Record profits, European trophies, FC Hollywood and Berlin returns to First Division I’d rather have turmoil and titles than no turmoil and no titles,” says Bayern Munich goalkeeper Oliver Kahn, who repeatedly watches the movie “Papillon” for inspiration. Germany’s biggest, richest club won its record 14th Bundesliga championship last year while bickering between players, the coach and management earned the club the nickname, FC Hollywood. President Franz Beckenbauer criticized players in his newspaper column. Juergen Klinsmann, usually a model sportsman, kicked a huge hole in a sign board when subbed by coach Giovanni Trapattoni. The other seven German national team players on the team, all of whom were part of its 1996 European Championship triumph, shared a tumultuous existence. Captain Lothar Matthaeus, already exiled from the national team, had a lion’s share of the squabbles, which he capped off with the publication of his “secret diaries.” It temporarily placed his future with the club in jeopardy, but his irreproachable on-field performances saved the unpopular Matthaeus. Teammate Mario Basler said Matthaeus, Germany’s most capped player, won’t be able to find 10 players to join him in his farewell game, whenever the 36-year-old finally hangs up his boots. “Mario will be invited to my farewell game and he’ll also get a Marlboro,” said Matthaeus, referring to one of Basler’s vices. Meanwhile, Trapattoni took away Matthaeus’ captain’s band and handed it to the sensible, well-educated Thomas Helmer, “because he thinks before he opens his mouth,” Trapattoni said. The Italian coach also said Basler could be one of Europe’s great players ù “like Platini” ù if “he started living the life of a pro.” Trapattoni gladly bid farewell to Klinsmann, predicting replacement Giovane Elber would surpass Klinsmann’s contributions. He also welcomes dynamic French left back Bixente Lizarazu and believes Bayern is in line for its first European Champions’ Cup ù now the Champions League ù since 1976. “Real Madrid has Raul, Suker and Roberto Carlos,” he said. “So what? We have Elber, Mario [Basler] and [Ruggiero] Rizzitelli.” Of course, the defending Champions League winner is Borussia Dortmund. And since the competition has been opened up to runners-up from the big leagues, Bayer Leverkusen joins the party after its surprise second-place finish. But Bayern, which ended a long European drought with its 1996 UEFA Cup win, has been known to underachieve with its array of stars. Borussia Dortmund kept it from the 1995 and 1996 league titles, but Bayern’s treasury remains the country’s biggest. It figures on budget of $150 million for the coming season, a $30 million increase over last year. This in a year when sponsors will spend $600 million in German soccer.
Counting the cash
On the final day of the last season, Bayern donned new, dark jerseys and put them on the market before the game was over. They’ve since sold 350,000 of them, earning some $23 million. Last year, Bayern led the league with a home attendance average of 58,059. The entire league averaged 29,644, a record for the fourth straight year and the eighth straight increase. Judging from this summer’s activities, the Bundesliga could see another attendance rise. The Germans’ hunger for soccer didn’t subside even as Jan Ullrich became their first countryman to win the Tour de France. In Bremen, for instance, 18,000 showed up to a Intertoto Cup match, a tournament usually watched by the grounds crew. More importantly, season-ticket sales set a record, with 250,000 sold three weeks before kickoff. Bayern management said it could have sold 50,000, but it stops its sales at 20,000 ($3 million) so as not to snub non-club members. Dortmund fans snapped up 38,000.
‘Call me Nevio’
Dortmund coach Ottmar Hitzfeld resigned, citing stress, and was replaced by Italian Nevio Scala. The former Parma coach immediately shocked the Germans by allowing his players to call him “Nevio” and use the informal second-person pronoun du instead of the formal Sie. “Doesn’t that undermine your authority?” the press asked. Scala explained that he still manages to win players’ respect, and his record at Parma proves it. His new club, meanwhile, was deciding how much to fine Steffen Freund, who had the audacity to utter these inflammatory words: “I’ve learned more from [teammate] Matthias Sammer than from Ottmar Hitzfeld.” Olaf Thon, who helped Schalke win the UEFA Cup for its first trophy since 1972, knows better. “First of all, I stand 100 percent behind the coach,” he said. “And second of all, he’s right.” Schalke finished only 12th in the league, and may be hard-pressed to improve. It’s paid off a $15 million debt, but lacks the finances to purchase big-name players. It has, however, taken advantage of the Bosman Ruling, which led the Bundesliga to lift the limit on all European players, and it could field more foreigners than Germans. That’s apparently no problem for Schalke’s loyal fans (36,493 average in 1996-97). “It would be great to play with products of the Ruhr,” says fan club president Rolf Rojek, “but whoever wears the blue jersey is a Schalker. And we’d rather have Abdullah than Andy Moeller.” Hertha Berlin, whose promotion brings top-flight soccer to Germany’s biggest city (and once again the capital) after six years, has a corps of foreigners from 10 different countries, led by Dutchman Bryan Roy. (Hertha also has seven Berliners.) In fact, the Bundesliga welcomes 40 new foreigners this season. Two Auslaender are Americans: Claudio Reyna and Chad Deering of VfL Wolfsburg. Deering played in 26 games as Wolfsburg won promotion for the first time in history. Reyna was purchased from Leverkusen. They face an uphill battle. Sponsor Volkswagen has enabled it to double its budget, to a meager $12 million, and to enlarge the stadium, still the league’s smallest, to 20,000. Wolfsburg’s season ticket sales have jumped from 500 last year to 7,000. In a league where usually only one of the three promoted teams survives, Wolfsburg’s coach, Willi Reimann, remains optimistic. “The teams below 10th place last season aren’t better than we are,” said Reimann.
by Soccer America
Senior Editor Mike Woitalla
