Lothar Matthäus has reinvented himself. It wasn’t that long ago that the record national player was on his way to becoming a laughingstock as a moderately successful coach and husband of young women.
But within just a few years, the 62-year-old has developed into a respected and sought-after TV expert in his new role, covering the Bundesliga for Sky and the national soccer team for RTL. This wasn’t necessarily to be expected.
Just 13 years ago there was no place for Matthäus on German television. As an expert on the Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera, he explained the 2010 World Cup to TV viewers in Arabic-speaking countries. But at home, ARD, ZDF, RTL and Sky reported on the tournament in South Africa and relied on other ex-professionals as experts.
Matthäus is now “the ultimate expert” in Germany, as Sky editor-in-chief Alexander Rösner puts it. For ten years he has been explaining moves, tactics, backgrounds, special features to the viewer at the pay-TV station, analyzing them at lightning speed and offering our viewers great added value,” enthused Rösner: “And he uses his network and gets top information. “
An “absolute stroke of luck” for RTL
RTL sports director Andreas von Thien, whose broadcaster Matthäus is on duty at the international match on Saturday, is similarly enthusiastic. “He is an absolute stroke of luck for us,” said the RTL man. “He speaks the language of the audience, works very meticulously and presents himself as a well-prepared team player even behind the scenes.”
And for television stations, Matthew also brings considerable PR value. “He is one of the most quoted sports personalities in the country,” emphasized the RTL sports director: “When Lothar speaks, Germany listens.”
This was particularly true recently with his criticism of FC Bayern Munich and the controversy with coach Thomas Tuchel. Matthäus brings “the authority to openly address critical issues,” said von Thien. The record national player himself told the German Press Agency: “Experts have the right to express their opinion. That’s why they’re there.”
Especially after Bayern’s victory against Dortmund, it became clear what the Cologne media scientist Christoph Bertling describes as follows: “Here, the factual analysis is relocated to a highly emotional environment. The analysis then heats up emotions and tension.”
“Strong of opinions and also getting better rhetorically”
Days before, Tuchel had ironically remarked that he did not see any “further development” in Matthäus – or in Dietmar Hamann, who also works for Sky. At least in Matthew the opposite is true. “He has made an incredible development,” praised Sky editor-in-chief Rösner. “He has learned a lot about television and media, has become increasingly strong in his opinions and his rhetoric.”
That fits with Matthäus’ own assessment: “Thomas Tuchel doesn’t think I’ve improved, but maybe others have.”
Matthäus also received training for this. The former player and coach practically learned a new job after his football career. Regarding his own development, the 62-year-old said: “When I look back on the last ten years, everyone can say that I deal with certain things critically. I address the things that I see and don’t address anything that I don’t see or feel.” His work is “not far different from that of a journalist,” explained Matthäus. “Ultimately, we judge what we see. And it’s completely normal that we don’t see everything the same way.”
The now sought-after TV expert sees his jobs at RTL and Sky in a very differentiated way. These are “different directions,” said Matthäus: RTL is more entertainment program, “there are more breaks because there is more advertising. You have to adapt to that.” At Sky he “has the time to go deeper and explain something to the viewer. At RTL you’re under pressure because you’re under time pressure. Then you’re at halftime, you only have two minutes and you have to explain five goals.” Either way, he says: “I try to be as natural as possible and explain it to people as simply as possible.”
