Bundesliga Fanatic

Four was the unlucky number for Borussia Dortmund. Four matches over the space of four months in 2003 marked the end of the beginning. Financial trouble It all started in the third qualifying round of the Champions League in August with Dortmund losing 4-2 on penalties to Club Brugge K.V. – a cruel way to [...]

Bundesliga Rewind – 1979-80 UEFA Cup Final Borussia Mönchengladbach vs. Eintracht Frankfurt This Saturday, the eyes of the footballing world will all be sharply focused on Wembley Stadium in London as FC Bayern München take on Borussia Dortmund in the first ever all German final of the UEFA Champions League or, for that matter, its [...]

Part II: Ausfahrt Bundesliga Brinkmann was driving on the Autobahn, having just trained with FSV Zwickau, for whom he was going to sign, when he received a call from Eintracht Frankfurt’s head office asking him to stop by. It sounded so far-fetched to Brinkmann that he hung up thinking it was a prank. But it [...]

“I’m not in right now… If you want to reach me you can find me down my local pub from five in the evening to five in the morning – Beeeeeeeeeeep.” It’s not an answer phone message you would want your mum to hear. And it’s certainly not a message you would expect from a [...]

On Saturday, May 25th, Bayern München have a chance to finally add the much coveted and desired European trophy.  The much anticipated all German final is a truly historic occasion for the club and one that can dispel the ghosts of last year’s tragic loss.  Bayern failed to win the trophy in 2010 and 2012 so [...]

Running an ad campaign for a condom company wasn’t in line with the head of the DFB’s league committee sense of decorum. FC 08 Homburg is these days fighting against relegation in their current Regionalliga Südwest campaign. The team from the Saarland has featured in three Bundesliga seasons during their greatest time towards the end [...]

A number of Bundesliga players have tried to entertain the German public off the pitch as well by recording their own songs. Here is a brief history of the musical history of German football. Visitors to the annual Oktoberfest in Munich may have heard a strange folksy kind of song in one of the beer [...]

Ahead of Bayern Munich’s mammoth second leg semifinal against FC Barcelona, we look back at an earlier European encounter between the two, the 1995/96 UEFA Cup semifinals.  Their run to the UEFA Cup final that year was both unlikely and symbolic.  It was a tumultuous period in Bayern’s history and the eventual  Cup win was symbolized the end of a dark [...]

Chile’s national team coach, German Rudi Gutendorf barely managed to escape Pinochet and his minions during the dictator’s power grab in 1973. After serving at 50 different stations as a coach, 86-year-old Rudi Gutendorf can tell a lot of interesting stories. Some of them have become legendary. For instance, back when the native of Koblenz [...]

The decade started on a high and ended in a deep deep trauma. Where did it all go wrong for German football in the 1990s? An influx of Eastern talent could have helped to make the national team ‘invincible for years to come.’ As it turns out, Italia 90 and Euro 96 were the last [...]