In the NFL you would say: Jo Ullrich is the rookie of the year. Since the 2020 season Joachim “Jo” Ullrich has strengthened the team of experts at DAZN. In the search here in the blog for “the most popular NFL voice at DAZN” he came in first place by far. How he did it, what his active football time looked like and how he reconciles his job on television with the teacher , I talked to Jo about this. As always, the interview is in the video.
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Jo and I were both born in 1976 – but of course he achieved a lot more in active football than me: GFL, NFL Europe, national team, European champions, coach in Poland and then also a teacher. At least there we are similar again. Before I could become a teacher, however, I got into journalism and stayed there. But how did Jo get into football? It started with Super Bowl XXII between Denver and Washington in January 1988.
The career then went up steeply. Jo played with Hanau in the GFL until 1999 the NFL called Europe – more precisely the Frankfurt Galaxy. Jo won the World Bowl with the cult team and was right in the middle of the hype about the European offshoot of the big NFL. But which hype was actually greater? The one with GFL and NFL Europe back then – or the one now with ran Football and DAZN?
After the time in NFL Europe, Jo went to the Aschaffenburg Stallions, the Rüsselsheim Razorbacks and finally with the Marburg Mercenaries continue. At that time there was also a German national football team. With that he was twice European champion, third at the 2003 World Cup and even won the football tournament at the World Games 2005. But Jo told me football was never his goal to make a living.
From quarterback to teacher
At home in Hessen, Jo Ullrich occasionally coached a flag football team at a school. He was repeatedly asked that he might be able to do this permanently in the future. So he started a teacher training course and is still today High school teacher in Herborn. His subjects: politics, economics and – of course – sport! The time as a football player and coach also helps:
But even as a teacher, Jo Ullrich’s career has not yet reached its limit. Since this year he has been strengthening the DAZN team of experts. He got the job through an old colleague from GFL and NFL Europe times, who is now his colleague again: Andreas Renner:
Jo Ullrich prepares for his work at DAZN mainly on the train. When he takes the train to Munich, he reads articles, listens to football podcasts and also watches summaries of the teams’ games that he commented on that evening. Most of the time, Jo is on duty for the broadcasts on Sunday at 7 p.m.
Back to school at night
Now, of course, the question is: If the broadcast at DAZN ends on Sunday evening around 10 p.m. and lessons are back on Monday? How does this work? DAZN is in Munich – the school in Herborn – just 450 km away. How does it work?
This scenario might also explain why Jo does not work at DAZN every week. His job as a teacher has priority 1 and that seems to be working quite well. Because his students obviously like Jo. It was also largely you who voted him the “most popular NFL voice at DAZN” in the poll here on the blog.
Football player, trainer, teacher and DAZN expert – that’s Jo Ullrich. A really good choice for NFL broadcasts and a great teacher for sure. Let’s see if he can prevail in the final vote for “Germany’s most popular NFL commentator”.
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