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Anpfiff: Enthüllungen über den deutschen Fußball
Enthüllungen über den deutsche by Toni Schumacher. A great rare copy of Enthüllungen über den deutsche by Toni Schumacher. The Book is in German. About the A great book from the world renown German national soccer team goalie. In 1987, Schumacher's autobiography, Anpfiff (kick-off), was published in various countries, including France. There was much interest in Schumacher's comments on the Battiston incident. Schumacher maintained that his actions did not constitute a foul and that he was only trying to get the ball. He said that he did not go over to check on Battiston's condition because several French players were standing around Battiston and making threatening gestures in his direction. The book also included accounts of alleged improprieties by German football players, including substance abuse. This resulted in Schumacher's exclusion from the German national team and his long-term Bundesliga club, 1. FC Köln. The book is in very good condition. Dust cover, hardcovers and interior pages are in excellent shape. There is a slight tilt to the spine but hardly noticeable (see pictures) and there is some yellowing to the pages. Other than that the book is in great shape. I've taken several pictures to show the conditions. Upon request, more photos can be provided.
253 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1987
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About the author
Toni Schumacher
7 booksHarald Anton Schumacher commonly known as Toni Schumacher, is a German former football goalkeeper, and a member of the Germany national football team.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 19, 2025
Toni Schumacher was arguably the top goalkeeper in world in the 1980s. During his time with the German national team, they won one European Championship and finished second in two World Cups. His brutal foul that sent Patrick Battiston to the hospital with what were then thought to be life threatening injuries in the 1982 World Cup semifinal against France gave Schumacher an ominous reputation. But his stellar play often propelled an ugly, clumsy German team (as well as his club 1. FC Köln) to successes that were way beyond their abilities. He was, quite simply, the prototype of the modern professional goalkeeper.
When it was published in 1987, Schumacher’s book caused an immediate sensation that revealed behind the scenes intrigues at the 1986 World Cup. He exposed unsavory lifestyles and doping in Germany’s top league, the Bundesliga. The book sold more than one million copies in 15 languages. It led to him being banned from the national team, losing favor with his club 1. FC Köln, and eventually playing for three years in Turkey. Thirty years later, this book reads more as a quaint historical document and is probably only of interest to junkies of German soccer history.
Schumacher opines about club management styles, archaic stadiums, marketing, training methods, and the press (in which the best line of the book is, about a former player who became critical columnist even though, when he was a player “he had trouble distinguishing other players’ bones from the ball”). Where he was flat out wrong was in his assessment that Germany would always play a plodding, athletic style that couldn’t compete with more artistic tactics, especially in a game that became increasingly fast and left less time for players to make decisions. In the past ten years, Germany has emerged to as one of the most eye-pleasing teams to have ever played, even in goal. But I’m guessing he’s pleased that he was wrong about that.
When it was published in 1987, Schumacher’s book caused an immediate sensation that revealed behind the scenes intrigues at the 1986 World Cup. He exposed unsavory lifestyles and doping in Germany’s top league, the Bundesliga. The book sold more than one million copies in 15 languages. It led to him being banned from the national team, losing favor with his club 1. FC Köln, and eventually playing for three years in Turkey. Thirty years later, this book reads more as a quaint historical document and is probably only of interest to junkies of German soccer history.
Schumacher opines about club management styles, archaic stadiums, marketing, training methods, and the press (in which the best line of the book is, about a former player who became critical columnist even though, when he was a player “he had trouble distinguishing other players’ bones from the ball”). Where he was flat out wrong was in his assessment that Germany would always play a plodding, athletic style that couldn’t compete with more artistic tactics, especially in a game that became increasingly fast and left less time for players to make decisions. In the past ten years, Germany has emerged to as one of the most eye-pleasing teams to have ever played, even in goal. But I’m guessing he’s pleased that he was wrong about that.
May 30, 2021
Uli Stein hatte den besseren Ghostwriter, eines der schwächsten Sportbücher aus dieser Fußballergeneration.
March 19, 2017
It’s now thirty years since the publication of Harald (Toni) Schumacher’s Blowing the Whistle and its German-language precursor, Anpfiff but there are far more reasons than a mere anniversary to dust down a volume that made an explosive impact on its release.
Schumacher was one of the leading footballers of the 1980s as evidenced by his appearance in two World Cup final matches for West Germany in 1982 and 1986 and the European Championships in 1980, the latter of which saw him finish on the winning side. Playing most of his career at his local club Cologne having been brought up in humble circumstances in nearby Düren, he became the successor to the great Sepp Maier as goalkeeper for the national team and was one of the major personalities of the 1980s.
Of course Schumacher’s name is indissoluble from the incident for which he is best remembered – the notorious foul on Patrick Battiston as the Frenchmen bore down on goal in the dramatic semi-final of the 1982 World Cup in Seville – one of the greatest matches of all time. As Battiston hared at the ball, Schumacher launched himself airborne and sideways, catching his opponent with his hip and leaving him with a neck brace and needing artificial respiration.
Aptly, this watershed moment is dealt with at some length in the book and early on – an admittance from Schumacher that he’ll never be able to escape its consequences. It’s his contention that he had no intention of hurting Battiston and while this may be true, the level of recklessness involved still makes most viewers wince.
At the time, there was a strong residual narrative amongst pundits from other countries that West Germany were the bad guys. The distance between 1945 and 1982 is scarcely any longer than it is between 1982 and now – many thought it was still OK to make jokes about goose stepping, failed sense of humour and towels on deckchairs while the football team were still resented for World Cup final victories against richly more talented sides in Hungary in 1954 and Holland in 1974.
That image continued in 1982, further fuelled by the West Germans’ less than scintillating progress having lost their opening game to Algeria, colluded with neighbours Austria to sneak through the group stages and edged a dullest of dull second round groups ahead of England and host nation Spain. Opponents France, on the other hands, were the new musketeers of World football, led by Michel Platini and displaying the sumptuous talents of Alain Giresse, Jean Tigana, Marius Tresor and others.
3-1 ahead, the West Germans somehow managed to claw back into the game, winning on penalties after Klaus Fischer’s thrilling equaliser with a bicycle kick – that Schumacher’s assault on Battiston happened with the score still locked at 1-1 is something many forget – few had qualms about compiling a narrative steeped in high villainry.
This continued afterwards including a much anticipated friendly between the two sides to open border city Strasbourg’s La Meinau stadium the following year – but as Schumacher points out at length in the book, he and Battiston has long since become reconciled – the Frecnchman gallant in his acceptance of the Cologne man’s apology.
Given all this, it would be easy for those few seconds of madness to overshadow the book but not a bit of it. At the time, Schumacher’s text created more waves for the salaciousness of its gossip than anything else.
Amusingly, the author loves recounting tales of winding up those exemplars of German football history – his national manager Franz Beckenbauer and undisputed star player of the time, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge. Rummenigge is mocked for his paranoia and accusations that a ‘Cologne Mafia’ is sturring up ill feeling towards him in the squad – and this from a Bayern Munich player. Elsewhere, Paul Breitner is portrayed as psychologically dominant and manipulative and a massive drinker to boot, the characters of a succession of journos of the time demolished and his main goalkeeping rival Uli Stein depicted as an out and out enemy who would stop at nothing to depose Schumacher from his number 1 status.
Most tellingly, it’s Schumacher’s contention that performance-enhancing drugs are a central part of the game that are most eye-opening. Ephedrine in particular is described as being a staple of a physio’s medical kit while cocktails of drugs, legal and otherwise, were fed to players before important games. You’d have to be naïve to consider that such activities were no longer part of football and the omertà that surrounds this topic in professional footballing circles has surely got to be the next bastion for investigative journalists to tackle.
That such accusations ultimately blew over is perhaps due to Schumacher’s status as something of a loner as well as some remarkably nutty ideas. His suggestion for alleviating boredom during major tournaments – to provide players with comfort women subject to medical check-ups is outrageous from a married man (or indeed anyone) and his assertion that fans who live further away from a stadium should pay less for tickets will please Manchester United fans and few others. The author is also excellent on the bitter rivalry between kit manufacturers Adidas and Puma and how players would often consider changing club before they would contemplate breaking a sponsorship deal.
Elsewhere, he does display perspicacity – his ideas for reforming the national football federation and the coaching structure are an earlier taste of the impulses that Gabriel Honigstein recounted in Das Reboot and the result was a deserved victory in the 1990 World Cup, albeit without Schumacher.
Subsequently, Schumacher’s involvement in football has mainly been as a goalkeeping coach and his one spell in the overall hot seat was with his home club’s cross-city rivals Fortuna Cologne. Earlier, towards the end of his playing days, he did play eight matches for Bayern and a single game for Borussia Dortmund. On a recent edition of the superb Football Fives podcast, the panel posed the question as to when ‘modern football’ started. On the evidence of this volume, the answer is longer ago than is often put forward.
Schumacher was one of the leading footballers of the 1980s as evidenced by his appearance in two World Cup final matches for West Germany in 1982 and 1986 and the European Championships in 1980, the latter of which saw him finish on the winning side. Playing most of his career at his local club Cologne having been brought up in humble circumstances in nearby Düren, he became the successor to the great Sepp Maier as goalkeeper for the national team and was one of the major personalities of the 1980s.
Of course Schumacher’s name is indissoluble from the incident for which he is best remembered – the notorious foul on Patrick Battiston as the Frenchmen bore down on goal in the dramatic semi-final of the 1982 World Cup in Seville – one of the greatest matches of all time. As Battiston hared at the ball, Schumacher launched himself airborne and sideways, catching his opponent with his hip and leaving him with a neck brace and needing artificial respiration.
Aptly, this watershed moment is dealt with at some length in the book and early on – an admittance from Schumacher that he’ll never be able to escape its consequences. It’s his contention that he had no intention of hurting Battiston and while this may be true, the level of recklessness involved still makes most viewers wince.
At the time, there was a strong residual narrative amongst pundits from other countries that West Germany were the bad guys. The distance between 1945 and 1982 is scarcely any longer than it is between 1982 and now – many thought it was still OK to make jokes about goose stepping, failed sense of humour and towels on deckchairs while the football team were still resented for World Cup final victories against richly more talented sides in Hungary in 1954 and Holland in 1974.
That image continued in 1982, further fuelled by the West Germans’ less than scintillating progress having lost their opening game to Algeria, colluded with neighbours Austria to sneak through the group stages and edged a dullest of dull second round groups ahead of England and host nation Spain. Opponents France, on the other hands, were the new musketeers of World football, led by Michel Platini and displaying the sumptuous talents of Alain Giresse, Jean Tigana, Marius Tresor and others.
3-1 ahead, the West Germans somehow managed to claw back into the game, winning on penalties after Klaus Fischer’s thrilling equaliser with a bicycle kick – that Schumacher’s assault on Battiston happened with the score still locked at 1-1 is something many forget – few had qualms about compiling a narrative steeped in high villainry.
This continued afterwards including a much anticipated friendly between the two sides to open border city Strasbourg’s La Meinau stadium the following year – but as Schumacher points out at length in the book, he and Battiston has long since become reconciled – the Frecnchman gallant in his acceptance of the Cologne man’s apology.
Given all this, it would be easy for those few seconds of madness to overshadow the book but not a bit of it. At the time, Schumacher’s text created more waves for the salaciousness of its gossip than anything else.
Amusingly, the author loves recounting tales of winding up those exemplars of German football history – his national manager Franz Beckenbauer and undisputed star player of the time, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge. Rummenigge is mocked for his paranoia and accusations that a ‘Cologne Mafia’ is sturring up ill feeling towards him in the squad – and this from a Bayern Munich player. Elsewhere, Paul Breitner is portrayed as psychologically dominant and manipulative and a massive drinker to boot, the characters of a succession of journos of the time demolished and his main goalkeeping rival Uli Stein depicted as an out and out enemy who would stop at nothing to depose Schumacher from his number 1 status.
Most tellingly, it’s Schumacher’s contention that performance-enhancing drugs are a central part of the game that are most eye-opening. Ephedrine in particular is described as being a staple of a physio’s medical kit while cocktails of drugs, legal and otherwise, were fed to players before important games. You’d have to be naïve to consider that such activities were no longer part of football and the omertà that surrounds this topic in professional footballing circles has surely got to be the next bastion for investigative journalists to tackle.
That such accusations ultimately blew over is perhaps due to Schumacher’s status as something of a loner as well as some remarkably nutty ideas. His suggestion for alleviating boredom during major tournaments – to provide players with comfort women subject to medical check-ups is outrageous from a married man (or indeed anyone) and his assertion that fans who live further away from a stadium should pay less for tickets will please Manchester United fans and few others. The author is also excellent on the bitter rivalry between kit manufacturers Adidas and Puma and how players would often consider changing club before they would contemplate breaking a sponsorship deal.
Elsewhere, he does display perspicacity – his ideas for reforming the national football federation and the coaching structure are an earlier taste of the impulses that Gabriel Honigstein recounted in Das Reboot and the result was a deserved victory in the 1990 World Cup, albeit without Schumacher.
Subsequently, Schumacher’s involvement in football has mainly been as a goalkeeping coach and his one spell in the overall hot seat was with his home club’s cross-city rivals Fortuna Cologne. Earlier, towards the end of his playing days, he did play eight matches for Bayern and a single game for Borussia Dortmund. On a recent edition of the superb Football Fives podcast, the panel posed the question as to when ‘modern football’ started. On the evidence of this volume, the answer is longer ago than is often put forward.
November 28, 2023
İlk çocukluk kahramanlarımdan biri olan Toni Schumacher'in bu ünlü otobiyografisini yayımlandıktan tam 36 yıl sonra okuyabildim. 1988 senesinde, yani 35 yıl önce ilk defa stadyumda, bir Boluspor maçında Toni Schumacher'i canlı izleyerek aktif taraftarlığa adım attım. Ki o sezon sonunda Fenerbahçe'nin 103 gollü efsanevi şampiyonluğu gelmişti. Yani kişisel olarak da Toni Schumacher'in bende bıraktığı iz büyüktür.
Bu kitapda Toni, kendi kariyer öyküsünü anlatırken bir whistleblower olarak Alman futbolundaki çarpıklara da değinir. Endüstriyelleşmeye başlayan futbola eleştiriler getirir ve bunun sonunda da kendi ülkesinde aforoz edilir. Toni Schumacher'in hayatının en büyük dönüm noktası da bu kitabın yayımlanması sonunda yaşadığı süreçtir.
6 yaşında bir çocuğun en temiz ve romantik futbol anılarının arkasında meğerse büyük bir hayalet varmış. Sarı kazak ve beyaz şapkanın ardındaki bu büyük kaleciyi tanımak ve ne kadar nev-i şahsına münhasır bir karakter olduğunu öğrenmek için 36 yıl geçmesi de başlı başına enteresan geliyor şimdi.
Ben büyüdüm ve artık daha da kirlendi futbol...
Bu kitapda Toni, kendi kariyer öyküsünü anlatırken bir whistleblower olarak Alman futbolundaki çarpıklara da değinir. Endüstriyelleşmeye başlayan futbola eleştiriler getirir ve bunun sonunda da kendi ülkesinde aforoz edilir. Toni Schumacher'in hayatının en büyük dönüm noktası da bu kitabın yayımlanması sonunda yaşadığı süreçtir.
6 yaşında bir çocuğun en temiz ve romantik futbol anılarının arkasında meğerse büyük bir hayalet varmış. Sarı kazak ve beyaz şapkanın ardındaki bu büyük kaleciyi tanımak ve ne kadar nev-i şahsına münhasır bir karakter olduğunu öğrenmek için 36 yıl geçmesi de başlı başına enteresan geliyor şimdi.
Ben büyüdüm ve artık daha da kirlendi futbol...
February 4, 2023
Tja.
Was war das denn? Aus heutiger Sicht: ein paar richtige Ideen, Innenleben der Mannschaften und üble, aber wohl richtige Worte zum Thema Doping.
Sonst: keiner trainiert so hart wie Toni, kaum einer hat so tolle Ideen. Und kaum einer findet sich selbst so geil wie er.
Schwierig.
Was war das denn? Aus heutiger Sicht: ein paar richtige Ideen, Innenleben der Mannschaften und üble, aber wohl richtige Worte zum Thema Doping.
Sonst: keiner trainiert so hart wie Toni, kaum einer hat so tolle Ideen. Und kaum einer findet sich selbst so geil wie er.
Schwierig.
February 25, 2017
Bazı kısımları çok iyi, direk kampın içinde kim kumar oynuyormuş, kim içkinin dibine vuruyormuş, elaleme nasıl atar yapmış, Breitner, Beckenbauer, Rummenigge nasıl insanlarmış falan hepsini anlatıyor Schumi.
Bir iki bölüm ise beni pek ilgilendirmeyen bütünlükten uzak futbol görüşleriyle ilgili. Pek bir mastermind sayılmaz hani. Buna karşın futbol harici söyleminde yer yer anti-kapitalist bir söyleme de kaymış. Tabii, bütünlüklü olduğunu söylemek zor. Bir iki sayfa sonra hemen çelişkiyi yakalıyorsunuz. Fakir bir çocukluk ve zengin bir orta yaşın miksajı demek gerek herhalde.
Şu pasaj özellikle hoşuma gitti:
"Özellikle Hamburg'un başkanı Manfred Ommer en kurnazı olarak göze çarpıyor. "Neden" diyor bu yetenekli eksper, "futbolcularımızı bir reklam aracı olarak kullanmayalım?" Harika. Ayaklı reklam olarak futbolcuları kullanmak. İşte kapital konuşuyor. Bu yeni, şaşırtıcı fikir, Amerika'nın ilk zamanlarındaki Teksaslılara ait. Onlar da hayvan sürülerini reklam aracı olarak kullanırdı."
Futbolsever insanın keyifle okuyacağı bir kitap.
Bir iki bölüm ise beni pek ilgilendirmeyen bütünlükten uzak futbol görüşleriyle ilgili. Pek bir mastermind sayılmaz hani. Buna karşın futbol harici söyleminde yer yer anti-kapitalist bir söyleme de kaymış. Tabii, bütünlüklü olduğunu söylemek zor. Bir iki sayfa sonra hemen çelişkiyi yakalıyorsunuz. Fakir bir çocukluk ve zengin bir orta yaşın miksajı demek gerek herhalde.
Şu pasaj özellikle hoşuma gitti:
"Özellikle Hamburg'un başkanı Manfred Ommer en kurnazı olarak göze çarpıyor. "Neden" diyor bu yetenekli eksper, "futbolcularımızı bir reklam aracı olarak kullanmayalım?" Harika. Ayaklı reklam olarak futbolcuları kullanmak. İşte kapital konuşuyor. Bu yeni, şaşırtıcı fikir, Amerika'nın ilk zamanlarındaki Teksaslılara ait. Onlar da hayvan sürülerini reklam aracı olarak kullanırdı."
Futbolsever insanın keyifle okuyacağı bir kitap.
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