Jean-Charles Sabattier is a special kind of cultural ambassador. Every Saturday he comments on the Bundesliga on French television – and is celebrated for his passion.
Jean-Charles Sabattier is a Cultural Ambassador of a special kind. Every Saturday he comments on the Bundesliga for the pay-TV channel beinsports on French television. He is called the “roi de la frisson” – the king of goosebumps, and he is convinced that nowhere is the atmosphere as good as in German stadiums!
In February it can get uncomfortable in Dortmund’s Westfalenstadion, especially when a cold wind blows over the stands and a light drizzle falls from the gray sky. But Jean Charles Sabattier is in high spirits. The top game between Borussia Dortmund and FC Bayern Munich will kick off here in just a few minutes. From the commentary stand, his gaze wanders onto the field.
He adjusts the headset on his clean-shaven head and addresses the French viewers live on air for the first time with a short greeting in German: “Welcome dear football friends!” he shouts in his charming French accent. His fans in France already know this, because Sabattier repeatedly weaves German football language into his fast-paced French comments.
French commentator Jean-Charles Sabattier
Off air again, he takes off the headset and looks spellbound at “la Yellow Wall”, listens to the triumphant march during the players’ warm-up, raises his arms and directs the fan block from a distance: “Pure goosebumps!”.
Between TeBe and Traktor Schwerin
The 59-year-old Frenchman has been commentating on the Bundesliga on the pay-TV channel “bein sports” since 2015. The passion for German football was practically born in his cradle, he says before the game over a cold beer in the “Rote Erde” club pub.
“I landed in Berlin on April 1, 1967, no joke.” His parents had moved to Germany for professional reasons, bringing their infant Jean-Charles with them. He grew up in West Berlin, discovered his passion for football and became a fan of today’s top league team Tennis Borussia Berlin.
But as a student in West Berlin, Jean-Charles not only followed the West clubs, but also the GDR Oberliga. “Traktor Schwerin versus BFC Dynamo – it was crazy for me to see a game like that!“
Deep football knowledge
When Sabattier comments, he draws on an almost endless wealth of experience and knows the German clubs and players inside and out; German fan culture – the good and the bad sides that he experienced in the 80s.
For example, when he and his father watched the European Cup game between BFC Dynamo and AS Monaco in East Berlin in 1989. AS Monaco won, after which the Dynamo hooligans stormed towards the French fans and threw stones. “Three days later the wall fell“, recalls Sabattier, who left Berlin in the early 1990s and moved to Paris. He took his passion for German football with him.
The twelfth man
In the “Rote Erde” Sabattier lets a loving glance wander through the bar, where some cameramen quickly devour a few Mettbrötten and cheese sandwiches shortly before the game begins. The German fan culture is simply special – especially compared to France, he explains.
The preservation of the “50+1 rule” that limits the influence of investors; the organized protest against the Monday games – this power of the fans keeps the Bundesliga lively with almost 40,000 spectators per game and the atmosphere is unique.
Sabattier was elected in 2006 Germany explainer
In the summer of 2006, Sabattier finally became an explainer of Germany for the French, a kind of cultural ambassador for football. He traveled to Berlin as a reporter and spontaneously commented on the triumph of the German team after their third place for three hours for the 24-hour broadcaster itélé in his old home: “I knew all the streets, I knew everything!“Today, for many people in France, he is simply the German-Frenchman whom his compatriots grill even when there is a need for explanation beyond the pitch: politics, for example.
Emre Can tears his cruciate ligament in the game against Bayern Munich
Cultural asset Bundesliga in France
A look at the clock, a last sip of beer and then we head out of the pub and into the stadium. There Sabbattier meets his co-commentator, Patrick Guillou, with whom he has worked for over 20 years. Guillou is surrounded by a small group of French BvB fans. They have come from far away. All in black and yellow, all fans of Jean-Charles Sabattier and Patrick Guillou.
The two commentators’ love for the German Bundesliga also sparked their love, they explain with holy earnestness. And Kilian from Arcachon adds: “The two are simply part of the cultural heritage of the Bundesliga in France. Through them the spark for the Bundesliga jumps.”
The hosts’ anthem sounds in the stadium and then the kick-off whistle. Sabattier gets started, spices up his passionate French live report for the viewers at home with German specialist vocabulary, initially missed by Kimmich “la so-called rocket“, almost jumps out of his seat when Schlotterbeck shoots Dortmund into the lead, frenetically celebrates Kane’s 30th goal of the season, and shouts into his headset when the temporary equalizer comes: “La Yellow Wall, qui explode!“The Yellow Wall is freaking out. Here it is, he announces it to his French viewers in German”Pure goosebumps“. Bundesliga, mon amour!
