“Poverty existence”
“Manni” Breuckmann draws a line
Updated January 15, 2026 – 9:30 a.mReading time: 2 minutes
Manfred “Manni” Breuckmann was long known to football fans through his appearances in the ARD Bundesliga conference. Now he made a far-reaching decision.
It’s over again for Manfred “Manni” Breuckmann. This time on social media, more precisely on Facebook. While he largely ended his commentating career in 2008 and went into semi-retirement, he is now also withdrawing from Facebook. He announced this himself on the platform.
“It’s time to make a decision. I will withdraw from social networks, especially Facebook,” wrote the 74-year-old. One reason he gave was that he spent up to two hours a day on the platform. “I find that frightening,” he said.
This time would only be justified “if I would gain spiritually overall from it.” But he could answer this question with “no”. At the same time, he stated that social media is a “predominantly American business model” that “doesn’t focus at all” on improving democratic discourse.
Breuckmann also criticized the style of discussions on the platform. He was increasingly “dealing with miserable existences who can only cope with their frustration through hatred, lies and insults.”
He also noticed that “reading books suffered for me because of the gaming on my cell phone.” He would like to correct this development. In addition, he doesn’t want to end up like “two-thirds of the US population who only get their information on social networks.”
After all, there is no such thing as a complete break in contact with the people who follow your profile. Breuckmann leaves his email address in case anyone wants to stay in touch with him.