Football Fairy Tale: Village Team Earns Place in Germany's Top Soccer League - International - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News

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Town of 3200 Sends a Team to the Bundesliga
Published 5/20/2008 by Laurie at The Offside
... , they were celebrating their promotion from third-tier to second, and the goal was “getting into the Bundesliga in three to five years.” Instead, it took only one. Next year they’ll be playing in German’s top league. So how does a town of 3200 people send a team to the Bundesliga, where they’ll be playing against teams like Bayern Munich? (For comparison, Munich’s population, according to Wikipedia, is 1,294,608.) It helps to have friends in high places . And high tech. Dietmar Hopp, billionaire co-founder of software company SAP, used to play for the club and still carries ...

Weekly Dose 21.05.08
Published 5/21/2008 by Jan at Bundesliga
... DFL publishes its’ Fair Play Ranking to make Hertha’s selection look less random. (bundesliga.de) More fans, more violence in the Bundesliga; hopefully that’s not a vicious circle. (Deutsche Welle) Ten Lessons from the 2007/2008 season. (Deutsche Welle) Oliver Kahn interviewed by Der Spiegel. (Spiegel Online) Hello Hoffenheim press I. (Reuters Soccer Blog) Hello Hoffenheim press II. (Spiegel Online) Mr Hesse-Lichtenberger recaps a monothematic Bundesliga season. (ESPN ...