Das Reboot

‘Football is a simple game; 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans always win’ Gary Lineker

Packed with exclusive interviews with key protagonists, Raphael Honigstein’s book lifts the lid on the secrets of German football’s success.

13th July 2014, World Cup Final, the last ten minutes of extra time. Germany forward Mario Götze, receiving a floated pass from his international teammate André Schürrle, jumps slightly to meet the ball and cushion it with his chest. Landing on his left foot, he takes a step with his right, swivels, and in one fluid motion, without the ball touching the ground, volleys it past the onrushing Argentine goalkeeper into the far corner of the net. The goal wins Germany the World Cup for the first time in almost twenty-five years.

In Das Reboot, journalist and television pundit Raphael Honigstein charts the return of German football - how did German football transform itself from its efficient, but unappealing and defensively minded traditions to the free-flowing, attacking football that was on display during the last World Cup? The answer takes him from California to Stuttgart, from Munich to the Maracaná, via Dortmund and Durban.

‘German football boasts not only the World Cup, but superb writers…A fine account of how Germany reclaimed hegemony’ Guardian