Farewell game (soccer)
A farewell game is a game in football that honors a player at the end of his career. This is often also a benefit game (from Latin beneficio , beneficence ), if the player to be honored shares in the income and he makes it available for charitable purposes or a foundation of his choice. In Germany there were official farewell games organized by the German Football Association (DFB) . For some time now, these have usually been organized by private agencies.
The last game in a football stadium destined for demolition is also generally referred to as a farewell game .
DFB guidelines
At the suggestion of the DFB game committee, the DFB board issued guidelines in 1973 for charity and farewell games for licensed , contract and amateur players that are subject to application (by the member associations) and requiring approval (by the DFB) . Factors to be considered for an approval are the length of membership in the club and the number of club games (at least 10 years member or 500 games), as well as the reasons for ending the career (age and / or injury). International participation in farewell matches required the player to be honored at least 40 appearances in international matches and compliance with FIFA regulations . Another prerequisite was and is "that the social conditions of the player justify such a game or that the player or his relatives have got into economic hardship."
In 1978, these guidelines were made more precise and adapted: Since then, each player has only been allowed to receive one farewell game, which must be requested within one year of the end of the active career. Farewell matches with international participation required active participation in at least 50 international matches for the German national soccer team at that time .
Thereafter, the rule was that a player who had at least 75 appearances for the senior national team was eligible for a farewell game. But in the end it was up to the DFB to decide for whom such a game was hosted. In 1986 Klaus Fichtel got a farewell game with international participation, although he had only played 23 appearances with the national team. In 1995 Guido Buchwald was the last national player to receive a farewell match under this rule.
Since then there has been no automatic right to a farewell game, which has led to reactions from former national players in the media. In special cases, the DFB reserves the right to honor players with a farewell match, as in the case of the record national players Lothar Matthäus and Oliver Kahn, or to offer a farewell match for players who are still active but who have left the national team.
Farewell matches for former national players
The following table contains an incomplete list of farewell games that have been requested and approved by the DFB.
| date | Stadium and location | Participating teams and results | Farewell player |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 1, 1972 | Volksparkstadion , Hamburg | Hamburger SV - world selection 3: 7 | Uwe Seeler |
| 17th May 1977 | Müngersdorfer Stadion , Cologne | 1. FC Köln - World Champion Team (1974) 1: 4 | Wolfgang Overath |
| May 15, 1979 | Bökelbergstadion , Mönchengladbach | Borussia Mönchengladbach - German national soccer team 6-2 | Berti Vogts |
| June 1, 1982 | Volksparkstadion , Hamburg | Hamburger SV - German national soccer team 2-4 | Franz Beckenbauer |
| May 31, 1983 | Olympiastadion Munich , Munich | FC Bayern Munich - World selection 2: 3 | Paul Breitner |
| August 26, 1986 | Park Stadium , Gelsenkirchen | FC Schalke 04 - European football selection 6: 6 | Klaus Fichtel |
| May 4th 1993 | Müngersdorfer Stadion , Cologne | 1. FC Köln - "All-Star-Team" 5: 2 | Pierre Littbarski |
| May 31, 1995 | Gottlieb Daimler Stadium , Stuttgart | "Guidos Dream Team" - German national soccer team 3: 4 | Guido Buchwald |
| May 26, 2000 | Olympiastadion Munich, Munich | FC Bayern Munich - German national soccer team 1: 1 | Lothar Matthäus |
| September 2, 2008 | Allianz Arena , Munich | FC Bayern Munich - German national soccer team 1: 1 | Oliver Kahn |
| June 5, 2010 | Waldparkstadion, Hauenhorst | "Stege & Friends" - "Germania Oldstars" 7: 4 | Kerstin Stegemann |
| March 27, 2012 | Frankfurter Volksbank Stadium , Frankfurt am Main | 1. FFC Frankfurt - German national soccer team of women 3-6 | Birgit Prinz |
| August 31, 2016 | Borussia Park , Mönchengladbach | German national soccer team - Finnish national soccer team 2-0 | Bastian Schweinsteiger |
| 22nd March 2017 | Westfalenstadion , Dortmund | German national soccer team - English national soccer team 1-0 | Lukas Podolski |
| May 26, 2018 | Tivoli (Aachen) , Aachen | Bundesliga & Friends - Odos national team 11:11 | David Odonkor |
Farewell games according to the guidelines of other football associations
The following table shows a partial list of farewell games (Engl. Farewell game , testimonial match , testimonial ) internationally renowned football legends.
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Farewell games relating to football stadiums
The following table shows an incomplete list of farewell matches that took place in football stadiums before they were demolished or completely renovated.
| date | Stadium and location | Participating teams and results | comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| November 14, 1990 |
Parking (stadium) , Copenhagen 
|
Danish national soccer team - Yugoslav national soccer team 0-2 | The last game was a qualifier for the European Football Championship in 1992. After that, the stadium was demolished for the new building. |
| October 7, 2000 |
Wembley Stadium , London 
|
English national soccer team - German national soccer team 0: 1 | The last game was a qualifier for the 2002 World Cup. Wembley Stadium was completely rebuilt over a period of five years and officially completed on March 23, 2007. |
| July 7, 2001 |
Wankdorf Stadium , Bern 
|
BSC Young Boys - FC Lugano 1-1 | The stadium in which the final of the 1954 World Cup took place was blown up and demolished on August 3, 2001 . |
| May 7, 2011 |
Old Tivoli , Aachen 
|
Traditional Alemannia team - fan selection 13: 1 | The stadium was demolished. Residential houses have been built on the site since 2013. |
Individual evidence
- ↑ Guidelines for charity and farewell games , official communications of the DFB, April 1973, p. 2.
- ↑ Guidelines for charity and farewell games , official communications of the DFB, March 1978, p. 3.
- ↑ Welt-Online, January 19, 1999, uprising of the national players: We want a farewell game - solidarity with ex-captain Klinsmann - but DFB boss Braun rejects football gala
- ↑ Sports information service: End of career: Prince can hope for a farewell game. FIFA Women's World Cup Germany 2011. In: FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association, July 10, 2011, accessed October 18, 2013 .
- ^ Holger Joel and Ernst Christian Schütt: The Chronicle of German Football: The games of the national teams from 1908 to today. With a detailed follow-up report on EM 2008 , Wissenmedia Verlag (2008), page 119
- ↑ www.fc-koeln.de Müngersdorfer Stadion
- ^ Holger Joel and Ernst Christian Schütt: The Chronicle of German Football: The games of the national teams from 1908 to today. With a detailed follow-up report on EM 2008 , Wissenmedia Verlag (2008), page 213
- ↑ Wolfgang Niersbach, Rudi Michel and Bernd Barutta: 100 Years of the DFB: The History of the German Football Association , Sportverlag Berlin, 1999, page 68
- ↑ Johannes Ebert, Knut Görich and Detlef Wienecke-Janz: The Great Chronicle of World History - Volume 19: The End of the East-West Conflict , Wissenmedia Verlag, 2008, page 210
- ↑ 25 years ago Klaus Fichtel's farewell game increased ( memento from September 12, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
- ↑ www.fussball.ch Little, fat Diego impressed at the Matthäus farewell gala
- ↑ www.spiegel.de Oliver Kahn has stopped
- ↑ Ahlener Zeitung, June 5, 2010, farewell game for Kerstin Stegemann - Stege & Friends are celebrating another peat festival
- ↑ Markus Juchem: Birgit Prinz celebrates an emotional farewell. In: Womensoccer.de. March 27, 2012. Retrieved March 27, 2012 .
- ↑ www.abendzeitung-muenchen.de Emotional farewell to "football god" Schweinsteiger
- ↑ "A typical Poldi" - Podolski scored the winning goal in the last game , WeltN24 (online), March 22, 2017; accessed on March 23, 2017.
- ↑ Goal party at Odonkor-Abschied , Sport1 (online), May 26, 2018; accessed on May 27, 2018.
- ^ Karl-Heinz Huba: Football World History: Pictures, Data, Facts from 1846 to Today , Stiebner Verlag GmbH, 2007, page 383
- ↑ Clemente Angelo Lisi: A History of the World Cup, 1930-2010 , Scarecrow Press, 2011, p. 143
- ↑ www.spiegel.de, October 25, 2007, How the Bavarians "King Johan" missed the farewell
- ↑ La Nuit des étoiles: En hommage à Ulli Stielike: Neuchâtel, Stade de la Maladière, mardi May 2, 1989 à 20 heures , Neuchâtel Xamax FC, Xamax (1989)
- ↑ news.bbc.co.uk, November 10, 2001, Maradona bows out with tribute game
- ↑ www.dawn.com, August 6, 2011, Scholes on target in Old Trafford farewell
- ↑ The Times of India, January 10, 2012: Bayern Munich crush India 4-0 in Baichung Bhutia's farewell match
- ↑ Dudek gets his farewell game Reviersport.de, February 23, 2013.
- ↑ fussball-em-news.de: Michael Ballack farewell game , June 5, 2013.
- ^ The Telegraph, October 9, 2000, Shameful edge to Wembley farewell
- ↑ www.alemannia-aachen.de A farewell for the heart - Alemannia's traditional team and a selection of fans will mark the end of the old Tivoli