In principle, this European Championship would have been quickly told if it hadn’t been for this one match… From the German point of view, however, it really is a quick story. The group draw gave them Holland, Latvia and the Czech Republic as opponents. The first game against Holland was actually a good one. But…
Again one of the really big tournaments with a huge triumph and the obligatory jubilant celebration of a German team. And again a little troublemaker who wants to spoil the fun. The tournament was held for the first time with 16 teams and was thus equal in size to an earlier World Cup. The commercialisation…
1) “Preliminary skirmish” There is only one little story to tell about this European Championship. And it goes like this: Micha was my partner. We struggled the whole 91/92 season. There was no luck — or was I just incapable of perceiving it? We just managed to hold on. Michael Friedrich tormented us throughout with…
The European Championships were gradually upgraded, or, if you want to put it spitefully, the commercialisation was more and more in the foreground and the paying spectators were far from being lured to the limits of their financial capacity. Final tournaments were organised, with 8 participants, two groups of four teams each, i.e. 6 games…
Two of my greatest passions – chess and football – had given way to a third that year. The game of backgammon had totally infected me. Not only did I feel as soon as I learned it that I had already been a backgammon pro in a previous life – learning came very easily to…
My passion for chess – and with it both abilities and illusions – had reached its peak that year. Although I had missed the Berlin Championship for the second time under unusual — one could also say tragic — circumstances, there were only slight doubts about my special abilities, and if there were any, then…
Since I have resolved from the beginning to do everything I write only from memory, I will remain true to this resolution in this text as well. In doing so, I am making the claim that I have already remembered what is worth remembering. And at that time, the European Championships were not of comparable…
After Bayern München had won the Bundesliga home match against Eintracht Frankfurt last Saturday, according to the commentators “laboriously” with 2:1, the same pairing was now on the agenda again in the DFB Cup, with the home advantage reversed. That always brings a bit of excitement and explosiveness, so that here, by almost random selection,…
Germany’s history at major tournaments Sooner or later I have to get rid of this observation and experience anyway. So why not do it here and now? This observation is, I hope, a very individual one and in this way brings to light insights that have not yet been gained. It is also a lot…
There are two things about today’s football that are considered remarkable or even in need of improvement, and they are to be discussed here. One is a worldwide problem, the other is a specifically German problem. The first problem has to do with the rules of football or their current application and interpretation, the other,…
