Noa Vahle: “The biggest misconception is that my job is very glamorous”
UvA alumnus Noa Vahle is a sports journalist at Ziggo Sport. She wrote her bachelor thesis on planes on the way to football matches. “You really learn this profession by gaining experience in practice.” This is the first interview from the new Folia magazine, available everywhere on campus from 11 February.
Louis van Gaal, Luka Modrić, José Mourinho, Arne Slot; it is an impressive list of football coaches and players she has managed to get in front of the camera in her young career. As a sports reporter at Ziggo Sport, Noa Vahle (25) regularly speaks to the biggest stars in football. “A girl’s dream,” she says, which she thoroughly enjoys.
That her job would also be very glamorous is a big misconception, according to Vahle. In reality, it is mostly preparation - reviewing interviews and matches, reading football news: “if I am not well prepared, I get nervous” – “lugging tripod to the football stadium”, quickly applying powder on the face, “do I shine,” asking the cameraman, “no? OK, we’re going live!”
Is it that stressful?
“No, it’s not a stressful job, but it’s a busy one. You have to say “no” to people a lot, because you’re away a lot. But it doesn’t stress me out, interviewing is great fun to do, and football is my passion.”
Normally, of course, you ask the questions. Is it weird to give the answers now?
“Yes, quite a bit. I don’t really like interviews either, which is why I don’t do many. But the other day I did join Twan Huys’ College Tour podcast and I liked that because it was connected to a university, as is this interview.”
Do you still feel so strongly connected to the student world?
“Students are, of course, my contemporaries. But I haven’t really been a typical student. I have always worked a lot alongside and studied in the evenings. Moreover, a large part of my studies took place during corona. That was convenient, because it meant I could watch a lecture while sitting in the studio. I wrote my bachelor thesis on planes on the way to football matches. Fortunately, you learn the most in this profession by just gaining experience, haha. But a real student experience, with evenings hanging in the lights, I haven’t had any.”
She looks around for a moment. “A pity, though, because when I walk around the Roeterseiland campus and see all these students together, I do think: wow, cozy, fun. The things that keep them busy also keep me busy. As a result, I can also empathise with them better than other people in my profession.”
Yes, you are a young woman in a field where colleagues are often older and male anyway. How is that for you?
“I actually find it educational to learn from them and, to be honest, I even like working with men. Men tend to be a bit more direct, I like that too. They just say: this is right, this is wrong! Women sometimes want to beat around the bush, while I just want to know what the situation is. Often the variety is good. For instance, I find a female presenter and male analyst very good. But I think in discussions like these, one should first and foremost look at someone’s capabilities.”
Now, some people who don’t know you will say: yes, nice and all, but you are Linda de Mol’s daughter (a famous Dutch tv-presenter, red.).
“Indeed, often it is more about that than that I am young and a woman. And then I am the first to say that I have undoubtedly gained more connections and opportunities because of that. I will probably keep hearing it for the rest of my life. But ultimately, in my opinion, you stand somewhere because you have the qualities for it.”
In 2023, Vahle won the Televizier-Ring Talent award. In her speech, she showed self-mockery by, among other things, thanking her family for “the wheelbarrow” - a playful reference to those “connections and opportunities”. She also referred to the World Cup in Qatar where she was allowed to go as a 22-year-old reporter. For Vahle, the most special moment of her career so far.
Which interview during that World Cup is particularly memorable to you?
“I then asked FIFA president Gianni Infantino a question about the migrant workers who died building World Cup stadiums in Qatar. This was not easy, because although I was sitting in the front row, I was waiting the whole time with my hand in the air. There were hundreds of journalists in the room. When I finally got my turn, I asked him how it was possible that he said there were only three deaths, while the World Cup ambassador was talking about four hundred deaths and the British newspaper The Guardian was even talking about 6,500 deaths... Anyway, I thought: even if there are three, we are talking about human lives here. And then he came up with a disgusting answer about the way the counting was done. Which would not have been correct, he laconically stated.”
Could you ask him a follow-up question?
“No, because the microphone is immediately ripped from your hands at such a question. It was all very politically sensitive. But I did think it was important to ask that question, especially because the questions before me only dealt with completely different topics. Then I thought: fuck it, I’ll be out of this room here soon anyway.”
Isn’t it also your job to ask that very difficult question?
“Yes, isn’t it? I think so.”
What are your plans for the future? Are we going to see you more outside football soon?
“I happen to be going to a shoot for a new programme soon: Best Wishes, in which we make people’s wishes come true. Great fun, but out of my comfort zone. Football has always been the thread in my life and I don’t see that changing any time soon. I do enjoy making a programme like Best Wishes, but let me put it this way: I don’t see myself in the studio presenting a quiz any time soon, with heels and all.”
This interview is from Folia’s winter magazine, which will be everywhere on campus from 11 February.
