The AFC & German FA renew partnership deal

The Acting Asian Football Federation President Zhang Jilong and German Football Association (DFB) President Wolfgang Niersbach signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Friday to intensify and continue the partnership between the two bodies in the technical and management areas.

Thanking the DFB for their continuous support, Jilong said the partnership would help AFC's Member Associations in a big way.

"Asian football is on the rise but we need the latest knowhow to get where we want to. I believe this agreement will help us achieve our goals. It will provide us with technical support, which could bridge any existing gap," he said.

"What is really good about this arrangement is that the DFB will be making available their experts directly to our Member Associations. I am sure our Member Associations will be eager to avail of this particular benefit."

Niersbach said it is a continuation of the cooperation between the two bodies.

"I must say it's a continuation of our cooperation as we have been working partners traditionally and now it became more official after signing the MoU," he said.

"We are thankful to AFC for their support to German football in the past and I hope after the signing this MoU, it will continue as we share the same organisational philosophy."

Under the MoU, the DFB will invite coaches appointed by the AFC for the DFB International Coaching Courses for foreign coaches, coaching and technical development course and send experts for courses or seminars organised by the AFC or its Member Associations.

Both the bodies will also exchange information on football management and development, including coaching and mentoring programmes, grassroots and youth development, marketing, media, and information technology.

Ambassador of Germany to Malaysia, His Excellency Dr Guenter Gruber; AFC General Secretary Dato' Alex Soosay and DFB Head of Coach Education and International Relations, Markus Weidner were also present on the occasion.

Lutz Pfannenstiel: I've heard about Subrata Pal's potential

On the second day of the AIFF organized Goalkeeping Course, 'Art of German Goalkeeping' the course instructor Lutz Pfannenstiel spoke about an Indian Goalkeeper, Subrata Pal.

The buzz in the classroom amongst the participants was unmistakable. Lutz Pfannenstiel clarified, "I know, I know… I am talking about his stint with RB Leipzig in Germany."

To the surprise of the participants, Lutz Pfannenstiel knew quite a bit about Subrata Pal but that is not uncommon for a scout like Lutz who has been a personal friend of mine for many, many years and he has been briefed about Indian football by me before he left.

Lutz pointed out that Subrata's stint with the German outfit in division four (Regionalliga Nordost) was a very fruitful one and assured that the standard of the fourth tier in Germany is as good as the Premier League in other parts of the world.

"I got good reviews about him (Subrata). The standard in the German fourth division League is very high I can assure you that. So his stint with Rasen Ballsport Leipzig must have been very good. I've heard about his potential. The standard in Germany is very high and level of competition stays intense."

He continued as the coaches listened. "Germany is the place for goalkeepers! So Pal's training could only have gone in one direction… that is good."

The two-hour long theory session also saw Pfannenstiel stress on the importance and transformation of equipments of a goalkeeper, training methods and so on. Videos were shown to the participants to explain the drills they need to perform in their next practical session.

Speaking on the transformation of equipments Pfannenstiel said, "The equipments of a goalkeeper has changed over the years. From the ball which swings a lot now than probably ten years back, to their gloves, everything has changed. A goalkeeper of the 80's would find life difficult nowadays."

"The need for good quality equipments is paramount. In Africa you don't find good goalkeepers. The reason is that kids who choose goalkeeping have harrowing experience standing under the bar. The grounds are full of stones and they are the ones who have to do the diving. So naturally they don't want to do it again. This is where good quality kits come into play."

Pfannenstiel also pointed out some features of how coaches should train their goalkeepers. "A goalkeeper trains alone with his coach. He is in that way separated from the main team's training. But the Head Coach stays the most important. A goalkeeper’s training is always special," Lutz said.

"If you are a National Team Goalkeeping Coach you have limited time with your goalkeepers. So you have to out your training plan in a nutshell. But if you are with a club you have time and this is where club keeper training comes into the fray."

AIFF organised ‘Art of German Goalkeeping’ kicks-off in Mumbai

The All India Football Federation organised goalkeeping course titled 'Art of German Goalkeeping' kicked-off at the Cooperage ground in Mumbai today.

This first of its kind course is being organised by AIFF in association with the German Olympic Association (DOSB) and German Football Association (DFB). Former German Goalkeeper Lutz Pfannenstiel is conducting the week-long course which will comprise of theory and practical sessions, stressing on various positions of the goalkeeper and how the dynamics have changed in recent years.

Pfannenstiel, a scout for Bundesliga outfit TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, also spoke on the basic role of a goalkeeping coach and explained the difference between a normal coach and a goalkeeping coach citing examples.

"The position of a goalkeeper has transformed over the years. Now a goalkeeper has to be a good footballer as well. Manuel Neuer is the best example of a modern day goalkeeper. He is a motivator in the side," Lutz said.

"Shot stopping skills alone are not enough anymore. A goalkeeper needs to distribute the ball well and on counter-attacks he plays a key role in building the first block of a move," Lutz added.

"In the 2006 World Cup in Germany, Lehmann got the nod ahead of Oliver Kahn because Lehmann was more a modern day goalkeeper than Kahn, who was of course the best shot stopper."

Twenty eight coaches including those contracted with the AIFF are attending the one week course.

"A goalkeeper is a team player and a lone warrior. He trains differently as well. But again he is the motivator if the side," Lutz further added.

"Goalkeeping coaches are not like normal coaches. You see Jose Mourinho perhaps never kicked a football. Arsene Wenger was not a great player. But they are world class coaches. But a person who cannot kick the ball well cannot be a goalkeeping coach. In training you need to shoot the ball perfectly and in chest height for your goalkeeper to get good practice."

Lutz Pfannenstiel, who has the unique distinction of having been the only professional football to play in on all six Continents maintained that it is the responsibility of goalkeeping coaches to make their second and third choice custodians 'feel important'.

"A goalkeeper's position stays static on the football pitch. You can have two world class strikers playing but not two great goalkeepers. So for a coach it is very important to keep his second and third choice keepers happy and make them feel important. They should be fielded in Friendlies and less important matches."

The 90 minute educative session was followed by an hour of practical session where the 28 participants were taught relevant drills.


The list of coaches stay as follows

Tanumoy Basu, Mario Aguiar, Feroz Sheriff, Henry Picardo, Subrata Dasgupta, Abdul Siddique, Raghuvir Khanolkar, Pramod Brid, Abdul Quadeer, Premkanta Singh, William Koso, Mohammed Yusuf Ansari, Utpal Mukherjee, T.K. Majumdar, Richard Sanchez, Sebastian Noronha, Chandrakant Naik, Ashok Panda, Nirvan Shah, Vivek Gupta, Gavin Araujo, Lokesh Kukrety, Nitesh Dimri, Hameed K., Fysal K. Bappu, Manoj Nair, Gumpe Rime, Abun Gobi Singh

'The Art of German Goalkeeping' course in Mumbai from tomorrow

A high performance goalkeeping instructor course titled 'The Art of German Goalkeeping' will be held from October 8 to 15 at the Cooperage Ground in Mumbai.

The course will be conducted by instructors Lutz Pfannenstiel and Feliz Imm from Germany, who are on a three week coaching instruction trip to India as part of a partnership between the German Olympic Association (DOSB) and German Football Association (DFB) plus their Indian partners All India Football Federation, Indian Football Association (West Bengal), Mizoram Football Association and Western Indian Football Association (Maharashtra).

The course in Mumbai is being organised by WIFA under the aegis of the AIFF, DOSB and DFB with the course open to AIFF affiliated coaches plus those from I-League clubs and Academies.

AIFF's Technical Director for Regional Academies Scott O'Donell would also conduct some modules of the program. The coaching program includes theory as well as practical sessions and the participants would be introduced to the German way of goalkeeping.

"This is a great initiative. This course will be the first of many such activities that will take place at Cooperage in the coming months," added WIFA CEO Henry Menezes.

Before coming to Mumbai the duo of Lutz Pfannenstiel and Feliz Imm have been in Kolkata (West Bengal) and Aizawl (Mizoram) over the last couple of weeks to do general coaching courses.

German Football Coaching tips for Mizoram

On their current trip to Mizoram, German coaching instructors Lutz Pfannenstiel and Felix Imm of the German Football Association (DFB), have stated that Mizoram can produce footballers of world class if the abundant talent among young footballers is properly harnessed, as the duo feel there was no reason why budding footballers from the Northeastern state cannot graduate to world standard players.

The coaches, who are in Aizawl to train local footballers and local coaches, were pretty impressed by the potential and high spirits of the young players.

“The potential is clearly visible in the spirited and entertaining game played by the young players," former goalkeeper Lutz Pfannenstiel said.

Lal Thanzara, President of Mizoram Football Association had requested Rainer Schmiedchen, Consul General of the Federal Republic of Germany in Kolkata, to provide good coaches for Mizoram, the Consul General promptly expressed keen interest in exploring football talent in the state and took initiative to bring German coach to the state back in May 2012.

The world goalkeeper Lutz Pfannenstiel, who is the first footballer to have played professional football in all the six continents of our planet, said that for the past few days he and Felix Imm had been watching the local Mizo football keenly and concluded that the state has enough talent to make it to international standards.

The German duo is in the process of training local football coaches who will be participating in the upcoming Mizoram Premier League.

"We hope that some coaches may be inspired by what they learned during the training to try to find those same footballing truths for themselves and having found them, apply them to their own teams in Mizoram," said the German duo.

"The players need psychological, physical, moral, medical and sports support. This is how we do it back in Germany and there is no reason why we can’t do it in India or Mizoram," Lutz said at the press confidence.

"Our sincere thanks go to Lal Thanhawla, chief minister of Mizoram who paved the way for Mizoram Football Association to meet Consul General of Germany and our President Lal Thanzara, their efforts have paid off, not only for Mizoram, but also for India," said Lalnghinglova Hmar, Honorary Secretary of the Mizoram Football Association.

The coach education programme with the German coaches started on October 1 and runs until October 6 with 28 coaches from Mizoram attended the programme.

German Coaching/Goalkeeping Instructors coming to India

The German Olympic Association (DOSB) and German Football Association (DFB) are sending two Coaching and Goalkeeping instructors to India for the next three weeks to run two Coaching courses in Kolkata and Mizoram plus the goalkeeping course "The Art of German Goalkeeping" in Mumbai.

The first course will be held from Monday onwards in Kolkata by the Indian Football Association (West Bengal) in which local coaches get the chance to learn the German way of coaching, which in the last few years has been very successful.

The second course will be held by the Mizoram Football Association in the state capital Aizawl. Originally planed for youth development coaches, the course is now open to all coaches in the Northeastern state as such high level instructors rarely come to Mizoram.

The third and final course will be organised by the All India Football Federation and hosted by the Western India Football Association at the Cooperage Ground in Mumbai from October 12-15. Goalkeeping coaches contracted with the AIFF, from I-League clubs and other institutions have been invited for the course "The Art of German Goalkeeping" then Germany has brought out some of the best goalkeepers in the history of world football.

International Football Arena Roundtable focuses on the Indian football market

The third edition of the International Football Arena round table in New Delhi was held at the Oberoi Gurgaon over the last couple of days with key players from global, regional and national football taking part to discuss Indian football.

One of the key points discussed was that if India gets to host the 2017 FIFA Under-17 World Cup it is going to boost the prospect of grassroots and infrastructure development of Indian football. Stakeholders of Indian football who gathered at the IFA Roundtable were unanimous in their opinion that public private partnership along-with key sponsors will help boost holistic development of the game. The roundtable was organised with the aim of finding solutions for development and marketing of Indian football.

Speaking at the IFA Roundtable, Jérôme Valcke – FIFA General Secretary, said, "While the size of India is a challenge for development of football, the key to success lie through the partnership of private sector. If the Executive Committee of FIFA agrees, India stands to host Under-17 World in 2017. It will provide a huge fillip to development of football in India." He further added, "We have engaged in a 10 year understanding with AIFF, wherein, we will be aiding the body with strategy, management issues, league management, club management and development of football. India should focus on creating a league which is viable, vibrant and has viewership. FIFA is happy with timelines that AIFF has shared with us in relation to football development in India."

Addressing the roundtable, AIFF President Praful Patel, who is also the Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, said, "India has never been a one sport nation. Today, India is the home of world cricket and we are certain that in the years to come, football will regain its lost glory. Our vision document LAKSHYA has been well received by the FIFA and we are working towards having our presence felt at the FIFA World Cup, 2022."

Plans of Chelsea FC entering India were discussed during the roundtable. Chelsea CEO Ron Gourlay said, "India is an important market for us. We hope to be visiting the country soon to initiate a long-term partnership. It's too easy for clubs just to fly in, play and then leave. At Chelsea we feel a fundamental responsibility to help develop the sport at grassroots level and leave behind a lasting legacy, so there would be much more to consider than just playing games here."

Speaking on Indian football, Gourlay added, "I have learnt more about Indian football during the IFA Roundtable in the last 24 hours than I had in past few years. A lot of what I heard points to the need for India to work on creating and developing the under-17 team which will then be able to form the national team in the future."

Marcel Schmid, Founder and Chairman of the International Football Arena, has been critical on current ideas, to bring Iconic players to the country. "It would create a short-term media bust and get some public attention, but it would have no impact on long term sustainability. Instead of paying high salaries to foreign players it would be much better to invest into training your own youth."

Taking a cue from Marcel Schmid’s comment, Srinivas Dempo, who is the president of the Goa Football Association and Dempo Sports Club, said, "The
cumulative spend by Indian football clubs of I–League stature is about INR 140 crore. The operating costs are as high as 85% with more than 70% is salaries. Unless we have more say in I–League and clubs are treated as partners of the property, the future looks bleak. It is now the onus of AIFF to engage in a dialogue with clubs to usher in a new era of feasible, profitable and healthy football in India."

The 2012 edition of the International Football Arena round table was attended by representatives from FIFA; Asian Football Confederation; the Football Association (England); German Football Association (DFB); Chelsea FC; All India Football Federation; Reliance Industries Limited; Dempo SC; Shillong Lajong FC; East Bengal Club; Hero Motors amongst others.

Indian Origin Robin Dutt: A Chance I couldn't turn down!

To many it came as surprise when first rumours came out that Robin Dutt could be a candidate for the post of Director of Sports at the German Football Association (DFB), then many expected the DFB to look for a high profile name rather then someone qualified for the post and with amateur and Bundesliga experience.

In the end the DFB decided to look for option two and then the name Robin Dutt came-up. In less then two weeks everything was worked out and today the DFB presented their new Director of Sports to the media and public.

For Robin Dutt initially it came as a surprise that the DFB had approached him to become Director of Sports, some would call this position Technical Director. But Robin said at the press conference after giving the post some thought it was an chance which he could not turn down though he will now be away from everyday work with a team on the field as a coach.

Robin Dutt said about his appointment, "To take on this exciting task at the DFB has a special meaning for me. I look forward to working with national coach Joachim Löw and all other DFB coaches. And to me it is an incredibly interesting challenge to develop the biggest talents of our country."

What still many in Germany do not know is that Robin Dutt is of Indian origin, his father is a Bengali and his mother is German. He was born in Cologne but early in his life his father shifted to southwest Germany and that is were he would stay before becoming a coach at SC Freiburg, whom he got promoted to the Bundesliga and then Bayer 04 Leverkusen.

Robin Dutt will officially join the DFB on August 1, 2012 and has signed a four year contract.


Here a link to an older blog post of mine from 2010: Robin Dutt: An Indo-German success story .

Robin Dutt appointed as Germany's new Director of Sports!

Indian origin Robin Dutt was today presented by the German Football Association (DFB) at a press conference at their headquarters in Frankfurt as their new Director of Sports. Dutt will officially join the DFB on August 1, 2012 and has signed a four year contract.

Robin Dutt replaces Matthias Sammer who made a surprise exit as Director of Sports on July 2 when he joined Bundesliga giants FC Bayern Munich. Since then the DFB has been on the lookout for a suitable replacement and now Indian origin Robin Dutt has been appointed as the second-ever Director of Sports with Sammer having been the first one in the job which was only created in 2006.

47 year old Robin Dutt belongs to the new bread of concept coaches, who work to improve their players day-by-day. A concept which is also followed at the DFB in their youth system under Matthias Sammer and under senior national coach Joachim Löw.

In his new position Dutt will be responsible for the entire youth and talent development as well as the optimization of the Coaches Education at the DFB, while he is also responsibe of the management and control of the German Youth coaches.

Robin Dutt said about his appointment, "To take on this exciting task at the DFB has a special meaning for me. I look forward to working with national coach Joachim Löw and all other DFB coaches. And to me it is an incredibly interesting challenge to develop the greatest talents of our country."

DFB president Wolfgang Niersbach said, "I am pleased that we can present it in such a short span of time a renowned Bundesliga expert for this important position. I am sure that Robin Dutt with all his qualities will continue the successful work of Matthias Sammer and through his experience bring new impetus to the job."


Here a link to an older blog post of mine from 2010: Robin Dutt: An Indo-German success story .

Could Robin Dutt be Germany's new Director of Sports?

Matthias Sammer made a surprise exit as Director of Sports of the German Football Association (DFB) on July 2 when he joined Bundesliga giants FC Bayern Munich. Since then the DFB has been on the lookout for a suitable replacement and now Indian origin Robin Dutt is said to be a potential candidate.

After the initial show the DFB is said to now intensify their search with top candidate Oliver Kahn turning down the offer with 1.Kaiserslautern CEO Stefan Kuntz and Robin Dutt now being considered for the job due to their diversified work profiles.

While Stefan Kuntz like Oliver Kahn is a former Germany international with management back; Robin Dutt has never played at the highest level of Germany football, but he made it through the different levels of coaching upto the Bundesliga were he has coached SC Freiburg and Bayer 04 Leverkusen.

47 year old Robin Dutt belongs to the new bread of concept coaches, who work to improve their players day-by-day. A concept which was also followed at the DFB in their youth system under Matthias Sammer. Robin Dutt especially in Freiburg was an attacking minded coach, all factors which could speak for him though his lack of international football for Germany could be a draw back.

Initially DFB president Wolfgang Niersbach had said that the DFB could take month's to appoint a successor to Matthias Sammer, but now the federation is looking to appoint a new Director of Sports before Germany's international friendly against Argentina on August 15.

Some facts about Germany's 4th Division (Regionalliga)

A lot of people in India have had options about the German fourth Division (Regionalliga) since it came out earlier this week that Indian international goalkeeper Subrata Pal would be having a trial-cum-training stint with RB Leipzig. And sadly there has been a lot of misconceptions/misunderstanding about the level of football in Germany's fourth division, which most will not have seen in action.

Therefore I try to give you some information and insight about the Regionalliga, now that Subrata Pal has arrived in Germany...

The Fußball-Regionalliga is the fourth tier of football within the German football league system. From this season, 2012/13, onwards there are five different leagues which make-up the Regionalliga - North, Northeast, West, Southwest and Bavaria. Until last season there were only three Regionalliga's.

Though now having five different leagues only three teams will get promoted to the 3.Liga, which means the five champions and the winner amongst the runners-up Southwest/Bavaria will have to play a playoff to determine the three promotion spots.

The Regionalliga as such is a semi-professional league though many of its top teams are professional football clubs, who have budgets running in the millions of Euros with the aim of getting promoted to the 3.Liga (3rd Division). Further these Regionalliga's are not centrally managed by the German FA (DFB), but by the state and regional football associations.

The newly formed Regionalliga Nordost (Northeast), in which RB Leipzig will play this season, is made-up of teams from the states of Berlin, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony and Thuringia.

RB Leipzig go into the season as the top favourites to win the title in the Northeast division as the Red Bull backed side are said to have the biggest budget across all Regionalliga teams, which clearly shows their intentions of getting promoted after two failed attempts.

And coming to talk about the standard. I personally feel it is higher then the overall I-League with better infrastructure and competitiveness, and all this would be a good platform for Subrata to first prove himself and then play in a higher league, if he succeeds.

Germany: Could Oliver Kahn replace Sammer at Director of Sports?

With Matthias Sammer making a surprise move to FC Bayern Munich earlier this week the German Football Association (DFB) were caught off guard, but after six years of great service to the DFB they allowed Sammer to leave without any problems.

Now the DFB is looking for a new Director of Sports who would continue Sammer's good work. Sammer has organised and structured Germany's youth development system, which has brought through players like Mesut Özil, Sami Khedira and Manuel Neuer amongst the older generation plus talents like Mario Götze, Julian Draxler and Moritz Leitner.

The DFB president Wolfgang Niersbach has stated that the search for a new Director of Sports could take a few weeks or maybe months, then the federation do not want to rush into appointing someone for the post.

A hot candidate to take-up Sammer's post is former Germany and Bayern Munich goalkeeper Oliver Kahn. The 43 year old Kahn has an MBA degree, holds a coaching licence and currently works as a TV pundit on German television.

Someone of Kahn's stature with his way of working and thinking could be an ideal candidate for the post, the only drawback being that Kahn has not worked within a club system or for the federation. And then there is his friend Matthias Sammer who has joined his former club Bayern Munich and it is known that Bayern president Uli Hoeness is a big fan of Kahn, so a return to the Säbener Straße could also be on the cards.

Bayern Munich appoint Sammer as surprise new Director of Sports

German Bundesliga giants FC Bayern Munich have in a surprise move to the public appointed Matthias Sammer as their new Director of Sports in place of Christian Nerlinger. After getting the clearance from the DFB (German FA) to leave his post as Technical Director, Sammer formally joins the Bavarian giants.

There had been rumours around the Säbener Strasse in Munich that Nerlinger could be releaved of his post after a second season without a title, something not acceptable to the FCB management. Then as per the clubs release there were differences of opinion regarding the strategy for the future of the team between the Board of Directors and Nerlinger. This disagreement led to FCB and Nerlinger deciding to part company ahead of the 2012/13 season, but with Euro2012 ahead it was decided to delay this announcement until after the tournament.

Now not only this announcement was made today, but also a new manager (Director of Sports) announced in Matthias Sammer, someone the FCB hierarchy had wanted to bring to the club over many years - first as player, then as coach and now they finally get the 44 year old born in Dresden as manager.

In the course of Monday morning Matthias Sammer has been released from his current duties with the German Football Association (DFB) and was thus free to take up his duties as FC Bayern Munich "Director of Sports" with immediate effect.

"On behalf of the club, I wish to expressly thank Christian Nerlinger for his work for FC Bayern over the last four years," commented FC Bayern Supervisory Board chairman Uli Hoeness, "I very much hope our excellent personal relationship will continue as it is."

39 year old Christian Nerlinger never was able to get out of the larger then life shadow of Uli Hoeness as Director of Sports in his three years in-charge and was never the attacking manager that people expect from a club like Bayern Munich.

"As always, I wish FC Bayern all the best and every possible success," commented Christian Nerlinger, "I've spent a good and very intensive time here and will maintain my links to FC Bayern as a friend of the club."

In Matthias Sammer FCB get a sharp football brain, who has been behind the restructuring of Germany's youth development system with the results filtering through from the bottom upto the senior national team. Sammer is an outspoken character, who has his own opinions and more often then less is not diplomatic which is something the FCB hierarchy would like to see in that position.

2012/13 German Cup: Draw out for Opening Round

Euro2012 is still on, but the draw for the first round of the 2012/13 German Cup (DFB Pokal) was held yesterday at the Media Centre of the German national football team in Gdansk, Poland. German women's national teams Viola Odebrecht and men's manager Oliver Bierhoff did the honour of pulling out the fixtures. And there are some really interesting clashes to look forward to.

Defending champions Borussia Dortmund have to travel to fourth division side FC Oberneuland, while record champions FC Bayern Munich travel to promoted 2.Bundesliga club Jahn Regensburg for a Bavarian derby. The sixth division SV Falkensee/Finkenkrug, the lowest side in this seasons competition, host VfB Stuttgart.

There also a number of regional derbies with Borussia Mönchengladbach having to travel to Alemannia Aachen, while SC Paderborn travel to Arminia Bielefeld while Chemnitzer FC host old rivals Dynamo Dresden.

The matches will be played between August 17 to 21, 2012.


ROUND 1

SG Sonnenhof Großaspach - FSV Frankfurt
Hallescher FC - MSV Duisburg
FC Nöttingen - Hannover 96
Wormatia Worms - Hertha BSC Berlin
FC Oberneuland - Borussia Dortmund
1. FC Heidenheim - VfL Bochum
Victoria Hamburg - SC Freiburg
SpVgg Unterhaching - 1. FC Köln
SV Falkensee/Finkenkrug - VfB Stuttgart
Karlsruher SC - Hamburger SV
VfR Aalen - FC Ingolstadt 04
Offenburger FV - FC St. Pauli
Arminia Bielefeld - SC Paderborn 07
FC Schönberg 95 - VfL Wolfsburg
Jahn Regensburg - FC Bayern München
Carl Zeiss Jena - Bayer 04 Leverkusen
SV Roßbach/Verscheid - 1. FSV Mainz 05
Berliner AK 07 - 1899 Hoffenheim
Preußen Münster - Werder Bremen
Kickers Offenbach - SpVgg Greuther Fürth
Erzgebirge Aue - Eintracht Frankfurt
Wacker Burghausen - Fortuna Düsseldorf
Chemnitzer FC - Dynamo Dresden
Alemannia Aachen - Borussia Mönchengladbach
SV Wilhelmshaven - FC Augsburg
Rot-Weiss Essen - 1. FC Union Berlin
TSV Havelse - 1. FC Nürnberg
SV Sandhausen - Energie Cottbus
VfB Lübeck - Eintracht Braunschweig
FC Hennef 05 - 1860 München
1. FC Saarbrücken - FC Schalke 04
Hansa Rostock - 1. FC Kaiserslautern

Germany not to bid to host Euro2020

The German Football Association (DFB) has decided against bidding to host the 2020 European Championships. The reason behind the decision was that the DFB thinks that other countries should have the right to host the continental football championship after the nation successfully hosted the 2006 FIFA World Cup and 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup.

"The thought of having the best teams from across the continent and their fans in Germany is of course very attractive. But after we have hosted the World Cups in 2006 and 2011, it is the good right of other countries to take on the role of hosts," DFB president Wolfgang Niersbach explained the decision by the federation.

So far only Turkey has formally bid to host Euro2020 with the application phase for national football associations set to end on May 15. And with Germany pulling out this does increase Turkey's chances of hosting the tournament for which the nations has bid thrice unsuccessfully in the past.

But surely Germany could be a candidate to host the European Championship in 2024 or 2028 if the DFB thinks it suits its plans.

Jens Lehmann: Coaching Degree in Wales

Former German international goalkeeper Jens Lehmann is set to start his coaching licence degree soon, but not in his home country of Germany instead in Wales which has only been made possible by a special exemption from European football governing body UEFA.

The German FA (DFB) in 2011 had held a special shorter coaching licence course for former internationals who had represented Germany in more then 20 international matches. The course combined the DFB 'B' and 'A' coaching licence with no one year practical experience as is usual for the 'A' licence coaching degree. Former internationals like Oliver Kahn, Stefan Effenberg and Thomas Strunz took part with Jens Lehmann also supposed to take part, but he dropped out as he returned to FC Arsenal last season as back-up goalkeeper.

Now Lehmann has been looking for options where he could get his coaching degree with short attendence intervals and longer presence at practical units which has led him to the Football Association of Wales. Now getting the okay from UEFA he will be able to do his coaching degree with his practicals set to be at his former team FC Arsenal Reserves.

But UEFA is set to discuss this issue over the summer to avoid coaching degree tourism amongst former internationals in nations which suit their plans rather then the rules which should apply for everyone.

German FA - Niersbach: From Fan via Journalist to President

The 61 year old Wolfgang Niersbach was elected as the new president of the German Football Association (DFB, Deutsche Fussball Bund) at an extraordinary federation meeting in Frankfurt/Main on Friday. The election was made necessary as now former president Theo Zwanziger had announced that he would leave office ahead of the end of his term in October 2013 due to personal matters.

Niersbach is the 11th president of the DFB and after his election said, "I have great respect for the office. At the same time, I am looking forward to this great task. Many great men have made the DFB what it is today... to continue that work is a great gift for me."

Niersbach reiterated the points which he had made before the election that he would continue to promote youth and women's football; fight against any form of racism, discrimination and violence; and further help in the development of the national teams.

With the election of Wolfgang Niersbach someone with an interesting vitae has become DFB president, whose carrier in football can be seen as inspiration.

Niersbach was born in Rommerskirchen, close to Dusseldorf in 1950. One of the first football events he remembers was that in 1972 he went as a fan to Brussels Heysel Stadium to watch West Germany beat the Soviet Union 3-0 in the final of the European Championships. After finishing his studies he joined the sports news agency SID covering football and ice-hockey besides later on being editor of the stadium magazines of Fortuna Düsseldorf and ice-hockey club Düsseldorfer EG.

Niersbach was chief press officer of the 1988 European Championships in West Germany, thereafter he joined the DFB's press department - the highlight being the 1990 FIFA World Cup triumph where he was the press officer. He stayed with the DFB media department until 2001 when he went and joined the 2006 FIFA World Cup organising committee.

Following the successful 2006 FIFA World Cup Niersbach returned to the DFB as its Director and in October 2007 he became DFB General Secretary before now taking over as the DFB president.

Niersbach has said numerous times in the past that he has made it from being a simple football fan to the highest levels of football administration. Now he heads the biggest single country sporting body in the world with over 6 Million members.

Germany: Loew has growing injury worries ahead of Euro2012

Germany are set to be one of the favourites going into the 2012 European Championships this summer in Poland and the Ukraine. But coach Joachim Loew's list of injured players seems to be growing by the day with currently defender Per Mertesacker plus midfielders Bastian Schweinsteiger, Lukas Podolski and Mario Goetze all injured.

Loew seems to be not worried at the moment as he told the German media, "There is no panic when we hear of a new injury. The clubs need to worry more than I do, at the moment. For us, we can still cope."

Loew would be more worried if the players were injured in late-April or May going into the final weeks of preparations for Euro2012. But injuries now Loew thinks could be a blessing in disguise as all these players are getting some rest and recovery time from a hectic start into 2012 as none of the injuries are too serious.

Arsenal centre-back Per Mertesacker seems to have the most serious injury with an ankle injury, where the doctors cannot say when he will return to match fitness as the original assessment was six weeks, but now the doctors think it will take more time to heal.

FC Bayern Munich Bastian Schweinsteiger's case is the most tragic as he just returned from a collar-bone injury late last year and now picked-up an ankle injury, while Lukas Podolski is out with a foot injury and Mario Goetze has groin problems, which forced the teenager of the playing field.

But the 2010 FIFA World Cup showed that Germany can cover in case of injuries. The big leader then Michael Ballack was out before the tournament, Germany had the worst fears going into the World Cup but then the young guns showed the new way Germany plays its football.

Voeller: Calls for Ballack farewell from German FA!

Bayer 04 Leverkusen Director of Sports Rudi Voeller, who happens to be a former Germany coach, has called on the German Football Association (DFB) to give long-time captain Michael Ballack a dignified farewell.

It seemed last summer the topic had been sorted for once and for all after a patch-up between coach Joachim Loew and Ballack seemed unlikely, but Voeller is making another effort to make that match happen.

Voeller only on Friday spoke to the DFB president-designate Wolfgang Niersbach, who is currently the DFB's General Secretary, about the issue. Voeller said, "We discussed the issue at length and some more talks will have to follow, then with a book and a handshake it isn't enough but for such a game to happen Michael Ballack will also have to cooperate."

Voeller hopes that Niersbach is able to bring Loew and Ballack to the table as Leverkusen's General Manager Wolfgang Holzhaeuser has also made similar statements in recent days.

Though his club Leverkusen is pushing for a farewell game Michael Ballack himself continues to be reserved on the matter, while he has said that he has moved on and too many things have happened during the course of issue which cannot be turned back.

Lahm writes autobiography, creates controversy

Germany and FC Bayern Munich captain Philipp Lahm has gotten himself into serious trouble with his upcoming autobiography, though it hasn't been released so far but only excerpts have been published in the German tabloid Bild.



The book titled 'The Subtle Difference' is about Lahm's observations over the years of his professional career about his coaches and teams. The first excerpts have been about Rudi Voeller, Juergen Klinsmann, Felix Magath and Louis van Gaal; with some harsh criticism from Lahm about their coaching and style of players management.



Philipp Lahm was surprised at the reactions and had to come out with a public statement which said, "Of course, I did not want to attack or offend Rudi Voeller, Juergen Klinsmann and other people. Rather I wanted, as is clear from reading my book, to portray my honest opinion about the work under different coaches and at different times."



All this hasn't gone down well with the football establishment in Germany with even the German FA (DFB) having to come together to discuss if any action would be taken against Lahm but the captain will not lose the armband as many in the German media speculated.



"We want mature players to make their opinions known, however in this case, Philipp has over-stepped the mark," said team manager Oliver Bierhoff.



And the same opinion was German national coach Joachim Loew who said, "There are a few passages in the book which I don't like, because here we have a young player openly criticising his trainer after they have worked together successfully for a long time."



"We will talk about this together next week," Loew added.



The autobiography has come in for heavy criticism by numerous Bundesliga coaches who cannot understand how Lahm could simply write such a book.