Unforgettable Moments
Volker Finke was in a foul mood. On
Volker Finke was in a foul mood.
September 22, 1990 his TSV Havelse side had lost 1–0 away at SC Freiburg in the 2. Bundesliga, one of 25 defeats in the Lower Saxons’ only season in the division. After the match Finke wanted only one thing: peace and quiet, then onto the team bus and the more than 700 kilometres back north.
But by the bus a bald man in horn-rimmed glasses stopped him and began talking in detail about the preceding ninety minutes.
Finke probably thought he had an autograph hunter in front of him. Wrong.
Eventually he snapped: if you belong to this club, he said, then let me tell you that you simply do not play good football — we were actually better.
What Finke did not know was that he
What Finke did not know was that he had just talked to Achim Stocker, Freiburg’s long-serving president, and inadvertently submitted an application to become the club’s next coach.
had just talked to Achim Stocker, Freiburg’s long-serving president, and inadvertently submitted an application to become the club’s next coach. Stocker had a fearsome reputation in the game as a manager-eater of the first order. In eleven years in the second division he had sacked 17 coaches.
He had turned Freiburg into a classic one-man show.
Uli Hoeneß later remembered that Stocker even bought the stadium bratwursts himself. He drove around the villages on Sundays looking for talent because a modern scouting department was still footballing fiction.
He fought the authorities over every parking space, scraped together player salaries from friends, acquaintances and local companies, and persuaded members to set up standing orders to pay the squad. That persistence earned him the nickname “the Beggar King of South Baden.” Once, when things became really tight, he even mortgaged his own little house to help the club.
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Finke turned out to be a stroke of
Finke turned out to be a stroke of luck for Stocker and Freiburg. “We only ever drew up one contract,” he later said, “after that we did it by handshake.” Trust that paid off.
luck for Stocker and Freiburg. “We only ever drew up one contract,” he later said, “after that we did it by handshake.” Trust that paid off. Finke led SC Freiburg into the Bundesliga in 1993, season tickets became a second currency in the university city, and Finke and Stocker became one of the league’s great double acts.
Their record was extraordinary: third place in 1994/95, two UEFA Cup campaigns, and even relegations in 1997, 2002 and 2005 did not break them.
A Baden tax official and a left-wing teacher
A Baden tax official and a left-wing teacher — that was exactly the material the literary pages needed from the Bundesliga. “We often rubbed against e...
that was exactly the material the literary pages needed from the Bundesliga. “We often rubbed against each other on football matters,” Finke later said of Stocker, “but on the decisive things we knew we could rely on each other.” In late 1993, after a 4–1 win over the rich Borussia Dortmund at the height of Freiburg’s first great wave of euphoria, Finke blurted out: “Hey, it’s so fantastic what we’re doing!” Stocker had given his new coach free rein from the start. “I like the way you do it,” he told him.
“Do it how you want — I’ll have your back.” He did, right up until he could not any longer.
In October 2006 Freiburg were in the relegation
In October 2006 Freiburg were in the relegation places in the 2.
places in the 2. Bundesliga. Opposition inside the club and in the city turned on the free thinker they really should have been building a monument to. Unheard-of abuse rained down from the stands.
Stocker had to act and made perhaps the hardest decision of his career: Finke would have to go at the end of the 2006/07 season.
Even after a brilliant second half with only two defeats, Freiburg finished only fourth and just missed promotion. Finke delivered a 30-minute farewell speech on the pitch after the final game against Koblenz.
He warned SC Freiburg that this location would do well to stick to its philosophy, because if it copied others, it would have no chance. Stocker listened from the touchline with tears in his eyes — and perhaps remembered that first conversation by the Havelse team bus on September 22, 1990.
SCF — Financial Stability Score
Freiburg ist das Anti-BVB: Kein Glamour, keine Mega-Transfers, kein CL-Anspruch — dafür die stabilste Bilanz der gesamten Liga. EK-Quote 80,3%, PK-Quote 38,8%, praktisch schuldenfrei. Das Streich/Schuster-Modell beweist: Man kann im Profifußball finanziell gesund wirtschaften. Die Kehrseite: Die sportliche Decke ist strukturell begrenzt. Freiburg wird nie Meister — aber auch nie in finanzielle Not geraten.