The whole world has welcomed, almost in unison, the resumption of activity carried out by the German professional football championship in mid-May and will be able to rejoice, on Tuesday, for the duel at the top between Borussia Dortmund and the Bayern Munich. The multiple merits do not all come back to the authorities concerned but, more broadly, to the national context.
Granit Xhaka did not miss one. During the Bundesliga recovery weekend, the former midfielder from Mönchengladbach (2012-2016) watched all the matches in the German championship. “If the concept of the German league (DFL) holds, it is a great signal to the other leagues and gives us all the hope of being able to play again soon“says the 27-year-old Swiss international.”It is a positive signal for sport in general.“
This sweet fragrance has enveloped the world of professional football, all the way to Brazil, very affected by the pandemic and where the popularity of the German championship has suddenly jumped. “Everyone in Brazil is now watching the Bundesliga, everyone wants to see live football!“exclaimed Grafite, German champion 2009 with Wolfsburg, during a show on the club channel.
Thiago Alcantara will also miss the trip to Dortmund
–
This recovery has done a lot of good for the country’s image
–
Like the Arsenal player and the Brazilian center-forward, the international press, respectful, was laudatory about the recovery in question and grateful to the German Bundesliga for showing that replaying football was possible. And the latter necessarily benefits from this role of example which it assumes in fact. “That it worked does a lot of good for the image of the Bundesliga and the country“rightly believes Martin Schneider, journalist of the influential daily Süddeutsche Zeitung.”It worked at least technically“, he dissects factually.
“In terms of dramaturgy, it is up to observers to decide. Of course, it was publicity for the Bundesliga and for the Federal Republic that made this recovery possible. But the Bundesliga has always been well regarded, even if it was a little below the Premier League or the Primera Division. It is certainly one of the leading leagues in the world, so it is not so surprising that it has solved this problem. But opinions from abroad surprised with their praise. And the most striking of them is not necessarily that of a media – although it is, in fact, a kind of media of a divine kind – but that of Zlatan Ibrahimovic. ‘They say it. They’re doing it. Thank you, Bundesliga. ‘ This formula, this slogan of Zlatan, it is in fact the best publicity that the DFL could have imagined“, laughs the Bavarian chronicler while trying to imitate the voice of an indestructible viking to simulate the inimitable Swede.
A performance of the whole country
–
His colleague Philipp Selldorf is well aware that the success of the recovery plan depended on a goodwill that went beyond simple football. “The DFL should never forget that this was made possible by the fact that the pandemic, for various reasons, did not affect the country too much“, emphasizes the SZ reporter.”We probably had the advantage of timing – Italy was hit earlier, stronger – we were ahead of the news, which allowed us to make faster decisions, we had a system on which we could rely better than other states. There are many factors, originally, that are not to be credited to the DFL. Christian Seifert (the boss of the league) says it in his press conferences: the DFL benefits from the country’s infrastructure and from a providence that exceeds it. You should never forget it.“
Berlin substitutes during the match Union Berlin – Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga Movie of the match
Getty Images Credits
Martin Schneider abounds: “Seifert always said it. The DFL and the Bundesliga are not the great masters of the impossible; it is a performance of the whole country and an organized structure. But, from a personal point of view, it makes you a little proud that it was the Germans who achieved this and that the whole world is trying to understand why this is so. For me, we were lucky, but it’s still fascinating. Here, the stereotypes of the German teams are confirmed: the Germans are organized, disciplined, ambitious, stick together, have the objective of achieving their goals. It can be said, it has been well conducted.“
The return of “Made in Germany”
German professional football as the standard of national qualities? Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, chairman of the Bayern executive board, said no more on May 13 in the columns of the weekly Sport Bild. “The resumption of the Bundesliga in front of viewers around the world is not only an advertisement for our football, for the championship, but also for the whole country and in particular for German politics, which made it possible by its very good way to act“, exposes the vice-world champion 1982 and 1986.”When I was a kid, “Made in Germany” was a trademark. In recent years, it has been a bit lost. The restart of the Bundesliga also shows that “Made in Germany” is once again an absolute quality label.“
To the point of giving German football a new appeal to European players, it is plausible. And an increased competitive advantage with the likely fall in prices on the transfer market? “I don’t think Neymar or Mbappé are coming to the Bundesliga“, teases the Bavarian president, also scalded by the 80 M € spent for the arrival of Lucas Hernandez but who is eyeing in an interested way on the Leroy Sané phenomenon.
At the end of last week, in the columns of the Süddeutsche Zeitung, Christian Seifert defended himself in any case against criticism of an alleged favoritism. “Football has no privileges“, he explained.”But it has a peculiarity: its practice does not allow it to maintain distance or wear a mask. If football were really privileged, the stadiums would be full. Which is not the case. We simply put it back on and walked and set the example.“
Eurosport credits
In a good way, of a shared opinion. “Overall, the Bundesliga return to the scene went better than many expected“notes Christian Kamp, a very serious journalist Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.”Which means that she is now drowning in praise from all sides. This success, this highlight, she can taste at the moment, consider them as her own, because she has achieved something that other championships and other countries can only dream of. “Made in Germany” is today something of the benchmark value of the world of sport, and this for the entire planet.“
This does not mean that supporters deign to sign a blank check for this new kind of football. “The fact that football was the first to take advantage of the circumstances and resume on the green rectangle still says nothing about his return to hearts“, effectively tempers Christian Kamp. “The last few weeks have shown: just as goals are not validated on the pretext that we have filled out a certificate for this, as Vedad Ibisevic put it with an ironic and falsely naive question, it would be it is a mistake to think of having to treat and care for a country plagued by suffering due to deprivation simply by prescribing the Bundesliga by prescription.“
People do not forget those who thought of them in the galley
–
In a context fraught with bad news, the return of football is nonetheless a medicine. “For weeks, public life has been filled with information on the growing number of victims, the rate of infection, the measures to fight the pandemic. It is important and legitimate. But it is also important, for the sake of balance, that in this difficult situation, imbued with uncertainty, people are entitled to a little calm, take a break, catch their breath“The journalist David Digili believes in this way. Joachim Pawlik, member of the Saint Pauli board of directors – which one can hardly suspect of unbridled liberalism as the club has always been immersed in social and supportive culture – goes even further:”What you invest now, you will get back a hundredfold. People do not forget those who thought of them in the galley.“
For David Digili, “It is not only the elite of German football who will benefit from this revival of the Bundesliga, but also the circle of supporters of this sport all around the worldThere are many arguments in this direction. Concretely, matches are free for everyone on television for two weeks – a measure which helps avoid public gatherings. New potential spectators are opening up all around the planet – Karl-Heinz Rummenigge mentioned the symbolic figure of a billion, as sports fans in general are, this spring, weaned from entertainment, all sports combined.
“With the end of the world of sport, any football enthusiast will watch the Bundesliga. And if this audience, despite the empty stadiums and the resulting lack of emotion and atmosphere, sees an attractive and goal-oriented football, there is an opportunity to capture these fans in the long term, what to lead to new lucrative TV contracts and, as a result, clubs will benefit enormously. It’s guesswork, but this opportunity is too good not to try to take advantage of it“, judge David Digili.
It’s a chance for the world champions of training
–
Not to mention that, on the television and telegenic levels, the viewer’s experience can be of unprecedented interest. “Training atmosphere, feeling of being in a canton match, no atmosphere, no emotions … the critical arguments were sufficiently exposed before the recovery. But conversely, we can also say that viewers have never been so close to the field: communication between players, instructions from coaches at the sidelines, decisions of the referee … never heard so many!“says David Digili.
Eurosport credits
The unprecedented and particular circumstances of the game are also likely to encourage surprises, and therefore to maintain the suspense on the sporting level, an additional argument for an attractive Bundesliga. “It’s a chance for the world champions of training“, prophesied Franz Beckenbauer in the columns of the daily Bild.”I myself have known many players who shone on the training grounds and whose nerves did not support a full stadium on Saturday“continues the Kaiser.”These will take advantage of the empty stadiums and will be able, in this context, to reproduce their training skills. It could give rise to some surprises.“
Fewer emotions, more football
A very serious analysis by the Institut für Spielanalyse de Potsdam carried out after the first weekend of recovery contradicts any argument believing that, on the field, the recovery would not be football or that the players could not be ready physically. The distances covered are equal to the average (116 km), the high intensity races higher than this (702 against 686), like the sprints (220 against 219), which can also be explained by the possibility now offered. to change five players instead of three during a match. The effective playing time increased (57.7 minutes against 55.6 usually), bad passes decreased (15.6% against 17%), the faults and the theatricality of lamentations with the referee too.
Fewer emotions, more football … “Everything around the field is really weird, but not the game“, abounds Freiburg coach Christian Streich.”I never thought that the quality of the game would suffer from the absence of spectators. “By the way, the vast majority of coaches (12 out of 18) have taken this very seriously, lining up the most experienced starting eleven possible, especially the new coach of Hertha Bruno Labbadia. did not benefit the show at first, with fewer offensives and fewer goals, on average, than during the 25 previous days of the 2019-2020 fiscal year (219 shots on goal against 240). by the prolific 27th day marked, in particular, by the 5-2 of Bayern in Frankfurt or the demonstration of the Bayer at the title candidate Mönchengladbach.But who could doubt the prompt return of this profusion, true marketing signature of German football?
Hummels and Witsel available for the Klassiker with Dortmund
–
Cologne pulls in extra time against Düsseldorf
—
