Mehmet Scholl: "The Eternal Talent" is celebrating its 50th birthday

"Street footballer", "noble joker", "ball magician", "pop star", "teen star", "dribble artist", "professional youth", "eternal talent", … The list of nicknames for the former Bayern star Mehmet Scholl couldn't be longer. And yet none of the much-cited names in the media even partially describes the true nature of the Karlsruhe-born man. Mehmet Scholl will actually be 50 years old on Friday. A look back at his incredible career as a footballer and the at least as exciting story of the person behind the professional kicker.

Mehmet Scholl was born under the name Mehmet Tobias Yüksel as the son of a Turk and a German on October 16, 1970 in Karlsruhe. After his mother remarried, her son also took the name of the new significant other. Scholl began his footballing career at the tranquil SV Nordwest Karlsruhe, but at the age of twelve he switched to the big city rivals, the Karlsruher SC.

There his football star rose quickly and he made his debut in the first Bundesliga in April 1990. At the same time, the 1.77 m tall kicker completed his Abitur at the Neureut grammar school in the north of the second largest city in the state of Baden-Württemberg.

At Bayern, Mehmet Scholl becomes a superstar

After three years at KSC, Scholl caught the attention of the great FC Bayern Munich, who piloted the dribbling midfielder to the Isar in 1992. There he quickly established himself as a regular player and shaped an era until his retirement in 2006 at the age of 36. In total, he played 334 games in the Bayern jersey and scored 87 goals. In his 15 years in the "shark tank of the league" (according to Scholl himself) he turned out to be an absolute darling of the public due to his fresh and cheeky manner.

Scholl raised eight German championship trophies and five DFB trophies with his Bavarians, and won the 1996 UEFA Cup and 2001 Champions League. Also in the national team from the mid-1990s on, Scholl could hardly be imagined. Although he only wore the DFB jersey 36 times due to numerous injuries and was never able to take part in a soccer World Cup, he was an undisputed regular player for a long time and won the European Championship at the tournament in England in 1996 alongside Jürgen Klinsmann, Oliver Bierhoff and Co. .

Swarm of women with distinctive sayings

But to reduce Mehmet Scholl only to his footballing qualities would not have done him justice during his active career. The special thing was not only his ability on the pitch, but also his unconventional manner.

At the height of his career he was considered the uncomfortable pop star of the scene, a heartthrob who was never too sorry for a casual saying with a wink and was adored by tens of thousands of female soccer fans. The Scholl, which still looks youthful to this day, sometimes offended us because of his mischievous character.

For example, his quote from the 1994/95 Bayern yearbook was discussed controversially. "Hang the Greens as long as there are still trees," Scholl had it printed there and naturally drew the resentment of the then still young party Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen. Although Scholl later admitted his statement as a mistake, this unsuccessful joke brought him fierce headwinds. Scholl escaped a threatened complaint by the Greens only thanks to a 5,000 mark donation to a disabled facility.

Controversy as an ARD expert

Even after his active career, Scholl continued to carry his heart on his tongue. Scholl had already been working for ARD since 2008, then finally succeeded Günther Netzer as ARD expert in 2010 and accompanied the DFB-Elf games at the side of moderator Reinhold Beckmann. With his pithy sayings, he once again caused controversy on several occasions.

During the Euro 2012 the then star striker Mario Gomez got his fat off after a bad game: "In between I was afraid that he was sore and had to be turned around," said Scholl about Gomez's little running game. After a negative media response, Scholl later apologized for his statement.

The scandal came in the summer of 2017, albeit behind closed doors: Scholl was suddenly absent from the semifinals of the Confederations Cup in Russia. He later stated that there had been a dispute over the setting of the topic. He did not want to talk about doping, but those in charge of the ARD insisted and forbade him to interfere in the choice of topics: "I said: I'm going. And then I left." On August 10, 2017, Scholl and ARD dissolved the contract that was actually valid until after the 2018 World Cup.

Mehmet Scholl keeps private life a secret

In addition to his work as an ARD expert, Mehmet Scholl also tried to advance his coaching career. First he took over a youth team at Bayern Munich, but in 2009 he became the head coach of the second team of the record champions. After a break and his return to Bavaria, he finally left the club voluntarily in 2013 in order to be able to concentrate more on his TV career and not get into a conflict of interests. The Bayern bosses had previously criticized Scholl publicly several times for his commitment to ARD.

Scholl has always kept his private life almost completely out of the public eye. In the documentary "Frei.Gespiele" he said of this conscious decision: "It's just important for me to make people happy, but still keep my distance. Because they don't know who I am. Few people know that."

All that is known is that in 1993 Scholl married his first wife Susanne. Their son Lucas Scholl (24), who is also a professional footballer, also comes from this marriage. After his separation from Susanne in 1996, he married his then long-time partner Jessica in 2007. Scholl has two daughters together with Jessica. However, at the end of 2016, the couple separated again.

Radio show about indie rock music

Lately it has been much quieter for Mehmet Scholl. Scholl has only appeared on screens in recent months as a brand ambassador for a Romanian automobile manufacturer and as an "image" expert. However, if you want an insight into your current life, you should turn on the radio once a month. As an avowed fan of indie rock music, he moderates his Bayern 2 program "Mehmets Schollplatten" on the first Sunday of (almost) every month from 11:05 pm to midnight. Now and then Scholl also reveals smaller private impressions here …