Former German Footballer, Christoph Metzelder Admits To Sharing Child Porn

 

Prosecutors accused the 40-year-old former Germany and Real Madrid defender of passing on 29 pornographic files to three women via WhatsApp, including one featuring a toddler in a “highly sexualised pose”.

 

 

 

According to the case against him, 297 files with sexual content featuring children or teens were found on Metzelder’s mobile phone.

 

 

 

The footballer in court, said that the fascination for him had been in “crossing boundaries” rather than in the depictions of serious sexual abuse themselves.

 

 

 

He said;

 

 

 

“I took screenshots of incriminating images on freely accessible websites and talked about extreme fantasies in chats.

 

“There were no attacks on children or young people and none were planned, despite the extreme comments in chats. It all took place in a parallel digital world.

 

“I forwarded the images even though I knew what unspeakable suffering was behind them, and despite my charitable work with children.

 

“I accept the punishment and I ask for forgiveness from the victims of sexual violence. I will have to live with this guilt as part of society for the rest of my life.”

 

 

 



 

 

 

Passing judgement on the case after the footballer pleaded guilty, the court in Düsseldorf  handed Christoph Metzelder a suspended ten-month jail sentence for the possession and distribution of exploitative images of children.

 

 

 

Metzelder had most recently been working as a television pundit for Sky Sport in Germany until the investigation began.

 

 

 

During his playing career, he picked up 47 caps for Germany, with whom he was also a runner-up at Euro 2008. He also played for big clubs including Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund and Schalke before retiring from football in 2014.