Article Archives ⋆ An Old International

Ideas on Player Ratings

Experience as a teacher includes marking students work and essays. However, not all these works deserve the same weight in the final bulletin. Here are some ideas how to weigh players performances differently. As a teacher it is my task to teach and educate children of different ages in different subject matters: sport and social…

Hostage situation at Parc des Princes is over

It is with great relief that the hostage situation at Parc des Princes has been dissolved without any bloodshed, injuries or other serious consequences. The situation has become untenable over the past few years. Kylian Mbappé was the poster boy of the Parisian team and the squad was built around him; so much so that…

Franz Beckenbauer 1945 – 2024

The story of German could have come quite differently, had not one incident decided the fate of the two Munich clubs, 1860 and Bayern, respectively. As a youngster, Franz Beckenbauer played for a small Munich club in his neighbourhood, Giesing. It was his intention to move to TSV 1860 Munich at some point in his…

Z10ane – An Exhibition Review

Another splendid exhibition or rather art installation is still visible at the Philharmonie de Paris. It focuses on one player alone: Zinedine “Zizou” Zidane, captain of France’s first World Cup winning team in 1998. The installation shows the film “Zidane a 21st century portray” by Philippe Parreno and Douglas Gordon. In total 16 screens show…

Super Jews – Exhibition Review

The Jewish Museum in Vienna presents an exhibition on Jewish Identity in the football stadium, which looks at several different clubs from four European countries: Austria (Hakoah, First Vienna and Austria), Germany (Bayern Munich), England (Tottenham) and the Netherlands (Ajax). The question this little exhibition follows is “What makes a football club, a Jewish club?”…

Intel Inside! Magdeburg and Intel

The news that the American chip producer Intel would open a production site near Magdeburg was one of the best news that happened in 2022. The volume of the investment is estimated to be around 30bn Euro. That is massive and a sincere boost for the region which has seen a lot of unemployment following…

Eternal Bauer – Bauer Eternel

These days tickets to see Red Star at the time-honoured Stade Bauer are hard to come by. The team sit comfortably on top of the league with a five-point cushion over second-placed Niort Chamois. The game vs Nîmes was a sending-off for one the oldest stands in European football still in use: it dates back…

Some light among the gloom

For weeks, I’ve been thinking about packing it in: this blog has had its time, it’s never been a big thing, more on the side with a particular look on football of someone who has lived and played in three countries, wrote a book about it and often felt that football is a lot of…

Crisis? Crisis! Magdeburg in freefall

More than a third of the season have been played and Magdeburg look not convincing. The moment this began came during the match against Schalke 04 in September. The team of Christian Titz were cruising to victory and were already 2-0 up after 30 minutes when Schalke suddenly scored. It swung the momentum the other…

Walking into a Minefield

October 7, 2023, was a dark day. Hamas attacked Israel on an unprecedented scale. The attack has drawn condemnation from all corners as it highlighted the nature of this organisation and their intentions: destroy their neighbouring country. In football, this attack has left traces as well. Fans and players alike have voiced their opinions. However,…