World Cup winner Philip Lahm joins list of columnists on The Sunday Times of Malta

The Times of Malta SportsDesk has added an illustrious name to its list of contributors in Germany’s 2014 World Cup-winning captain Philip Lahm.

Lahm has enjoyed a stellar career as a player and played a key figure not only in Germany’s World Cup triumph in 2014 but also skippered Bayern Munich to an historic treble, winning the Bundesliga, the German Cup and the UEFA Champions League in 2013.

Lahm has since hung up his boots and the Honorary Citizen of Munich has taken responsibility on the political stage as he was named as the tournament director of the 2024 European Championships that will be staged in Germany.

Lahm has started his own football column, named ‘Views of a Footballer’ that will be featured every month on The Sunday Times of Malta.

In his column, Lahm will deal with the big questions of football, and at the same time connect with current social, economic, and political debates.

Among the subjects he will be dealing with are what do individuality and self-realisation mean? What role does national teams play in football? How can one negotiate fair participation, for example in the Europa League? Does football have to involve more women in the sport? How does the Premier League and its market work? Why is Pep Guardiola the best manager in the world and what does he teach about leadership?

The column by the honorary captain of the German national team is created in exchange with sports journalist Oliver Fritsch (Zeit Online).

“I know Philip Lahm as an honest sportsman,” Fritsch told The Times of Malta.

“The defender almost never committed a foul, he was never sent off. It has always been his goal to let his team-mates shine.

“I can’t think of a player who has developed both offensive and defensive skills in equal measure. I consider him the best German footballer since Franz Beckenbauer and Gerd Müller. Now he wants to transfer what he learned on the soccer field to the world.”

The column will appear in more than ten countries and languages.

Among the other prestigious news portals who have partnered in this agreement are La Repubblica (Italy), Politiken (Germany), The Guardian (England), Voetbalmagazine (Belgium), Makfudbal (Macedonia), Delo (Slovenia), Dennik N (Slovakia), Gazeta Wyborcza (Poland), Tribuna (Spain), Dennik (Czech Republic), Telesport (Croatia), Gazeta Sheshi (Albania) and El Pais (Spain).

So, make sure you don’t miss out on the first column written by Philip Lahm in tomorrow’s edition of The Sunday Times of Malta.