The link between football and pop has not always been the best, particularly in German where Schlager seemed to dominate the PA systems of the Bundesliga grounds between Hamburg and Munich. There are highlights however, that seem worth re-playing decades later. This video is one such example.
Udo Jürgens, who has passed away last Saturday aged 80, sang an ode to Helmut Schön after the German national coach retired from his position. This is German Schlager at its best almost.
The function of a lighthouse is to guide ships safely through the night. Football clubs could fulfil a similar task, metaphorically. According to Wikipedia, a lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and used as a navigational aid for maritime pilots…
There has been a trend appearing recently: blogs on football that used to provide excellent content are being discontinued for various reasons. An Old International will also take an extended break. You may have noticed that since July there have been less posts than the usual a-post-a-week. This was initially only seen as a summer…
The biggest sporting event in June/July 2014 saw Germany emerging as worthy winners. Worthy, because their development over the past decade has been very positive. The team has evolved enormously since the exit of the group stages of the Euro 2004 in Portugal. This was Germany’s 4th title and if certain criteria are met, there’ll be another World Cup win within the next quarter century.
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It is the first encounter between East and West in 1974 and almost 3 quarters of the game have passed without any major incident. And yet, for many unnoticed, Georg Buschner, the East German coach has pulled his secret weapon from his sleeve: Erich Hamann. It was the game the East was eagerly awaiting ever…
Every time a World Cup is about to kick-off, the Germans are somehow said to be among the favourites. While some teams were great, many German or West German teams were simply lucky: the team of in 1982 that beat France on penalties in a semi-final which was overshadowed by Toni Schumacher’s criminal assault on…
The fate of FC Magdeburg told in 7 posts. After the previous ones looked at off pitch failures, this looks at a season that ended in tears as Magdeburg missed out on promotion once more. The history of the club is one of few ups and a few more downs. Sadly, there are more downs…
It was all set: The champagne in the fridge, the venue for the after match party. The sun was doing her best on this early May weekend. The veterans from Rotterdam 1974 played the warm-up game for the men’s team. Albeit, all this turned out to be premature. The ground, the old Ernst-Grube-Stadion, was decently…
After 2 weeks of Champions League football, the international break provided some interesting insight in the state of the French and Dutch soccer teams at this early stage of the World Cup year. The insights can be summarized very quickly: France seem to have the core of a team that will surprise some while the…
Writing about football can be fascinating. Yet, the readers remain a species largely unknown. Using google analytics gives a valuable insight into how many people click in general on any blog post in any given time frame. Additionally, those tools help to see who has shared the content where. The backend at WordPress allows to…