For many players, retirement follows a well-trodden path. A foray into coaching perhaps, or a turn working as a pundit for any of the Premier League’s legion of international broadcasters.
But for former Liverpool star Daniel Agger, the path less travelled was taken, with the ex-defender – played 232 times for the Reds and won the League Cup and Community Shield – trying his hand a number of different careers since he hung up his boots.
After retiring in 2016, Agger left his Danish homeland and moved to Marbella with his wife.
By this stage, he had a fully functional sewage business called KloAgger – ‘Agger Toilet’ – which he had set up in 2012 with his brother Marco his home town, Hvidovre.
In 2018-19, they posted a record gross profit of £1.77million and a net profit of £450,000. This was more than a nice little earner.
In 2022, KloAgger was bought by another company, Recover.
But Agger wasn’t simply satisfied with dealing with Denmark’s extensive water and excrement.
He went on to invest in a tattoo company inventively named Tattoodo.
This commitment followed a long-standing passion for body art. Agger is a qualified tattoo artist and has numerous himself.
When there was speculation that he might leave Liverpool in 2012, he even had YNWA (You’ll Never Walk Alone) tattooed on the knuckles on his right hand. I’m staying, in other words.
His body is now covered in tattoos.
‘I was about 15 and on a school trip to Paris,’ Agger shares on his tattoo shop’s website when describing his love of ink.
‘It wasn’t something I’d thought about before. Me and a friend went into the shop and said that’s what we’re going to have and we got it. I still have it today.’
Alongside all that, Agger, 39, owns two bars in Copenhagen: Center Pubben and Rottehullet.
Investing in nightlife is something he has always had a penchant for. He only joined Liverpool in 2006 but by 2007, he had bought two Merseyside restaurants.
They were Mexican night hotspot Que Pasa and an Italian restaurant at 52 Lark Lane.
‘I think it is really exciting to get into projects like these, but at the moment I only do it in my spare time. I don’t want it to overshadow my football,’ he said at the time.
Meanwhile, the Agger Foundation continues to carry out its work. Agger founded the charity in 2011 and it is still going from strength to strength.
At Christmas, Agger was gifting presents to vulnerable children in a Danish hospital.
The driving goal behind the charity is to help children in need.
Having listed all of this – his adventure with sewage, tattoos, bars, and a charity venture – you’d think that would be enough for one man. And there you’d be wrong.
Somehow, Agger has managed to squeeze in a managerial career alongside these commitments.
Between 2021 and 2023, he was in charge of second-tier outfit HB Koge.
Upon joining, he had a three-year plan of winning the Danish Superliga – the top flight – but that didn’t transpire.
He did lead them to respectable seventh and eight-placed finishes in a 12-team league but it was a far cry from the glory he craved.
He told The Athletic: ‘The ambition of the club had been taken right down. From trying to win promotion to avoiding relegation. Two years there was enough for me. It was tough because the budget kept being cut by the owner.
‘But it was a good experience. The learning for me was unbelievable in terms of what did and what didn’t work. I learned more about football in two years there than in my whole playing career.
‘As a manager, you have to get into players’ minds. The Danish First Division is miles off the level I played at. I had to take the ideas I had and start all over.
‘It’s the football I like – being out on the pitch, helping improve players – but you have to deal with so many other things as a manager, like the politics.
‘When I played, I could get away from the game much quicker. You’d think about it on the night or the day after and then just forget it. You can’t do that as a manager.’
In his spare time, Agger enjoys playing golf. He has raised money for his Agger Foundation with golf days.
