Matthäus attends Ballon d'Or with 26-year-old girlfriend Theresa Sommer

Lothar Matthäus, the 64-year-old football legend, attended the Ballon d'Or ceremony in Paris on Monday with his girlfriend Theresa Sommer, 26, on his arm. The red-carpet moment marked a public acknowledgment of their relationship after Matthäus’s previous split from his fifth wife, Anastasia Klimko.

The couple had been photographed together repeatedly this year after Matthäus and Klimko parted ways, with sightings at high-profile events and private occasions. Sommer and Matthäus were seen together at a celebrity ski race in Ischgl, Austria, earlier this year, and the pair were also photographed in a car en route to engagements. They were photographed at Germany’s Allianz Arena in Munich during Germany’s Nations League campaign, including a semi-final against Portugal followed by a later match four days afterward. Their appearances together have fueled questions about the nature of their relationship, though both sides have remained tight-lipped in public remarks.

Theresa Sommer’s background has been noted in profile summaries linked to her professional work. According to her LinkedIn page, Sommer studied economics and management at King’s College London before pursuing psychology at Durham University. Her path into the public eye has included appearances at events alongside Matthäus, but details of their relationship have remained private beyond their public appearances.

Away from the ceremony, Matthäus’s personal life has long been in the spotlight due to a sequence of marriages and separations. The former Germany captain has been married five times. His first marriage, to Silvia, began in 1981 and produced two children, Alisa (born 1986) and Viola (born 1988), before they divorced in 1992. In the same year, Lolita Morena gave birth to his third child, Loris. Matthäus later married Lolita Morena in 1994, with that union ending in 1999. He then wed Marijana Colic in 2003; the couple divorced in Salzburg after a lengthy dispute, with reports of a sensitivity around asset division, including a €100,000 settlement and a Budapest penthouse, though the exact terms were not fully disclosed. Colic and Matthäus separated as his relationship with Ukrainian model Kristina Liliana Chudinova developed; they married in Las Vegas in December 2008 and divorced in 2009. Matthäus’ fourth marriage gave way to a relationship with Anastasia Klimko, whom he married in 2014; they separated in 2021 but were seen together again years later. Sommer’s appearance at the Ballon d'Or adds another chapter to Matthäus’s long history of high-profile relationships as he continues to remain in the public eye.

At the Ballon d'Or ceremony, Ousmane Dembele was crowned the winner of the men’s Ballon d'Or, ahead of Barcelona teammate Lamine Yamal. The ceremony in Paris drew a range of football figures and pop culture personalities, with Matthäus and Sommer among the attendees who provided a public moment amid a night of awards and recognition for top players in the sport.