The European Championships are coming up soon. It’s high time to look at the deeds of the heroes of yesteryear. You don’t need family ties to have things in common.
So let’s turn our attention to the 1972 European champions. Paul Breitner had the Mao Bible on his bedside table, of course, but if you say Ramba, you have to say Zamba. Let’s move from comrades to Swiss, and we come to Günter Netzer, the man with the dual passport.
An anniversary is coming up soon: ten years of the little red book with the white cross, ten years of Swiss citizenship. There is now a criminal chamber at the regional court that is very interested in letting Netzer have his say.
But Netzer has no interest in testifying in court about his contribution to the “Summer Fairytale”. So he stays in his redoubt. That is his right in Switzerland. In Germany he would have a duty to appear in court.
The depth of the room is getting a little narrower. Because now there is a criminal court in Frankfurt that will keep an eye on whether Netzer is planning a visit to his old homeland for the European Championships. When the presiding judge wondered out loud this week whether he could possibly be invited to “Summer Fairytale 2.0”, it almost sounded like a threat. Or a warning.
