The Next Generation!

Germany just finished 3rd at the World Cup with one of the youngest squads in the history of German football. The refreshing football that the team played was the result of a restructuring of the youth system after the Nationalmannschaft performed terrible at the 2000 EURO. Since then a lot has changed in German football. Now the Bundesliga is home to perhaps the best football in the World. Unlike the Premier League or the Premiera Division (the exception being Barca) the Bundesliga primerily focuses on developing young players into stars. This is due to the fact that in Germany every team has to have a youth school attached to the club.

Furthermore the financial crash of the .com sector in 2001 meant that Bundesliga clubs were forced to cut their budgets. So instead of buying expansive players the focus shifted to youth development. This hurt the Bundesliga, between 2001 and 2008 the Bundesliga clubs performed poorly in the Champions League and the Uefa Cup (now Europa League).

Since 2008 there has been a change though. Young players that benefited from the changes in 2000 finally came onto the stage. Bundesliga teams also began to perform better in international competitions. The Nationalmannschaft as well has done very well. In 2008 Germany finished second in the EURO. They finished third in the 2010 World Cup with a very young squad. Players like Badstuber, Özil, Müller, Khedira, Boateng, Kroos, Tasci, and Aogo are between 20 and 22 years old. Others like Schweinsteiger, Lahm or Podolski are only 25 to 26 years old. This team is the future. On top of this there is another generation of players already putting the pressure on the current squad.

Between 2008 and 2009 Germany won the European Championship at the U-17, U-19, and U-21 level. They were the first country to accomplish this feat. Players from those teams will also soon enter the world stage. Players like the Bender twins (Sven plays at Dortmund, Lars for Leverkusen), Timo Gebhart from Stuttgart, Marco Reus from Gladbach, Kevin Großkreutz and Mats Hummels from Dortmund. As a Spiegel reporter said the Bundesliga is currently full of young exciting German players who have the potential to become world stars. The next generation is already beckoning. The future is bright, it is those words that make it easier for Germany fans to overcome the disappointment of not winning the World Cup this year.

The New Germany

Germany has played the best football at this years World Cup! This is a fact no other team has inspired as much as the Germans. No other team had a stronger structure in their game then the Germans. Yet they missed out on the final, perhaps because they were missing Müller. Perhaps because the pressure finally overcame the youngest side that had played for Germany since the 1934 World Cup. What is left is tonights game against Uruguay. This team did however impress, and left many (me included) wondering what could have been. The future however is bright, this is the most talented team in World Football today, there is doubt about it. There is also something else to this team, it is not typical German.

During this World Cup I had many discussions with my Dutch friends about the nature of this squad. Many of the players have a multi-ethnic background. The playmaker Özil has a Turkish father, Boateng is half Ghanese, Khedira is Tunesian, Cacau from Brazil, Podolski and Klose have their roots in Poland. This suprised many, and often I heard the question is this team really Germany? I think this is a funny question, when you walk through cities of Germany, you will soon realize that Germany has changed. Germany is an immigration country, and the Nationalmannschaft is a reflection of German society. Furthermore players like Tasci, Boateng, Khedira, and Özil are not first generation immigrants. It was their parents or even their grandparents that came to Germany. Those players are from the mids of German society.

Another thing I hear a lot is the fact that Klose and Podolski are really Polish. Yes both players were born in Poland. Klose however was born into a German family in Poland. Podolski immigrated to Collogne when he was very young. Podolski also is seemingly attached to the city of Collogne, he left Bayern (and the possibility of playing Champions League) to return to the 1.FC Köln to play in his hometown. Plus Polish people have immigrated to the Rhein area for almost 250 years now. They are part of Germany's society just like any other immigrant group.

This is the new Germany and I am proud of what our boys have done in the World Cup. Furthermore the group represents more then just attractive football. The Nationalmannschaft has probably done more for integration in the last 4 weeks, then Germany's politicians in the last 60 years.

The J-League a Model for Future Football?

Hi everybody,
first a long sorry that I have not written anything in almost a year. This is mainly due to the fact that I haved moved countries and have been busy with University.

But now to my newest post. In the recent months I have began to follow the J-League. The J-League is Japans premium football league. It was founded in 1992 and the first season began in 1993. The league was at first centred around old-stars from Europe and South America. Players like Guido Buchwald, Dunga, or Jorginho played in Japan in the early 90s. The model however was abandoned in the late 1990s due to the recession that hit Japan.

The J-League realized that it could no longer be just sustained by large companies. It therefore abandoned the franchise system, and remodeled the league after European standards. This included the introduction of promotion and relegation. The J-League 2 was created in 1999, along with a 100 year plan to create sustainable football in Japan. The idea was to give smaller clubs in smaller communities a chance to compete in the J-League 2. Those clubs could either grow and move up to the J-League 1 or provide high caliber football to small prices in the J-League 2. The J-League 2 is to be filled up to 22 clubs, once that is achieved the goal is the professionalization of the Japanese Football League (JFL). The JFL is to be envisioned to be the cornerstone of football in Japan.

The J-League has also heavily invested in infrastructure, such as football fields for smaller communities. Clubs playing in the J-League and J-League 2 are also required to invest into youth systems, similar to what is the case in the Bundesliga. Today the J-League is the best league in Asia. This is evident as 4 Japanese teams play in the AFC.

The J-League should also be considered an interesting model for leagues such as the Major League Soccer (MLS) in the USA, and Canada. The MLS has persued the idea of creating a franchise system league. This however has caused problems since none of the clubs own their players. Rather the players are contracted to the league. The current MLS also has the problem that is not sustainable. The backbone of football in Europe has always been small community football and the idea that you could rise through the leagues. This is what Japan is trying to emulate succesfully. The J-League is the only league that has been created and is not a playing tool of rich buisnessmen who want a sports club on their CV.