Thomas de Buhr has only strengthened his squad for the new season selectively.

However, Laura Wontorra's commitment to the streaming broadcaster DAZN represents a breach of style. The presenter belongs to that group of omnipresent sports journalists who are also in front of the camera for game or cooking shows.

DAZN's DNA, on the other hand, has always included setting yourself apart from the glamorous competition with technically competent home grown-ups.

“Nothing has changed about that,” asserts De Buhr, Managing Director of Germany.

Sven Astheimer

Editor responsible for corporate reporting.

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The old team remained completely on board, even ex-professional Sandro Wagner, whose talent as a commentator DAZN once discovered and developed and whose clear words as a ZDF commentator meant one of the few German highlights during the past European championships for many viewers.

Although he now trains the Unterhaching game association, the former FC Bayern center forward will also spice up the games on DAZN in the new season with his professional mustard.

De Buhr justified the Wontorra transfer with the fact that “we will simply show a lot more games in the coming season and Laura is an ideal choice for this”.

DAZN has so far been very popular with football purists, also because of its simple setting. There were no fancy studios or moderators in uniforms. Something about this will change in the coming season: The lead time before a broadcast will be increased moderately from 15 to 30 minutes. With the new “DAZN Space” there will also be a new studio environment from which various show formats will be produced. This includes a daily soccer show as well as a program on Saturday afternoons with the meaningful name “TippiTakka”, which will also contain gaming elements. “But we continue to stand for what has made us successful: the stadium is our studio,” promises de Buhr, in order to avoid possible concerns among paying customers.

The 53-year-old manager, who worked for Twitter, Google and RTL among others before starting at DAZN three years ago, is self-confident before the start of the new season. When the 2021/22 season begins this Friday with the game between Borussia Mönchengladbach and Bayern Munich, the change of guard among the pay channels for sports in Germany will take shape. DAZN openly challenges the previous top dog Sky - early premiere.

"We are now number one in football," is de Buhr's challenge to the FAZ. The upstart, who is celebrating his fifth birthday in Germany on Tuesday, is entering a new dimension. The reason for de Buhr's confidence is fed by the recent award of TV rights for the seasons up to 2025. DAZN acquired the exclusive live rights for the Friday and Sunday games. Sky, which only remains the bastion of the Saturday games, will in future have 200 game transmissions, DAZN will follow with 106 games.