There’s one thing my coach never tired of saying to me: “Hau den Ball ins Tor hinein!” – best translated with: “Just slam it into the back of the net!” What did yours used to say to you? What about this one: “I’d like to thank my producer, my fans and, of course, my dad. Dad, if you’re looking down on us right now, this one’s for you!” Yes, it’s Oscar-time again and you can bet your last Euro that there were a few speeches like that last night.
Now, the German Bundesliga is not exactly Hollywood, but if it were to award Oscars, the 25th day of play wouldn’t be a bad time to reward a few teams and players who have really excelled.
And the Oscar for ‘Showing pity to opponents’ goes to… Bayern München!
It really could have been Bayern’s day – they could have increased their lead at the top of the table to four points; but they didn’t want to. Well, at least they didn’t seem to want to in the first half of the game against 1. FC Köln. Instead, they were happy to let Cologne striker Podolski – their former team-mate – break his drought and shoot his way out of a crisis. After 1424 minutes of playing time without a single goal, Podolski finally managed to score again – with the not inconsiderable assistance of the Bayern goalkeeper Hans-Jörg Butt. In the second half, the Munich team had (to use a superb German footballing phrase) “no luck followed by bad luck”. The final result was 1:1 and gave Leverkusen the chance they needed.
And the Oscar for ‘Helping your neighbours’ goes to… 1. FC Nürnberg!

We all know that teams in the Bundesliga tend to play with their own success or failure in mind – Nuremburg, for example, are playing against relegation. So it was somewhat surprising to see them rushing to help their neighbours and big rivals Bayern München as it looked like they were about to lose first place to Bayer Leverkusen. But help they did as they beat the Rhinelanders Levekusen well with two goals from Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting and another from Mickael Tavares. Goals from Kießling and Helmes came too late and Leverkusen took their first defeat of the season.
And the Oscar for Accuracy goes to… The Strikers of the Bundesliga!
Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting, Edin Dzeko, Mohamed Zidan: what do these three Bundesliga strikers all have in common? That’s right, they all scored two goals on the 25th day of play. After all, there’s only one important thing in this category – and that’s goals, as Lukas Podolski will tell you…
And the Oscar for Best Actor goes to… Papiss Demba Cissé!
SC Freiburg vs. Hannover 96, that was the weekend’s death-match at the bottom of the table; for a long time, though, it looked as if the game between the poorest performing team on home turf against the poorest away side wouldn’t produce a winner or loser – then Papiss Demba Cissé, after having messed up three very good chances for Freibrug, decided to end this clueless kick-about by directing a free kick for Hannover straight into his own team’s goal. So that’s 2:1 for Hannover, and an award for Cissé – but no Oscar; it’s more of a Golden Raspberry.
Now, even after the wide variety of categories, no star guest should be allow to leave the Oscars without an award of some sort, which is why there are always the Honorary Oscars afterwards; if the Bundesliga were to award these too, then they would be given for “outstanding performances” – and there are enough of those.
And the Honorary Oscar for Being Bullied goes to… German football reporters!
Back in the day, being a reporter in the Bundesliga was a loafer’s life of pure pleasure: you’d sit back and take in a match on someone else’s costs; then after the game you’d stick a microphone in front of a sweaty player, babble some rubbish about “What did you think of the game, then?” and that was that; hard day at work over. The only thing you had to be careful of was not to run across Uli Hoeneß, Bayern manager and notable enemy of sports journalists. Apart from that, though, it really wasn’t hard.
Of course, that’s no longer the case. Nowadays, you’ve got to keep your head down like a war-correspondent when reporting sports – the notorious Hoeneß’ place has been filled by a wealth of players and managers who are willing to go nuclear at the first sign of conflict. Just try asking the Bayern coach Louis van Gaal if his team might have been just a little bit slow to adapt to the pace of a game and watch the fireworks as he goes on attack and accuses the journalist in question of having no understanding of football. Or there’s Schalke’s Felix Magath, who assumes that the person asking the question has never even touched a football and demands tribute for his army. Then there’s Lukas Podolski, asking a journalist unlucky enough to cross him after the Argentina game if he wanted “to take this outside”. So, as you can see, German sports reporters really deserve this particular award.
And the Oscar for Sex and Crime goes to… Amerell, Kempter & Co.
There’s an old phrase from racy German cabaret productions that translates as “Once you’ve lost your reputation, you can really start having fun!” And true to this motto, Messrs Amerell and Kempter have been doing a great job of ruining the formerly excellent reputations of German referees. Each detail of their abuse of their positions, of their sexual harassment and blackmail of those around them is more salacious than the last – and more damaging for the rather forlorn German FA, now reeling between evidence under oath, defending itself in court, exclusive interviews and anti-Bayern-Munich-e-mail-scandals. Those of us not working for the Deutscher Fußball-Bund, however, can just sit back with a bag of popcorn and watch the exciting spectacle: just like in Hollywood, there’s bound to be a lot of sleaze; and just like Hollywood, football is just a reflection of real life.
(Stefan Reichart/Brian Melican)
Results Matchday 25:
1. FC Köln - Bayern München 1:1
Werder Bremen - VfB Stuttgart 2:2
Hamburger SV - Hertha BSC Berlin 1:0
Eintracht Frankfurt - FC Schalke 04 1:4
SC Freiburg - Hannover 96 1:2
VfL Wolfsburg - VfL Bochum 4:1
Borussia Dortmund - Borussia Mönchengladbach 3:0
1. FC Nürnberg - Bayer Leverkusen 3:2
1899 Hoffenheim - 1. FSV Mainz 05 0:1
Table:
1 Bayern München 53 P
2 FC Schalke 04 51 P
3 Bayer Leverkusen 50 P
4 Hamburger SV 43 P
5 Borussia Dortmund 42 P
6 Werder Bremen 39 P
7 VfB Stuttgart 35 P
8 Eintracht Frankfurt 35 P
9 1. FSV Mainz 05 35 P
10 VfL Wolfsburg 34 P
11 1899 Hoffenheim 32 P
12 Borussia Mönchengladbach 30 P
13 1. FC Köln 27 P
14 VfL Bochum 27 P
15 1. FC Nürnberg 21 P
16 Hannover 96 20 P
17 SC Freiburg 20 P
18 Hertha BSC Berlin 15 P
