German Football news

[Trim]

The DFL is thinking ahead: On Saturday Christian Seifert and Tom Bender travel to Stuttgart; Christian Müller und Holger Hieronymus will be at Schalke.

Christian Seifert, the chairman of the DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga GmbH, will be in Stuttgart next Saturday with the original league trophy where Stuttgart have the chance to clinch only their third championship. Also present will be the Stuttgart legend Guido Buchwald and and DFL Marketing and Communication manager Tom Bender.

Hieronymus and Müller in Gelsenkirchen

Should Schalke clinch their first Bundesliga championship, they will be presented with a copy of the trophy by the vice president of the DFL, Holger Hieronymus and the DFL`s head of finance, Christian Müller. Also present will be Schalke`s goalkeeping Idol und fans favourite - Klaus Fischer.

"With the legends we want to underline the Bundesliga`s tradition. Players such as Klaus Fischer and Guido Buchwald are legends of the game here in Germany and have contributed greatly to our game", explained Holger Hieronymus.

Trophy since 1949

Since 1949 the trophy has been presented to the winners of the league in Germany. It is a replacement for the Viktoria trophy
which has been missing since the war. The current trophy weighs eleven kilograms and is 53 centermeters wide and has a value of 50.000 Euro. All of the league winners names since 1903 are engraved on it.

[Trim]

The certification procedure for the Club Training centres proved to be very effective in a test-run during a recent pilot study.

The first club centre to be tested for the new certification requirements was at FC Schalke 04. A team of experts with representatives from the DFL, the German FA (DFB) and the Belgian firm Double Pass were very pleased with the computer software for the test and the practicability of the certification criteria.
"We are confident that the procedures for the Bundesliga will prove to be effective in everday use just as they are in the 2. Bundesliga. Naturally we hope and expect to raise the already high standards of Bundesliga training centres through the licensing procedures," Holger Hieronymous explained.

The Heads of the Training Centres for the various Bundesliga clubs will now be able to get a look at the final list of criteria, that will be the basis for the testing, at a meeting in Berlin on May 24th and 25th. And by the end of May the list will be available for the Clubs as an Internet download.

Beginning in September, three teams of experts will start the thorough testing óf three different Bundesliga club training centres, resulting in the centres receiving a seal of certification in one of three possible grades or classes.

[Trim]

Jan-Age Fjörtoft was a striker for Eintracht Frankfurt for three years. He told bundesliga.de about his memories of the dramatic 1999 relegation battle.

The 40 year old Norwegian played for Eintracht 52 times and scored 14 goals. Fjörtoft has been capped for Norway 71 times and is currently the commercial manager for the Lilleström SK football club, where his playing career ended in 2002. Talking about his positive memories of the relegation battle at the end of the 1998/1999 season Fjörtoft says "It was really sensational". In this interview with bundesliga.de he tells us about his years in Frankfurt and the unforgettable 5-1 win over Kaiserslautern.

bundesliga.de: Mr. Fjörtoft, you played for Frankfurt between 1998 and 2001. What memories do you have from back then?

Jan-Age Fjörtoft: The first thing that comes to mind is the 1999 relegation fight and our finishing the season with four wins and of course the best of all, the win against Kaiserslautern in the final match. But even in the following year we were quite a few points behind in the table and we also got docked points because of the club's financial problems. But in spite of everthing we did avoid relegation twice, first of all with coach Jörg Berger and in the next year under Felix Magath. I have nice memories of those years in Frankfurt.

bundesliga.de: Can you still remember your famous goal from the 5-1 win?

Fjörtoft: I knew as a child how hard it is to score goals, even if your running toward the goalkeeper alone. And then I learned how effective a step-over kick can be. I scored a similar goal for Norway against Poland in 1993 and we qualified for the World Cup as a result. That was a huge accomplishment for a smalll country like Norway. Those are a few of the moments in your life, where you know it's all about a few centimetres. And if I hadn't made it, I might have never been able to move to Germany to play football.

bundesliga.de: Was it immediately clear after the 5-1 win that it would be enough to avoid relegation?

Fjörtoft: No, I didn't know that. I'd heard that we needed another goal, but I couldn't understand why! I only noticed how quiet it was in the stadium, because you notice it when there are 60,000 fans there. Then I looked over at Jörg Berger and saw how calm he was. It was a very important moment. And when he cheered, then I knew we'd made it, but how or why still wasn't clear to me. It was only later that we found out we had the same goal difference as Nuremberg, but because we'd scored more goals we stayed in the top flight.

bundesliga.de: You're the commercial manager of Lilleström SK footbal club in Norway. Uwe Rösler was coach there until recently. Did you use your old contacts to get him to take the coaching job?

Fjörtoft: No, it was different. Uwe came to us two and a half years ago. He used play footbal for the team before he got his serious illness. Thank God he got over everything. But we had discussed it a lot, including when he was very sick, what it would be like to run the club together. And it was great when it could finally work out. That's why I'm happy he's got a new job at Viking Stavanger.

[Oliver_Kahn]

The decision in the race for the Bundesliga title causes great media interest worldwide.


The match between leaders VfB Stuttgart and FC Energie Cottbus alone will be broadcasted live in presumably more than 100 countries, with Stuttgart's Mexican internationals Pavel Pardo and Ricardo Osorio in focus in the USA and Central America especially.

More than 30 countries even present the last matchday of the season in terms of a specially produced conference. And the DFL-owned TV production company SPORTCAST GmbH have even raised their camera standards for the decisive round in the fight for the title to offer the TV viewers worldwide an even higher quality in presentation.

"We are very pleased about the great worldwide feedback that is partly the result of the huge tension in the Bundesliga final", DFL Chairman of the Board Christian Seifert says. "It is therefore the DFL's concern to ensure a high level of professionalism in the production of the TV signal for our international TV partners."

[Oliver_Kahn]

The DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga GmbH will host a congress of the European Professional Football Leagues (EPFL) in Berlin on June 4 and 5.


Holger Hieronymus, vice CEO of the DFL, will act as chairman.

Numerous high-ranking representatives of national and international football and of politics will discuss in Berlin's Grande Hotel Esplanade. The motto of the congress will be "professional football - more than a game, more than a business".

The official opening speech will be held by league president Wolfgang Holzhäuser, afterwards EPFL president Sir David Richards will address the attendants.

[Oliver_Kahn]

FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter talks to Bundesliga Magazine about, among other things, his interest in German professional football.


On May 31, 2007 Joseph S. Blatter will once again be a candidate for the presidency of the world's ruling body at the FIFA Congress in Zurich.

The 71 year-old talked with Bundesliga Magazine about his interest in German professional football, the challenges facing world football in the coming years and his anticipation of the first-ever World Cup tournament on the African continent.

Bundesliga Magazine: Mr. Blatter, what kind of ties do you have with the Bundesliga?

Joseph S. Blatter: Quite a lot. I was especially upset at the beginning of the year when League President Werner Hackmann died. From time to time his views concerning my person were very critical. At the UEFA Congress in January we got a chance to exchange ideas with one another, and we also spoke about our private concerns. He told me about his holiday in my home country, in Wallis, and about his life. Two days later he died. That hit me personally. But also, because I think a lot of the Bundesliga and Werner Hackmann was an extraordinary representative of German professional football. I admit it: I am a fan of the Bundesliga, and it is fascinating. Naturally I also follow the other leagues. But after I've spent an afternoon watching the Bundesliga on television, I only get the results of the other leagues.

Bundesliga Magazine: What do you find so fascinating about German professional football?

Blatter: The Bundesliga is without a doubt among the most exciting leagues in the world. Take for example the title fight this season with Schalke 04, Werder Bremen and VfB Stuttgart. "Leidenschaft”, the German word passion, has a much stronger meaning than it does in other languages, and there is often really a lot of passion in football. The fans fill the stadiums for Bundesliga football and create a wonderful atmosphere. And there is a special reason for my interest: as a Swiss citizen I'm naturally interested in the Bundesliga because there are so many of my compatriots active in Germany.

Bundesliga Magazine: Do you have a favourite player in the Bundesliga?

Blatter: One of them is Oliver Neuville. He was born in Tessin and could have been a Swiss citizen. I was also very impressed by Mehmet Scholl. And naturally Michael Ballack. I must say, the Bundesliga is really missing him. But the clubs in Germany don't have the same financial possibilites as the clubs in England or Spain.

Bundesliga Magazine: Are you concerned that through the use of more or less questionable financial investors fair competition at the European level could be distorted?

Blatter: That is a question we will be looking at in our "For the Good of the Game" Task Force. One of the working groups will be dealing with finances. We want to know what happens. The trend of "Let's buy a soccer club" is "in" right now with very wealthy people. The investors come from Russia or the USA. And we want to know why they want to put money into a club - and where the money comes from. We want to make sure that there is transparency and discipline with regard to investors and investment - as with the subject of players advisors. And of course it is necessary to work with state agencies on these matters.

Bundesliga-Magazine: What measures should football take?

Blatter: We cannot and do not want to regulate the free market. We want to check on the correct and orderly flow of money. As long as investors come, to be of help to football, and the money remains in football, we have no problem. When it begins to create distortion of fair competition and some of the clubs with less financial strength end up having no chance to compete at all, because their players are bought up, then I'd have to say there's something wrong at the core of the game. And that's why I'm for the 6 + 5 rule, whereby at least six of the players on the pitch for a team have to be licenced players from the respective country.

Bundesliga Magazine: You are standing for the office of FIFA President once again at the coming Congress in Zurich. What are your plans for the next term?

Blatter: We want to focus on the responsibility that football has to society as a whole. Since football has developed into a global activity over the past few decades, with unbelievable popularity on all of the continents, it's the next step in the development of the game. There are no social classes in football, and no cultural differences. Football is a game for big and for small people, for fat people and for thin people, for men and for women. The World Cup in Germany showed how much it is possible to achieve with a football festival. It was a joyous festival that gave everyone goose-bumps. There's no doubt: football can bring people together and help to make a better future. That's our goal.

Bundesliga Magazine: How do you want to achieve that goal?

Blatter: Naturally there is already valuable work going on in our commissions and working groups toward that end. That includes everything from finances and organizing the international match calendar to the question of political influence on the game of football and fighting the problem of doping. But there are also practical things that need to be done. If we want to achieve what was accomplished during the World Cup in Germany, we have to do the work that was done to enable it. It starts with comfortable stadiums. Because comfort means security. When football is played in old rusty stadiums, where the fans feel they're being handled like prisoners or wild animals, they can never celebrate a football festival like the 2006 World Cup.


In the second part of the interview with Bundesliga Magazine, FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter talks about the challenges facing world football in the coming years and his anticipation of the first-ever World Cup tournament on the African continent.


Bundesliga Magazine: Is it satisfying for you that unlike your first two elections to the Presidency of FIFA, there won't be any candidates opposing you this time?

Blatter: It is definitely satisfying for me. Especially because I feel a certain recognition for the work I've done over the past years. Not just for me , but for the entire FIFA organization. There is a French saying that goes: a victory without an opponent is a triumph without glory. It is a pleasure for me, in many ways, to work together with Michel Platini, the new President of UEFA, but also with another great footballer in the FIFA Executive Committee, Franz Beckenbauer. Franz Beckenbauer is wonderful. He's someone who likes to work on developing the game, to be of help to the poorer countries. And that is a nice thing. Because until now the members of the Executive Committee weren't making much of an effort to visit those countries.

Bundesliga Magazine: What do you expect from Franz Beckenbauer in his future role?

Blatter: He can pass on his enthusiasm for the game, the enthusiasm he showed as a player and as the head of the Organising Committee for the 2006 World Cup. He really does affect people. Everywhere where a footballer with such a great name goes and gets along with people, he sets things in motion and gets things moving. Even just kicking a ball around seems to help us communicate humanitarian values. And he is one of those important ambassadors for our better world, that is one where football answers its social resposibilities. Michel Platini can do it too, but he has new responsibilities as UEFA President that demand a lot from him. But with him and Franz Beckenbauer, we have two great footballers in our Executive Committee. And we have a third. He is not so well known, but he was also a Spanish national player: Angel Maria Villar. He was a defender for Bilbao. So there are more and more footballers joining us. That's why I'm looking forward to the next four years with the duo of Beckenbauer and Platini - because we'll be able to speak about things in a truer relation to the game.

Bundesliga Magazine: Is Franz Beckenbauer someone who might one day succeed you as President of FIFA?

Blatter: You'd have to ask him yourself if he' like to do it. Of course he could be my successor. But does Franz Beckenbauer want to be that? He didn't want the job of UEFA President. I think there are candidates from other continents who are already thinking about becoming candidates. But I do believe we are ready in our organisation for the coming challenges - and especially regarding the main theme of finances where we were criticized, we are finally in the black. And to return to an earlier question, the fact that no other candidate is standing for election against me this time is very satisfying.

Bundesliga Magazine: You really committed yourself to see that a World Cup took place in Africa. What do you think the 2010 World Cup in South Africa will bring?

Blatter: Presenting a World Cup tournament on the African continent for the first time is an act of solidarity as well. Africa was plundered. A lot of football players were taken away without any rewards going to the clubs and organisations that made them players. The challenge of South Africa is also a means of returning something to the continent for all it has given to the game. But if we had not introduced an official rotation plan for the World Cup, Africa would never have gotten to hold the tournment. Never.

Bundesliga Magazine: There are obvious difficulties with the World Cup organisation in South Africa -- for example with the infrastructure. Are you really convinced that in three years the World Cup will take place in South Africa?

Blatter: Yes. It will happen. And the South Africans can do it too! And we've engaged our own World Cup man. He's offering a sort of guarantee. It's Horst R. Schmidt, the former DFB General Secretary, and Vice-President of the 2006 World Cup Organising Committee, who played an important part in the success of the World Cup in Germany. He will certainly see that it works. If anyone can, then he can.

Bundesliga Magazine: You don't even have a slight doubt about South Africa and the first World Cup on the African Continent?

Blatter: Unless the heavens open and something horrible blows down to earth, the World Cup will take place in South Africa. It is certain.

Bundesliga Magazine: Mr. Blatter, thank you very much for this talk.

JOSEPH S. BLATTER:

* Born on March 10th 1936 in Visp, Switzerland. Divorced, father of a daughter.
* Career: studied at the Faculty of Law Lausanne University; Head of PR Walliser Tourism Association; General Secretary of the Swiss Ice Hockey Association; Journalist and Public Relations expert; Director of PR and Sport for Longines S.A.
* Jobs in Sport: 1948-1971 football player (top Swiss amateur league); 1970-1975 Member of the Board, Xamax Neuchatel; since 1956 Member of the Swiss Sport Journalists Association; 1975 Director of FIFA Development Program; 1981 FIFA General Secretary; 1990 FIFA Executive Director (CEO); since 1998 FIFA President; since 1999, Member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC)

[Oliver_Kahn]

Franz Beckenbauer played his last Bundesliga match nearly 25 years ago. bundesliga.de about the day the "Kaiser" hang up his boots.


May 29 1982, 41st minute in Hamburger SV's match against Karlsruher SC: Franz Beckenbauer leaves the pitch in the Volksparkstadion.

New York adventure

Thomas von Heesen - just 20 years old back then - comes on as a substitute. HSV head coach Ernst Happel gets up from the bench to shake hands with the "Kaiser", who is nearly 37 years old. Sincere thanks also in the name of all Bundesliga fans, for 424 Bundesliga matches and 44 goals.

Things had already looked to be over five years earlier: Beckenbauer left FC Bayern München, having played 396 Bundesliga matches for them after winning promotion in 1965, and joined Cosmos New York.

Teammates with Pele

He played in the "operetta league", how the project professional football in the land of Baseball, Ice Hockey, American Football and Basketball was ironically called in Europe. But Beckenbauer also played in the same team than arguably the best football player ever: Pele.

However, the headlines back home were always bigger than in the States. Beckenbauer himself can't explain why he decided to come back to the Bundesliga after five years far from home.

Bundesliga return in a HSV shirt

But It's clear who played a big part in his return: Branko Zebec, Happel's predecessor on the HSV bench, and Günter Netzer, sporting director back then, had stuck to their guns.

Beckenbauer's comeback started in Stuttgart and from the bench. The "Kaiser" was introduced at half-time and played alongside Manfrad Kaltz, Horst Hrubesch and Felix Magath, who later gave way for today's DFL CEO Holger Hieronymus.

"Good days were rare"

Every beginning is difficult, and HSV lost 3-2 in Stuttgart. And things were not too rosy for Beckenbauer in his new environment. "I had simply underestimated the wastage of the past years, my good days in Hamburg were rare", he admitted later on.

He often suffered injury setbacks. And even though HSV won the 1982 Bundesliga title, Beckenbauer had soon made up his mind that he wouldn't put pen to paper under a contract extension the "Red Shorts" offered.

Testimonial against the national team

Beckenbauer wore the shirt with the rhombus just one more time: in his farewell match against the German national team on July 1 1982. He was made DFB's third honorary captain following Fritz Walter and Uwe Seeler.

Beckenbauer scored two goals during his testimonial match, but only one made it onto the scoreboard - the other one was an own goal. Beckenbauer: "It was really high time to call it a day."

Still unbelievably popular

His popularity is still immense, and he may be even more present today than during his active career. He definitely was when he led Germany to the 1990 World Cup title in Italy and when he helped organising the great World Cup 2006.

He still is as President of FC Bayern München, as DFB's Vice President, in commercials, through social involvement and through commentaries in newspapers and on TV: simply the "Kaiser".

[Oliver_Kahn]

bundesliga.de analyses the 2006-07 Bundesliga season. Today: the Bundesliga's "Marathon men".


There are only three professionals that didn't miss a single second of play during the 2006-07 season. All of them are goalkeepers: Robert Enke (Hannover 96), Simon Jentzsch (VfL Wolfsburg) and Roman Weidenfeller (Borussia Dortmund).

Leiwakabessy played more than 3,000 minutes

The "long runner" among the outfield players is an Aachener. Jeffrey Leiwakabessy missed just 27 minutes, playing a massive 3,033 minutes during the season. The left back was substituted in four matches, always close to the final whistle.

German international Philipp Lahm, another left back, came close with 3,024 minutes. The FC Bayern München player was substituted twice.

Twelve players played 34 matches

The following players - Enke, Jentzsch, Weidenfeller and Lahm aside - figured in all 34 matches of their respective clubs: Halil Altintop, Kevin Kuranyi (both Schalke 04), Roberto Hilbert (VfB Stuttgart), Florian Kringe (Borussia Dortmund), Sergiu Radu (Energie Cottbus), Simon Rolfes (Bayer Leverkusen), Raphael Schäfer (1. FC Nürnberg) and Jiri Stajner (Hannover 96).

Bremen's Torsten Frings and Stuttgart's Pavel Pardo figured in 33 matches.

[Oliver_Kahn]

The Managing Board of The League Association, DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga GmbH, met in an extraordinary meeting today, (May 24) in Frankfurt.


One of the topics of discussion was the results of a poll of the membership taken by the firm Korn/Ferry regarding the search for a new President of the League Association.

The Managing Board of the League Association will explain the main topics of the membership poll to the 36 clubs of the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga as well as their ownership corporations‘ representatives at the extraordinary membership meeting called for June 1, 2007.

[Oliver_Kahn]

The 36 clubs of Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga can look forward to additional receipts.


The League Association will receive 50 million euros from the surplus of the World Cup 2006 in Germany.

Surplus of 105 million euros

Overall a World Cup surplus of 105 million euros has been generated after deduction of the proportion of world association FIFA.

Five million will be provided to social organisations by the DFB, the governing body will keep 50 million.

[Oliver_Kahn]

The solidarity with partners in the European leagues has been strengthened and the proximity to policymakers has been searched for: the DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga GmbH (German Football League) have intensively made use of the DFL-hosted two-day congress of the European Professional Football Leagues (EPFL) to deal with the crucial questions of European football.


"We need to deepen the exchange of ideas between the leagues, the associations like FIFA or UEFA and politics. That's the most important point", DFL Chairman of the Board Christian Seifert said in Berlin.

Many issues discussed on the congress resulted from the Arnaut report ordered by the EU cabinet in 2005. Among other things the report demands the implementation of a system that controls the professional wages. Christian Seifert warned against increasing financial doping in Europe in this context.

A key to success could be the DFL's licensing system, which is considered one of the best and most modern throughout Europe and has ensured that no Bundesliga club has ever declared insolvency during an ongoing business year. "By European comparison our rulebook forms a highly effective tool against the various temptations of financial doping", said Christian Müller, the DFL's chief financial officer.

The DFL also made use of the opportunity to discuss the issue with attending delegates of the German interior ministry. The issue of sports betting was also on the agenda. "That's an issue we intensively have to deal with in the near future, particularly in Germany", sports commission chairman Peter Danckert said, adding "We are dependent on the position of the professional clubs and have to find a mutual consent."

But apart from sports politics, there were some emotional moments too. League Vice President Peter Peters appreciated the merits of Werner Hackmann and Wilfried Straub concerning professional football. Werner Hackmann, who died in January 2007, was posthumously honoured for his work as President of the League Association. Straub was honoured by the EPFL for his achievements as Chairman of the DFL board.

[Oliver_Kahn]

bundesliga.de will present a supposedly extinct species of football players -- street footballers -- in a new series. We start with Michael Thurk.


Street footballers are no myth. Even if there's a fairly well-known prejudice that they've died out. There's no doubt that the free spaces in large cities where kids can acquire football skills are not as easy to find as they once were. And while the free-time activities for kids have broadened, football hasn't lost its appeal for youth.

It's about creativity

As long as there are backyards, garage driveways and playgrounds, there will always be kids who want to do nothing more than kick the ball around.

Street football doesn't need any fancy pitches or expensive equipment. You can play it anywhere and anyone can join in. It's all about creativity and the one whose tricks fool the most opponents is the "hero of the day".

There are a number of representatives of street football playing in the two top German flights. Our series will introduce a few of them and bundesliga.de begins the series by presenting Michael Thurk from Eintracht Frankfurt.