The detail about the Bundesliga match day: In the double role

Michael Ballack was full of enthusiasm about Lennart Karl: As a TV expert for DAZN, he found that “Lennart's performance curve is clearly pointing upwards again.” The criticism from Bayern sports director Max Eberl and Uli Hoeneß was “incomprehensible at the time and needs to be questioned in terms of content”.

However, there was a simple business reason why he went to such lengths: Michael Ballack is also Karl's advisor. There may be a lot of confusion there. So Eberl couldn't quite tell the difference: "Did he say that as a DAZN expert or as a consultant?" And: “Honestly, I find it difficult to have such a discussion through the media now.”

But they are becoming more and more common since countless streaming channels employ a whole host of football celebrities who often pursue parallel financial interests on the pitch. This is hardly a problem. Perhaps the most famous double role this summer was played by Jürgen Klopp, who was on duty as a TV expert for the Men's World Cup for Magenta while he was already being considered as Julian Nagelsmann's successor. On TV he was able to present himself extensively as a maker of improvements.

There was also trouble surrounding Matthias Sammer, who acts as an advisor to BVB and at the same time commented on BVB games as a TV expert on Amazon. Curiously, in this case it was Borussia Dortmund that denounced the conflict of interest because Sammer liked to hit BVB with a mallet on TV (“physical and mental unfitness”).

In fact, Sammer then sat out BVB games. However, he is still a TV expert - and doesn't hold back: Dortmund's chances before the big game are "as if I wanted to run a marathon with my knee." It's better to have a well-meaning advisor like Michael Ballack.