Wolff Fuss is one of the top commentators in Germany. The TV man gives insights into how the strokes of fate in those closest to him affected him. He also talks about what working with Franz Beckenbauer was like – and why Matthäus is the perfect expert.
He is the voice of the football nation. Wolff Fuss is Germany’s number 1 in his field. The 49-year-old comments alongside Lothar Matthäus, among others, on the top games on Sky and the games of the German national team for RTL.
In the “Phrasenmäher” podcast from “Bild” he talks, among other things, about his time as a colleague of Franz Beckenbauer (†78). The top commentator and the shining light of German football worked side by side for Sat.1 from 2009 to 2012. They reported together from the Champions League games.
Fuss says: “I was there when he caused traffic chaos in the Romanian province, where a taxi driver recognized him. He was sitting in the back of the car and the taxi driver wanted an autograph. Then the taxi driver told everyone standing by at the traffic lights that Franz Beckenbauer was sitting in the car right now. Everyone ran towards this car and he really wrote every autograph and took every picture.”
Beckenbauer made no difference, “whether there was a president or a monarch or a cable worker or a cleaning lady,” said Fuss. “The appreciation for people without making any distinction is special. I think he was one of the most important representatives of this country.”
In the phrase mower, Fuss also talks about…
… his partner, TV presenter Anna Kraft, who suffers from multiple sclerosis: “The way she deals with it is really extraordinary. I have no point of comparison or no person to compare it to. That’s why I can’t say, look how the others do it. But this very conscious approach and living with it, that’s really impressive! It’s always there, but it’s never the main topic. It’s more like I look with half an eye: Okay, now there are blatant ones Temperature fluctuations, or the stress is a bit high, or the sleep was a bit too little. The diagnosis was made ten or eleven years ago. The crucial point was when the professor said to me that this can be easily controlled with medication. And then I said to him: Well, she’s like any other healthy person. You don’t know what tomorrow will bring.”
… his close relationship with boxing trainer legend Ulli Wegner: “Ulli Wegner is a really nice guy. Unfortunately, we see each other far too rarely. But the phone calls with him are very special and very inspiring. Unfortunately, I don’t have a grandpa anymore and he’s like a family member because he watches everything and sees everything.”
Lothar Matthäus? “Pep Guardiola would say: Top, top, top expert!”
… the death of his assistant and best friend Michael Morhardt (†55) in May 2023: “He died on the night from Wednesday to Thursday and a lot of things happened that morning because a lot of people, including family members, exchanged ideas with me. Then I had to somehow come to terms with it and, logically, inform our Sky leadership that we were now one less. On the one hand, you have this strand of grief, this certain bewilderment. On the other hand, you have the professional strand, which has to continue to function somehow. Then on Friday the story was in world. Then every newspaper you can imagine called. Among other things, the ‘Bild’. I issued a statement to everyone and the game was the next day. It wasn’t just any game, it was the season finale. Borussia Dortmund became German champions. (…) When I look back, it’s like a movie.”
… why Lothar Matthäus is the perfect TV expert: “Lothar is one of the people in German football who recognizes the foul before it happens, who recognizes the goal before someone shoots. That’s really cool. He almost only looks at the field and only in slow motion at the monitor. He can see from a distance if there was something there that wasn’t completely clean and he immediately has it on his screen. He brings this expertise with him. Straight to the point, there’s no room for it. (…) Pep Guardiola would say: Top, top, top expert!”
You can find the “Phrasenmäher” wherever podcasts are available (including Spotify and Apple Podcasts). If you want to see the format in the video: The conversation is available in full length on YouTube.
