Kicker (stylized in all lowercase) is Germany's leading sports magazine,[citation needed] focused primarily on football. The magazine was founded in 1920 by German football pioneer Walther Bensemann and is published twice weekly, usually Monday and Thursday. Each edition sells around 80,000 copies. Kicker is a founding member of European Sports Media, an association of football publications.

Kicker
EditorRainer Holzschuh[1]
CategoriesSports magazine
FrequencyTwice weekly
PublisherOlympia-Verlag GmbH
First issue14 July 1920; 104 years ago (1920-07-14)
CountryGermany
Based inNuremberg, Germany
LanguageGerman
Websitekicker.de

Kicker annually awards the most prolific scorer of the Bundesliga with the Kicker Torjägerkanone (lit.'Kicker scorer cannon') award. It is equivalent to the Pichichi Trophy in Spanish football.

The magazine also publishes an almanac, the Kicker Fußball-Almanach. It was first published from 1937 to 1942, and then continuously from 1959 to date. They also publish a yearbook (Kicker Fußball-Jahrbuch).

History

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The head office of Kicker in Nuremberg with the Kicker statue in front of the main entrance

Kicker was first issued in July 1920 in Konstanz, Germany. The magazine's headquarters were originally in Stuttgart before relocating to Nuremberg[2] in 1926. During World War II, the magazine merged with the publication Fußball, and was eventually discontinued in fall 1944. After the war, the magazine was again published (under the name Sport) by the newly incorporated Olympia-Verlag publishing company. Former chief editor Friedebert Becker again began publishing Kicker in 1951, and for a number of years, both Kicker and Sport appeared at the same time. In 1966, Kicker was sold to Axel Springer AG. In 1968, Olympia-Verlag in Nuremberg acquired Kicker and merged it with Sportmagazin, which had been published twice weekly since 1952. The first issue of the newly founded Kicker-Sportmagazin was released on 7 October 1968. Beside the two weekly publications, Kicker provides a digital edition since 2012. The online version of kicker.de offers a broad live ticker for over 80 different international leagues.[3] The magazine has three apps in the iTunes store.[4]

Magazine

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The modern version of Kicker covers a number of sporting competitions and events, including:

Kicker Sportmagazin Club of the Century

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In 1998, Kicker published a list of the best football clubs of the 20th century. The list was based on the opinions of former players and managers (Giovanni Trapattoni, Johan Cruyff, Udo Lattek, Just Fontaine etc.). Each of them could name their choice for the five greatest teams and provide arguments in support thereof. Not all them stuck to the allotted number of picks. For example, Johan Cruyff picked three teams instead - Ajax, Milan and Dynamo Kyiv.[5]

Each club's trophies and Ballon d'Or winners are shown up until 1999
Rank Club Continental trophies Ballon d'Or winners Domestic trophies
1   Real Madrid 7x UEFA Champions League,
2x UEFA Cup, UEFA Super Cup
2x Di Stéfano, Kopa 27x La Liga, 17x Copa del Rey
2   Ajax 4x UEFA Champions League, UEFA Cup Winners' Cup,
UEFA Cup, 2x UEFA Super Cup
Cruyff 27x Eredivisie, 14x KNVB Cup
3   Milan 5x UEFA Champions League,
2x UEFA Cup, 3x UEFA Super Cup
3x Van Basten, Rivera, Gullit, Weah 16x Serie A, 4x Coppa Italia
4   Bayern Munich 3x UEFA Champions League, UEFA Cup Winners' Cup,
UEFA Cup, UEFA Super Cup
2x Beckenbauer, 2x Rummenigge, G. Müller 15x German champions, 9x DFB Pokal
5   Barcelona UEFA Champions League,
4x UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, 2x UEFA Super Cup
2x Cruyff, Stoichkov, Rivaldo 16x La Liga, 24x Copa del Rey
6   Manchester United 2x UEFA Champions League, UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, UEFA Super Cup Law, Charlton, Best 12x English champions, 10x FA Cup,
League Cup
7   Benfica 2x UEFA Champions League Eusébio 30x Primeira Liga,
26x Taça de Portugal
8   Dynamo Kyiv 2x UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, European Super Cup Blokhin, Belanov 13x USSR Top League, 7x UPL
9x USSR Cup, 4x Ukrainian Cup
9   Juventus 2x UEFA Champions League, UEFA Cup Winners' Cup,
3x UEFA Cup, 2x UEFA Super Cup
3x Platini, Sivori, Rossi,
Baggio, Zidane
26x Serie A, 9x Coppa Italia
10   Inter Milan 2x UEFA Champions League, 3x UEFA Cup Matthäus, Ronaldo 13x Serie A, 3x Coppa Italia

Greatest Clubs (1863–2014)

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In 2014, the magazine created a new list of the best clubs in history. This time it was formed based on the opinions of the magazine's editors. The list was based on criteria as the clubs' history, achievements at international stage, titles won and the career of its own players. In the Top 10, three teams represented Germany.[6][7]

Rank Club Continental trophies Ballon d'Or winners Domestic trophies
1   Real Madrid 13x UEFA Champions League,
2x UEFA Cup, 4x UEFA Super Cup
4x C. Ronaldo, 2x Di Stéfano,
Kopa, Figo, Ronaldo, Cannavaro
34x La Liga, 19x Copa del Rey
2   Bayern Munich 6x UEFA Champions League, UEFA Cup Winners' Cup,
UEFA Cup, 2x UEFA Super Cup
2x Beckenbauer, 2x Rummenigge, G. Müller 33x German champions, 20x DFB-Pokal
3   Manchester United 3x UEFA Champions League, UEFA Cup Winners' Cup,
UEFA Cup, UEFA Super Cup
Law, Charlton, Best,
C. Ronaldo
20x English champions, 12x FA Cup,
5x League Cup
4   Liverpool 6x UEFA Champions League,
3x UEFA Cup, 4x UEFA Super Cup
Michael Owen 19x English champions, 7x FA Cup,
8x League Cup
5   Barcelona 5x UEFA Champions League,
4x UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, 5x UEFA Super Cup
6x Messi, 2x Cruyff,
Stoichkov, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho
26x La Liga, 31x Copa del Rey
6   Milan 7x UEFA Champions League,
2x UEFA Cup, 5x UEFA Super Cup
3x Van Basten, Rivera, Gullit, Weah,
Shevchenko, Kaká
18x Serie A, 5x Coppa Italia
7   Juventus 2x UEFA Champions League, UEFA Cup Winners' Cup,
3x UEFA Cup, 2x UEFA Super Cup
3x Platini, Sivori, Rossi,
Baggio, Zidane, Nedvěd
36x Serie A, 14x Coppa Italia
8   Boca Juniors 6x CONMEBOL Libertadores, 2x CONMEBOL Sudamericana,
4x CONMEBOL Recopa
34x Argentine PL,
14x Argentine Cup
9   Hamburger SV UEFA Champions League,
European Cup Winners' Cup
2x Keegan 6x German champions, 3x DFB-Pokal
10   Borussia Mönchengladbach 2x UEFA Cup Simonsen 5x Bundesliga, 3x DFB-Pokal

References

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  1. ^ "Impressum kicker sportmagazin". kicker.de (in German). Retrieved 24 February 2018.
  2. ^ Western Europe 2003. Psychology Press. 2002. p. 294. ISBN 978-1-85743-152-0.
  3. ^ "kicker – a long standing magazine". Archived from the original on 24 January 2013. Retrieved 13 February 2012.
  4. ^ "kicker-online – always the latest informations". Retrieved 10 January 2012.
  5. ^ Valeriy Lobanovsky and Dynamo Kiev.
  6. ^ Kicker-Sportmagazin, ed. (March 2014). "Die Wappen der Vereine und ihre Geschichte". Die legendären Weltklubs (in German). OCLC 3796265. Archived from the original on 22 March 2014. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  7. ^ Guilherme Feijó (20 March 2014). "Revista alemã faz ranking dos maiores clubes do planeta, mas 'esquece' sul-americanos" (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on 22 March 2014.
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