Helge Payer, Peter Schoettel (AUT) and Kristina Inhof (ORF).
© ORF
Berlin – On the Facebook page of the ARD “Sportschau” there is still great enthusiasm under a photo of sports presenter Esther Sedlaczek, because a little more than a week ago the television station announced with this picture that the 35-year-old sports journalist from the pay-TV station Sky was poached and from the new football season through the program “Sportschau” in the first. She replaces Matthias Opdenhövel in the moderation team.
Comments like “Absolutely competent moderator. I’m looking forward to it. Always enjoy listening to her. Unexcited and knowledgeable, as it should be ”or“ Great cast, they always did a great job ”increased. With almost 17,000 reactions, the post had up to ten times as many comments and likes as other posts on the site in the past few weeks. Men in particular spoke up.
Reporter and presenter for ten years
In addition to moderating the “Sportschau” on Saturday and Sunday, Sedlaczek will also be used in live football broadcasts.
Sedlaczek, who was born in Berlin, has been working for Sky as a reporter and presenter for around ten years. “I am very proud to succeed many great moderators,” she said of her new role.
Esther Sedlaczek.
© www.imago-images.de
The move from Sedlaczek means that the “Sportschau” will “become more feminine,” said ARD chairman Tom Buhrow in a statement: “For the first time, we will have more female moderators than moderators on Saturday in the 6pm team on Saturday. “The“ Sportschau ”team also includes Jessy Wellmer and Alexander Bommes.
“This brings us one step closer to our goal of further increasing the proportion of women in sports coverage by the first,” said ARD program director Volker Herres. Since 2019, Stephanie Baczyk has been the first woman to comment on match reports from the 1st Bundesliga in the “Sportschau” – around 20 years after Anne Will’s debut as the presenter of the traditional show.
For the fans of Sedlaczek it is clear on the net that the moderator’s engagement was not because of the women’s quota, but because of her good work. “She is always well informed and does a very good job on a professional level!” B. a user.
Women are increasingly conquering the microphones on the sidelines
But also in other countries women are conquering the edge of the field with the micro. In Italy, Diletta Leotta is currently one of the most famous and influential sports presenters of all.
The 29-year-old gained her first experience in football moderation at the age of 17. For the 2015/16 season, Sky brought the presenter to the team for Serie B – Italy’s second highest division.
The Sicilian had her final breakthrough in October 2018 when she got her own show on the sports streaming service DAZN. A year later, other programs followed with “Diletta gol stories”, “Diletta gol in campo” and “Linea Diletta”.
Cristiano Ronaldo erhielt von Diletta Leotta die Auszeichnung des Spielers des Jahres 2019 bei der „Gran Galà del Calcio“.
© www.imago-images.de
Away from the soccer field, it also makes headlines again and again. Last year she was even allowed to host the famous Italian music festival Sanremo with Amadeus.
Women in the male domain
On the other hand, an anecdote from 2016 was less laudable. Her cell phone was hacked and nude photos appeared on the Internet. Most of the photos turned out to be fake.
In any case, the incident did not damage their popularity. More than 7.5 million people now follow Leotta on Instagram.
Just as Sedlaczek and Leotta are part of football in Europe, Melanie Collins has established herself in American football coverage. For the US broadcaster CBS, she stands on the sidelines at NFL games and reports from one of the largest sports leagues in the world. She previously worked for Yahoo! Sports is also responsible for the Winter Olympics, the World Cup, the Super Bowl and ice hockey.
Melanie Collins holt Stars wie Ryan Tannehill ans Mikrofon.
© imago sportfotodienst
With Kristina Inhof, a presenter has been part of the national Bundesliga for years. From 2012 to 2015 she moderated the Champions League at Puls4. At the beginning of 2016 she switched to the ORF soccer team.
However, it was not easy for Inhof to gain a foothold in the male domain. In an interview, the 32-year-old once told how she initially stood out as a female football expert and had to prove herself by repeatedly explaining the offside rule “as a blonde”.
The times are over. Her talent was quickly recognized. So she got the chance to put her skills to the test in other formats, like most recently with “Dancing Stars”. Perhaps Sedlaczek also expect new tasks at ARD. (ml, dpa)