FC Bundestag

Last updated

FC Bundestag e.V. is a soccer team made up of former and current male and female members of the German Bundestag. It is part of the Sportgemeinschaft Deutscher Bundestag e. V.. In addition to games against other parliamentary selections, the team competes against various amateur teams for the benefit of charitable causes. The prerequisite for the players of the opposing team is a minimum age of 40. [1]

Contents

History

A selection of German parliamentarians took to the pitch for the first time in 1961 in a charity match for social causes against a selection of celebrities, reinforced at the time by Fritz Walter. After a few more games of this kind, a soccer team of the Bundestag was initiated in 1967 under the leadership of Adolf Müller-Emmert, which from then on met regularly for joint training. Müller-Emmert commented on this at the time, saying "soccer is the only joy we have in Bonn." [2]

The first international soccer match against another parliamentary selection took place in 1971 against Switzerland. This led to an annual International Parliamentary Football Tournament, also known as the unofficial European Championship of Parliamentary Teams. For decades, the FC Bundestag as well as selection teams from Austria, Switzerland and Finland have participated in the tournament. The latter have so far finished the tournament as winners most often. 2022 was the last time the German selection managed to win this tournament. In 2013, FC Bundestag finished second and in 2014 in Vienna, fourth.

At the general meeting on 20 January 2018, FC Bundestag for the first time rejected the application for admission of a member of the Bundestag. [3] It was the application of Alternative for Germany (AfD) parliamentarian Sebastian Münzenmaier. The application for admission of Hansjörg Müller was "deferred". [4] AfD politicians Jörn König and Wolfgang Wiehle were accepted into the team, but did not appear once at training until June 2018. [5] In May 2018 - after a conversation between Müller and members Stephan Kühn and Mahmut Özdemir - Hansjörg Müller's application for membership was also rejected. [6]

Training and most matches take place at the Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark. With the permission of the German Football Association, FC Bundestag competes in the official jerseys of the Germany national football team.

Reception

Longtime team captain Klaus Riegert, who played over 300 games for FC Bundestag, considers the team "the most successful faction in the Bundestag" and suspects that one of the recipes for success is that "everyone is the same in the shower."

In March 2012, rumors arose that Otto Rehhagel, who at the time was trying to save Hertha BSC from relegation to the second Bundesliga, had been persuaded by Thomas Oppermann to additionally coach FC Bundestag. According to corresponding media reports, both made it clear that Rehhagel would initially concentrate exclusively on his duties as Hertha coach and would be available as a guest coach at a later date. [7]

Current players

As of 16 May 2020, the squad has a size of 77 players, of which about half (37) are members of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group. The captain is Fritz Güntzler (CDU) and vice-captain is Mahmut Özdemir (SPD). [8]

Few players from the Bündnis 90/Die Grünen parliamentary group, which has its own soccer team, the Green Tulip, are represented.

Former notable players

Among the most famous former players are Helmut Kohl, Joschka Fischer (scoreless), Oskar Lafontaine, Rudolf Scharping, Peter Struck (3 goals), Klaus Töpfer, Theo Waigel (3 goals) and Michael Grosse-Brömer (14 goals). [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cem Özdemir</span> German politician, Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture (born 1965)

Cem Özdemir is a German politician who currently serves as Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture since 2021. He is a member of the Alliance 90/The Greens party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gerd Müller (politician)</span> German politician (born 1955)

Gerhard "Gerd" Müller is a German politician of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria, who is currently serving as Director General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization since 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Axel Fischer</span> German politician

Axel Eduard Fischer is a German politician. He is a member of the CDU and has been a member of the German parliament from 1998 to October 2021, representing Karlsruhe-Land since 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2017 German federal election</span>

Federal elections were held in Germany on 24 September 2017 to elect the members of the 19th Bundestag. At stake were at least 598 seats in the Bundestag, as well as 111 overhang and leveling seats determined thereafter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mahmut Özdemir</span> German politician

Mahmut Özdemir is a German politician for the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) who has been a member of the Bundestag since 2013, representing the Duisburg II district.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emmi Zeulner</span> German politician

Emmi Zeulner is a German nurse and politician of the Christian Social Union (CSU) who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag since 2013.

The Parliamentary Oversight Panel (PKGr) is a committee of the German Bundestag responsible for oversight of the intelligence agencies of Germany. The PKGr monitors the Federal Intelligence Service, the Military Counterintelligence Service, and the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution. Under the Control Body Act, the federal government is obliged to inform the PKGr comprehensively about the general activities of the federal intelligence services and about events of particular importance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patrick Sensburg</span> German lawyer and politician

Patrick Ernst Hermann Sensburg is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and a professor at the University of Applied Sciences for Police and Public Administration in North Rhine-Westphalia in Cologne. He served as a member of the German Parliament from 2009 until 2021, representing the Hochsauerlandkreis constituency in North Rhine-Westphalia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philipp Amthor</span> German politician

Philipp Amthor is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been a member of the Bundestag since the 2017 German federal election. From 2018 to 2020, he worked as a lobbyist for the now inactive IT-company Augustus Intelligence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kai Wegner</span> German politician

Kai Wegner is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as Governing Mayor of Berlin since April 2023. He served as a member of the Bundestag, the German federal parliament, from 2005 to 2021. In 2019, he became the chairman of the CDU in Berlin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sven Lehmann</span> German politician (born 1979)

Sven Lehmann is a German politician of Alliance 90/The Greens who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia since 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Klaus-Dieter Gröhler</span> German politician

Klaus-Dieter Gröhler is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and former public servant who served as a member of the Bundestag from the state of Berlin from 2013 until 2021. From 2011 until 2013, he worked as the city councillor responsible for building and planning in western Berlin's Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf district.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sebastian Brehm</span> German politician

Sebastian Brehm is a German tax advisor and politician of the Christian Social Union (CSU) who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag from the state of Bavaria since 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adolf Müller (politician, born 1916)</span> German politician

Adolf Müller was a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and former member of the German Bundestag.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ernst Müller-Hermann</span> German politician (1915 – 1994)

Ernst Müller-Hermann was a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and former member of the German Bundestag.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Klaus Riegert</span> German politician (born 1959)

Klaus Riegert is a German politician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Hartmann (politician)</span> German politician (born 1963)

Michael Hartmann is a German politician and member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). He was a member of the German Bundestag from 2002 to 2017. Hartmann is a specialist politician for internal security and was the domestic policy spokesman of the SPD parliamentary group as well as the chairman of his parliamentary group in the Committee on Internal Affairs and a member of the Parliamentary Oversight Panel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ottilie Klein</span> German politician

Ottilie Klein is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag since 2021. In addition to her parliamentary work, she has been the secretary general of the CDU in Berlin since 2023, under the leadership of it chair Kai Wegner.

References

  1. Kantenwein, Tobias. "Deutscher Bundestag - Eine Allparteienfraktion namens FC Bundestag". Deutscher Bundestag (in German). Retrieved 16 December 2020.
  2. ZYLKA, JENNI (9 November 2006). "Denn sie sind das Volk". Die Tageszeitung: taz (in German). p. 19. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
  3. "Ausgabe Nr 25/2018". www.zeit.de. Zeit Online. 2018. p. 16.
  4. "Ausgabe Nr 25/2018". zeit.de. Zeit Online. p. 16.
  5. "Ausgabe Nr 25/2018". zeit.de. Zeit Online. 2018. p. 19.
  6. "Ausgabe Nr 25/2018". zeit.de. Zeit Online. 2018. p. 23.
  7. Online, FOCUS (2013-11-19). "Rehhagel soll "FC Bundestag" coachen". FOCUS Online (in German). Retrieved 16 December 2020.
  8. "Mannschaft | FC Bundestag" (in German). Retrieved 16 December 2020.
  9. "Elf Kollegen sollt ihr sein". www.zeit.de. Zeit Online. 2002-01-17. Retrieved 16 December 2020.