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Jeff Baltermia was only three hours old when he saw his first “ARD sports show.” Lying in the arms of his father Angelo, he came into contact with football for the first time in his very young life at the Women’s Hospital in Basel. That was on Saturday, May 2, 1987.
Almost 37 years later, it celebrates its next premiere. On Sunday evening he will host the Swiss counterpart of the legendary German show, the “Super League – Highlights” on SRF Two for the first time.
Dialect, name, baldness – everything is noticeable
More than two weeks before his debut, Blick met him in a café in Basel. He grew up not far away. In the conversation, Baltermia is the way TV viewers got to know him as an SRF football reporter: cheerful, decent, authentic.
Baltermia immediately catches the eye. Because of his characteristic dialect, because of his unique name (a mixture of an American first name and a Graubünden surname) and because of his bald head. «A few days ago I received an offer from a German hair transplant company. They wanted to sign me up as a testimonial,” he says, laughing out loud and immediately makes it clear: “Of course I turned it down.”
Speaking of baldness. Baltermia had three idols as a child: the hairless, cult French goalie Fabien Barthez (“I still kept his Man Utd shirt today”), BVB legend Lars Ricken (“I wanted to have the same football boots as him back then”) and . .. DJ Bobo (“I went to a lot of his concerts”).
He once played with future Nati stars
Baltermia dreamed for a long time of a career as a professional goalkeeper. «When I was born, the doctors predicted to my parents that I would be about 190 centimeters tall. Everything turned out differently.” Today he is officially 176 cm tall, but in reality that is only 175 cm, rounded up of course.
As a junior, Jeff played for Old Boys Basel and FCB alongside players such as Yann Sommer, Ivan Rakitic, Timm Klose and Eren Derdiyok. «Yann is a year younger than me. We often trained together, but we realized relatively quickly that he was simply better than me. And that wasn’t just because of my lack of height.” When she was about 17, Baltermia had to admit to herself that her great career as a football goalkeeper would not work out.
Still, he doesn’t want to miss that time. “I attended business high school at the time. In addition, there were six football training sessions per week and matches in the weekends. That’s why I often left home early in the morning with my bag full and didn’t get home until late in the evening, around 10 p.m. And that day after day. Nowadays I can benefit from it in my work. These now-or-never situations that I often experienced as a football player help me in my work today. When the red light on the camera comes on, I am ready and can deliver.”
Is Baltermia too good?
Baltermia joined SRF Sport in 2013 via Tele Basel and Sport1. The fact that many TV viewers now know him is also thanks to Matthias Hüppi. When he left his job as moderator at SRF at the end of 2017 and moved to FCSG as president, Hüppi was replaced by Lukas Studer. This in turn made the position of Nati reporter available.
Since then, Baltermia has been the man who does the interviews around the Nati games. And in his own way, even if his style sometimes seems a bit too cozy, it is exactly the right one for him and the only possible one, especially since he personally does not receive such feedback. Because: “I present myself as I am in private and I don’t want to pretend. I am convinced that decency and a pinch of humor are more effective than accusations formulated in questions.”
The fact that Baltermia almost always smiles is not a conscious choice. “I smile because I enjoy my job and I really look forward to every job interview.” But aren’t his questions often too polite? “No, I discuss everything, including sensitive topics, but in my own way. I want to create an atmosphere in which the interviewee is ideally willing to give more and open up.”
Baltermia is aware that he will now be in the spotlight even more as a presenter. «Steffi Buchli once advised me that you shouldn’t even try to please everyone. I have taken these words to heart.”
The “Giftschnaigge” currently have to make do without him
But his job has one major drawback, Baltermia says. He finds it difficult that he is often away for a long time at major events. He will also not see his two sons, who are four and almost one year old, for weeks during the European Men’s Football Championship in Germany. “Without my wife Nadja, who works as a clerk, and our parents, none of this would be possible.” On the other hand, the positive side is: “When I’m not traveling, I can spend a lot of time with my children, because I often don’t start work until the afternoon and regularly have a day or two off during the holidays during the week. “
But there’s definitely something missing from Baltermia’s life right now: drumming. As a drummer he went to fairs with his “Giftschnaigge Basel”. “Unfortunately, I don’t have time for that at the moment. I hope that will change again someday.”
Source : Blick
I’m Emma Jack, a news website author at 24 News Reporters. I have been in the industry for over five years and it has been an incredible journey so far. I specialize in sports reporting and am highly knowledgeable about the latest trends and developments in this field.
