After a special video compilation, the dams break at Béla Réthy on ZDF

Created: 12/16/2022 11:33 am

By: Christoph Klaucke

After 36 years it's over.

ZDF commentator Béla Réthy puts the microphone aside after his last World Cup game.

Sandro Wagner accompanies him to say goodbye.

Update from December 14, 10:45 p.m .:

The official broadcast from the stadium was long over, but the ZDF sports studio around moderator Jochen Breyer in Mainz did not miss the opportunity to switch to Béla Réthy again in Qatar.

In the transition to Réthy, Breyer did not skimp on superlatives.

"Now to the biggest name in this World Cup: Béla, your last game as a live reporter is history, how are you?"

Béla Réthy gets teary-eyed and wants to “park feelings a bit”

The answer from Béla Réthy, whose eyes were clearly getting wet, was not quite as confident as it was at the end of the game.

When he then found the right words, they were sensitive and at the same time clarified.

"Yes, good.

Well, I would actually have walked across the parking lot now and let my thoughts flood over what has happened in the last 40 years.

But I'm still with you and I don't really want to leave you just yet, because I've learned to appreciate and love so many dear colleagues that I'm happy to sit here a little longer and park my feelings a little longer.

But nice to be able to talk to you (in the studio, editor's note) again."

Réthy, whose eyes were getting more and more wet despite his best efforts to keep his temper, was ordered by Breyer to take a short break.

"You can still park your feelings, because we are now looking back at these 40 years of your career." Then a clip was shown, which again summarized the most beautiful and strangest scenes from Béla Réthy's life as a sports journalist, which finally all dams at the legendary let reporters break up.

Béla Réthy has tears in his eyes after his last international match at ZDF.

© Screenshot ZDF

Béla-Réthy farewell after 36 years: Sandro Wagner raves about the ZDF commentator

Al-Khor – The German national team has long been eliminated from the 2022 World Cup.

But one is still there: ZDF commentator Béla Réthy.

The 66-year-old is commenting on his last game on live television today (December 14) on his birthday.

Before leaving at the World Cup semifinals between France and Morocco, co-commentator Sandro Wagner recalls a great career as a reporter.

One has the feeling that the whole of football Germany is watching Qatar that evening – or rather, listening to the last words of an “absolute legend” whose voice has shaped entire generations of football fans in Germany for three decades.

The official broadcast from the stadium was long over, but the ZDF sports studio headed by moderator Jochen Breyer in Mainz insisted on switching back to Béla Réthy in Qatar.

In the transition to Réthy, Breyer did not skimp on superlatives.

"Now to the biggest name in this World Cup: Béla, your last game as a live reporter is history, how are you?"

Béla Réthy gets teary-eyed and wants to “park feelings a bit”

The answer from Béla Réthy, whose eyes were clearly getting wet, was not quite as confident as it was at the end of the game.

When he then found the right words, they were sensitive and at the same time clarified.

"Yes, good.

Well, I would actually have walked across the parking lot now and let my thoughts flood over what has happened in the last 40 years.

But I'm still with you and I don't really want to leave you just yet, because I've learned to appreciate and love so many dear colleagues that I'd like to sit here a little longer and park my feelings a little longer.

But nice to be able to talk to you (in the studio, editor's note) again."

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Last game by Béla Réthy: ZDF commentator is supported by Sandro Wagner

Sandro Wagner will support Béla Réthy as a co-commentator on his last assignment for ZDF.

The ex-international will sit next to Réthy as he comments on his last game in Wednesday's World Cup semi-final between France and Morocco.

“Béla Réthy is an absolute legend.

I grew up with his voice and I don't even remember how many big games I watched in which he was the commentator," Wagner told the German Press Agency in Doha.

"He's an outstanding guy, not just on the microphone." Réthy has worked for ZDF at all soccer World Cups since 1986 and as a live reporter at all major tournaments since 1994. From 1996 to 2018 he commented on all the EM broadcast by the station - and World Cup finals.

ZDF reporter Béla Réthy comments on his last game at the World Cup semifinals.

© Christian Charisius/dpa

Béla-Réthy farewell after 36 years: Sandro Wagner raves about "absolute legend"

"It's something very special for me to be able to sit next to him in his last game.

German television will miss his voice,” said the 35-year-old Wagner.

Before the Béla-Réthy farewell, millions listened to a personal request to Sandro Wagner when ZDF colleague Oliver Schmidt spoke the moving closing words after France's victory over England: "Unequaled as a colleague and person, our Béla.

Be a charming dance partner for Béla's last dance."

Longtime commentator colleague Marcel Reif also paid tribute to Réthy.

"I will miss your voice when the ball rolls on TV," wrote the 73-year-old in the

.

“Out of respect and humility for the game and your clientele, you spoke like a normal person;

Probably also because you understood that despite all the ambition and vanity, it is not about proving that you could also train a district league team as a part-time reporter.”

Two Schweinis, Ballack, Javi Martinez: These are the World Cup experts in Qatar

View photo gallery

Béla Réthy: farewell words on ZDF?

“I do it out of emotion – like everything”

A few hours before his farewell performance, "feelings would go merry-go-round," said Réthy in the ZDF

program on Wednesday.

"But I still have them all under control." He has not yet thought of certain closing words, says the 66-year-old.

“I do it out of emotion – like everything else.

Sometimes it works, sometimes not.” 

His most special game was possibly the 2002 World Cup final between Germany and Brazil (0:2), Réthy said.

On the one hand it was the duel of the "two World Cup giants".

Réthy also grew up in Sao Paulo, Brazil, among other places. Born in Vienna, he came to Germany with his Hungarian parents at the age of eleven.

That over there that looks like a toilet brush is Valderrama

Béla Réthy on the Colombian Valderrama

ZDF farewell after 36 years: Why doesn't Réthy comment anymore?

A "legend" for some, "unbearable" for others - Réthy always polarized people, but continued on his path undeterred and remained true to himself.

Many German football fans grew up with his voice, now it's falling silent.

He once called the Colombian curly head Carlos Valderrama a toilet brush at the 1998 World Cup.

"That over there, what looks like a toilet brush, is Valderrama," said Réthy, who later openly regretted his statement.

"That would no longer be possible today and even back then it was borderline in terms of spontaneity."

Why doesn't Réthy comment anymore?

“I have built a certain distance from the business.

Football has gotten colder, emotions smaller,” said Réthy.

“I have more anticipation for what is to come.

I have a grandson in Berlin, Jonathan, I can see him growing up.

And I feel like having no appointments, laissez faire, not having to watch football anymore.

Maybe that hides the melancholy.”

Béla Réthy: Plans after the ZDF farewell are already in place

At the start of the 2022 World Cup, the fans freaked out because of ZDF commentator Béla Réthy: "Biggest reason not to watch the World Cup".

In the meantime, the 66-year-old should be one of the main reasons for many television viewers to turn on at all.

There will probably not be a resignation from the resignation, Réthy's plans after the ZDF farewell are already in place.