D€RBY

Nomen est omen: Commerzbank-Arena

How to increase your club's budget by more than 14 percent? Easy! Your overpowering local rivals just have to get relegated.

This season 2. Bundesliga (level 2) side FSV Frankfurt are able to spend € 5.15 million, a plus of € 0.65 million compared to last year's campaign. Simply because they moved one game to Commerzbank-Arena, a World Cup 2006 venue with a capacity of 51,500.

And they nearly sold out the huge stadium when they hosted their neighbours Eintracht for the first Frankfurt derby since 1962 on matchday 5. FSV lost 0-4. Currently ranked 16 the move will possibly be exposed as a very profitable mistake in the upcoming relegation battle.

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Klopp 1-3 Podolski

Hey Jürgen, why the long face?

Dortmund coach Jürgen Klopp (being asked by a Sky reporter about a possible interest in buying 1. FC Cologne forward Lukas Podolski) on Sunday:

"Lukas is an exceptional player. But I believe him to be hyped in Cologne so much that it is hard for him to perform well regularly. With his potential, he had to be one of the best strikers, if not the best striker, in the league – but he is not. This is because he is not able to deliver often enough. And then it is too expensive for us  – for a good performance every few weeks."

Shortly afterwards Lukas Podolski responded via local tabloid Express:

"What a charming statement by Mr. Klopp. Maybe he's a little sad because I already denied his transfer requests twice. Then again he's right though: Actually I am too expensive for Borussia Dortmund due to the absence of Champions League revenues. Now that they have been eliminated finishing last place in their group, I absolutely understand that it wouldn't pay off."

Lukas Podolski. Master of counter attacks.

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One-Way Rivalry

Neither inner-city opponents like Union Berlin or TeBe nor Energie Cottbus from provincial Brandenburg are considered to be Hertha BSC's main rivals. No, this iffy honour dues Schalke 04.

What is particularly astonishing for various reasons. First of all, Gelsenkirchen is about 320 miles away and really no one there seems to give a shit about Berlin or Hertha. The capital club are perceived as an Bundesliga competitor just like the rest of the league. Nothing more, nothing less.

And then, what are we to think about a rivalry which is allegedly based on two incidents in the 60s and 70s while keeping in mind that a majority of Herthas's following exist only since 1997. Even in the 90s, they had gates of 3,000 and lower.

To cut a long story short: Sounds not very authentic to me.

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Greuther Fifth

The rather odd logo

The construct of SpVgg Greuther Fürth was actually formed by a merger of three times German champions SpVgg Fürth and the prosperous village club TSV Vestenbergsgreuth in 1996.

Just one year later this convenient marriage of tradition and cash payed off with promotion to 2. Bundesliga. Greuther-Fürth have been playing there since then, making them the longest serving of any current second division teams.

Somewhat quaint, the Shamrock nicknamed team achieved national recognition for finishing in fifth position. Seven times during their actual 14 season lasting stint to be precise:

1997-98: 9th
1998-99: 8th
1999–00: 7th
2000–01: 5th
2001–02: 5th
2002–03: 5th
2003–04: 9th
2004–05: 5th
2005–06: 5th
2006–07: 5th
2007–08: 6th
2008–09: 5th
2009–10: 11th
2010–11: 4th

After completing the first half of the ongoing 2011-12 season, Fürth are ranked on a promising third place. But since the reintroduction of the relegation playoffs in 2009, even this position would not secure automatic promotion for an eventual Greuther Third.

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Doublepost

Borussia Mönchengladbach's Hans-Günter Bruns in 1983 against Bayern...

Now hat would have been a goal!

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Informer, you no say that's who I'm gonna blame

Beef!

Clemens Tönnies, chief executive of Schalke's supervisory board, is notorious for his liability to populism. For a couple of years now, the meat industrialist prefers to attend the annual Revierderby in Dortmund with fellow supporters on the terrace.

Last week's meeting has seen the odd smoke and fireworks coming from the away end. Too much for Tönnies, 55, who instantly started to take photos of the troublemakers with his smartphone.

"All reasonable fans should declare their solidarity against these lone perpetrators and expose them with photos so we can file them. These people have to leave our stadia," Tönnies told a newspaper on Wednesday.

Well, Clemens, literally: If you can't stand the heat, stay in your VIP box.

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Pool

Pool's famous Kop

"The Reds" beeing the club's well know nickname does not prevent a lot of... ehm, let's call them "internet Premier League fans" in Germany using the term "Pool" when referring to Liverpool FC. Not "The Pool" as one of the city of Liverpool's bynames, but simply "Pool".

Pool. Never heard it England, so why is it so popular amongst English football enthusiasts over here? If I only knew. I've propably read the term for the first time on a football message board more than ten years ago. So maybe someone used it on another board, and another one... and so it may have grown in popularity that way over the years. But all in all, it remains a case for Mulder and Scully.

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Hansa Rostock–FC St. Pauli rivalry

Following the xenophobic Lichtenhagen riots in 1992, both sets of fans clashed for the first time during a 2. Bundesliga match one year later. St. Pauli's left-wing attitude and nationalistic tendencies amongst parts of the Hansa fan scene seemed to "connect" immediately.

These incidents were inspiration for the 1993 drama movie Schicksalsspiel (English title: Soccer love).  In a Romeo and Juliet kind of story, a St. Pauli supporter falls in love with a local waitress before an away game in Rostock. Back in Hamburg, the trouble starts.

As of today, there have been 16 competitive matches between the teams. Hansa won 10 and St. Pauli 6 with no draw, yet. Their last meeting on November 19 in Rostock saw a new quality of violence. In the course of a 1-3 defeat, Hansa fans started shooting firework missiles into the away end. A level of behaviour even worsened by an applauding and cheering mob of morons. Dumbstruck.

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The green Reds

Have you ever wondered why Hannover 96 are nicknamed "The Reds" despite their green and white club colours? (a question obviously presupposing that you already know of the existence of a green-white colored club called Hannover 96 playing in a not-so flashy city called Hannover, which, in fact, even a lot of German football fans are not aware of)

Well, no need to worry, even the club were not able to close this knowledge gap, yet (in german).

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Aktion Libero: German Sports Bloggers against Homophobia in Football

schwul, rund, grün - gay, round, green

Aktion Libero is an action alliance of German sports bloggers against homophobia. Supportetd by Dr. Theo Zwanziger (president of the German FA) Aktion Libero launched their website today. Additionally, more than 80 participating blogs released the campaign motive on their websites. Some authors have even published complementary thoughts, interviews and podcasts on the topic.

Their credo:

Wir schreiben in unseren Blogs über Sport, und unsere Haltung ist eindeutig: 

Wir sind gegen Homophobie. Auch im Fußball.

Our blogs are all about sports and our position is clear:
We are against homophobia. Also in football.


Visit Aktion Libero website (in German) for further information.

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The cat is in the sack

Grazie, Trap!

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Michael Schanze und die Fußball-Nationalmannschaft - Ole Espana

You were listening to New Order, German fans like my father had to put up with the dream of every mother-in-law: Michael Schanze. The official 7″ for WC 82 bears the original name "Olé España".

Curls, curls, curls

The backside provides quite a sawy feature, especially for the younger ones amongst us: numbered players silhouettes with an illustration legend. Ever heard of Ronald Borchers?

You won't get this with mp3s

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Wolfram Wuttke

Mustache (serving suggestion)

Honour to whom honour is due: We unanimously elected Wolfram Wuttke (yeah, even ze Germans zink this name's funny) for being the subject of the first blogpost. Allthough now known as the guy who could have easily earned 50 caps or more, Wuttke was a footballing force of nature in his prime. On and off the pitch.

With dribbling skills matched only by his facial hair, Wuttke was one of Bundesliga's leading attacking midfielders during the 80s. But we all know that there's no "mustache" in team and so his ego and a constant lack of diplomatic abilities inhibited a much greater career. Whilst playing for Borussia Mönchengladbach, his teammates promised and finally bought him a (fake) Rolex just for leaving the club.

Hmm... maybe someone should tell Carlos Tevez?

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A video showing him scoring a penalty at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul:



Senior career stats:
1979–1981 Schalke 04 32 (3)
1981–1983 Borussia Mönchengladbach 58 (9)
1983 Schalke 04 16 (7)
1983–1985 Hamburger SV 58 (15)
1985–1990 1. FC Kaiserslautern 112 (23)
1990–1992 RCD Espanyol 37 (12)
1992–1993 1. FC Saarbrücken 23 (0)

Honours:
UEFA Under-21 Championship: 1982
DFB-Pokal: 1990
Olympics: Bronze Medal 1988

4 full international caps for West Germany

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