Mehmet Scholl was a Bayern Munich player for 15 years. Later he had coaching jobs and was active as a TV expert. But then he disappeared – until now.
It was a surprise: Mehmet Scholl has been appearing in public more and more recently. At the beginning of April he attended the Bundesliga cracker between FC Bayern and Borussia Dortmund. In mid-April, the long-time player of the German record champions (1992 to 2007) stopped by the second division game between FC St. Pauli and Eintracht Braunschweig and sat in the stands.
He then posted a photo of himself and his currywurst on Instagram. Scholl disappeared after his retirement as a TV expert and the end of his expert job for “Bild”.
The name “Scholl” rarely appeared, if at all – until now. Now the eight-time German champion recently explained in the podcast “Einfach mal Luppen” by the brothers Toni and Felix Kroos: “I was completely out for a year – three, four, five months ago I felt like watching again.”
Scholl: “Tired of playing the bad uncle”
In other words: Scholl is drawn back to football. To where his career once began. He went through the youth teams of Karlsruher SC and signed in 1992 with the big FC Bayern. He remained true to this after his active playing career: first as a youth coach (2008 to 2009) and later twice as coach of the second team (2009 to 2010 and 2012 to 2013). He then worked as a football expert – until he got tired of the business.
There was an ugly separation with ARD. The broadcaster wanted to report on doping during the 2017 Confederation Cup in Russia. Scholl refused to speak on the subject. The former footballer denied that at the time and said afterwards in his typically direct way that ARD wanted to “cut off his balls” (read more about the dispute here).
In the Kroos brothers’ podcast, Scholl now explained in relation to the professionals and his TV job: “I just got tired of playing the bad uncle who keeps criticizing the players on TV.” But that wasn’t the only factor that bothered Scholl.
“I’m interested again”
He continued on the podcast: “I had to watch everything because I had to know what I wanted to talk about. I had to make up my own mind and I always looked at the games a little differently. But I was tired to suck all of this into me.” So he took a break and disappeared from the nation’s television screens. Now he has the strength again to talk about what is happening in the industry, says Scholl.
He could also imagine a new job in football. However, there are no offers yet. Scholl said to the multiple Champions League winner and Real professional Toni Kroos and his brother: “There’s a lot going on in football at the moment. And I’m interested again – really interested.” However, it remains to be seen whether Scholl will soon take on a new expert or coaching job.
