Of course, the clearest warning from the Bundesliga about right-wing extremists came from Christian Streich. “Now the agitators are coming and they are trying to find a platform to gain power,” he told RTL in February. The fact that he called for demonstrations against the AfD affected the party more than it admitted. Streich is not an easy enemy; the butcher’s son is a man from the people, from the Baden tribe, as you can hear. He is also a well-recognized, successful football coach.
With the outsider SC Freiburg, Streich proved that professional football is possible without big money. That continuity and identity, authenticity and attitude make up for many euros. Now he has announced that he is quitting after the season. “This club is my life and I am extremely grateful for the love and great support that I have always received,” he said in a video statement. Not only will Freiburg miss him, someone like him is difficult to replace in German football.
Streich was the conscience of the league for a long time. In his legendary press conferences he stood up for migrants and women. He could also rave about Ronaldo and Franz Beckenbauer. With his anecdotes, whose message everyone understood and enjoyed listening to, and his odd sense of humor, he was a kind of Mörike of football.
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And he was a loyal fellow. Streich worked for his SC Freiburg for 29 years – first in his youth, later as an assistant coach, and since January 2012 as head coach. The student city and stronghold of the Greens is not a natural location for top-class football. But Streich, an heir to Volker Finke, turned it into a thriving biotope. His biotope.
The instructor Streich relied on his own youth players; on Sunday against Leverkusen, four players from Freiburg’s youth team were in the starting line-up. He only bought what fit harmoniously into the Breisgau ecosystem. Anyone who went to Freiburg knew what was valued about them and what was expected of them. Discipline is Freiburg’s core. This created a unity on the pitch that was difficult for most opponents to beat.
He didn’t stand for winning football
When was the last time you saw a Freiburg professional make a derogatory gesture towards a teammate? Even a national player like Nils Petersen never complained about his role as a joker. The Italian international Vincenzo Grifo was not happy elsewhere and came back. The fan hit We want to see you fight You rarely if ever hear it in Freiburg.
The Freiburg Way became and remains a model for many. Streich was relegated once, nine years ago. He immediately rose again as second division champion. Freiburg is no longer a candidate for relegation; for five years now, Streich has kept a team without outstanding individual players permanently in the top ten of the Bundesliga. The best season was the previous one, when the club finished fifth and almost ended up in the Champions League.
Maybe it was luck that it didn’t come to that. Because what one shouldn’t overlook despite all the appreciation for Streich is that what he cultivated was not winning football. Most recently, Freiburg lost 5-0 at West Ham United. Streich has already been eliminated against a club from Slovenia.
“That’s not a colleague for me”
In 2022, Freiburg would have won the cup by a penalty shootout, but Streich is not a coach for the big tasks. In contrast to some romantics who would like to see him as national coach, he knows this. He was the right man in the right place.
In addition, Streich was not a role model in every respect. Rumpelstiltskin remained feared among referees on the sidelines. He could have copied his trick from the baboon rock: he threatens with his arms and eyes particularly violently at the moment when several people from the opponent or the referee team are in his line of sight. None of them are really meant, but several can feel addressed.
The then Nuremberg coach Gertjan Verbeek once felt so insulted by Streich that he refused to take part in the obligatory press conference with him. “That’s not a colleague for me,” said the Dutchman. Even Streich’s cheering expresses more aggression than joy. Freiburg substitutes sometimes run away after scoring goals – out of fear of their coach’s boxing punches.
But nobody is perfect. Football is passion, in Freiburg even more so than anywhere else. And what defines this sport in terms of identity, despite all the commercialization that has also taken hold in the Black Forest, and what social power it can develop – Christian Streich has embodied these values like no other.
Of course, the clearest warning from the Bundesliga about right-wing extremists came from Christian Streich. “Now the agitators are coming and they are trying to find a platform to gain power,” he told RTL in February. The fact that he called for demonstrations against the AfD affected the party more than it admitted. Streich is not an easy enemy; the butcher’s son is a man from the people, from the Baden tribe, as you can hear. He is also a well-recognized, successful football coach.
With the outsider SC Freiburg, Streich proved that professional football is possible without big money. That continuity and identity, authenticity and attitude make up for many euros. Now he has announced that he will retire after the season. “This club is my life and I am extremely grateful for the affection and great support that I have always received,” he said in a video statement. Not only will Freiburg miss him, someone like him is difficult to replace in German football.
