Werder stadium speaker Christian "Stolli" Stoll is currently at the European Championship in Poland and Ukraine in his same function with Philip Lahm, Mesut Özil and Co. WERDER.DE picked up the phone...
Werder stadium speaker Christian "Stolli" Stoll is currently at the European Championship in Poland and Ukraine in his same function with Philip Lahm, Mesut Özil and Co. WERDER.DE picked up the phone...
Werder stadium speaker Christian "Stolli" Stoll is currently at the European Championship in Poland and Ukraine in his same function with Philip Lahm, Mesut Özil and Co. WERDER.DE picked up the phone and caught the 51-year-old at the airport in Warsaw on his way to Gdansk where the German national team will be playing in the quarter-final against Greece.
Hello "Stolli", Germany advanced to the quarter-finals as group B winners, so the tournament continues for you as well.
Christian Stoll: I am so happy about that. The long trips make it very strenuous but we have had loads of fun.
From afar we don't really get too much of that feeling. Besides in the stadiums and fan miles, very little is being shown through the TV coverage. Is that different by you?
Christian Stoll: Absolutely, it was my big desire to also get a feel for quite a bit of the country and people. Naturally I am often with the German guys, but since I work for UEFA I am with the colleagues quite a bit too. We walk through the cities, go out for dinner and also look behind the facades of the country.
What can you report?
Christian Stoll: If you come here and think that everything works like in Germany then you will fail. But I didn't think that and am ready for anything. But you also have to differentiate because the country is divided. The part from the west to Kiev is Europe-orientated. That is also the region that absolutely wants to be in the E.U. The other part is around Kharkiv. Nobody speaks Ukrainian but Russian - and you can tell the difference there. You cannot compare this to western standards. I could tell you hundreds of anecdotes.
It doesn't need to be hundreds, but can you disclose one or two stories?
Christian Stoll: I thought one experience in a taxi was exciting. If you need a receipt, you have to bring your own notepad. The taxi driver writes down the amount in Cyrillic. I didn't know that before. I was just as surprised that I only had to pay 8 and not 80 euros for a 45-minute taxi ride from Kiev city to the airport. But the living costs are very cheap - the earnings as well. A doctor with a completed studies and a doctor's title, I was told today, earns only 150 euros per month.
What other experiences did you have with the Ukrainians?
Christian Stoll: The people are all unbelievably friendly - regardless if in the hotel or on the street. But there is a saying that you will not see a friendly face in Ukraine. And this is entirely true - they run around with a face as if it's only raining. But behind the façade, the people here are all very nice and even if they cannot speak English they always try.
With whom are you going out?
Christian Stoll: Until now I have always been with the other three stadium speakers of our first round opponents - so I've been going across the country with the Dutch, the Portuguese and the Danes. But on Monday night we celebrated a rousing good-bye with the Dutch and Danes and now I am parting ways with my Portuguese colleagues. But we both promised that we would see each other in the final in Kiev.
Let's get to your actual work. You are the stadium speaker for the German national team in Poland and Ukraine - a dream job?
Christian Stoll: Yeah! It can't be better. I am here on an invitation, am being paid and can do my dream job for 15,000 fans in the stadium. I have to be honest, I have more than 350 Bundesliga matches behind me and at least two or three handful of international matches. But what the German fans are doing here is a sensation.
On Friday, there is the quarter-final against Greece. What does a typical day look like for you?
Christian Stoll: In Ukraine the distances were always very far, so the transportation was not always so easy. And two days before the game begins there are the first rehearsals - the days are very long. At the game, it's clear what I do. And when there are no games, then I go around the cities after breakfast, take pictures because I would like to have a big presentation after the Euro and talk to people. In the evenings, we often sit around with the colleagues, drink a beer and tell stories.
