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Karl
Senior Member
USA
914 Posts |
 Posted - Apr 11 2002 : 08:18:42 AM
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Rhone
Interesting article.........................................
Thu Apr 11 05:09:05 2002
208.141.82.130
First, check out some of these quotes:
*****"Most Americans don't realize that even the third division in Germany is very professional, that being a soccer player here is a 24-hour a day job," said Thomas Dooley, a former U.S. World Cup player who coaches second division Saarbrucken. Some misconceptions may stem from third division teams officially being classified as amateur, despite the fact that all players are paid and only a few players on the smallest teams have time to have a job other than playing soccer.*****
*****Foreign players also benefit from visa requirements that are far easier to fulfill in Germany than they are in other leagues, such as England's. English leagues require players to have played in the majority of their respective national team games to get work permits.*****
*****German agents speak of the high level of youth talent among American players, but note a rapid tail-off should they go on to play college soccer or join MLS's youth development system, Project-40.*****
*****"MLS wants long-term, low-cost players," said Becker. "MLS was either unable to detect the quality of a player like [19-year-old forward] Landon Donovan or unwilling to pay the price for him stay in the United States."
Instead, Donovan signed a contract with Bayer Leverkusen of the German first division. "And now MLS pays Leverkusen the high price of having Donovan on loan in San Jose," said Becker.*****
Here is the article:
A Tough Translation
For Americans, Soccer in Germany Is a '24 Hour a Day Job'
By Erik Schelzig
Special to The Washington Post
Wednesday, April 10, 2002
ELVERSBERG, Germany -- Far from the bright lights and manicured fields of top division German soccer, former Hylton High School standout midfielder Grover Gibson takes free kicks on a shoddy clay practice field, shouting instructions to his teammates in fluent German.
At 23, Gibson is in his sixth year of professional soccer in Germany and he is a perfect example of the struggles U.S. players sometimes face playing abroad.
Gibson's odyssey has taken him from a 1996 U.S. under-17 national team match against Germany that produced a contract offer from a Stuttgart youth team, to Augsburg, and now to Elversberg in the southwestern part of the country, where his team languishes near the bottom of the third division standings, perilously close to being relegated to the even more obscure divisions below.
Like many other hopeful American soccer players, Gibson came to Germany with aspirations of catching on with a successful team, getting noticed by the U.S. national team coach and eventually going to a World Cup.
While he is considered among the brighter lights of the third division, Gibson was not in the player pool to be considered for this summer's World Cup in South Korea and Japan. Instead he has made it his goal to play in the 2006 World Cup in Germany, at which point he could have 10 years' experience playing in the host country and would be only 27.
"I need to get on a team that plays in the first or second division to be noticed back home," said Gibson, who graduated from Hylton, which is located in Woodbridge, in 1996 and chose European soccer over the University of Virginia.
"I haven't seen Grover play in a long time," admitted U.S. national team coach Bruce Arena, though he said he remembered Gibson from his days in Virginia.
Before the advent of Major League Soccer, call-ups to the national team were virtually automatic for U.S. players who had caught on with foreign teams.
Like minor league baseball, third division soccer is regional in nature, and other than professional scouts and devoted local fans, the level of attention pales in comparison to its more senior incarnations.
"Most Americans don't realize that even the third division in Germany is very professional, that being a soccer player here is a 24-hour a day job," said Thomas Dooley, a former U.S. World Cup player who coaches second division Saarbrucken. Some misconceptions may stem from third division teams officially being classified as amateur, despite the fact that all players are paid and only a few players on the smallest teams have time to have a job other than playing soccer.
Gibson appears to have become very much at home with his German career, whether maneuvering his BMW through high-speed autobahn traffic or translating a German menu to his newly arrived American teammate Chad Evans (La Plata), whom Gibson recommended to Elversberg after Evans's U.S. minor league team, the Hershey Wildcats, folded last season. But Gibson admits that things were not always this easy for him. After becoming impatient with player development in Stuttgart, he left for Augsburg only to get injured and to see his new team develop financial problems. To make matters worse, he watched as a majority of his former youth-team colleagues in Stuttgart moved up into higher divisions.
"I spent a lot of time talking on the phone to friends and family back in Virginia and I really wanted to come home," Gibson said. "But my parents convinced me to stick it out and that things would get better for me. And I'm glad I did."
Gibson switched to Elversberg two years ago, and was joined by his high-school girlfriend -- now fiance -- Katy Westerhof after she finished her degree in education last fall. "My father thought Grover was crazy for passing up college to go play soccer in Germany," Westerhof said. "Now he sees that Grover can support me living with him in Germany, and that Grover's professional career is progressing."
Gibson and his agents say that there is interest among a variety of higher-division teams for the American playmaker's services next season. But Gibson wants to weigh options carefully, because he doesn't want to make the same mistake of his first transfer. "I want to play and to be noticed back home," said Gibson, again with an eye toward national team participation.
Luxembourg-based agent Michael Becker has represented more than 20 American players in Germany, including trail-blazer Eric Wynalda, the U.S. national team's all-time leading scorer.
"We were lucky that Eric Wynalda was so successful and well liked in German soccer," Becker said. "After him, everybody was looking for the next Wynalda. He really opened the doors of German soccer for American players."
Foreign players also benefit from visa requirements that are far easier to fulfill in Germany than they are in other leagues, such as England's. English leagues require players to have played in the majority of their respective national team games to get work permits.
German agents speak of the high level of youth talent among American players, but note a rapid tail-off should they go on to play college soccer or join MLS's youth development system, Project-40.
Becker sees a double disincentive of lower quality of play and lesser compensation for young Americans to play in the United States rather than in Europe.
"MLS wants long-term, low-cost players," said Becker. "MLS was either unable to detect the quality of a player like [19-year-old forward] Landon Donovan or unwilling to pay the price for him stay in the United States."
Instead, Donovan signed a contract with Bayer Leverkusen of the German first division. "And now MLS pays Leverkusen the high price of having Donovan on loan in San Jose," said Becker.
There are three Americans on first division teams in Germany: Tony Sanneh, Cory Gibbs and Frankie Hejduk. In the second division Steve Cherundolo and Conor Casey play for a club, Hannover, that has earned promotion into the top division next season.
Meantime, Gibson focuses on the weekly routine of long bus rides to the games against the lesser-known teams of German soccer, hoping that one of the few people in the stands might be the one to offer him the contract to higher division play and, some day, a chance to play for the U.S. national team.
© 2002 The Washington Post Company
Karl |
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Karl
Senior Member
USA
914 Posts |
Posted - Apr 11 2002 : 08:25:38 AM
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Excellent post by Rhone.
I wonder if the JFF, affiliates and Clubs have on file the various requirements for entry to these leagues.
We have spoken of "perpetual renewal" and some of the simple tasks that the JFF must carry out to maximize the returns through our "Perpetual Renewal". Is there the type of "close" relations with our Clubs that fosters an understanding of the various linkages necessary to promote growth at all levels ...and, a realisation of the part each "unit" (Confederation, Parish,...Sports Medicine Association, etc.) plays in our development?
What about communication that makes knowledgable "all" on opportunities "out there"? ...and the steps necessary to exploit those opportunities?
Karl |
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Going pro -Journey to foreign professional league
