A German renaissance, feet first

The German national team is becoming a force to be reckoned with. (Getty Images)

At a time when the whole of Europe was still struck with the financial breakdown, sliding towards stagnation, the Deutsche seemed to be tackling the situation with ease. Their resurgence of both economic stability and football has been on the rise.

Just around the turn of the millennium, a dejected German team returned from the Euro 2000 after finishing at the bottom end of their group, which seemed ordinary to a team that came into the tournament as reigning champions. A dominant German side was pitted against a mediocre England, an unpredictable Portugal side and Romania. That was Germany’s worst exit in any international competition since the turn of war. Though there were notable absentees in Christian Ziege, Jens Jeremies and Markus Babbel, Germany never really troubled the complexion of the group as they managed just one goal in three games.

A failure of that sort always leads to the undertaking of drastic measures. And Germans are never too pleased with a failure. Though at the time the Germans were still battling with labour laws and numerous other political issues, they decided to put one eye on the prospect of developing young talent for the betterment of the footballing future of the nation. With investments of over $1 billion in youth programs, the teams from the Bundesliga received government grant for setting up better academies. The Deutscher Fussball Bund looked upon the progress with stern eyes and would duly award teams and facilities that are doing better than the rest.

The nation seemed up to the task in hand: turn Germany into a footballing powerhouse. Strategic thinking coupled with utilization of resources has driven Germany’s rise to prominence. Once the Germans decide to undertake a long term prospect, a reform of sorts, they don’t stop till the goal is achieved. This very attitude of the occupants of Rhine has established the nation as one of the leading countries in the world.

This season has been great for teams from Germany, with all 7 Bundesliga teams making it through to the knockout rounds of their respective competitions, with three German teams, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and Schalke 04 ending the group stages of the UEFA Champions League as table toppers.

The Bundesliga is seen by many as the next big thing in world football. They’ve seized the advantage, at a time when crisis-stricken clubs from austerity-squeezed countries like Spain and Italy are all battling long bouts with debt and poor facilities in stadiums. The start of the current Bundesliga season was on a high note, as no team participating in the league had any backdrop of debt in their balance sheets.

The growing influx of foreign players in the Barclays Premier League has killed the English footballer. Germany, meanwhile, encourages the concept of home-grown talents. English pundits bemoan the thought of that – the English Premier League is crammed with foreign mercenaries, crowding out local players. Mario Gotze, Marco Reus, Thomas Muller, Tony Kroos and Ilkay Gundogan have all rejected moves to the Premier League or elsewhere to continue playing in Germany. They build the chemistry at the club level and translate the same onto the International scene.

Mario Gotze (R) of of Borussia Dortmund celebrates with Marco Reus after scoring their team’s second goal during the UEFA Champions League Group D match against Real Madrid at Estadio Santiago Bernabeu on November 6, 2012 in Madrid, Spain. (Getty Images)

In preparation for the 2006 World Cup to be held in Germany, they utilized the resources they had in hand to build state of the art and world class stadiums, or improve on the ones already present, which till today are considered to be some of the best in the world. With a record of 13.8 million spectators turning up for Bundesliga games last season, it’s $1.84 billion well spent, without a doubt.

With Manchester United, Barcelona and Real Madrid establishing themselves as global brands, German clubs were rebuilding from scratch. Sending out scouts, not for players but new coaching techniques. The DFB sent well reputed scouts to France and Netherlands, most notably to Ajax, to try and crack the code of an academy that has been attributed with a lot of players currently making a name for themselves in the world of football.

While Borussia Dortmund topped the group of death and Schalke progressed to the knockout stages as well, it is Bayern who are currently considered the team to beat in this season’s Champions League. What could this possibly suggest? Is it finally time for the Rhine dominance? Has Spain finally found its match?

Naturalisation has also been on a high in Germany, with nearly half of the national team from Poland or Turkey, with notable ones being Mesut Ozil, Sami Khedira, Lukas Podolski and Miroslav Klose. But if that only helps your cause, then so be it.

To the fast pace at which the German football is escalating, Bodo Menze, youth development manager of one of Germany’s most famous professional clubs, Schalke 04, famously said, “We can’t make the mistake of easing up; we shall stop not till the goal is reached. We’re pleased with the progress, but world domination is on our mind, and we shall only rest once we’ve achieved it.”