The gate pirates

Television series
German title	The gate pirates
Original title	The gate pirates
Country of production	Germany
original language	German
year	2008
length	11 minutes
Episodes	21 in 1 season
genre	Youth series
German-language ; first broadcast	May 11, 2008 on NICK
occupation
	Fredi Bobič : Fredi Bobič; Udo: Udo Röbenack; David: David Hugo Schmitz ; Pascal: Pascal Gerhards; Phillip: Phillip Küchenhofen; Max: Maximilian Schenkelberg;

Die Torpiraten is a German television series for young people that was shown for the first time on Pentecost Sunday 2008 on German television on the NICK television station .

action

The goal pirates are a (fictional) soccer team from Cologne . This was put together by a committee to take part in the 'Cup of Champions'. Teams from several German cities play against each other in two groups of six teams. As opponents, the goal pirates have to do with Tornado Düsseldorf , Flankenritter Munich and the Gladiators Berlin . The latter are defending champions and are therefore a huge favorite for overall victory from the start. In the very first game of the tournament, the goal pirates meet the gladiators and lose 0: 3.

While preparing for the tournament, Kathi fell in love with Pascal, Phillip's best friend. Phillip, on the other hand, has his eye on Kathi. For this reason he leaves no stone unturned to look better than Pascal. However, he notices that he cannot really impress Kathi and then casually tells her that Pascal has a girlfriend. This leads to Kathi forging a plan to make Pascal jealous. She decides that this would work best if she shows up with a friend. She chooses Phillip of all people for this.

Marten moved with his parents from Lüneburg to Cologne and suddenly shows up with the team. The other players are concerned that everything was right when he was “nominated” and treat him like an outsider at first. That spoils Marten's mood and he really just wants to go back to Lüneburg. But over time, the other players realize that Marten is a good footballer and that he can help the team. At that point in time, Marten decided to leave home and visit his old friends in Lüneburg. As soon as he's no longer in Cologne, his teammates have a hard time in the upcoming games. They call Marten all the time and try to get him to return. The decisive factor is a video that Matti shot. This is how Marten packs his things to go back to Cologne ...

Sibel wants to make it into the selection and thinks himself good enough. This is of course a thorn in the side of her brother Pascal, who would not like to see his sister on the team. However, Sibel leaves no stone unturned and tries several times to talk to Udo, the goal pirates' coach, to convince him of her skills. But he has to refuse their efforts at first, but promises to seek a conversation with Fredi Bobic , a member of the committee, which then takes place first by telephone. In this phone call, Fredi promises Udo that he will stand up for Sibel. When Fredi then goes to Cologne to visit Udo, Sibel is allowed to play for him in order to convince him too. Some time later she actually received the goal pirate jersey from Fredi and was allowed to play in the tournament.

Characters

Fredi Bobič is a member of the committee that put together the team of goal pirates. He is well known to Udo, almost friends. He has the final say on Sibel's subsequent nomination.

Pascal is one of the best players on the team. He knows this and makes claims based on it. In this way, he brings himself into the conversation as the team captain, for which he is then elected.

Phillip is Pascal's best friend. Both have known each other for years and go through thick and thin together until Kathi comes into their lives.

Marten moved from Lüneburg to Cologne shortly before the squad was put together and played directly with the goal pirates. The other players are suspicious of why he came to the team when he has never played in Cologne before. You suspect that some arrangements have been made in the background and that something is not going right. Marten is very isolated in the team at the beginning and does little to change this situation himself. Over time, the other players see that Marten is a really good footballer and increasingly accept him.

David is the goalkeeper and is not exactly big. Nevertheless, he convinced the trainer in the first training sessions and won a shoot-out against Max. In the further course he is elected by the team as the new captain .

Udo is the coach of the goal pirates and friends with Fredi Bobič, who sits on the committee. He really wants to win the 'Cup of Champions' but knows that this will not be an easy endeavor. All players get along well with him.

Max is the substitute goalkeeper for the Torpiraten and does not accept this role. He uses every opportunity to get himself talking so that he can eventually become a regular goalkeeper. Because of his height alone, he thinks it appropriate to stand in the goal.

Sibel is Pascal's (half) sister and was not called into the team because of her gender, although she would have loved to play. She leaves no stone unturned to get into the team and tries several times to talk to the trainer, who initially cannot change the situation.

Matti was not nominated for the team, but still wants to be there. So he came up with the brilliant idea of accompanying the team with the camera before, during and after the games and training units. This often means that the goal pirates' players are annoyed when Matti shows up, but they actually find his ingenuity quite funny. The same applies to the trainer, who only refers Matti to the dressing room during the concentration phases and for very important things.

Kathi is totally in love with Pascal and is there at every game or training session of her crush. She always had her best friend Anne in tow.

Anne is Kathi's best friend and is always on the go with her. Although she is not at all interested in football, she is by her side at every game and in almost every training session - even if it is sometimes very annoying.

Tim is Phillip's big brother and from time to time he gives him advice on how to behave.

Background information

The shooting began on February 14, 2008 in Cologne and ended on May 14, 2008. It was shot mainly on the district sports facility Cologne-Süd . Other Cologne sports grounds were selected as additional locations.

Two days of shooting were completed in Berlin and in the Karl-Liebknecht-Stadion in Potsdam on the sidelines of the DFB Cup final of the A-Juniors .

Real young people who play football in the club acted as “actors”. For the sake of simplicity, the characters in the series are named by their first names like the "actors" in real life. The main actors all belonged to the SC Fortuna Köln club at the time of shooting and played there in the U17, U16, U15 and U13. The opposing teams were also represented by real soccer teams from Cologne (including DJK Südwest, DJK Grün-Weiß Nippes, SC West Cologne ). The same applies to the referees appearing in the series. Here, too, we are dealing with real referees who officially lead games of the Cologne soccer district in their free time .