Müngersdorfer Stadium
You will undoubtedly have heard the home stadium of 1. FC Köln referred to in video and print as RheinEnergieStadion, but many still refer to it as Müngersdorfer Stadion, which was the name of the stadiums that had earlier stood on that same plot of land in the Köln neighborhood that gave those venues their name. I honestly have gotten so used to calling it “Müngersdorfer,” that I don’t even know how common it is for a local to use the name that comes from one of those naming-rights deals. Frankly, Rhein Energie doesn’t pay me to call it by their chosen name, so I’m going to keep calling it “Müngersdorfer”.
Now, if any of you fine folk at the power company there would like to discuss a personal naming-rights deal, I assure you I come a lot cheaper than the stadium did. Call me? Do you have PayPal?
Spitzenreiter
First place! Front runner! King of the Mountain! The Big Cheese! Top of the Pops!
You get the gist of this, whichever idiom you use. It’s about announcing you are at the head of the class.
“First place” for most US sports is relatively meaningless. All our leagues have multiple divisions, so at any given moment your team might be just one of six teams “in first place.” Further, your standing in the league has little-to-no bearing on championship titles that count. Without question, your team will be happy to peddle merchandise touting the accomplishment of winning the regular-season division, but a week later, your team could already be bounced from the postseason competition that actually does matter when it comes to who is remembered as the league champion.
Of course, football (Fußball, soccer, futbol, etc.) is different (okay, it is actually the US sports that differ from the rest of the world, but just go with it). Traditionally, the standings are all in one single “table”, everyone plays a balanced schedule, and the winner is whichever team has the most points at the end of the season. No, you don’t get a winner-takes-all event that is perfect for TV and excitement, but in exchange, you get a legitimate champion who is rewarded for the best year overall, rather than a team that might just scrape by for most of the year and then gets hot at the right time.
This is why I quite like the term “Spitzenreiter”. Taken literally, it’s a “spire rider”, which is so much more poetic than any of the other idiomatic expressions to denote the leader of the pack. When you get to the very top of the heap, to the very, very extreme end of the highest-most point, right on the tip is where you find us. Nothing can be said to be above.
And it can be glorious, even in late August. Come see me in May. You should find me riding the spire and screeching “KNEE MARE!” (I’ll tell you in May, I promise!)
DFB Pokal
If you are pretty knowledgeable about English football, the easiest way to explain this is “German FA Cup.”
And that’s all it really is. The DFB is the German football federation. Pokal is “tournament”. The winner at the end of the tournament gets the trophy, which is a big ol’ cup.
Here you see the Cup – and someone who loves it dearly | Foto: privat
It is the only German tournament including teams from the Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga. Lower-tier clubs qualify through regional tournaments, ultimately making it a very inclusive and comprehensive event. Additionally, the lower tier qualifiers always host their first round matches with first- and second-division teams, leaving many of them crossing their fingers for a favorable draw of a club that travels well and will, hence, fill the club’s coffers with gate revenue.
Blitztabelle
This is not really club-specific, but I mentioned it, so I figured I should explain.
Blitztabelle is just the “live table,” accounting for results in matches that are happening, but not yet final. Keeping an eye on the “flash table” on the final match day of the season is almost always a must, at least for the bottom few spots, as positions change as scoreboards do.
And without the Blitztabelle, you don’t get that Friday night mid-match celebration of being in first. In a way, it’s the most-real thing, while also being very much a suspension of the reality of what is to come. In other words, it’s perfect for FC fans. Did you hear Bayern fans having a laugh last Friday night with a hearty “Spitzenreiter” once they took a lead on Hoffenheim? HELL NO YOU DID NOT! First place in the Bundesliga is barely of interest to most of them anymore. It’s just expected, and they mean it.
Of course, once the FC returns to the Bundesliga, you will hear no shortage of fans talking about a return to Europe and a challenge for the title within a few short seasons, because we also always expect it, too . . . at least in that moment. We might not actually believe it, but that’s sort of meant to be kept among us, eh? Just keep a straight face and say, “Champions League! What else?” and we can laugh about it later in the pub. Cool?
