sports Archives - Page 27 of 38 - understand-culture

The Keepers of the Club

der Wart — the keeper, the warden. Duden: a person who is responsible for something specific or supervises it. The word comes from wahren, to keep or to guard. On its own it is old-fashioned. It lives on in compounds, and every German club has several of them.

der Kassenwart — the keeper of the cash box, the club treasurer

der Zeugwart — the keeper of the kit

der Platzwart — the keeper of the grounds

der Gerätewart — the keeper of the equipment

der Turnwart — the keeper of gymnastics, who organizes training and looks after the apparatus

der Jugendwart — the person in charge of the youth section

der Torwart — the keeper of the goal, the goalkeeper

One Defender, One Opponent

On 7 July 1974 in Munich, West Germany beat the Netherlands 2:1 in the World Cup final. Berti Vogts had been told to attack Johan Cruyff only 30 meters in front of his own goal. Vogts received a yellow card. Shortly afterwards he ran to the sideline and told the coach, Helmut Schön: Ich mach’ das jetzt auf meine Art. I will do it my way now. The German Football Association explains what that meant: konsequente Manndeckung, strict man-marking. Schön agreed, unwillingly. Under man-marking, each defender marks one opponent rather than a zone.

A License That Requires Sustainability

In December 2021 the clubs of the German Football League decided to make sustainability a condition of the license to play. TSG Hoffenheim described the two Bundesliga divisions as the first major professional football leagues with mandatory sustainability criteria in their licensing rules.

The criteria were adopted on 30 May 2022. They cover club management and organization, environment and resources, and stakeholders. For the license for the 2023/24 season, clubs had to meet 39 minimum criteria of the first category.

Three Quarters of the Club

Section 33 of the German Civil Code sets the default rule for changing the statutes of a registered club. A club’s own statutes may provide otherwise. A change needs three quarters of the votes cast. A change of the club’s purpose needs the consent of all members. Members who are absent must give their consent in text form, for example by email.

On 1 June 2017, the members of VfB Stuttgart voted on moving the professional football department into a separate company. This required a three-quarter majority. 9,099 members voted, and 84.2 percent of the valid votes said yes. Daimler then paid 41.5 million euros for 11.75 percent of the new company.

The Season Is Fixed in June

On 27 June 2025, the German Football League published the dates and pairings of all 34 matchdays of the 2025/26 Bundesliga season. The season began on 22 August. From June, every club and every fan knew on which weekend each match would take place. The exact kickoff times are set only during the season, and fans have complained about the times they are given. In 2022, after 1. FC Union Berlin’s away match in Freiburg was set for 5:30 p.m. on a Sunday, a Union fan told the Berliner Kurier: Wir alle müssen am nächsten Tag arbeiten. We all have to work the next day.

“Go Out and Play Football”

Geht’s raus und spielt’s Fußball. Go out and play football. It is one of the best-known sentences of Franz Beckenbauer. Sky Sport lists it among his famous quotes as his tactical instruction as a coach.

FC Bayern records a longer version and places it in the dressing room before the World Cup final of July 1990: Geht’s raus, habt Spaß und spielt’s Fußball. Go out, have fun and play football. Germany won the final against Argentina, 1 to 0. The exact wording differs between the sources.

The Kickoff Time Is Binding

German amateur football has written rules for the start of a match. The youth rules of the Wuppertal-Niederberg district of the Lower Rhine football association say: Die im DFBnet hinterlegte Anstoßzeit ist verbindlich. The kickoff time recorded in DFBnet, the online system in which matches are registered, is binding. If the start is delayed, the waiting time is normally half the regular playing time. In Württemberg, the referees’ handout for the 2025/26 season says that if a team does not show up, the other club must wait 45 minutes. After that, it may refuse to play.

The Triple Jumper Who Sued for His Place

The triple jumper Charles Friedek was not nominated for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. The German Olympic Sports Confederation said he had not jumped 17 meters in two competitions. Friedek sued for damages. In 2015 the Federal Court of Justice found that the nomination guidelines did not require the 17 meters to be reached in two different competitions. A monopoly association, the court said, is verpflichtet, diese Leistungen jedem zu gewähren, der die Voraussetzungen für die Leistungsgewährung erfüllt, obliged to grant these benefits to everyone who meets the conditions.

When the Coach Goes Shopping

In March 2020, Bayern Munich’s coach Hansi Flick publicly called for new players. The sporting director, Hasan Salihamidžić, clearly disliked this. Flick had also asked for a veto on transfers. A sports site wrote that there had already been Kompetenzgerangel, wrangling over competences, with the previous coach. During the 2020/21 season the disagreements continued. Club officials objected that Flick had contacted players he wanted on his own. In April 2021, after winning the league, the cup and the Champions League in 2019/20, Flick said he wanted to end his contract early.

Old Men’s Football

In March 2001, after a 0:3 Champions League defeat at Olympique Lyon, the Bayern Munich president Franz Beckenbauer spoke at the midnight banquet. He said the team had played Altherren-Fußball, old men’s football, like Uwe Seeler’s veterans’ team. The players then met in captain Stefan Effenberg’s room. Bayern went on to win the Champions League that season. Effenberg later said the team knew its performance had been catastrophic. He counted the banquet speech among the reasons for the title, even if über die Wortwahl können wir reden oder diskutieren, we can talk or argue about the choice of words.