Ex-referee remains crazy about sports
After his final whistle, Merk misses “real guys”
03/15/2022, 06:20 am
For years, Markus Merk has been the best-known and best football referee in Germany. He is still present on television, but he has largely retired from 1. FC Kaiserslautern. On the other hand, he is on the move at extreme sporting events all over the world.
Shortly before his 60th birthday, Markus Merk flew to the Maldives to present sports prizes as the guest of honor of the local football association. In the course of this week he will continue with his wife Sabine to Kathmandu, in the Himalayan mountains. The happiness of the former world-class referee from Kaiserslautern has long been in the mountains. His milestone birthday this Tuesday? “A continuous item in the calendar year,” he says with a laugh.
“Peace, freedom, fitness” – these are Merk’s three wishes for the next decade of life. He’s still crazy about sports. He doesn’t need a job title. When he is not giving lectures somewhere in Germany as a “Mark Merk” or is in demand as a TV expert, he is out and about as an ultra runner.
On the classic Ultra-Trail Mont-Blanc in 2016, he mastered a total of 15,000 meters in altitude over 178 kilometers. The fact that he once froze off five fingertips during a rescue operation as a mountaineer on Lenin Peak in Tajikistan does not prevent him from further endurance achievements. He has done the traditional Wasa cross-country skiing over 90 kilometers in Sweden three times.
Seven times Referee of the Year
In 2008, Merk put the referee’s whistle aside. At Oliver Kahn’s farewell game, he swapped jerseys with the goalkeeper legend – that’s it. “It was such mutual respect. Now I was wearing a referee’s shirt for the first time,” said current Bayern CEO Kahn later at his press conference.
Merk officiated football games at the 2000 and 2004 European Championships and at the 2002 and 2006 World Cup; overall, he oversaw 338 Bundesliga games and numerous international matches. Between 1994/1995 and 2007/2008 he was DFB referee of the year seven times – and the best-known referee in the country.
Today, Merk misses real guys as referees in professional football. “The whole refereeing has changed incredibly, it has become much more uniform. In my time there were ten absolute personalities, you don’t have them anymore today.” The referees are now “more streamlined”, but that is normal in today’s society and in view of the media observation of the Bundesliga.
Merk has largely withdrawn from the committees of his home club 1. FC Kaiserslautern, after difficult years with insolvency in self-administration and currently a candidate for promotion in the 3rd division. “It is now the case that the club is economically rehabilitated and stable,” explains the trained dentist, who gave up his practice in 2004. “But I’m available day and night with advice and action.”
Of course, Merk still has his season ticket for the Fritz Walter Stadium. During games, he then commutes between his seat in the west stand and the VIP area. When he’s not traveling somewhere in the world.