The German Alpine Club, DAV, has ten rules for indoor climbing. The second is Partnercheck vor jedem Start!, a partner check before every climb. The two partners check each other mit Augen und Händen, with eyes and hands: the knot and tie-in point, the belay carabiner, the belay device, the harness and its buckles, and the knot at the end of the rope. Since 2015 the DAV and its partner KLEVER have published accident statistics for climbing gyms every year. The report for 2025 covered 341 reported accidents in Germany and Austria. In all five ground falls with automatic belay devices, the climber had not clipped in. Julius Kerscher of DAV safety research: Viele schwere Unfälle beim Klettern wären vermeidbar. Many serious climbing accidents could be avoided. The report concludes: Der Partnercheck vor dem Losklettern ist eine der wichtigsten Sicherheitsmaßnahmen. The partner check before climbing is one of the most important safety measures.
sports
Forty Points
Bundesliga clubs in danger of relegation talk about the 40-Punkte-Marke, the 40-point mark. The league’s own website calls it magic. The record shows how much room it leaves. Since the three-point rule began in 1995–96, the team with the most points ever to be relegated was Karlsruher SC in 1997–98. It went down in 16th place with 38 points. So, as the league wrote in March 2022, 39 points had always been enough to stay up. Since 2008–09, an average of 32 points was enough for the relegation playoff place. Hamburger SV once stayed up with only 27 points, through the playoff.
The Zero Must Stand
Die Null muss stehen! The zero must stand, which means: keep a clean sheet. Before the 1997 UEFA Cup final against Inter Milan, Schalke 04 coach Huub Stevens said: “‘Die Null muss stehen!’ Das ist unser Wahlspruch.” The zero must stand. That is our motto. Schalke won the cup on 21 May 1997.
The phrase became Stevens’s trademark. When he returned to Schalke in December 2020, a fan’s message called it “der ewige Spruch”, the eternal saying. Stevens is Dutch, but the saying became part of German football.
The Fan Officer
Every club in the top two German football divisions must have a Fanbeauftragter, a fan officer, as the supporters’ named contact. The rules have required a fan contact since 1992. The league’s handbook for fan officers marks out the role. He is the face of the club to the fans and follows the club’s instructions. But he leistet ausdrücklich keine soziale Arbeit, explicitly does no social work. That belongs to the independent fan projects, which are youth welfare bodies. Security belongs to stewards, security officers and the police. In December 2025 the league decided that Bundesliga clubs will have six fan officers instead of three.
“He Will Fulfill This Contract”
In spring 2022 Robert Lewandowski wanted to leave Bayern Munich for FC Barcelona. On 15 May 2022 Bayern’s chief executive Oliver Kahn said: Er hat einen Vertrag bis 2023. Diesen Vertrag wird er erfüllen. Basta! He has a contract until 2023. He will fulfill this contract. Basta! Two months later the transfer was agreed. Barcelona paid a fee of 45 million euros.
Seventy Years With One Supplier
On 21 March 2024 the German Football Association announced that Nike would supply the national teams’ kit from 2027. Adidas had supplied it for more than 70 years. The association said Nike had made das mit Abstand beste wirtschaftliche Angebot, by far the best economic offer. The reaction reached the federal government. Health Minister Karl Lauterbach called it a wrong decision wo Kommerz eine Tradition und ein Stück Heimat vernichtet, where commerce destroys a tradition and a piece of home. Economics Minister Robert Habeck said he would have wished for a bit more patriotism toward Germany as a place to do business. Bavaria’s premier Markus Söder said German football was Heimat pur, pure home.
Freiburg’s Protest
On 2 April 2022 Bayern Munich won 4:1 in Freiburg. During a substitution in the 86th minute, Bayern briefly had twelve players on the pitch. SC Freiburg filed a protest against the result with the German Football Association. The club stressed that it had no part in the error. It said the association’s rules had forced it formal in eine aktive Rolle, formally into an active role. The decision came after einem intensiven und äußerst differenzierten Abwägungsprozess, an intensive and very careful weighing process. The association’s sports court rejected the protest. The fault lay with the referees.
A Grade for Every Player
After big football matches, German newspapers publish an Einzelkritik, an individual review. Each player gets a school grade from 1 to 6 and a one-line verdict. After Bayern Munich’s Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid in April 2012, the Munich Abendzeitung gave goalkeeper Manuel Neuer a 1: Im Elferschießen dann der Held des Abends, then the hero of the evening in the penalty shoot-out. Philipp Lahm got a 2: Kurbelte viele Angriffe nach vorne an, got many attacks going.
The Sports Badge
The Deutsches Sportabzeichen, the German sports badge, celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2013. It is earned against fixed tables, not against other athletes. Candidates pass one exercise in each of four groups: endurance, strength, speed and coordination. Each exercise earns 1 point for bronze, 2 for silver or 3 for gold. Bronze level is needed in every group. Proof of swimming ability is also required, every five years for adults.
Eighty-Four Million National Coaches
During football tournaments, Germans say the country has as many Bundestrainer, national coaches, as it has inhabitants. In July 2026 a Berliner Zeitung columnist recalled the saying that 84 Millionen Bundestrainer sat in front of screens and in pubs and joined the discussion. During the Covid pandemic the saying moved into medicine. In May 2020 the comedian Carolin Kebekus mocked the 80 Millionen Hobby-Virologen, the 80 million amateur virologists, in a video released ahead of her ARD show.