I feel sorry sometimes for these sportsmen and women who put in just as much effort as the footballers. For example, athletes train at least as hard as footballers but have to be happy if they can earn enough to finance a decent education.

Merkel contrasts the labor and discipline required in less-commercialized sports with the far higher earnings available in professional football. The quote expresses sympathy for athletes—often in Olympic or track-and-field disciplines—whose training loads can match those of footballers but whose financial rewards may be insufficient even to cover education or basic long-term security. Implicitly, it critiques market-driven valuation in sport: public attention, broadcasting revenue, and sponsorship concentrate money in a few leagues, while other elite competitors rely on stipends, grants, or part-time work. The remark also gestures toward policy concerns in Germany about athlete support, dual-career pathways, and the fairness of expecting world-class performance without comparable economic backing.