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 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
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
The modern version of Kicker covers a number of sporting competitions and events, including:
Various other sporting events, depending on on-going competitions
Kicker Sportmagazin Club of the Century
Real Madrid was picked as the greatest club of the 20th century by Kicker-Sportmagazin
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
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]
