Scoring in the Chancellery

Most politicians like to wax rhapsodic about their athletic ability back in the day. But Gerhard Schröder can actually back it up. As a young man, the chancellor was known as an aggressive and hard-working striker in local leagues. His talent, apparently, has not left him.

"The things he's still able to do…" said Jochen Krannich, a Schröder deputy assigned the job of overseeing sports issues.

So it came as no surprise that the former player would open up a exhibit of German and world soccer history in the Chancellery. What soccer fan wouldn't want valuable soccer memorabilia in his office?

Player jerseys, foosball

The show "Soccer and History - from Bern 1954 to Berlin 2006", opened last week in the first floor of the Chancellery. Surviving members of the legendary German side that captured the 1954 World Cup in Bern as well as German Soccer Association (DFB) President Theo Zwanziger were on hand to open the exhibit with Schröder.

A mix of historical background, original player jerseys and trophies, the exhibit is designed to whet the appetites of German soccer fans a little under a year before the World Cup starts. The centrepiece is a full-sized goal that Schröder won't be able to walk by without taking at least one shot.

"I don't think we can stop that," said Krannich. "After all we want to show the world that we're looking forward to the World Cup."

Schily scores one

Tourist and school groups will be able to take a tour of the collection, which includes a foosball table from the 1950s, by making an appointment. The chancellery estimates that 40,000 people will do so in the coming year. They won't be able to take a crack at the goal, though, and the foosball table was supposed to be off limits as well. But at the time of the opening, the ball was missing from the table, courtesy of the German Interior Minister.

"Schily put that one in the goal," said Karl Schlich, the chancellery spokesman.

Schlich said that not only the soccer, but the "rare" opportunity to get close to a seat of power would attract visitors. As rare will be the life-size oil portraits of soccer legends like Portugal's Eusebio, Pele and Franz Beckenbauer. They will hang in the chancellery until 2006, said Schlich, even should the less soccer-enthusiastic Christian Democratic Union move in earlier than planned following early elections this Fall.