Recent titleholders of the Footballer of the Year in Germany award

[Disclaimer: This article appeared last year (when I was really busy (…)), before the Volkswagen scandal (and cuts in the VfL budget), and also kind of before *Red Bull Bundesliga* (though that’s hinted at). It’s still rather interesting, I think, not just for fans of German football, so I’m posting it now. I was asked previously by 11Freunde to post the magazine cover instead of photos from the magazine. This is my translation of their article. I am not affiliated with 11Freunde, just a fan.]

The Decline

The national leagues are becoming tedious, the Champions League always sees the same winners. Modern football is currently ruining itself. But what comes after?

(text: Christoph Biermann, photos: Jann Höfer; 11Freunde #180)

Keep reading

because i promised my friend i’d add my own thoughts (as a fan of a very very rich club) to this, please find below the break some thoughtful ramblings from a bayern fan who is still very much a football romantic when it comes to finances -- also i highly recommend you all read the original article, it’s very interesting

(idk if this has been posted here but i need this on my blog i laughed so hard at this)

these clubs who are on the verge of getting relegated all kicked rb leipzig in the ass… name a more iconic trio

football edits challenge ↳ day 7 - favorite tournament/cup: bundesliga

who are they, these men from bre

incredible

Borussia Dortmund’s scoreboards were presented in retro-style as a protest agains RB Leipzig.

Bundesliga 16/17 Matchday 18

In other good news

There’s something incredibly fitting in the drama in Bundesliga coming from corporations. Here I’m used to la Liga where our drama always devolves into vague allusions to the civil war or conflicting nationalisms. I like the German version better, tbh. It seems more immediately relevant to the state of international football.

“It seems more immediately relevant to the state of international football” like i really liked this part lmao and that’s why i wanted to reblog and comment bc honestly, you’re right? there’s a lot of things about the BuLi which are almost quaint in a way, when compared to the backdrop of the other huge leagues (EPL, La Liga). Ticket prices, membership, even access to the players is a lot more open to the public and is far less of a thing reserved solely for the “elite” class (which ofc is the whole package and culture of EPL now). it’s the reason the mantra of our protests is always “football is nothing without fans.”

German football has always been really focused on staying connected to the average person. Have some relevant trivia:

And some less relevant rambling about my feelings:

I am Austrian but I spent a huge chunk of my life in Germany and I now also work in Germany some parts of the month so Bundesliga football was always a big thing for me, and in a country like Austria  where my club has just over 200k Facebook followers it is just a naturally tight-knit community, but when you look at clubs like Bayern München (this is just my example because I’ve read a lot about their club history, don’t throw tantrums about not using another example) you see how important fans actually are to them and then you look at other clubs and what they do for their fans and how important it is for the fans and the club to go hand in hand, it is actually really special. Nobody at Bayern München gets to wear the #12 on their shirt because of the “12th man” being the fans and the number is reserved for them. I am sure other clubs also have their little ways to make their fans feel special, but when these German clubs do it you feel it. And I think what makes this extraordinary is because this is a huge, football-focused country where you learn about football from the moment you come out the womb, pretty much. Football is always on somehow, people talk about it, I don’t think I’ve ever spent a day without seeing some football related sticker on a car, someone wearing some sort of merchandise or whatever it may be, but the feeling you get from the Bundesliga in general is phenomenal. It really means a lot to those teams to have a connection with their fans, and I didn’t get that vibe from other countries I’ve been to and read about (of course I don’t have a personal connection to all countries ever created in the world and thus don’t know their football history, but I trust other people from those countries when they describe the vibes they’re getting).

I guess what I am trying to say is that football should always be about sport and fans, like @batplusbleu said. But now there’s a club coming along that really isn’t about this connection at all and it throws people off guard because football was such an important part of their lives so far and they believed that their support and love for their club meant they always felt appreciated and would give it their best, but with this club they don’t even have to have “fans” in that sense or a big support system, it’s only money right now and that’s what really bothers people. Or at least that’s what it feels like right now. I had a conversation about this with two Germans the other night at the Bayern vs Dortmund match and you could really tell how they were feeling about and they even said that Red Bull Leipzig don’t deserve that first place, and they’d rather see Bayern there because their club spirit made them a great team before money would even be considered. And that really stuck with me. 

Anyways… I’m just rambling!

reblog 4 the sweet goat of  FC Köln

ignore 4 the ominous harbinger of doom, the red bull of rb leipzig

A Bavarian Team vs A German Team (x)