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Page 1 — The big 50+1 fan Dietmar Hopp
Page 2 — Last Olympic chance for the German soccer players
Who plays against whom and when?
Which game should you definitely not miss?
Leverkusen against Dortmund, the current challenger against the former. Borussia defied bad luck in the Champions League and wants to show their critics; Aki Watzke recently complained that his team was being exposed to “a barrage of media fire”. Thanks to the 3-1 win at AC Milan, they qualified early for the round of 16 in the toughest of the eight preliminary groups, despite two winless and goalless games at the start. That’s a nice success, even if a place in the round of 16 is no surprise given the club’s sales figures.
After the win against Milan, Edin Terzić attested to Mats Hummels’s world-class performance and named him a “football god” in reference to Jürgen Kohler’s historic tackle in the 1997 Champions League semi-final in Manchester. However, he recently stood out for his earthly defensive skills against Bayern, Stuttgart and Austria. After the game and the usual praise in the press, Hummels said that apart from three or four games, the season was actually going well. However, with a defeat in Leverkusen, BVB would finally say goodbye to the title race on matchday 13. He would then be 13 points behind Leverkusen.
Which game can you miss with a clear conscience?
Borussia Mönchengladbach against TSG Hoffenheim, who announced on Thursday: “TSG Hoffenheim is a ’50+1′ rule club again.” So TSG now wants to be one of the normal clubs. Nice try. In 2015, the members of the association approved the decision to give Dietmar Hopp the majority of voting rights in the GmbH, which was actually not compatible with the 50+1 rule, because according to it, the majority of decisions must always remain with the association. The DFL and DFB allowed it with an exemption because SAP co-founder Hopp had put money into the Verba… er club since 1989. This is how TSG, whose stadium cannot be easily reached from any major city, went from being a district league team to being a Bundesliga team. Without Hopp’s money: impossible. Now Hopp gives up his majority of votes. “This marks the end of a chapter in TSG’s history that has brought the club and me a lot of mistrust and hostility,” Hopp was quoted as saying on the club’s homepage. “I know that the 50+1 rule, which I have always supported and have always acted in accordance with, is a valuable asset in German football.” German football owes a lot to TSG Hoffenheim, for example Julian Nagelsmann.
Who is in the spotlight?
Agyemang Diawusie, who died suddenly on Tuesday at the age of 25. Jahn Regensburg, the club where Diawusie played, said it was a sudden cardiac death, “presumably caused by a viral infection with suspected myocarditis.” Many German professional clubs expressed their condolences. Achim Beierlorzer, Jahn’s sports director, wrote: “We can still hardly put our bewilderment into words, and we are all finding it incredibly difficult to come to terms with this loss.” Diawusie played for Jahn in his youth, also for 1. FC Nürnberg, and later for RB Leipzig, Wehen Wiesbaden, Ingolstadt and Dynamo Dresden, among others. He only returned to Regensburg in the summer. Jahn let it be known that the third division game on Sunday against Freiburg II would take place; this had been decided in consultation with Diawusie’s “closest confidants – his family, his closest friends, his advisor, his teammates and the coaching team”.
Leverkusen against Dortmund, the current challenger against the former. Borussia defied bad luck in the Champions League and wants to show their critics; Aki Watzke recently complained that his team was being exposed to “a barrage of media fire”. Thanks to the 3-1 win at AC Milan, they qualified early for the round of 16 in the toughest of the eight preliminary groups, despite two winless and goalless games at the start. That’s a nice success, even if a place in the round of 16 is no surprise given the club’s sales figures.
