A sarcastic response from Imke Wübbenhorst to her work in the men's field has been named Football of the Year. The first female coach of a senior league team of men received the most votes of the guests present at the election ceremony for the German Football Culture Award in Nuremberg.
"I'm a pro, I'm starting to tail length," Wübbenhorst had said on her debut as coach of the men of BV Cloppenburg, when she was asked if she would wear a siren on her head, so that her players could quickly put on a pair of trousers, before she gets into the cabin.
Their response even picked up media from Hong Kong. Even interview requests from Brazil should have been there.
The prize, which has been awarded since 2006, is endowed with 5,000 euros for a charitable purpose. In the previous year Thomas Hitzlsperger had delivered as the ARD expert in the World Cup match against Sweden the saying of the year: "The Swedes are like the mid-thirties in the disco: Put in the back and wait to see if something results."
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Football Word of the Year: The eleven nomineesIn addition to Wübbenhorst there had been three more sayings in the final selection and stood in Nuremberg to vote:
- "I am a child of the Ruhr area, where you answer the question of nationality with Schalke, Dortmund or Bochum," said the native Bochumer and today's Bayern professional Leon Goretzka . It was a response to some racist comments by some fans in the German national team's game against Serbia in March.
- "Everyone always asks what is the difference between the girls and the boys: There is no one," said former DFB coach Horst Hrubesch with regard to his work as a selection coach for men and women.
- "If this is a referee - I do not know, Digger - is to go to the cornflakes," said Jan Löhmannsröben , former player of the 1. FC Kaiserslautern after an unanswered foul.