A Different Kind Of Football: RTL Employees Lose Against German National Team For The Mentally Disabled

Languages establish connections: because recreational footballer Sascha Ramachers, an employee of the Finance and Accounting department of RTL Television, happened to be    taking take the same Spanish class as Sabine Schmitz, the Press Speaker for the Football World Championships 2006 for people with handicaps, the idea of a football match between the RTL employee football team and the German National Team was born. During the last World Championships in Japan, the German National Team's performance led to a fourth place finish. England's team are the current world champions. In preparation for the World Championships 2006 in Germany, the RTL team played a friendly match in Cologne on May 28.

The forward of the German National Team, Lukas Podolski, came to watch the game as a fan – although not entirely on time for the kick-off; WC ambassador and RTL host Ulrike von der Groeben watched the entire game. With a temperature of over 30 degree Celsius, the fact that the match was restricted to two periods of 30 minutes each turned out to be a blessing for the TV station's team. Referee Jürgen Roters, who without the whistle better is known as  Cologne 's District President, professionally and fairly refereed the match despite the sun burning down on the field of the 1. FC Cologne.

Just prior to the half-time break the RTL team, supported by comedian Piet Klocke, Porsche Cup pilot Christopher Brück, and "Unter Uns" star Kai Noll, was able to catch up and leave the field with the score at 2:3 thanks to two consecutive goals by RTL forward Swen Kostka, giving the RTL team some hope against the opponents in the national jerseys. But in the second half it quickly became obvious that the average age of the RTL team, the lack of training, the sizzling heat, a lack of water, the stadium, the absence of luck and, first and foremost, the skill of the players on the opposing team, would lead to their downfall. The national team won 7:2 against the RTL elite. "It was a lot of fun," said Teddy Schulze, editor at "Punkt 12" and voice of the RTL Mittagsjournal. "We also enjoyed getting to know each other after the match over a beer and a snack. And we look forward to a rematch next year when, hopefully, they are the new world champions from Germany!"