Paris, mon (football) amour. The world football association Fifa is opening an office in the French capital. In the Hôtel de la Marine, a palatial building on the Place de la Concorde, the association, which is actually based in Zurich, is getting a branch. The "Süddeutsche Zeitung" and the French "Le Monde" found this out even before France's President Emmanuel Macron could announce it personally. What a nice story for football historians, since Paris was the founding city of Fifa in 1904. But the pranksters who think evil of it have long been on the loose. The Hôtel de la Marine, for example, is also home to the Emirate of Qatar, which is a benevolent benefactor of Fifa. The "Süddeutsche" even writes of a "sticky proximity". We think that fits in perfectly with the city of love - many an awkward teenage kiss under the Eiffel Tower has developed a sticky closeness thanks to chewing gum.
They were sexually and emotionally abused and their association stood idly by: Twelve female water polo players from the USA will now at least receive financial compensation that goes far beyond monetary payments to abuse victims that exist in Germany. A court in Orange County approved a settlement according to which the women will receive about 14 million US dollars in compensation for pain and suffering. The money does not have to be paid by accused coach Bahram Hojreh, who is allegedly responsible for the abuse. The money comes from the U.S. Water Polo Association and a local Orange County club that had been sued by the female athletes. Although there had been warnings about abuse by the coach since 2008, employees and officials of the federation and club allegedly ignored them. The million-dollar fine does not undo the incidents that traumatized the young women - but it should remind federations and clubs of all sports to be as sensitive as possible. Otherwise it can - rightly - become expensive.
He was actually a loser, at least this season - and yet he is now the big winner. Tom Thibodeau of the New York Knicks became coach of the year in the world's strongest basketball league, the US NBA. In the actual championship games, the 63-year-old had still done great with his team. The Knicks finished the Eastern Conference in fourth place. These were the first playoffs for the club in eight years. But the team was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. Thibodeau, who won the journalists' poll a decade ago when he was then coach of the Chicago Bulls, is thus living proof that sometimes the loser is more interesting than the winner. Because he was able to leave Monty Williams behind in the poll, who can still make it to the NBA Finals with his Phoenix Suns.
For some people, car racing is nothing other than an excessive waste of fossil fuels. In this respect, we now have good news for environmentalists. They may even have performed a rain dance on the sidelines of the tradition-steeped 24-hour race at the Nürburgring. Because the winners from the Manthey Racing works team in the Porsche were forced by storms to drive the shortest long distance ever completed in the history of the traditional race that lasts a whole day. The team consisting of Italian Matteo Cairoli (Italy), Michael Christensen (Denmark), Kevin Estre (France) and German Lars Kern managed "only" 1497.302 kilometres in the 24 hours. Who now thinks, man, that's just a good 60 kilometres per hour, next time I'll just drive my old VW Golf, should end his dreams of a racing career right away. Thunderstorms with heavy rain and fog meant that the 49th edition of the race was closed for more than 14 hours.
There's the mocking name Vizekusen for Bayer Leverkusen in men's football as - previously - perennial runners-up. In women's football Simone Laudehr would actually have qualified for the mocking name Vizelaudehr, but fortunately in women's football fans aren't so vicious when it comes to nicknames. But a whopping ten times Laudehr has been runner-up in the Bundesliga with her respective clubs. Most recently, four times in a row from 2017 to 2020. "I just always came second," Laudehr therefore looked with scepticism at the last Bundesliga match of her great, 18-year career. But since that game last Sunday, Vizelaudehr is no more: she won this year's German championship with her club FC Bayern Munich. The 34-year-old was only substituted when the Bayern ladies were already leading 3-0 against Eintracht Frankfurt. In the last minute of her last game, the defender then even prepared the 4:0. "That was the perfect ending."
Will we in future do as Charlie Chaplin did 100 years ago in the classic film "Gold Rush" and eat our shoes? Well, hopefully that remains a thing of the future, we would like to spare you the topic of sweaty feet when thinking about our good news. But Puma is at least taking a step in the direction of making shoes more edible than Charlie Chaplin's old leather slippers. Puma's new shoes use Better Foam, which is made from at least 35 percent plant-based materials, namely sugar cane. The process used promises a high level of sustainability. The parts of the sugar cane that are not used for food production are mixed with foam, and Better Foam is ready. This is now to be used in training shoes, and new sneakers will also be made from recycled material. The new development is intended to help Puma achieve its goal of making nine out of ten Puma products more sustainable than before by 2025.
Good news for ISPO Munich & Co: Trade fairs should soon be able to take place again in Munich. Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder described the European Football Championship matches in Munich as a good test run for future trade fair events. The outdoor and sports industry is looking forward to Outdoor by ISPO (October 5th to 7th) and ISPO Munich (January 23rd to 26th, 2022) in the Bavarian capital. Before that, the IAA mobility show, planned for the first time in Munich, is to open its doors from September 7th to 12th. These are great prospects indeed! See you - in autumn at the latest!
