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Hitzlsperger and Bobic line up for DFB All Stars at the Maccabi Games

Wolfgang Niersbach and Dr. Reinhard Rauball are used to watching a different kind of football match – World Cup finals, DFB Cup finals, high-quality clashes in the Bundesliga. But on Sunday afternoon at the Berlin Olympiastadion, the pace of the game was a little slower than usual. "It’s just a bit of fun. The result isn’t so important," said Fredi Bobic at the end of the encounter featuring a DFB All Star team and a select XI of the best players from the 14th Maccabi Games. The teams were mixed together, and the game ended with a 6-1 victory for those in the Germany national team red and black away kit over those wearing the white DFB home jersey.

The message of the 14th Maccabi Games in Berlin is certainly different to that of the worldwide competition that has taken place in Israel on a four-year cycle since the 1930s – but that is true of all the European variants which follow two years after its Israeli counterpart. The message of these games does not however lose sight of the important cultural and political subtext – even more prominent since these are the first European Maccabi Games held in Germany after the Holocaust, 70 years after the end of the Second World War. League president Reinhard Rauball was following Sunday’s All Star Game, whilst DFB president Wolfgang Niersbach will present the trophy to whichever team wins the Games’ football tournament. The final will be contested between Germany and France on Tuesday afternoon (16:00 CEST).

"The idea to mix up the teams was something new – we wanted to show that we wanted to all play together," said Bobic, European champion in 1996, who took to the field alongside many other former Bundesliga and national side players such as Thomas Hitzlsperger, Jens Nowotny, Oliver Reck, Frank Ordenewitz, Michael Schulz, Martin Max and Michael Preetz. Axel Kruse got the only goal for the DFB All Stars, whilst Gianni Miller, a German playing on the Maccabi side, bagged five for his team. There were a number of prominent figures in attendance for the game, such as former environmental minister Jürgen Trittin. Federal president Joachim Gauck officially opened the 14th European Maccabi Games last week, in front of 10,000 spectators at the Berliner Waldbühne.

DFB Cultural Foundation supports an exhibition at the Hauptbahnhof

The coming of the Maccabi Games to Berlin was accompanied by the unveiling of a new exhibition in front of the Berlin Central Station (Hauptbahnhof), through which passers-by can get to know more about Jewish sporting champions of the past. The DFB Cultural Foundation is supporting the exhibition. Meanwhile, the Berlin Football Association is working as a co-organiser and World-Cup-winning defender Jérôme Boateng is an ambassador to the football tournament held as part of the Games, which conclude on Tuesday with the game between Germany and France.

Over 60 countries support the Maccabi Games. Alon Meyer, president of Maccabi Germany, was able to sum up the central idea and message of the Berlin Games in an interview with DFB.de: "We’re at home here."

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Wolfgang Niersbach and Dr. Reinhard Rauball are used to watching a different kind of football match – World Cup finals, DFB Cup finals, high-quality clashes in the Bundesliga. But on Sunday afternoon at the Berlin Olympiastadion, the pace of the game was a little slower than usual. "It’s just a bit of fun. The result isn’t so important," said Fredi Bobic at the end of the encounter featuring a DFB All Star team and a select XI of the best players from the 14th Maccabi Games. The teams were mixed together, and the game ended with a 6-1 victory for those in the Germany national team red and black away kit over those wearing the white DFB home jersey.

The message of the 14th Maccabi Games in Berlin is certainly different to that of the worldwide competition that has taken place in Israel on a four-year cycle since the 1930s – but that is true of all the European variants which follow two years after its Israeli counterpart. The message of these games does not however lose sight of the important cultural and political subtext – even more prominent since these are the first European Maccabi Games held in Germany after the Holocaust, 70 years after the end of the Second World War. League president Reinhard Rauball was following Sunday’s All Star Game, whilst DFB president Wolfgang Niersbach will present the trophy to whichever team wins the Games’ football tournament. The final will be contested between Germany and France on Tuesday afternoon (16:00 CEST).

"The idea to mix up the teams was something new – we wanted to show that we wanted to all play together," said Bobic, European champion in 1996, who took to the field alongside many other former Bundesliga and national side players such as Thomas Hitzlsperger, Jens Nowotny, Oliver Reck, Frank Ordenewitz, Michael Schulz, Martin Max and Michael Preetz. Axel Kruse got the only goal for the DFB All Stars, whilst Gianni Miller, a German playing on the Maccabi side, bagged five for his team. There were a number of prominent figures in attendance for the game, such as former environmental minister Jürgen Trittin. Federal president Joachim Gauck officially opened the 14th European Maccabi Games last week, in front of 10,000 spectators at the Berliner Waldbühne.

DFB Cultural Foundation supports an exhibition at the Hauptbahnhof

The coming of the Maccabi Games to Berlin was accompanied by the unveiling of a new exhibition in front of the Berlin Central Station (Hauptbahnhof), through which passers-by can get to know more about Jewish sporting champions of the past. The DFB Cultural Foundation is supporting the exhibition. Meanwhile, the Berlin Football Association is working as a co-organiser and World-Cup-winning defender Jérôme Boateng is an ambassador to the football tournament held as part of the Games, which conclude on Tuesday with the game between Germany and France.

Over 60 countries support the Maccabi Games. Alon Meyer, president of Maccabi Germany, was able to sum up the central idea and message of the Berlin Games in an interview with DFB.de: "We’re at home here."