The book is written in an informative and light hearted way with many interesting anecdotes in addition to the one mentioned above about The Bald Faced Stag Pub in East Finchley above.Īll the key people who helped develop German football, including players, coaches and administrators are featured.Print Tor! - The Story of German Football In the last 20 years, following changes to how football was run including clubs' approach to youth development, much success followed at club level and for the national team. Indeed, its an amazing achievement that Germany won the 1954 World Cup with a team of amateurs.Īfter the launch of the Bundesliga in 1963, many of the big clubs of today rose to the top of the national game.Ī key feature of domestic football was the rivalry between Bayern Munich and Borussia Monchengladbach and this relationship is covered in the book. He then takes us through the 20th century and tells how football flourished despite difficult historical times and a resistance to professionalism. Hesse then takes us back to the days when gymnastics was the national sport and football had to fight to get established.

Looking forward to the pages ahead, I was surprised but pleased that Uli Hesse opens the book with an anecdote about a coming together of English and German football fans in a pub in North London, I passed every day (although never frequented) for 7 years whilst at school. After deciding to improve my knowledge on how football got developed around the World, I started with the much acclaimed history of football's development in Germany, TOR! The Story of German Football by Uli Hesse.

Uli hesse tor