The last Nations League game for Switzerland against Spain will be the ultimate appearance for Rainer Maria Salzgeber as presenter of all programs about the national team. After a decade, the 55-year-old from Valais passes the microphone on to his sports colleague Paddy Kälin, who is seven years his junior.
An era comes to an end on Monday evening with the game in Tenerife. Salzgeber is not on the island at all, but is sitting in the Zurich studio with expert Benni Huggel and is honored for this at the end of the broadcast by SRF. “It will be special, but I don’t think anything is planned,” Salzgeber told 20 Minutes.
Farewell to the big Nati stage does not cause the veteran of Swiss television to feel nervous or melancholy so shortly before the last broadcast. “For me, the timing is absolutely right,” says Salzgeber. “Maybe next year I’ll feel nostalgic when I follow the national team from afar.”
Salzgeber looks back on 28 years with the national team with great affection. The adventure began in 1996 at the European Championship opening game in England, when the aspiring sports journalist had to replace a colleague as a reporter at short notice. “Suddenly I was on the big stage, after just two years on TV, that was crazy.”
That was the starting signal for a long and successful SRF career – far beyond sport. At the home European Championships in 2008 he was honored with a TV award and named sports journalist of the year. He has been a fixture in the Nati studio as a presenter since 2014.
In the future, the focus – in addition to the “Donnschtig-Jass” – will be on the Champions League, the Super League and the sports panorama, where he will definitely come into contact with the national team again – even if only very rarely. “He will be a loss for TV,” says Murat Yakin and also honors him personally. “I really appreciate him as a person.”
Over the past three years, the Nati coach has had to conduct intensive post-game analyzes with Salzgeber. “He wasn’t always very professional, but he had Beni Huggel for the expertise,” joked Yakin when it was announced that the SRF star was leaving the national team.
He will miss the pithy sayings and the confrontation with Yakin, but will soon experience them again in a different environment. “I’m looking forward to playing a round of golf with Murat or just chatting over dinner.”
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