EM 2024: This is how the games will be broadcast on RTL and Magenta TV

TV review

RTL and Magenta TV are working closely together for the European Football Championship. Telekom has secured the rights for all 51 matches of the European Championship. ARD and ZDF will show 34 matches in parallel, and twelve matches will be shown exclusively on RTL on free TV – including the first round of 16 match between Switzerland and Italy on Saturday at 6 p.m.

The Telekom streaming service and the private broadcaster from Cologne have agreed to cooperate for the tournament and will broadcast from a shared studio. Some Magenta broadcasts can also be seen on RTL. But how are RTL and Magenta doing at the European Championships in their own country? We have seen the team in star-Check looked at.

The moderators

RTL and Magenta rely on a lot of experience when it comes to presenting. Florian König and Johannes B. Kerner have already accompanied major games and tournaments. Experience is sometimes needed to keep the discussion-loving and constantly changing group of experts under control, while at the same time giving them enough freedom. RTL-König (also known from “Doppelpass” on Sport1) places more value on objectivity, while Magenta-Kerner is also happy about how “sweet” Cristiano Ronaldo is with the children running onto the pitch.

But Laura Wontorra is a real asset. The 35-year-old offers the complete package: charm in dealing with spectators and guests, professional competence and, at the right time, clear words. Her comment after a clip with the scantily clad model Ivana Knöll (“We would now simply try to come up with a bit of expertise”) caused a stir early in the tournament. The criticism she received afterwards from Knöll and her fans on social media, however, speaks more in Wontorra’s favor.

Not too prominent on the air, but definitely worth mentioning is Jan Henkel – the man for the football purists. Using the “scouting feed”, he shows on the tactics screen how and why what the viewers saw during the game happened. It’s reminiscent of the golden days of Henkel and Matthias Sammer at Eurosport – a tremendous added value for everyone who is really interested in the game and not just the result and goals. For example, when Henkel devotes himself in detail to Jamal Musiala’s shooting technique in the opening game.

Meanwhile, fellow presenter Jana Wosnitza caused one of the more unpleasant moments: she encouraged the audience in the studio to dance to the Dutch European Championship hit “Links Rechts”. In front of an audience of millions. The poor people.

The experts

Anyone who still smiles wearily and makes a derogatory remark when they hear the name Lothar Matthäus has no idea. In contrast to the record-breaking national player, who was always good for private scandals in the past and did not get very far after his career in the professional business – but is now one of the most prominent experts on German television. What Matthäus says makes sense. This is the case during his Sky appearances during the Bundesliga season, and it is no different at the European Championships. Not only does he draw on a huge wealth of experience from his active time, but he still has insights behind the scenes that others wish for. For example, when he lets it be known that FC Bayern found the Georgian goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili – one of the top goalkeepers of the tournament – too expensive. So you would also like to hear and see Matthäus at the German team’s European Championship games on free TV.

Otherwise, the large group of experts at RTL and Magenta alternates between light and dark. Tabea Kemme brings a relaxed atmosphere to the group, even when she stands at the moderator’s desk in flip flops and shorts – a welcome change from the back four in white sneakers at ZDF. Michael Ballack has been standing next to Johannes B. Kerner for several tournaments now and still delivers too many phrases in a light Saxon dialect. It is always particularly interesting when Bundesliga referee Patrick Ittrich analyses games and scenes from the point of view of the referees. And he does this a hundred times more charismatically than Lutz Wagner does at ARD, who seems to read word for word from the rule book with every assessment.

Steffen Freund, who is broadcasting the games as co-commentator with Marco Hagemann, probably has the most speaking time among the experts. Not always justified, it must be said. Freund sometimes seems like a fan at the microphone. His emotionality and carefree attitude are probably a matter of taste. His saying “Better than sex” when Albania equalized late against Croatia could, however, appear in some collections of quotes for a long time to come.

The commentators

Marco Hagemann and Wolff-Christoph Fuß report live from the stadium. Both also have a lot of experience, relaxed, a well-rehearsed duo with their co-commentators Steffen Freund and Lothar Matthäus. Fuß and Matthäus in particular understand each other perfectly (especially through their long-term collaboration at Sky) and allow for the odd wink. It was entertaining for viewers to see how both apologized live on air when they accused the German attack of shortcomings and then received a text message of complaint from the DFB headquarters. And Fuß can also handle big emotions: his goal shout during the Georgia-Portugal match got under your skin. After Germany equalized in injury time against Switzerland, he let the atmosphere in the stadium speak for itself instead of talking it down.

The surroundings

RTL has a live football show every day called “The RTL EM Studio – All the games, goals, emotions” at 8:15 p.m. The presenters are Elton and Jan Köppen, Thomas Helmer and Stefan Effenberg are the experts, and there are various guests. The show is supposed to appeal to those who watch football during the season and those who only tune in for the European Championships. But somehow neither of them really works. Elton reads out group constellations from the presentation sheet, the experts sometimes prefer to joke among themselves rather than focus on the games. Match summaries from the previous evening seem late. And the humorous clips in the TV Total style unfortunately rarely hit the right note. So the same applies to RTL: the 90 minutes on the pitch are what counts.

Transparency note: Der stern is part of RTL Deutschland.