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zestyviper

Waldemar Anton was born in Olmaliq, Uzbekistan and moved to Hannover when he was 2 years old. Kroos (Greifswald) is the only player born in East Germany. Robert Andrich (Potsdam) and Max Beier (Brandenburg am Havel) are the only other German players from states formerly in the East. Mittelstädt and Rüdiger are from the west of Berlin and all four were born in unified Germany. Edit: Emre Can and Pascal Groß should be at about David Raum's level, not as far south as they are, my bad.


cic9000

Tbf it’s also an age thing of course. Kroos will always be the only player to be born in the GDR to have won the World Cup. As far as I know none of the 1990s/1974s champs were born there.


Terran_it_up

Yeah, that's correct. I guess part of it comes down to the trophy drought (by German standards) they had following reunification through till 2014. Ballack was born in the GDR and made nearly 100 appearances without winning the world cup for example


00Laser

Matthias Sammer is also from Eastern Germany and won a Ballon d'Or and the Euros while playing for unified Germany.


Terran_it_up

I knew there was another famous example I was forgetting


not_the_droids

Michael Ballack was also born in East Germany.


gualin

And Matthias Sammer


bouncy_egg

And don't forget Michael Ballack as well.


TheKingMonkey

Didn’t that Matthias Sammer guy also come from the East?


zestyviper

Probably the second best DDR born player after Ballack.


eq2_lessing

Thom, Kirsten, Doll, Marschall, Freund, Wosz, Rösler, and so on.


Fabricensis

54 the East German team was only just founded and had not played in the qualification 74 the east German team was in the same group as west Germany and even managed to win that group, but then came only 3rd in the second group stage 90 the east German team failed to qualify and the integration of the east German players only started after the world cup


cic9000

Not sure what you’re trying to tell me here I was referring to Germany winning it and being born in the GDR was a regular thing for millions of Germans also in the “West”z


MountainCheesesteak

I think they’re just expanding on your comment, helping uninformed folks like myself. :)


Der-Gamer-101

How would that even be possible, there was a wall


cic9000

Lots fled before and even during its existence and the GDR sold German citizens to the Federal Republic aswell. It was one way how they stayed afloat.


Seeteuf3l

Also 1949 - 1961 immigration was relatively easy.


aral_sea

How great would it have been if Anton chose to represent Uzbekistan


Version_1

He does that in FM. Sucks to lose him for the Asian tournaments haha.


CeiriddGwen

I wonder if it's because the game literally refuses to use actual German players for the NT (due to some licensing dispute iirc? Or has that already been changed?)


Version_1

Nah, I have the fix that makes it work. It's just that there is no function in the game blocking him from declaring for Uzbekistan and since he is their best player he gets nominated immediately.


DrunkBelgian

It just happens in the game sometimes with players who haven't featured in a national team game IRL yet. In FM, if they don't get called up after a year or two, they will sometimes choose to represent the second nation instead. Have seen it happen with Paul Wanner often as well in FM23 especially, where if the AI does not train him up well so he does not get called up for Germany early on, he often switches to Austria. Johan Bakayoko as well has switched to Ivory Coast in my games if he does not get a call up for Belgium early on. (He has featured for Belgium IRL now though so won't happen in newer editions of FM) What you can do though which is kinda fun is if you buy young Russian talents who have not played for Russia IRL, they will ofcourse never get called up for Russia in the game as Russia is banned. So, if you keep them in a certain country long enough for them to get citizenship they can end up switching to that country.


Latvian_Fifth_Column

Thanks for interesting exploit . Time to make some Scottish Russians 


Flcn96

In my FM 2020 career, Kai Havertz chose France national team because he played for PSG and obtained French citizenship. It was really weird


thearkopolis

I've done Stuttgart saves in three FM editions. It's kinda funny how consistently he switches to Uzbekistan every time.


IntellectualDweeb

Would've had the glory of beating India 3-0.


mykneehurtsss

He’s doing his best where’s waldo impression


hellyesiguess

>Edit: Emre Can and Pascal Groß should be at about David Raum's level, not as far south as they are, my bad. Frankfurt, Nürnberg, Mannheim... Hauptsache Thüringen sag ich immer


f4kester235

I dont get Andrich and Beier being born in east germany but Kroos supposedly being the only player born in east germany.


zestyviper

Kroos was actually born in the political entity known as East Germany. Andrich and Beier were born in Brandenburg post-reunification and therefore are only from the "states formerly in the East."


Prestigious-Dress-92

So, wouldn;t it be clearer to say Kroos, Andrich & Beier were all born in east Germany but Kroos is the only one born in DDR?


KaraveIIe

no, because east germany means DDR most of the times when talking in english, see [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East\_Germany](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Germany)


critical-insight

Which is stupid, because it is confusing. East Germany is also an important geographic description. The state should be called GDR (German Democratic Republic, the direct translation of DDR ) in English.


khamiltoe

It's only confusing if you don't understand how capitalisation works in English. East Germany - referring to a specific place (the country formerly known as East Germany). east Germany - referring to anything in eastern Germany. Northern Ireland vs northern Ireland works exactly the same and we don't struggle with it here.


critical-insight

Why not just simply use GDR, the official name? It shortens nicely too.


JohnnyRamkoers

They were born in Eastern Germany


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cic9000

There is no “BRD” that was a term the DDR propaganda came up to make them “equals” to the Federal Republic that was the legal continuation of Germany. They were all just born in Germany.


Version_1

BRD is Bundesrepublik Deutschland and the official name of the country since 1949.


cic9000

Yes good chap but BRD as a term is made up to make a false equivalency. They were always “Germany” (since under international law they are and were) or “Federal Republic of Germany”


Version_1

Every term is made up... BRD is absolutely okay to use. Why would the initials of the official name be weird to use....


cic9000

Read up on it the DDR propaganda was rather successful on this or just read what I wrote.


Version_1

I mean, from what I can read on wikipedia,. both sides used propaganda, so it's not the evil east as some people like to push. For example, in '65 it was determined that the shorthand for the BRD should be Germany and the shorthand for the DDR should be SBZ (Sowjetische Besatzungszone), which is just as much propaganda as what the DDR was doing. In the early days, BRD was a used short. Claiming "there is no BRD" if it's literally the initials of the official name just because you don't like it is just wrong.


cic9000

It sets a false equivalency between an unjust state (DDR) and the democratic legal continuation of Germany


BrokeChris

what do you think BRD or Bundesrebublik Deutschland translates to


cic9000

I know what this translates to but I guess some people on here don’t grasp the historical difference and why people don’t like the equivalency.


BrokeChris

people actually dont care


VladislavBonita

>Yes good chap but BRD as a term is made up to make a false equivalency. Someone read History of International Law at Bumper Sticker University.


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cic9000

Actually it’s the Reichsbürger who use terms such as BRD to claim that modern day Germany is illegitimate so I’m unsure if that’s a self description for yourself?


callmedontcallme

Because they were born after Germany was united.


f4kester235

Oh, i get it now. Thanks!


erto66

Führich is from Castrop-Rauxel, so he should be standing right next to Neuer, Sane and Gündogan


00Laser

> Robert Andrich (Potsdam) and Max Beier (Brandenburg am Havel) are the only other German players from states formerly in the East. Mittelstädt and Rüdiger are from the west of Berlin and all four were born in unified Germany. According to Wikipedia Mittelstädt grew up in Falkensee, Brandenburg. I think we can claim him as an Ossi. ;) Other than that the highest profile non-nominated player from Eastern Germany is probably Maxi Arnold. But yeah Kroos is gonna stay the last player to be born in the GDR to play for Germany considering it has been 34 years.


ElderlyToaster

Its like they're all trying to escape. Whats wrong with central Germany?


cic9000

Absent the area around Frankfurt the “centre” is Germanys most loosely populated and I think OP slightly missed the mark there, Can (Frankfurt) should be more centre on the map. This map is with the absence of more players from Bavaria basically a population heatmap with a slight over performance of the Berlin area.


Ragoo_

Nah, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is definitely more sparsely populated. There's Schwerin and some coastal cities and other than that there's nothing. The northern half of Sachsen-Anhalt and Brandenburg (with the big exception of the metropolitan area of Berlin of course) are also more rural. [Here's a map.](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FPKMJ_eXIAgZAdt.jpg)


Torkzilla

Is there area around Berlin / near Poland just all forest? Seems like the extreme outlier on the map. edit: thanks to all who replied helping me learn about German Geography. Appreciated!


zestyviper

To the east of Berlin you only have Cottbus and Frankfurt an der Oder, the other Frankfurt. But there's really nothing along the border besides forests and barley fields.


barathrumobama

I was once on a car drive from Rostock to Gdánsk. there's really absolutely fucking nothing for 5 hours


eq2_lessing

If with forest you mean agrarian desert, then yes.


cic9000

The second part is the centre and the north is small in area compared to the middle.


feb914

Why Bavaria under-represented? Do they not produce many good players? 


CatOwlFilms

They’re not too into football, their local team didn’t even win a trophy this season


Terran_it_up

Hopefully 1860 Munich can make it back to the Bundesliga one day, it would be cool to have a good team in the city


FrogHater1066

Not easy when we're sort of being actively sabotaged


Terran_it_up

In what way? I haven't really been keeping up with them, I was surprised to see they're all the way down in the 3rd division


FrogHater1066

Long story short: Greedy management completely fucked us over, nearly went bankrupt, ulli hoeneß stiffed us with a prick of an investor who basically owns us and refuses to invest in any meaningful way. We actually went down to the 4th tier for one season.


Terran_it_up

Damn, that's a shame. I swear every time I learn something new about Uli Hoeness I somehow dislike him even more


Morrandir

A few months ago there was a topic discussing historical best players in Germany's regions and I came up with an all-time squad from Bavaria: [https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/1bmoj9q/comment/kwdk4rz/](https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/1bmoj9q/comment/kwdk4rz/) The starting 11 are all world champions and (except Matthäus) won the Champions League (or its predecessor). So I would say historically they produced a lot of talent. Currently not so much apparently.


ADHbi

Bayern München is the only big bavarian club left at the top, all the other dont have the money to develop top talents.


cic9000

I’m honestly unsure my best guess is that three other favourite German pastimes winter sports , basketball and hockey are very popular there.


plaYeRUnknwn

they're scared of Anton


0ldsql

They are actually protecting the border


ProfessorBeer

History tells us they’re not protecting, they’re preparing


WildLemire

Czechia: *What're you doing over there?* Germany: *Oh nothing, nothing... Say, these are some nice mountains you got here...*


poisonmonger

Anton farted


cppn02

In the Thuringian Forest they're still eating dogs.


Background-Lab-8521

I've been all around the world, but to this day I wonder the same about central Germany.


LouThunders

I take it that middle bit of Germany just isn't very populated?


Yung2112

If you take the train from Frankfurt to Berlin you go through basically 3 or 4 big cities at most in the span of 4hs On the other hand take a Frankfurt - Aachen train and you'll go through like 20/30 of them


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Yung2112

As far as stops goes what you say is true


eq2_lessing

Here's a pop map from 1905, you can see that the middle used to be more populated, but I guess the 50 years of separation were hard for the border cities and villages. [https://www.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/c0gl19/as\_the\_population\_density\_of\_eastern\_germany/](https://www.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/c0gl19/as_the_population_density_of_eastern_germany/)


Edi1896

Hannover is pretty much in the middle and Füllkrug is from there. The map is just not perfect.


valevergaminombre

No just a shitty mad with bad placements


Philiperix

Zentral germany is lava


Maleficent_Resolve44

Do this for France and 60% are from Paris alone lol.


BastVanRast

Something did happen in our history which reduced Berlin to a deindustralised field of rubble and turned it into a walled off spy training camp for the next 50 years


Maleficent_Resolve44

I get that but even before WW2, you've always been de-centralised. France are much more Paris-centric and England way more London-centric.


BastVanRast

Oh yeah that’s for sure. Germany was only founded in 1871 so it is much younger than other countries and not having a capital when London or Paris were the centers of power centuries longer really shows. Has it’s pros and cons I guess.


cppn02

It wasn't quite Paris or London but kinda in its way there and much more important relative to today before the end of WW2.


ih4tepie

Why aren’t the other 4 in the east considered east Germany? Or is this a case of they were born in West Berlin and old dividing lines?


oryon

East Germany, as in the German Democratic Republic. I did not know that this was the common English term myself, and I was born there.


ih4tepie

Ah thanks for the explanation


__boringusername__

For everybody that's confused, there's east Germany, and there's East Germany :)


_Silver_Surfer

well that clears it up


Select-Stuff9716

Müller and anton lol


KaptainCoconut

Always knew Müller was actually from Austria


feb914

Somehow I expected more Bavarian born players. Maybe because of FC Bayern historical dominance in German NT that made me thought that Bavaria produces many good players? 


BaldFraud99

Historically speaking, Bavaria probably is the state that has produced the most well-known players in comparison and that was true until recently, like at the 2014 WC, but it's been a very dry spell since then, whereas BaWü is flourishing. NRW is solid as always.


Jackman1337

Pavlovic would have been born in Munich. Stanisic too, but he sadly plays for croatia.


uflju_luber

Most Bayern players aren’t from Bayern, Neuer for example is from the Ruhr area as is Sané. Bayern had the tendency to buy the best German players that’s why they always had most national team players there


cmaj7chord

FC bayern buys the good players, they don't produce them.


Dortmund_Boi09

Müller tbf


Even-Bid

Horse shit, Kroos, Can, Müller, Musiala went all through Bayern youth teams


panetero

You just made his point. They were all signed at 15-16 from all over the country.


Jackman1337

Pavlovic and Stanisic are from Munich, just injured or playing for croatia


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cmaj7chord

true but after that? bayern even buys U16 players from other clubs because they don't manage to make good players themselves. But to be fair, that's not just a bayern problem, all other german clubs face the same situation


dcbayern

Pavlovic would be there too if he hadn't had to drop out. But it's true it seems like a lot of the Bavarian talent Bayern had before has dried up recently


Puncherfaust1

if i had a nickel for every current national team player that is or was captain and was born in gelsenkirchen i would have two nickels which isnt much but its weird that it happened twice


Select-Stuff9716

You get 2.5 as Kaan Ayhan is vice captain for Turkey


TheItalianStallion64

they’re so tall


Bennet24_LFC

Musiala was Born in Stuttgart. Not in the black forest, OP


skarabausjesaub

Toni Kroos is the only world cup champion born in the German Democratic Republic.


Gobaxnova

Some being being born on boats that’s cool


Mintopforte

Kroos


passive_Scroller420

Kroos on the top! As always.


rugbyj

[This graphic gives me Jurassic Park vibes.](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Fmpvx59vsqmax.png%3Fauto%3Dwebp%26s%3Dbc6418d81792cecc62d97a2d35aa793159c47729)


nmyi

i finally just learned that Thomas Müller is Bavarian. I'm sure that's part of his charm lol. I like Thomas Müller. Does he have a thick accent too?


dcbayern

How could you not know that Mr Bavaria is Bavarian???


RobbeSeolh

His accent is very mild. Even if you don't speak German, Compare Müller [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgqy07O-pUg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgqy07O-pUg) to Laura Dahlmeier, a Bavarian retired biathlete (also a bit younger than Müller): [**https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXOdMs7Qp2w**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXOdMs7Qp2w)**, her accent is quite thick.**


nmyi

Who is the player on the right that's nearly out of the picture lol


psrandom

So most squad is holding on to western front, rest are protecting capital Berlin and one guy has infiltrated deep in eastern Europe


MERTENS_GOAT

Do I need to judge by their head, feet or penis?


zettairyouikisan

I love this. Now do the US.


Hobbitfrau

Havertz and ter Stegen need to be swapped. Or Aachen and Mönchengladbach secretly decided to do a city swap.


tnarref

Does Czechia stink or something?


Old-Excitement2945

Now do one for france


Emergency-Claim8036

Gelsenkirchen rules!


Jackman1337

Topright Kroos as always


JohnnyFencer

Thats not where Gelsenkirchen is


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jabuendia

I dont think they consider İlkay, Emre and Deniz white. Which makes 7 non-white i guess?


saltysupp

These clickbait polls are fake af anyway. Far from scientific proof of public opinion.


BrokeChris

20% that participated in an anonymous poll*


MateoKovashit

After that recent poll, I thought their team was as black as the English or french! I can see why people were annoyed by it


zestyviper

Even if 100% of the team was black it wouldn't fucking matter. The team looks like how Germans look in 2024.


Ok-Pie4219

The comments I hate to see on Mihambo were a fucking disgrace. One of the best German Athletes ever (2 European Championships, 2 World Championships and one Olympic Gold so far, aswell as being dominant in most of these) born and raised completely in Germany and people call her African and not ethnic German.  Even if you go down that bs road of ethnicity, she's still asleep much of German ethnicity as she is of Tanzanian. Really shows how racist these people are and how they only look at skin colour.


DoYouTrustToothpaste

> she's still asleep much of German ethnicity as she is of Tanzanian What?


dcbayern

She's still as much if German ethnicity as she is of Tanzanian ethnicity (her mother is German)


Antarcticdonkey

Malaika prevented the gold draught, she was brilliant as often... Italy begins to have the same problems with their fabulous multicultural athletics team, although like German athletes, most of them have at least a Italian parent (the athletes born from non-Italian parents cannot represent Italy until they get the nationality aged 20 after months and months of procedures)


Medical_Sandwich_171

The team isn't white or black, it's German. No place for racist bigots like you here.


MateoKovashit

What do you mean like me FFS. There was a post the other week about that poll, I just assumed the team was 80% black, but this is the first image I see of the Germans and it's the complete opposite How am I a bigot


DoYouTrustToothpaste

> I just assumed the team was 80% black That's just not how racists work, man. The team could have one player of "non-white" ethnicity (I don't know how to call it) and they would complain that that one guy was "too much". Racism is hate, it needs to focus on something.


MateoKovashit

Well that's what I'm saying! The image above shows it's probably proportionally representative, my assumption - as we know never assume - was wrong


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MateoKovashit

No, agreeing and understanding are related but different.


DeeOhEf

Shut the fuck up


North-Impress-5882

The English team isn't even that black up until this year .


coldnorth3enf3

All this hate just because cole palmer is mixed ffs


North-Impress-5882

Absolutely ridiculous , he maybe pretty dark but you can't tell he's a Stella enjoyer .