ended with the club lifting the DFB-Pokal for the first time since 1997, VfB Stuttgart are preparing for the next step of their resurgence.

Instead of just focusing locally, the club is looking across oceans.

And they are doing this through TransferRoom, a digital platform that connects clubs with verified agents and real-time transfer intelligence. For Stuttgart's Manager of Player Recruiting, Daniel Ebbert, the tool provides much-needed clarity in a noisy market.

“TransferRoom is like proof that we are speaking to the right agent at the right time,” says Ebbert.

“There are a lot of agents running around telling us they have the perfect player for us with the right information that fits. Due to the amount of agents that already exist, it's good to have a specific filter so we know we can really trust them.”

Ebbert, who joined the club in April 2024 after stints at Vitesse Arnhem and SC Wehen Wiesbaden, has embedded TransferRoom deep into the club's recruitment workflow. And while the platform has global reach, South America is firmly back on Stuttgart's radar.

“We as a club are looking to re-strengthen our position in the South American market; we haven't done a lot there in the past two or three years,” he explains. “So the TransferRoom Summit in Buenos Aires was perfect for us to get in touch with a lot of good people, clubs and agents. So the perfect time for us to get back into the South American market.”

That renewed focus marks a return to familiar ground. Stuttgart has long been a Bundesliga gateway for South American talent.

Names like Marcelo Bordon, Fredi Bobic (born in Slovenia with Brazilian roots), and notably Elson, the Brazilian midfielder who brought flair to Neckarstadion in the late 2000s, and remembered fondly by supporters.

The club also had success with Fernando Meira, Cacau (who became a German international), Chilean forward Nicolas Nunez, and more recently, Argentinian forward Nico Gonzalez, now of Juventus.

But in recent years, Stuttgart's South American pipeline has cooled. According to Ebbert, the Buenos Aires Summit, organised by TransferRoom, in one of Argentina's most storied stadiums in River Plate's Monumental, offered a chance to reverse that trend.

“We weren't picky in just speaking to specific agents and clubs, but it was to get in touch with people all over South America. So this Summit in this beautiful stadium was perfectly organised and a huge success for us.”

TransferRoom itself is built for that kind of proactive, global scouting. Used by over 800 clubs and 550 trusted agencies, it acts as both a marketplace and an intelligence hub.

For Stuttgart, it has become an essential part of managing both relationships and opportunities: “We do profit a lot from the fact that we know a lot of clubs and agents, but we choose TransferRoom to speak to them directly,” Ebber says. “But on the other side, we have a lot of guys in our offices checking the latest information and updates so we can get a lot out of it.”

That real-time access to information, according to Ebbert, is no longer optional; it is a requirement.

“Football is a business of information, so to have access to the information is very important to me. It has a huge impact on me on my daily basis.”

For now, Die Schwaben's strategy is simple: reconnect, rebuild and realign its South American scouting presence with the club's broader ambitions.

“We have a strategy to get in touch and speak to as many people as possible,” Ebbert says. “TransferRoom brings all of football together, and not being on the platform means losing a potential opportunity, so I would recommend everybody, players, agents, clubs to be a part of it."

With European football once again on the horizon for Stuttgart, South America may once again become a vital part of the club's story.