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Hattrick's Richest: The Four Aces

Written by Bizkeks

Once upon a time, four famous Swedes said it was "always sunny in the rich man's world". To find out just how well Hattrick's top four gazillionaires have it going, I set out on a virtual quest to Hattrick's Scandinavian homeland in Sweden, but also to neighbouring Denmark.

I."Snowball effect"
Guns N' Roses City (1502), managed by rovers
Sweden, Östergötland, VI.817
Cash funds: €327 million

Hailing from one of Sweden's most populous HT regions, Hattrick's richest team is managed by a 20-something student who is tight-lipped about his money making methods and strategies. It did transpire during the interview that he enjoys using the ubiquitous 3-5-2, but acquiring that piece of information is really about as useful as knowing what the price of lard is in Tibet these days. A team history does emerge by placing some of the pieces together, and perhaps appropriately for a Swedish user, rovers's cash fund can be likened to an ever growing rolling snowball.

"My plan was to gather money for a few seasons and then try and get promoted a few divisions."

Quite a few seasons later and gathering more and more money, rovers was sitting on the greatest fortune anyone had ever amassed in Hattrick. And now since Swedish legend Bob Sunesson has started his own bank, the sky is the limit as far as money hoarding goes. So when will rovers stop?

"Now I hoard money aimlessly." Perhaps he has some hidden long term goals then...? "Have none, maybe keep being the richest team in HT."

Having founded his team almost ten years ago, rovers's financial success seems to be a combination of game experience and wild ambition – so wild that it doesn't even need a clear target. Boasting a total worth of €327 million, the richest team in Hattrick will, in all likelihood, continue being the financial top dog for many seasons to come. Hattrick's upcoming changes are not a cause of worry for this wealthy Swede; he declares they would only present him with a new challenge and make the game more fun. A game he wouldn't quit even if he lost all of his money.

But what if the money was magically transferred to his real-life bank account? One would assume the quiet roads of Östergötland would suddenly have to face a fleet of marauding Koenigsegg sports cars, yet rovers only has the local ice hockey team in mind, and he would offer it a mightily generous sponsorship (right after buying season tickets to Inter Milano's Giuseppe Meazza stadium). Solid gold pucks, anyone?

II. "Wheeling and dealing"
Kalundborg (401964), managed by Svoelle
Denmark, København, VI.295
Cash funds: €281 million

At the other end of Øresund Bridge lies Denmark, home to world famous artists, scientists, athletes and, of course, far more importantly, some of Hattrick's richest teams. First stop: Kalundborg and the eponymous Danish city. A devoted fan of Tottenham Hotspur FC and a former footballer himself, Svoelle has certainly taken the Londoners' motto, "Audere est facere", very seriously. The 32-year-old Dane, now a resident of Copenhagen, has not only succeeded in collecting every available flag in the game (with achievement points as a future target), but also seems to be an avid numismatist, having collected Euro banknotes of all shapes and sizes – a mountain of them.

When asked what he'd buy if the 281 million were transferred to his real life bank account, his answer was surprisingly not "Tottenham Hotspur FC". Neither was it "Arsenal FC, for entirely different and very dirty reasons."

"I'd buy a house and a new car, retire and play golf for the rest of my life. That or opening the Playboy Mansion of Denmark… ;-)"

With a whopping 6500 transfers in two main areas of trade (coach prospects and PM skilltrading), Svoelle's secret seems to lie in able planning and simple hard work. Does it worry him that money hoarding might be further restricted by HTs in the next few seasons?

"Why this constant obsession about limiting the economical aspect of the game has become so increasingly interesting is beyond me. I'd agree that it might have been too easy to make money in the past, but with all the restrictions introduced by the HTs over the past years, it certainly isn't much of a problem anymore."

And while the financial aspect of the game is admittedly very dear to Svoelle, there's more to the game than that, as he has his eyes set on obtaining a new NT or U-20 mandate sometime in the future, motivated by the many seasons he's spent close to the Hayastan NT. An experience that has, in fact, transcended into the real world.

"I thought it was a very enjoyable experience being NT coach of Hayastan. [...] I learned a lot about a few people and even today I still speak with people in Armenia and I catch myself following their political situation and their real life football team with interest."

III. "Business up front, party in the back"
Mulleteers (571347), managed by Spacey
Denmark, København, VII.598
Cash funds: €204 million
Estimated total worth: €220-230 million

Copenhagen boasts not only one, but three money-churning teams that have gone beyond the €150 million mark, with TheHef's Fudoshin worthy of an honorable mention. Now, we focus on Spacey, a Danish mullet enthusiast who can certainly hold a candle to Donald Trump – and it has nothing to do with the man's glorious combover. A 33-year-old teacher and long-distance runner who takes his moniker from a certain Oscar-winning actor, Spacey started his financial adventure by skilltrading strikers in the Danish 6th division. His initial success was quickly followed by a Cup final and a high-flying adventure in Denmark's 3rd and 2nd divisions, after four consecutive promotions. Now, after a Hattrick career spanning over five years, he has his sights set on the very top.

"I just like the game play, but I haven't played the "real" game for a long time because I've been skilltrading. I'm not doing that anymore, so I'm trying to make my team better now, and I should win my series next season. […] I'd like to go all the way and play in the best division in Denmark."

If you're wondering if there's something in the water in Denmark that helps its inhabitants achieve wild financial success, if the members of this Copenhagen trio exchange money-making ideas or if it's all just a coincidence, here's the low down from Spacey:

"I guess it's a coincidence. I know Svoelle from a few feds, but we have never been trading the same players. […] TheHef is one of my friends in real life, also a former skilltrader and I've been talking a lot with him about skilltrading."

This means there is nothing rotten or otherwise fishy in the state of Denmark — unless they've been secretly importing Swedish surströmming. And speaking of Sweden and Oscars…

IV. "Captain Slow"
Hjärups boys (16866), managed by Oscar
Sweden, Skåne, VI.832
Cash funds: €205 million

For the final part of this article we travel across the Baltic again, and tiptoe into the quiet city of Hjärup. There, a 24-year-old Hattrick user who works in the field of digital signage has taken a completely different path to financial success. Contrary to the aforementioned Danish traders, Oscar has made a grand total of 362 transfers in his impressive 10-year Hattrick career, proving that heavy trading isn't necessarily a prerequisite of hoarding – patience can bring similar results (albeit, yes, in an agonizingly slow manner). But one thing leads to another and in the end you find yourself with enough money to buy a small country. Unless you're Oscar, who would rather donate most of it to charity. Here's how it all started and developed, in Oscar's own words.

"To buy the kind of players I wanted, I thought it was necessary to first gather a lot of money. But when I had gathered quite a lot of money, I just continued to save money, instead of buying skilled players…"

"I haven't done a lot of day trading or something like that to earn money. Instead, I buy young talented players, who are good at playmaking. After I buy the young players, I usually keep training them until they become supernatural. Then I sell the players and save the money. […] The main reason I chose playmaking as a training method was that I thought the midfield was the most important part of your team. In the early days of Hattrick, this was probably true."

Unlike their Danish counterparts, Hattrick's richest Swedes don't keep in touch, but there's no Cold War going on between them either. By his own account, Oscar has no intention of surpassing fellow countryman rovers in the Richest Teams list and, much like the latter, has no other major long term goals. Still, he doesn't plan to keep on saving money for all eternity, so one day he will surely tinker with the idea of buying a perfect, tailor-made team.

V. Epilogue
It really does seem that hoarding in itself can be fun, but it's only one of the reasons these four users play Hattrick. To quote Svoelle, what's great about the game is "the way it's possible to play it in many ways and with many goals." Trading 'round-the-clock or training long-term in order to gather as much money as possible, ignoring the financial aspects of the game and learning everything there is to know about tactics… Or maybe collecting flags, designing ridiculous match kits or just spending time in the forums. Optimistic goals or a total lack thereof? It all works just as well, as long as you're having fun doing it.

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