Jürgen Klinsmann no longer returns to RTL as a football expert. According to the TV broadcaster, this happens at their "own request". The Cologne private broadcaster does not respond to Klinsmann's farewell as coach of Hertha BSC and the roar around it.
Cologne (dpa) - Only the departure from Hertha BSC followed by a mud fight, now Jürgen Klinsmann has decided not to return as a TV expert.
Just two and a half weeks after his departure as a short-term coach of the Berlin Bundesliga club, RTL announced that the 55-year-old former national coach was no longer available to the Cologne private broadcaster as an expert. The decision was made at Klinsmann's "own request", RTL said.
"We understand and respect his decision. We have a close, trusting relationship with Jürgen Klinsmann and thank you for the good and professional cooperation last year," said RTL sports director Manfred Loppe. According to Sport.1, which was the first medium to report on the personnel, the impulse to separate came from RTL.
"RTL had also planned the world and European champions Jürgen Klinsmann as experts for the upcoming DFB games," the statement said. However, there is no longer a contractual obligation. The contract expired at the end of 2019. Klinsmann has worked as an expert for the German national team since March 2019 and has participated in eight qualifying matches for the European Championship and two friendlies.
Anyone who is now deployed as a specialist at RTL for the California-based candidate is open. He had already worked for RTL at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. In 2018, the former US selection coach worked for the BBC at the World Cup in Russia.
On November 27, the former World and European Champion at Hertha BSC changed from the Supervisory Board to the coaching position and succeeded Ante Covic. After 77 days, he surprisingly resigned on February 11th.
This week "Sport Bild" published a kind of diary about Klinsmann's involvement in Berlin. In the document, he made massive allegations against the relegation-threatening club and its officials. The 22-page report spoke of "lying culture" and a "catastrophic state" of the team when Klinsmann took up duty. Hertha manager Michael Preetz described the attacks as "perfidious and unworthy". Klinsmann's return to the Supervisory Board was immediately excluded from the resignation of Hertha investor Lars Windhorst.
Klinsmann's coaching engagement in Berlin, which was limited until the end of the season, initially had no impact on his work for RTL. The broadcaster was originally only supposed to broadcast the last two test matches of the DFB selection before the European Championship on May 31 against Switzerland in Basel and on June 8 in Sinsheim (opponents still open). Then Klinsmann's work at Hertha BSC would have ended and he would have been available to RTL.
After the reform of the Nations League, RTL reached an exchange with ARD and ZDF in January: The Cologne team now also transfers the games of the team of national coach Joachim Löw against Spain on March 26 in Madrid and against Italy on March 31 in Nuremberg.
In return, RTL decided not to play two internationals next autumn, which were originally guaranteed in the current TV contract with UEFA. Due to the increase in the Nations League, the planned two friendlies fell away in the same period. These competitive games of the Nations League broadcast on public channels.
RTL communication
Report at sport1.de
RTL
