The touch of a touch. A scream, a fall and, in the best case, a referee's whistle. Many a footballer has fallen to the ground so Oscar-worthy that the opposing fans gloatingly predicted a flourishing career in Hollywood. And indeed: A look at TV history shows that from the sports world it was primarily footballers who walked in front of the camera. The latest example is Bayern star Joshua Kimmich (28), who will make a guest appearance as a fitness trainer in Munich's "Tatort" on March 12 (8:15 p.m., Das Erste) with the episode title "Hackl". By the way, not his first acting role...
Together with his Bayern colleagues at the time, David Alaba (30) and Mats Hummels (34), Kimmich played a mini-appearance as an extra in "Fack ju Göhte 3", the so-called "Final Fack". As members of a jogging group, they competed in the English Garden with Jella Haase's (30) character Chantal. Many other German professional footballers did the same.
Ex-soccer player and ex-national coach Berti Vogts (76) delivered the greatest sentence in "Tatort" and sometimes even the entire TV history in 1999 in "Tatort: Greed". As Jürgen Lampert, he turns up at his neighbor's in the middle of the night with a rabbit in his arms, suddenly smells gas and finally selflessly leaves the laurels to the mumbo-jumbo: "Give the rabbit an extra carrot, it saved our lives!"
The former DFB greats Joachim "Jogi" Löw (63) and Oliver Bierhoff (54) as well as the ex-soccer players Steffi Jones (50) and Célia Okoyino da Mbabi (34) were also able to get a taste of "Tatort" air. They appeared together in the 2011 crime thriller aptly named "Im Abseits" which was made in the wake of the Women's World Cup taking place in Germany that same year. Each of the four football stars played themselves, and ex-DFB President Theo Zwanziger (77) was also seen briefly.
Ex-goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller (42) broke into completely different realms in 2020. In a rush of screenwriting genius, he suddenly appeared in a "Dream Ship" episode and introduced a whole new storyline just before the credits rolled. After all: In Florian Silbereisen's (41) second assignment as captain, he was briefly able to prove his skills as a penalty killer.
Meanwhile, goalkeeper colleague Jens Lehmann (53) was involved in a much more demanding film. In the film adaptation of the novel "Themba" in 2008 he played the soccer coach John Jacobs, who helps a boy from a small African village to realize his dream of becoming a soccer player. He doesn't give that up even when he finds out that he's HIV positive.
Jimmy Hartwig (68) has also indicated higher acting ambitions for over 20 years. After his career as a soccer player, he discovered the theater for himself. Hartwig has already taken part in various plays, in 2022 he played Emperor Joseph II in Peter Shaffer's "Amadeus".
Back to shallower areas. In the last film comedy "Willi will rock the child" by cult comedian Heinz Erhardt (1909-1979), Uwe Seeler (1936-2022) can be seen in a short guest appearance. He plays himself and is used as the final punch line in the 1972 film - the film is about the unsuccessful 1. FC Jungborn, who ultimately manage to sign "Uns Uwe".
Meanwhile, local patriot Thomas Müller (33) has already played in the Bavarian series "Hubert und Staller" (now "Hubert without Staller"). He appeared in the episode "War of the Roses" with his wife Lisa. However, the title of the episode did not revolve around the two, rather they played a couple who find a corpse while walking in the woods.
There was Wild West flair in 1975 for Paul Breitner (71). Because in the western "Potato Fritz" by Peter Schamoni (1934-2011) he was allowed to embody the character with the sonorous name Sergeant Stark - Breitner's remarkable mane hardly fit under the military cap. Incidentally, the film music came from Udo Jürgens (1934-2014), the title character was played by Hardy Krüger (1928-2022). Schelm Sepp Maier (79) found a suitable film for himself in 1967: the rascal comedy "When Ludwig pulls into maneuvers" by Werner Jacobs. In it, Sepp Maier plays a soldier from the Bavarian army - named Sepp Maier. The nation's bomber, Gerd Müller (1945-2021), also appeared in a small supporting role.
It was enough for a mini appearance in 2015 for ex-DFB joker Lukas Podolski (37). Director Christof Wahl gave "Poldi" a guest appearance in his second living room, the 1. FC stadium, in the film "Macho Man". Cologne. A Ruhrpott comedy about FC Schalke 04 - of course a man can't be missing. Former Schalke manager Rudi Assauer (1944-2019) appears in "Football is our life" from 2000, with Uwe Ochsenknecht (67) and Ralf Richter (65), among others. And it was also enough for a short cameo appearance for Schalke great Olaf Thon (56).
