With a baseball cap pulled down over his face, Christoph Metzelder, 43, sits in an outdoor dining area on a street in Marbella. When the ex-footballer is suddenly recognized by a journalist in the southern Spanish luxury resort in January 2023, he immediately runs away. He doesn’t want to have to answer any uncomfortable questions.
That was untypical for him for years. Metzelder, who was runner-up in the World Cup with Germany in 2002, was always considered an open and sought-after conversation partner. Strong-minded, eloquent, telegenic. That’s how the public knew him. Until September 3, 2019. It was the abrupt end of a clean man.
Investigators from the Hamburg State Criminal Police Office intercepted him on that late summer day at the DFB trainer training course at the Hennef Sports School (North Rhine-Westphalia), accompanied him to his home in Düsseldorf, searched it and confiscated his cell phone and laptop. When the report became public, high-ranking decision-makers at the DFB – Metzelder had been considered for president there just a few weeks earlier – still thought that the 47-time national player was in trouble because of a tax offense.
But things got much worse: Metzelder was suspected of having distributed child pornography. The case became public. There was a huge outcry in Germany and abroad. On April 29, 2021, Metzelder, once an altar boy, was sentenced to ten months probation by the Düsseldorf District Court. He had confessed to possessing child and youth pornography files and forwarding them to three women.
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“The search was a turning point, both professionally and privately. Since then, I have lived a secluded life,” he said in the courtroom. That is still the case today. Many of his former friends, such as the advertiser Raphael Brinkert (46), who was responsible for the election campaign of Chancellor Olaf Scholz (66), have turned away from him. They want nothing to do with him.
Metzleder lives a secluded life
Metzelder is rarely seen in public. In Düsseldorf, where he still lives, he was in the stadium on February 22, 2020, at the third division match between KFC Uerdingen and Preußen Münster. He was sitting alone, the seats around him were empty. He can be seen in Berlin when he visited his daughter Emma or in Spain.
Most recently, a decision by the Cologne Regional Court caused a stir. Metzelder’s lawsuit against the BILD newspaper was dismissed. The ex-professional had sued for 450,000 euros in material damages for allegedly lost contracts due to BILD’s reporting. He also demanded 100,000 euros in monetary compensation.
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Metzelder was not a typical footballer. A high school graduate with straight A’s, who was earmarked for the local club’s second team after moving from regional league club Preußen Münster to Borussia Dortmund in 2000. But he quickly fought his way into the Bundesliga team.
Just one year later, he made his debut for the national team in a 5-2 win against Hungary. In 2002, the central defender won the championship with BVB, and at the following World Cup in Japan and Korea, he played a major role as a regular in Germany’s run to the final against Brazil (0-2). He was also one of the key players when Germany reached third place at the 2006 World Cup on home soil and was runner-up at the 2008 European Championship. Metzelder even played for the best club in the world, Real Madrid (2007 to 2010), before moving to Schalke 04 and ending his career there in 2013.
Christoph Metzelder together with Ursula von der Leyen at the TV duel between Angela Merkel and Peer Steinbrück in September 2013
Source: picture alliance/SuccoMedia/Ralf Succo
Even during his career, Metzelder used his popularity to get involved in charitable causes. Together with his former BVB teammate Sebastian Kehl (44), who is now Dortmund’s sports director, he supported the “Red Wedge” campaign, which campaigned against child prostitution. For this, both were invited to an audience with Pope John Paul II in Rome in 2005.
A year later, Metzelder, now a member of the CDU, founded the “Zukunft Jugend” foundation in Düsseldorf. Its aim was to support children and young people in their educational and personal lives. The then Prime Minister Hannelore Kraft (63/SPD) awarded him the NRW Order of Merit in 2011 for his social commitment with the words: “You have achieved something extraordinary.”
Even after his career, Metzelder worked on his clean-cut image. Among other things, he worked as managing director of the agency “Jung von Matt/sports” and as a TV expert. Metzelder was here, Metzelder was there, he was everywhere. He received the Federal Cross of Merit in 2017. No one suspected his double life, which was exposed in 2019.
Trial for child pornography
Metzelder is said to have possessed 297 child and youth pornographic images and sent 29 such files to three women via WhatsApp. One of the women becomes the main witness. A woman from Hamburg, her name remains unknown. She described the course of the case in the weekly newspaper “Die Zeit” under the code name Rafaela Jahn.
She was 40 years old at the time and was initially just one of the famous athlete’s many followers on Instagram. Suddenly Metzelder contacted her. This was also the case on November 8, 2018, she reports. She was impressed by him and the two quickly chatted to each other in a friendly manner.
There was a first meeting in a Hamburg restaurant in December. A second one five months later. This time in a Hamburg hotel, overnight. There was no third meeting. Because in the summer of 2019, in August, the communication took a dramatic turn, according to the witness.
In an exchange about sexual preferences and taboos, Metzelder revealed to her that he fantasized about seducing a young boy or a young girl with her. How old was young, she asked. About 18 – he answered her with a smiley. When he said 18, he meant maybe 15 or 16, she thought. Then Metzelder used the word teenager.
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Rafaela Jahn then decided to play along and not stand by and do nothing “if he wanted to do something like that”. She pretended to go along with his fantasies. She wrote to him saying that she had watched films like that and that it turned her on. She was in.
Metzelder then became more and more specific, saying that the playmate should be younger than 14. On August 10, 2019, he sent her a first photo of a naked girl. Shortly thereafter, more pictures followed, showing younger children, very young children in sexual acts with adults.
Too much for Rafaela Jahn. She made everything public. To the police, to the BILD newspaper, which also informed the investigators and was then the first media to report on the allegations. From then on, Metzelder was investigated and the verdict was pronounced on April 29, 2021. The prominent footballer did not have to go to prison.
Outrage over verdict
The court considered a number of factors to be mitigating factors. For example, the extensive reporting seemed like an advance punishment. Metzelder would not be allowed to pursue his professional activities or participate in public life for the foreseeable future. It was also credited that he had no previous convictions, confessed and completed therapy early on. “For me, he showed real remorse,” said Judge Astrid Stammerjohann.
A verdict that caused outrage. “Such a lenient sentence for such a serious offense leaves me with great incomprehension. I cannot understand it at all and it makes me angry. If small children and their families are harmed for the rest of their lives, such despicable acts must be punished much more severely,” said world champion Mario Götze (32). Former teammate Lukas Podolski (39) described the verdict as “disgusting.”
“I accept the punishment and apologize to those present on behalf of all victims of sexual violence,” Metzelder said at the start of the trial in courtroom E.116 in Düsseldorf.
From football star to accused: Christoph Metzelder in the dock during the trial
Sources: picture alliance/dpa/Federico Gambarini
Anyone who walks through Dortmund, from the club’s birthplace near Borsigplatz to Signal-Iduna-Park, will repeatedly come across stars set into the ground. It is BVB’s “Walk of Fame”. The number 92 was dedicated to Kehl and Metzelder. The offender’s name can no longer be seen. BVB has removed it. Those responsible at Schalke have also reacted. Individual portraits of Metzelder in the arena and museum can no longer be seen. His former clubs have turned away. Like many of his companions from football. “I know that I am leaving behind a wound that may not heal,” Metzelder said in the courtroom, adding: “I will have to live with that for the rest of my life.”
Christoph Metzelders Vita
Christoph Metzelder was born on November 5, 1980 in Haltern am See (Westphalia). As a youth, he played in Haltern, initially as a goalkeeper. He was also enthusiastic about athletics. Metzelder graduated from Joseph-König-Gymnasium with an average grade of 1.8. At the start of his career as a professional footballer, he studied business administration for one semester at the Hagen Distance Learning University. His younger brother Malte also became a professional footballer. His other two siblings are doctors.
Metzelder played 126 Bundesliga games for Dortmund (2000 to 2007) and 52 for Schalke (2010 to 2013). In between, the defender played 23 league games for Real Madrid.
Greatest successes: 2002 champion with BVB and runner-up in the World Cup with Germany (47 international matches). In 2008 he won the title with Real. He won the DFB Cup with Schalke in 2011. In 2006 Metzelder received the Silver Laurel Leaf as a member of the DFB selection.
The article was researched for the Sports Competence Center (WELT, SPORT BILD, BILD) and first published in SPORT BILD.
