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10 Minute Madness

Whatever momentum Magdeburg may have gathered over the last three games, it was all gone within ten minutes against Fürth. While the first half looked decent, if not solid, between the 65th and the 75th minute, Magdeburg gave the game and their good position away. The goal difference before was -11 which compared well with…

FIFA’s coffers

As a little note for the weekend:

According to its latest report, FIFA have recorded $5.8bn revenues in 2022, largely due to the World Cup in Qatar. According to Wikipedia the Gross Domestic Product of Guam for 2017 was estimated to have been $5.793bn; for 2022 there were no figures available yet. For 2022 the list of GDP shows that FIFA would rank somewhere between Lesotho and the Central African Republic in terms of revenues. For a non-profit organization this is a lot.

This gives this association an incredible amount of financial and political power. And it is of course not shy to use this. It has borrowed the city of Berne around CHF1.8bn over the last six years. Apparently, the towns and cities to which FIFA has leant money had found no other lenders despite their ratings being impeccable. What is not so impeccable is of course the reputation of FIFA. The organization is mired in scandal, yet the mayors seemed not to care.

At the same time global governing body of soccer has ‚only’ donated $1m to the earthquake relief fund for Turkey and Syria.

FIFA is drowning in money says this report in the German broadsheet F.A.Z.

image credit: Money Bags by 401(K) via flickr under CC BY-SA 2.0

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fan culture: all new or swapping one for another?

In an article published in The Guardian, the author claims that England fan culture is changing. This is supported by a statement from Jamie Cleland, an academic who is stating that the trip to Qatar was too expensive for many ordinary England supporters. “With the World Cup occurring mid-season, close to Christmas, and in a…

People in white clothes

The German TV pundit and former player Sandro Wagner has come under fire after a comment on TV in which he called the traditional dress of the Qatari men, the Thawb, a bathrobe. This was insensitive and he has acknowledged his mistake and duly apologized. This is an example of cultural insensitivity not only by…

Stadium 974

In the sea of poison surrounding Qatar 2022, it is difficult if not outright impossible to find a little drop of water. It exists however. Some innovative and little known fact is that the Ras Abu Aboud Stadium near the port of Doha has been built using modular shipping containers, which beforehand have been used…

The Return of the Real Nr 9

In a very good match of football, Germany cam back from one goal down to level the score by Niclas Füllkrug who is an out and out centre forward – a real number nine that has been missing since the retirement of Miroslav Klose. 🤓 #ESPGER pic.twitter.com/gHrsen14Wg— Olis Cartoons (@OlisCartoons) November 28, 2022 By coincidence…

Rico’s Curse

There are things which regardless of how often you try, will never work, you will always fail. Rico Schmitt, the coach of SV Meppen must have felt as though he is living a groundhog day when he faced FC Magdeburg. The away side went home with three points in the bag and hosts made long…

Germany’s World Cup Goals

Ever wondered who scored all these goals for Germany at the World Cup? The video shows in roughly 62 minutes every goal scored since 1954. There is one omission though, East Germany beat West Germany in 1974 and the goal is missing. Besides this arguably disputable fact this is a very good collection.

The Writers’ Game

Just before the EURO 2016 gets underway for real, the French Sports Writers Association hosted the German national writers’ team in Paris as a warm up for EURO 2016. The match was a game of German organisation vs. French improvisation. There are stories that are simply unbelievable. Playing for your country is one of those.…

Reinhard ‘Stan’ Libuda vs. Liverpool 1966

When Liverpool play Borussia Dortmund tonight, there will be the odd mention of 1966 when both teams met in the final of the Cup Winners’ Cup at Hampden Park, Glasgow. The game 50 years ago was played under entirely different signs. Liverpool were favourites and Dortmund had nothing but the role as outsider to play. Originally, it was thought that West Ham would play Liverpool in the final but the Germans had other ideas.

The final of 1699 was decided by Stan Libuda’s long range kick from roughly 25 metres. Normally, this was not his habit. He was a dribbler and a fine technical player. If he got past one defender, he waited until the opponent got up to his feet again, only to fool him again before he passed to his team mates. The goal in extra time secured Dortmund’s win and the first European trophy for a German club at the third attempt after Eintracht Frankfurt in 1960 and 1860 Munich in 1965 lost their respective final matches.

The game today sees Dortmund being the favourite even though they have a new coach, Thomas Tuchel who has replaced Jürgen Klopp, the current Liverpool coach. That makes this match tonight a rather special occasion.

image credit: Nationaal Archief via WikiCommons under CC BY-SA 3.0 NL