6 of the Best – Sportradar’s Eduard Blonk

This week’s 6 of the Best comes from Eduard Blonk, Managing Director of Global Sales at Sportradar.

Based in the company’s headquarters in St. Gallen, Switzerland, Blonk manages a commercial team of over 85 sales individuals based in more than 30 locations.

His team serves 1,000+ customers in over 80 countries across the betting and digital sports industry, while he is also responsible for the customer care team of 60 employees who deal with setup, support and training services.

Keep reading for more on Blonk’s alternative approach to holidaymaking, the thrill of watching live games in ‘De Kuip’ and a presidential prediction he should have put money on.

Best Holiday

Every year, my wife, my sons and I each write down a country or region on a slip of paper, put them into a hat and draw one of them out. The only rule is that we have to write down a place that we have not been before. So far, it has taken us to many places all over the world, including some destinations that are not that obvious for holidaymaking.

The year before last, we drew Texas – a place written down by my then 16-year-old – and planned a road trip throughout the state. Amongst the areas we stayed was the Big Bend National Park and Terlingua, a place where time truly stood still. It became a road trip to remember.

Best Album

There are many, but to choose one it would have to be The Wall by Pink Floyd, and listening to it on vinyl of course.

Best Film

These days, most movies I see are on planes, but one of my favorites is The Big Lebowski. Jeff ‘The Dude’ Bridges at his best together with John Goodman, Steve Buscemi and Julianne Moore. The movies that come from the minds of the Coen brothers are all classics to me.

Best Sporting Experience

Working for Sportradar, I get to go to many great sporting events, but of course the May 2017 football final, where my home team – Feyenoord Rotterdam – won the national title after 18 years is probably the best experience for me so far. As season ticket holders, my sons and I try to go to as many home games as possible.

It’s a thrill to witness a live game in the stadium, ‘De Kuip’ (Dutch for The Tub) with at least 45,000 supporters in the crowd no matter who Feyenoord plays. It is a real people’s club, and the atmosphere is amazing, especially when they play rivals Ajax from Amsterdam. It comes to a real boiling point when they play against each other in De Kuip.

Best Book

I am a huge fan of thrillers, horror and science fiction and one of the best is The Shining from Stephen King. It is one of the few books that I finished within a day or two. I read it before having seen the movie. Seeing Jack Nicholson in the movie was the icing on the cake. Last year, when we were in Maine, we made a stop at King’s House in Bangor and some of the other places in town that were the inspiration for the fictional town of Derry used in several of his novels.

Best Bet

I definitely wouldn’t call it my ‘best’ bet, and it wasn’t for money. But back in 2016 when Trump announced his candidacy, I jokingly said to some of my friends and colleagues in the States that he’d probably become their next President. In hindsight, I should have put money on it. At the time, I am sure they thought “what would this crazy Dutchman know about US politics?”