Michael Ballack was spotted visiting Art Basel in Switzerland with his girlfriend Sophia Schneiderhan
Michael Ballack’s new girlfriend is a 21-year-old model who was discovered as a teenager and was reportedly a close friend of his son’s before his tragic death last year.
That The 45-year-old former Chelsea midfielder, whose son Emilio died in a sad quad bike accident last year, was photographed with girlfriend Sophia Schneiderhan at Art Basel in Switzerland earlier this week.
The couple, who became close after Ballack’s son died in a car crash, appeared to be in love and were spotted kissing in public, according to German news site Bild. The duo were previously spotted together in Berlin.
Sophia is a model who was good friends with Emilio Ballack’s child before his death in a car accident last month.
Reihard, her father, is a spine doctor and former surf school owner who used to have three surf schools in La Garda, France.
Today he practices throughout Germany and has also worked in Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia and has written three books on back pain.
Sophia attended kindergarten in France and is fluent in French, although she spent much of her childhood in Munich.
She attended a tiny private school in Germany, where she excelled in biology and physical education and had a strong interest in history.
She aspired to a career in modeling after being noticed at the age of 13 on a Munich subway in a dirndl – a German folk costume often associated with Oktoberfest.
The man, who knew the pal she was with at the time, owned two fashion companies and worked with Sophia on several shoots after meeting her.
The photo shoots have always been directed by Sophia’s mother, who is also a sports model and is referred to as her “best friend” by her loved ones.
Although she had signed a contract with the agency in Munich, she was discovered in France and approached by a woman, a mother, a model agency.
She chose the French agency instead after getting a strong feeling for the woman. At the age of 15 she worked on campaigns and editorials for the Munich fashion label Escada.
It is believed that she frequently skipped classes to do this, and she would make up time on weekends.
She worked for Escada for two years, learning the basics of the fashion industry and making a lot of money in the process.
Sophia claimed in an interview when she was 18 that she had planned out most of her life.
She claimed she planned to follow in her father’s footsteps into medicine in her 40s, after pursuing a career in marketing, branding and programming in her 20s and 30s.
Sophia also explained that she wanted to have five children by her mid-twenties, four of her own and one adopted.
Ballack, who is 24 years her senior, isn’t the only man she’s dated who is older than her. When she was 18 she had her first lover and first love who was 27 years old.
According to others who know the family, her parents were hesitant at first. She met the man in Munich and soon became friends, assuming they had met before but couldn’t remember when or where.
They met again and again and decided to go for coffee. They had six coffee dates before he officially took her out to dinner and they started dating.
They temporarily separated after a year of dating after he declared his love for her. Sophia, who was only 19 at the time, wasn’t sure she felt the same way.
After a fortnight she realized that she loved him and the two reconciled. It’s unclear when the couple split again before she started dating Ballack.
Ballack’s son Emilio was killed less than a year ago when his quad bike fell backwards, crushing him as it backed up and lost control after a family barbecue at Ballack’s Portuguese holiday home.
Emilio was Ballack’s middle son, born in 2002 to then-girlfriend Simone Lambe, who Ballack married in 2008 but divorced in 2012.
Friends of the couple told Bild that they thought Ballack’s relationship was healthy and that the couple didn’t seem to mind the 24-year age difference.
Meanwhile, Casten Germann, a German football writer for Fußballdaten.de and Sport Bild, who has interviewed Ballack on several occasions, said the relationship “surprised” the German press.
“When I first saw and interviewed Ballack, he was a really shy guy,” he added. He didn’t have much experience dealing with the media, so his coach was in charge of the interviews.
“At that time Germany didn’t have any real football idols so there was a lot of pressure on him and he was seen as a kind of clean, gorgeous guy and a rising star.”
“He was also a bit of a heartthrob and you could almost call him a German Matt Damon.” When he lived in Munich, he was very popular with the ladies.
He was considered a truly ravishing charmer. Many English admirers saw him as something of a popular figurehead, much like David Beckham.’
“However, when he started having children with Simone, he changed his image.” He had now established himself as the best-known member of the family.
When his son Louis was born in 2001/2002, I remember him standing on the pitch with a t-shirt with a photo of his child under his football jersey and lifting his jersey to hug his baby every time he scored a goal to show the fans.’
“He constantly stressed the importance of family to him and I was never aware of any rumors of his fidelity.” He and Simone were considered the ideal couple. In 2013 he led his family onto the pitch for his farewell game to the delight of the crows.”
“In light of all of this, it is shocking to me that he is dating Sophia Schneiderhan, who is 24 years his junior.”
“Losing your kids must be horrific – it must be the worst thing that can happen to a parent,” he added, adding that it was not his position to “condemn” Ballack.
“I have come to the conclusion that this connection is the result of truly unusual circumstances.” This is without a doubt an extremely challenging position for anyone.
“Maybe it brings people together under terrible circumstances, and the strangest things happen.”
“Maybe it’s a case of looking for affection, grieving a great loss and looking for something to hold on to.”
‘I’m not sure.’ But I don’t think he just says nice things to her to lure her into his bed or anything. I don’t think he’s a heartthrob. He strikes me as a gentleman.”
Ballack was riding on a rough patch of terrain near the family’s Villas do Mar estate, near the town of Troia, which is south of the capital Lisbon, when the bike skidded backwards and fell on him at 2am on August 5.
Before paramedics could attempt to revive him, firefighters had to pull him from the wreckage, but their attempts were in vain and he was pronounced dead on the spot.
“The accident happened at the family’s place of residence. The quad driver was not on a public road and his vehicle was the only one attacked,” a police officer told Portuguese media.
According to Portuguese daily Jornal de Noticias, Emilio was backing his quad off the property when he had his fatal accident.
According to the newspaper, he is said to have lost control of the vehicle when leaving the family villa and after collapsing with the quad ended up on a public road. His grandmother is said to have been the one who alerted the authorities.
Sources say Emilio had been enjoying a family BBQ at the villa earlier in the evening. He was there on vacation with his father, two brothers and Michael’s parents.
The boy’s body was taken to the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Santiago de Cacem for an autopsy. Ballack has not yet officially commented on this.