EFC Bembel Beduinen

Eintracht Frankfurt is happy to present you the second edition of the quarterly international newsletter. With the help of the newsletter we would like to keep you updated about Eintracht Frankfurt’s international activities. And it is  for us a good opportunity, to share with you our thoughts and visions.

We have been quite active so far in the season. In this newsletter, we are looking at our opening ceremony of the season, the Main Finance Cup in Frankfurt and our youth training camps in Qatar, Mexico and China.

We hope that you will enjoy reading about Eintracht Frankfurt’s diverse international activities – both abroad as well as in Frankfurt, bringing the international communities closer to this club.

Yours sincerely,

Eintracht Frankfurt will travel to Abu Dhabi from 4 to 13 of January 2016 in order to prepare for the second season half of Bundesliga, as they did in the recent four years. During the training camp various activities will strengthen the relationships within the region and the partnerships with a number of local players.

The Eintracht Frankfurt Football Academy – lead by Charly Körbel – will run training camps for students and youngsters; in collaboration with the Daman insurance company. A couple of test matches in the Emirates will also be held, the times are yet to be announced.

Eintracht signed some promising talent this summer. Seven recruits joined the first team, mostly from all over Europe but also from Argentina. And not to forget, Armin Veh rejoined!

ARMIN VEH (54), HEAD COACH

A year after his departure 54-year-old Armin Veh rejoined Eintracht this summer; he signed a two-year contract as the Eagles’ coach.

Armin Veh had successfully managed Eintracht between 2011 and 2014. In his first season he achieved promotion to Bundesliga and went on to lead his team to the Europa League. In the third year of his reign some great European nights took place with SGE dropping out only just before reaching the last 16.

CEO Heribert Bruchhagen: “We were in good negotiations with various candidates for the manager job. The crucial reasons for our decision are not only Armin Veh’s managerial and sportive skills but also his ability to play an integrative role in the club. On top of that he already knows the club inside out from his previous spell at Eintracht.”

Armin Veh: “Eintracht Frankfurt was and will continue to be a very special challenge for me. I will try everything to guard the team into a positive future.”

HEINZ LINDNER (25), GOAL, #13

The 25-year old Austrian international goalkeeper Heinz Lindner signed a two-year contract with Eintracht. He joined from SK Austria Wien. In 2013, when Austria Wien won the title, Lindner was awarded the “Goalkeeper of the Season” trophy. In 2013/14, he made his debut in the UEFA Champions League (six UCL appearances).

LUKAS HRADECKY (25), GOAL, #1

Finland international goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky joined Eintracht Frankfurt on a three-year deal. Hradecky has made 120 appearances in the Danish league, 69 of them for Brondby IF, his last club. He was part of all Finland youth teams and made 21 caps as the first team’s goalkeeper since 2010.

DAVID ABRAHAM (29), DEFENSE, #19

29-year-old central defender David Abraham joined the Eagles from TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, where he played for the last two and a half years. Argentinian-born Abraham came to Europe in 2008 from Independiente de Avellaneda to Basel FC (three Swiss titles), then joined Getafe in Spain. He spent the first half of the 2012/2013 season in La Liga before joining Hoffenheim in January 2013.

MIJAT GACINOVIC (20), MIDFIELD, #11

Serbian Under-20 talent Mijat Gacinovic joined from FK Vojvodina Novi Sad on a four-year contract. The 20-year old will support SGE’s midfield, he played 50 games for Novi Sad (twelve goals, five assists) and won the Under-20 World Cup 2015 with Serbia in New Zealand (seven appearances).

STEFAN REINARTZ (26), MIDFIELD, #7

Stefan Reinartz (148 league games, eleven goals) joined from Bayer Leverkusen. Ahead of the 2008/2009 campaign, he became a pro at Bayer but joined 1. FC Nürnberg on loan for the second half of the season. After that, his career at Leverkusen took off, Reinartz gained Champions League experience and played three caps for Germany.

LUC CASTAIGNOS (23), FORWARD, #30

23-year old striker Luc Castaignos joined the Eagles from the Dutch Eredivisie team Twente Enschede. In 131 league matches for Twente and Feyernord, he scored 56 goals. Castaignos signed a four-year contract with SGE.

All the best for their private and sportive future to Kevin Trapp (Paris St. Germain) Nelson Valdez (Seattle Sounders) Felix Wiedwald (Bremen) Lucas Piazon (FC Chelsea) Takashi Inui (SD Eibar) Yousuppa Yaffa, Jan Rosenthal (Darmstadt) and Olivier Occean (Odds BK) who left Eintracht this summer.

On 2 August 2015 it was time to finally end the dim football free summer break. Eintracht Frankfurt and 50,000 visitors did so in a colourful season opening celebration.

On the first August weekend all eyes at Eintracht Frankfurt turned to the Frankfurt Main Finance Cup 2015. A perfect fit for this match with international flair was yet another opponent with a big name – the Eagles hosted FC Tokyo who made the trip from Japan’s capital and financial center for this prestigious encounter.

The event kicked off on Saturday evening with a stylish reception at Frankfurt’s landmark building “Alte Oper”, the vintage opera house. Eintracht’s representatives – alongside the first team, manager Armin Veh and Frankfurt’s society – welcomed plenty of guests from Japan.

Ahead of the match on the following day at Commerzbank Arena a huge fan fest was waiting for the visitors in and around the stadium. One of the main attractions was the presentation of the newly assembled squad – including Bundesliga top scorer Alex Meier – and manager Armin Veh who had rejoined Eintracht. Plenty of different parts of the Eintracht family were represented such as the sports club with a huge fun park, the museum, the fan shop, the fan projects, various fan groups and of course the sponsors.

After a 3-2 win the Eagles lifted the trophy as they had done last year. Seferovic, (41’), Stendera (45’) and Aigner (59’) scored the goals for SGE.

Even Christian Seifert (CEO of DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga) complimented Eintracht on this successful weekend for their international marketing activities: “This was very creative of Eintracht”, he told German daily BILD. “Travelling to Asia to carry out marketing on-site is not the only way. Another way to spark enthusiasm for Bundesliga in Asia is to invite teams such as FC Tokyo over to Germany.”

During the international caps break, various Eagles played matches for their national sides.

EURO 2016 Qualifiers

The Austrian national side, who had already secured qualification for the 2016 European Championships in France, won their matches against Montenegro (3-2) and Liechtenstein (3-0). Eintracht goalie Heinz Lindner did not gain any on-pitch action.

For Eintracht’s Finnish goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky, it was the other way around. Lukas played both matches against Romania (1-1) and Northern Ireland (1-1), but the Finns failed to qualify for the European Championships which will take place in France next year.

WORLD CUP 2018 Qualifiers

SGE defender Carlos Zambrano was called up to join Peru’s side for their WC qualifiers. Unfortunately, the Peruvians lost both matches against Colombia (0-2) and Copa America winners Chile (3-4). Zambrano played the full 90 minutes against Chile and was substituted 11 minutes before the referee blew the final whistle in the other match.

Makoto Hasebe, the Samurai Blue’s skipper, played the full 90 minutes in Japan’s 3-0 victory against Syria. Additionally, Hasebe was part of the starting eleven in Japan’s friendly against Iran. The match ended with a score of 1-1.

UNDER-21 EURO 2017 Qualifiers

The German U21 national side won both their qualifiers against Finland (4-0) and the Faroe Islands (6-0). Eintracht youngster Marc Stendera was sent on the field in the second half of the match against the Faroe Islands (69’). It was his debut as a player for the German U21.

Mijat Gacinovic gained 58 minutes of on-pitch action when the Serbian U21 won their qualifying match against Andorra (5-0). Without the assistance of Gacinovic, the Serbians were able to rack up another victory against Lithuania (2-0).

Others

Constant Djakpa joined the Ivory Coast national side in a friendly against Morocco. The Ivory Coast won the match 1-0, Djakpa left the field after 69 minutes.

Courtesy of victories against Turkey (1- 0), the Netherlands (2- 0) and England (1- 0), Germany’s U20 won the “Mercedes-Benz Elite Cup”, a four-team all-play-all tournament.

Luca Waldschmidt gained on-pitch action against Turkey (74 minutes) and England (45 minutes). He also assisted the goal against Turkey and was awarded a penalty (which was not converted though).

At the same youth tournament, but in a different age class, Germany’s U19 beat USA 8-1 in a goal frenzy. Eintracht striker Enis Bunjaki, who was sent on the field after an hour, scored a brace in this match. Then, Bunjaki lead his team to a 1-0 victory against Mexico by converting a penalty kick. In this match, the Eintracht youngster was replaced after 68 minutes. Finally, a 2-2 draw against Scotland was enough for the Germans to win the tournament. In this match, Bunjaki came from the bench at the beginning of the second half.

Let’s exaggerate a bit: As a Finn, you are born to play ice hockey. Thus, it does not come as a surprise that Eintracht goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky, who was born in Czechoslovakia but grew up in Finland, is not unfamiliar with the “fastest game on earth”, as ice hockey sometimes is called. Why is this important? As it happens, there are three Finish goalies in area surrounding Frankfurt. These men are football goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky and ice hockey keepers Antti Ore (who plays for Löwen Frankfurt) and Mikko Rämö (who is part of EC Bad Nauheim’s squad). So why not have a little Finnish goalie gathering on ice? No sooner said than done!

The three Finnish keepers met in Frankfurt’s ice rink to have a joyful competition. Accordingly, Hradecky replaced his Eintracht jersey with hockey equipment and put on skates instead of football shoes. It is needless to say that the meeting, which was watched by reporters from Finland and elsewhere, gained a lot of attention. The goalkeepers had a lot of fun showing their skills on ice. Of course, they made sure not to hurt themselves and their compatriots. With a big smile on his face, Hradecky accepted the offer of Bad Nauheim’s coach, who is also a Finn, to help out as a forward, if need be.

Lukas, you have swapped the football shoes for skates today. You did not swing the hockey stick for the first time, did you?

Well, you cannot get a Finnish passport if you do not know how to play ice hockey (laughs). In Finland, the summer lasts for about six months. It is winter for the rest of the year, and you can hardly play football outside. So you play ice hockey. That is how I was able to improve my hockey skills.

Why did you not continue to play ice hockey?

As I said, I have played both football and ice hockey as a child, but then I decided to stick with football. I was a little bit better at it, and I think it was a good decision not to quit playing football (laughs).

One of the reasons why you wanted to move to Germany was playing in Bundesliga. What is so special about the top flight in Germany?

The Bundesliga is one of the best leagues in the world. To go there was a big step for me. It was not easy, but I have received a warm welcome. Now I want to prove myself and continue to become better.

What are your thoughts on your new club Eintracht Frankfurt?

Eintracht are a great club. We have great fans, and I have great teammates. I hope they also believe that they have a good goalkeeper (laughs).

Our last question is: What are your personal goals with Eintracht?

I want to remain the number one and improve my skills. Other than that, we will see what happens.

Hradecky probably inherited his sporting talents from his father, who was a professional volleyball player. But Hradecky is not only good at sports. He also has a gift for languages. He speaks Finnish, Slovak, English and Danish. His German is getting better and better, too.

The International Motor Show IAA in Frankfurt attracts several hundred thousand visitors every two years. For this 2015’s IAA (17 – 27 September) Eintracht’s main sponsor Alfa Romeo invited the team for a presentation in Hall 6. Assistant Coach Reiner Geyer noticed with a smile on his face: “The passion for cars is similar to the passion for football. We are glad about the opportunity to visit our main sponsor at the IAA.”

One day after the unlucky defeat against Schalke 04 eleven players as well as the coaches were picked up at Commerzbank Arena by an Alfa shuttle and driven to the motor show. Before visiting the IAA Alex Meier, last year’s Bundesliga top scorer, inaugurated a display of his “Golden Boot” trophy at the Eintracht Museum alongside the club’s CEO Heribert Bruchhagen.

As most SGE players are car enthusiasts as well, they were more than happy to visit the IAA. Hundreds of Eintracht supporters were waiting for their stars already and the players did not get a chance to check out Alfa Romeo’s new models upon arrival. Later on Bastian Oczipka took a seat in the new “Giulia” and had a closer look at its interior.

While the players were signing autographs and taking pictures with their fans, Head Coach Armin Veh and Sporting Director Bruno Hübner answered questions about Eintracht Frankfurt during a talk. After TV interviews and a “meet & greet” with ten lucky winners of a raffle organized by Alfa Romeo, the team said goodbye and of course some players took the opportunity to have a look around the IAA.

Good news for Eintracht fans in Asia, Latin America, the United States and Europe! This season marks the long-awaited debut of Fox’s multi-year rights deal that finally brings one of the world’s best and most popular soccer leagues into mainstream American homes – the Bundesliga coverage including all Eintracht away and home games.

The deal between the Bundesliga (DFL) and FOX runs for a five-year term in Asia, Latin America and the US, and a two-year term in Italy and The Netherlands, spanning throughout 80 countries and territories on four continents. It includes rights to all 306 Bundesliga matches each season for the first time ever, as well as the German Supercup and the Bundesliga Relegation Playoffs. This is more than double past years, including 58 slated for FOX Sports. In addition, FOX holds digital distribution rights, including the ability to make DFL content available through new and existing authenticated online television services, as well as on mobile devices in the contracted territories. This will make the Bundesliga available to a much larger (non-sports) audience worldwide.

FOX Sports reaches 83.5 million homes broadcasting in eight languages in 97 countries outside of the U.S. The corporate parent also owns Sky Deutschland, the Bundesliga’s big domestic broadcaster. So Fox will have great access to pre-packaged and custom-produced content.

The first Eintracht match this season – away against VfL Wolfsburg – was the first match and the only one of the first Bundesliga matchday televised globally by FOX Sports on 16 August 2015.

Ahead of the season FOX sent camera teams to six Bundesliga clubs including Bayern, Dortmund and Eintracht to produce clips about the teams and to introduce these to their global audience. So come August a team of FOX Sports Brazil arrived at Commerzbank Arena and interviewed Brazilian SGE defender Bamba Anderson. He chatted about playing football in Germany and the very special atmosphere during Eintracht home games. They witnessed a training session of the first team and even met living SGE legend Karl-Heinz Körbel who holds an all-time record (602 Bundesliga appearances) and now runs the Eintracht Football Academy.

The fans in the US will be keen to hear that Timothy Chandler has now returned from injury. And another global highlight is on its way – Eintracht will host Bayern München on Friday 30 October at 20.30 CET, it is a classic and also a big match for international markets.

A delegation of Eintracht Frankfurt travelled to Abu Dhabi from 25 to 27 October to hold a so-called Coach Clinic. The head of the “Eintracht Frankfurt Sports Boarding School” Anton Schumacher and his colleague Karl Rotter held a two day seminar for around 40 PE teachers and school coaches of local schools in Abu Dhabi.

The coaching was organized by Eintracht’s partner Daman in order to support the „Super 11” initiative which fights against youth obesity and the aim to inspire kids for sports. In a theoretical part Anton Schumacher and Karl Rotter presented and explained certain training aspects. At a nearby stadium the theories were then demonstrated in a practical experience with a youth team.

The goal of the clinic is to enable the coaches and teachers to take the new knowledge back to their schools and to conduct improved and systematic training to their students. After the seminar the 11 best players will be selected until January 2016 from a range of schools and like in recent years receive an award during the Eintracht Frankfurt training camp in Abu Dhabi.

On the last day of the trip the two Eintracht delegates held a training session for around 25 kids of the “Future Champions Program” – another initiative of Daman for kids and juveniles aiming at the way of becoming professional athletes. The focus was on team spirit and time management i.e. on how to organize school, training and everyday life.

A few weeks ago, a delegation from Eintracht’s “Football Academy” was on a promotion tour in the People’s Republic of China. Former SGE sweeper Manfred “Manni” Binz, former SGE playmaker Ervin Skela and football academy staff member Manuel Hiemenz travelled to Changsha, a city with seven million inhabitants in South Central China, to show kids how a professional football training looks like.

The training sessions were held on the school grounds of Yali High School, one of the few Chinese institutions that have a long tradition of teaching kids how to play football. Thus, it did not come as a big surprise that last season’s Bundesliga top scorer, SGE’s Alex Meier, was not unfamiliar to the school kids.

Ervin Skela, a former Albanian international who used to play for Eintracht until the summer of 2004, was fascinated by the kids’ spirit and enthusiasm. “At first, they were a bit shy, but once the ice was broken, they opened up and became eager to get the coaches’ advice”, Skela said. “The children are very determined and focused, we have a lot of fun together. They immediately try to follow our instructions. Of course, the conditions here in China are different than in Germany, but we get along very well.”

Former German international Manni Binz concurred with Skela’s statement. He added, “I had expected more difficulties. But the training sessions were great, and the Chinese hospitality was very warm-hearted.”

SGE’s “ambassadors” stayed in Changsha until 17 August. The voyage was initiated by ex-SGE goalie Thomas Ernst, who works, among others, as an intermediary in the field of sports.

Football Academy

Eintracht’s Football Academy, promoted and led by Eintracht legend Charly Körbel, gives kids a meaningful use of their leisure time by teaching them how to train like professional football players. In doing so, the football school also helps in discovering and developing young talents early on. The academy conducts football camps from one to five days, for example during public school holidays and on weekends.

What a memorable trip it was! A few months ago, various SGE youngsters joined the Under-15 team and took a flight across the Atlantic Ocean to Dallas where they participated in the prestigious Dr. Pepper Dallas Cup. And only shortly afterwards, on 11 August 2015, our youngsters boarded another plane.

This time, now the Under-16, their destination was a top-class international tournament in Mexico, with teams of the Mexican top league Liga BBVA Bancomer, the American Major League Soccer (MLS) and the German Bundesliga participating. Only eight teams had the privilege to be part of the junior football competition. Next to Eintracht’s youngsters Borussia Mönchengladbach also represented Germany.

The young Eagles returned home safely after finishing runner-ups and with plenty of great memories. In particular, the final against Club Deportivo Guadalajara at the venerable Estadio Azteca, which has an official capacity of 95,500 and was the largest stadium in the world for a long time, made a lasting impression on the Eintracht talents. Thus, the 1-4 defeat was only of secondary importance.

The tournament was accompanied by an interesting and varied leisure program. It comprised guided tours through Mexico City, with its nine million inhabitants one of the largest cities in the world, and to Teotihuacan, an ancient city known for its Mesoamerican pyramids. The young footballers were also invited to take part in an “EA Sports” video game tournament which lasted for several days. On top of it all the youngsters met an old acquaintance from the Bundesliga: Jens Lehmann, former German international goalkeeper, was part of the German Football League’s “Legends Tour” and met the Eintracht youngsters during one of his stops for a chat.

Exciting times for Eintracht’s Under-17, Under-16 and Under-15 teams; they travelled to Doha / Qatar at the beginning of October and participated in the so-called “TriSeries”. Competing in a range of tournaments they each played against teams a year their senior – i.e. the Under-17 (1999 born) played against a team born in 1998 and so on.

SGE’s Under-15 suffered a 4-2 defeat despite being 2-1 up in between and the Under-16 lost 2-1 against a tough to play Aspire Academy team in a tight match. The Under-17 though surprised Lekhwiya S.C. – including plenty of Qatar youth internationals – by beating them 8-1.

Eintracht’s youngsters then played against the youth teams of Estudiantes from Argentina on the following day. They showed good performances and great passion against their opponents who also were a year older. Still they all suffered defeats probably also due to competing on the day before and maybe one or the other jet lag. The Under-17 lost 3-0, the Under-16 3-2 and the Under-15 1-0 from a set piece.

There was no lack of education off the pitch either, right after breakfast the lads did their homework and studied. The trip was a fantastic experience for our young Eagles who returned home having competed internationally and with plenty of expressions from a great adventure.

Around 500 pupils from 35 schools around Pretoria, South Africa braved last week’s hot weather to participate in a six-day Kick and Code camp at the Deutsche Schule Pretoria and surroundings, held by Eintracht Frankfurt Football Academy Coaches Uwe Müller, Cezary Tobollik, Manni Binz and Clemens Appel and driven by the Systems Applications and Products (SAP).

Pupils from 35 schools around Pretoria had a unique experience after being exposed to international football skills, thanks to the Kick and Code camp. The week-long camp which run from 1 – 10 October across 17 African countries, provided a once in a life-time opportunity to around 500 young stars of being trained by German professional soccer coaches.

Children participating this program, first of its kind globally, have been between the ages of 8 and 15. Activities included soccer training from UEFA A-licensed coaches from Germany and South Africa, SAFA (South African Football Association) grass-root coaching license training, as well as software coding workshops by IT experts from SAP Africa.

Uwe Mueller, team manager for Eintracht Frankfurt Football Academy, said the team was proud to partner with SAP in this ground-breaking initiative to help develop both digital and soccer skills in South Africa, where sports and technology could be fused in such a way that children learn life-skills whilst having fun. He added that “the Digital Economy presents exciting opportunities to close the digital divide and it is through initiatives such as this driven by companies like SAP, that the future of software coding is made a reality.”