The Rebirth Of German Football: Ten Years In The Making
This week I dip back into my archives to a piece written in May 2013 that documented the incredible rebirth of German football. This piece was published a few days before Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund contested the first-ever all-German UEFA Champions League final.
A year later Germany won the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
Enjoy.
The scene was Euro 2004 — arguably German football’s lowest point ever.
Knocked out in the group stages, without a single win or goal, this was rock bottom for Die Mannschaft and something had to be done.
Germany, quite frankly, wasn’t used to this state of affairs.
From Fritz Walter’s 1954 World Cup heroes to Franz Beckenbauer’s seventies powerhouse, to Lothar Matthaus’s Italia ‘90 champions, victory had been synonymous with Germany.
Germany remained the dominant football nation of the nineties, finishing runners-up at the European Championships in 1992, quarterfinalists at the 1994 World Cup and winners of Euro ‘96.
However, somewhere amid the jubilation — which included the unification of West and East Germany — the ever-efficient Germans had missed a step. For once there was no contingency for the future — no progression from the golden era of Matthaus, Jurgen Klinsmann and Matthias Sammer.
So, here it was, 23 June 2004 - Germany’s domination over.
Signs of decline had been apparent at the 1998 World Cup in France where Germany’s veteran champions were overrun by a younger and quicker Croatian team in the quarterfinals.
That 3–0 loss to Croatia at Saint-Etienne in 1998 marked the base of a nadir.
Germany, perhaps complacent from the successes of a special generation, had no succession plan or quality youth players to reinvigorate the national side and the consequence was a first round exit at Euro 2000.
What followed was a six-year period of three head coaches between 2000 and 2006 — after having only had six in the previous 75 years — and reaching the 2002 World Cup final only served to paper over the cracks.
In reality, that 2002 team was a limited one and Germany was inspired beyond the sum of its parts by the heroic performances of Michael Ballack in midfield and Oliver Kahn’s immense goalkeeping.
On the club scene the story was similar with Bayern Munich’s triumphs at the turn of the century, crowned by Uefa Champions League glory in 2001, representing the last kicks of a dying horse.
In the years that followed, German influence on the Champions League waned. After Bayer Leverkusen reached the final in 2002, no German club reached the last four for the next five seasons.
It was clear Euro 2004 was a crossroads for German football — because of this disastrous first-round exit, minds finally had to be concentrated on the task of turning things around and returning Germany to football’s mountaintop.
The road back — 2004 to 2013
Jurgen Klinsmann was, in many ways, the perfect messiah for Germany, even if he wasn’t the first choice of the German Football Association (DFB). Both Ottmar Hitzfeld and Otto Rehhagel had turned down the job, an indication perhaps, of how dire things were for Die Mannschaft.
When Klinsmann with his new age thinking took over as national team coach in 2004, he provided invaluable impetus to a regeneration process that had begun in 2001.
Klinsmann’s main goal was to give German football an identity. He focused on imparting a particular style of play and building on the academy programme initiated in 2001 by the DFB.
Following Germany’s Euro 2000 disappointment, the German FA had instructed all Bundesliga clubs to set up youth academies with state of the art facilities and have teams from Under-12 to Under-23 as a condition of their license.
The following year this requirement was extended to all Bundesliga II clubs as well.
These academies were not merely to be the property of clubs but would be overseen by an academies committee made up of representatives from the German FA, German Football League and Bundesliga clubs.
In 2002, before the changes kicked in, 60 percent of players in the Bundesliga were foreign. In 2013, the number is reversed.
These wholesale changes to the system still had fervent sceptics, however. Change is never easy or readily accepted and it’s fair to say that although foundations were being laid, no real unified progress was being made by 2004.
The vehemence of Klinsmann and his then assistant coach Joachim Löw was vital in pushing through change. The two designed a new blueprint for German football that was to be religiously followed throughout the system with the backing of the DFB.
“When Jogi (Löw) and I took over the German side, we made our plans very public and made it clear that we were trying to rebuild from the bottom up,” Klinsmann told the BBC in 2010. “The German Football Association helped us by putting a lot of pressure on all the first and second division teams in the Bundesliga to build academy programmes and ensure talented young players were coming through.”
What began to emerge was a blueprint for the style of play that would be used by all national teams in Germany and result was a new, vibrant football ethos for the country.
Germany had been dominant in years past but with an straightforward, efficient style of football, based on a sweeper system that had become out-dated.
Now, Klinsmann wanted a radical change.
“We eventually decided to go down an attack-minded route, passing the ball on the ground from the back to the front line as quickly as possible using dynamic football,” Klinsmann said. “It was our intention to play a fast-paced game, an attacking game and a proactive game.”
The by-product was the 2006 World Cup which changed the way the world viewed Germany and also the way Germans viewed their football.
The fast-paced, attacking game Klinsmann advocated was vindicated by Germany’s fairy-tale run to the semi-finals and it became accepted as the way to go.
And so came part two of the process for Germany.
Complete football development is a positive loop. Culture is built at the grassroots and is reaffirmed at senior level. A nation may have the finest youth system but if the national side does not promote and carry on the same identity, the process is defeated. Similarly, a senior team may espouse a certain style — and even achieve success — but if it is not backed up at the grassroots, this success will not last.
Germany’s complete approach has enabled vivacity throughout the country’s football pyramid.
The focus on academies and a national playing style has translated into Germany’s eye-catching transformation and is epitomised by two club teams in Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund that play a furiously fast-paced, attacking game.
This is the way the German Bundesliga is today — rapid, offensive and entertaining.
Most importantly, this revolution is spearheaded by German talent, players brought up through the country’s academy system.
And, the number of quality German players coming through the ranks is quite staggering. Mesut Özil, Thomas Muller, Mario Gotze, Marco Reus, Toni Kroos — just name a few — are all 24 years-old or under. All are genuinely world-class and all play in a style they understand, a style that is built to suit them.
From Dortmund to Munich
How quickly German football has managed to remodel itself is one of today’s great wonders but perhaps it is just an example of German efficiency.
Dortmund’s case is still astonishing, though.
Just seven years ago Dortmund was on the brink of bankruptcy and needed a €2 million loan from Bayern Munich to help cover their payroll.
In 2006 Dortmund were forced to sell their best players — Tomas Rosicky to Arsenal for example — just to stay afloat and the club even flirted with relegation. Today, Dortmund is a rising star. It has more than doubled its revenues in the past three years and won two Bundesliga titles (2010–11 and 2011–12) in the process.
Two factors have been fundamental.
One is the appointment of Jurgen Klopp as coach in May 2008. His fiery, passionate attitude has galvanised the club and his tactical nous has brought on-field successes.
The second is a shift towards youth that was necessitated by their financial troubles that were partly brought about by overpaying established stars.
Players such as Gotze, Reus, Marcel Schmelzer, Shinji Kagawa, Robert Lewandowski, Mats Hummels, Neven Subotic, Lukasz Piszczek, Jakub Blaszczykowski and Lucas Barrios have either come from Dortmund’s academy or have been bought young at a low cost.
This transformation of Dortmund, based on youth promotion, probably best illustrates German football’s amazing renaissance.
Bayern, on the other hand, have always been a superpower capable of buying the best talent. For example, Bayern’s financial might has allowed the club to spend more than €200 million over the past four seasons to sign global superstars such as Javi Martinez, Mario Gomez and Arjen Robben.
Nevertheless, Bayern is also emerging from a slump from 2003 to 2009 during which they were unable to keep up with the might of English teams, Spain’s technique or Italy’s tactical nous.
Bayern was a non-factor in the business end of the Champions League during that period.
It is only in the past four seasons that Bayern has re-established itself as a superpower of the European game, reaching three Champions League finals, in 2010, 2012 and this year.
Bayern has bought star-players, yes, but, like Dortmund, its recent success is built on German talent. Manuel Neuer, Philippe Lahm, Jerome Boateng, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Kroos and Muller form the backbone of Jupp Heynckes’ team.
Is this the beginning of German domination?
To say this is the beginning of German domination is still premature but clearly Germany is back and here to stay.
What football has frequently taught is that dominance goes in cycles. Not so long ago there seemed no end to the supremacy of English clubs.
Spain’s duopoly of Barcelona and Real Madrid has, at times, also seemed unbeatable and recently it has gone hand-in-hand with the Spanish national team’s international domination over the past six years.
The strength of English Premier League remains significant, especially financially. The English Premiership has a new bumper television deal coming into effect next season that will increase its spectacular income even more.
Spain remains the all-round benchmark. La Liga currently has the world’s top two footballers, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, and remains the most attractive destination for the game’s superstars. The Spain national team, meanwhile, holds both the European and World Cup trophies.
Nonetheless, what sets Germany’s model apart is its sustainability and the rules in place to safeguard the vitality of the game.
One such rule is the 50+1 Rule which prevents wealthy investors from buying a club with short-term gain in mind.
All German Bundesliga clubs — apart from Bayer Leverkusen and Wolfsburg, which are owned by Bayer and Volkswagen respectively — are 51 percent owned by their supporters.
This measure is intended to stop clubs from falling into massive debt if their wealthy owners jump ship, such as what happened to England’s Portsmouth in 2009 when Alexandre Gaydamak departed as club owner. The rule also encourages clubs to spend within their means and not to be dependent on cash from rich investors.
In addition, the Bundesliga is governed by strict financial rules. Each club is required to present accounts to prove they will at least break-even for the coming season. In the transfer market, meanwhile, buy low and sell high is the motif for most German clubs.
The focus on long-term success is entrenched.
Clubs currently spend over €100 million on youth development each year and have poured in over €500 million since the establishment of the country’s academy system.
As a result of this academy program, 60 percent of the players playing in the Bundesliga are German, with more than half educated through the system.
Things are looking up from all angles; the Bundesliga is now the best supported football league in the world with an average attendance of 45,134 fans per match and Die Mannschaft is again a perennial contender at international championships.
This marvellous rise will be crowned by the first time two German teams contest a Champions League final — Bayern Munich versus Borussia Dortmund this Saturday at Wembley.
Whether it heralds an era of domination only time will tell, but this is Germany’s time in the limelight, and it has been ten years in the making.
