Oliver Kahn has said goodbye, but ZDF already has a successor: Per Mertesacker is the station's new football expert.
Per Mertesacker (35) will go on air as an expert at ZDF with immediate effect, as the broadcaster announced on Monday. The long-time national player strengthens the team at live football matches. Mertesacker's first mission is therefore planned for Thursday, September 3, at the Nations League game between Germany and Spain. Mertesacker will also analyze Bundesliga games and will be working for ZDF at the European Football Championship, which has been postponed to the coming year.
"I'm looking forward to this new challenge and the cooperation with the ZDF sports colleagues", the ex-professional is quoted as saying. "I hope to be able to enrich the football coverage in the second with my experience and knowledge."
Successor to Oliver Kahn
Mertesacker had more than a hundred appearances for the DFB selection and crowned his career with the 2014 World Cup. In the Bundesliga, he was in action for Hannover 96 and Werder Bremen. From 2011 to 2018 he played for Arsenal and is now head of the youth academy there. He already worked as an expert for the DAZN streaming portal.
At the beginning of August it became known that Oliver Kahn (51) is no longer working as a ZDF football expert. After twelve years, the collaboration with the former national goalkeeper, who has been a member of the board of FC Bayern Munich since this year, ended. Kahn's last assignment was actually planned for the European Football Championship 2020 at the side of Oliver Welke (54), "due to the corona-related postponement of the tournament to the coming year, this is not possible," it said.