Football: The most bizarre preseason games of the summer break – “A bombshell advertisement!”

1. 2007: Iceland vs. Canada. Canada had to play the friendly match in Reykjavik without Lars Hirschfeld. The goalkeeper's pre-match breakfast proved fatal: He severed the tip of his thumb with a cheese slicer and sat in the stands against Iceland, forcing his fingers to cross his fingers.

2. 2009: FC Sion vs. NK Travnik The chronically cash-strapped Bosnian club NK Travnik caused astonishment when, despite modest financial resources, it embarked on an expensive training camp in Switzerland in the summer of 2009. Upon arrival, Travnik clearly lost a friendly match against FC Sion 4-1, which initially came as no surprise. Sion President Christian Constantin initially suspected illicit cross-financing, claiming that Travnik lost on behalf of Asian bookmakers. Constantin: "We thought we played well. But it seems as if the Bosnians made us do it on purpose."

3. 1950: USA vs. Hamburger SV Five years after the war, HSV undertook a tour of North America. It was a fraught journey: First, an anonymous letter writer labeled half of the HSV board as "Jew haters" and "Hitler's party comrades," then customs confiscated a porcelain service that Jupp Posipal intended to bring to a Jewish family friend. The friendly matches in the summer of 1950 became a minor event. First, students insulted the HSV players as "Nazis, pigs, murderers," then Herbert Wojtkowiak was hit by a truck in Chicago and subsisted on scrambled eggs for days. The delegation's surprising conclusion: "The whole thing was a bombshell for us!"

4. 1981: 1. FC Bocholt vs. Chinese national team . Second-division Bocholt expected a resounding victory against the football dwarfs from China in 1981. But the Münsterlanders were practically overrun by the nimble Chinese – a 3-1 victory for the supposedly wooden players from the Far East. Only the Kicker newspaper was keen to find fault with the match afterward, complaining with a colonialist undertone: "They have difficulties in defense, and they still have a lot to learn in terms of tactics."

5. 2008-2008: Real Sociedad vs. Athletic Bilbao Poor, poor, poor Iban Zubiaurre: For 14 months, his old club, Real Sociedad, and his new employer, Athletic Bilbao, fought like tinkers in court, and the defender remained suspended for that length of time. In January 2008, Real's new president, Badiola, finally saw reason: Instead of the agreed-upon €33 million, the good man demanded only €12 million—and, as compensation, a mere 200 friendly matches against Bilbao over the next 100 years. Deal? No deal! In the summer of 2008, the disappointed Zubiaurre moved to Elche FC in the Segunda División.

6. 1971: VfL Fosite Heligoland vs. Hamburger SV After tough days at training camp, Hamburger SV wanted to use their short trip to Heligoland simply to loosen up their muscles against VfL Fosite and then kick back for a beach holiday. This worked well for most of the squad, except for Charly Dörfel. He was already freaking out during the crossing to the island, had to cancel the friendly, and spent the next few days practicing mostly short sprints to the bathroom.

7. 1979: 1. FC Kaiserslautern vs. BFC Dynamo Berlin. A popular travel destination for East German footballers: friendly matches in the capitalist West. On March 20, 1979, BFC Dynamo star Lutz Eigendorf took advantage of a friendly match against 1. FC Kaiserslautern to stroll through Giessen – and stayed there. Four years after his escape, Eigendorf died under mysterious circumstances in a car accident in Braunschweig .

8. 1977: HSV vs. FC Barcelona Just a few days after an embarrassing 5-0 defeat to Malmö FF, HSV invited FC Barcelona to a friendly. However, the Barca stars didn't seem particularly fit – Johan Cruyff, exhausted, was substituted after just 14 minutes. In the end, the Catalans were especially pleased with the 80,000 DM signing bonus. HSV won 6-0, with Kevin Keegan in particular convincing the critics. But of course, Kicker again: "Keegan, the superstar, can't play a long pass!"

9. 1977: Concordia Haaren vs. Borussia Dortmund. The journey to the friendly against Concordia Haaren in the German-Dutch border region in July 1971 turned into an odyssey for the Dortmund players. The team bus wandered aimlessly through the villages for four hours before finally finding the sports ground in Haaren. Erwin Kostedde and Herbert Meyer, who had arrived in their own car, had an even worse experience. Both searched for what seemed like an eternity in the Haaren district of Aachen, 60 kilometers away, for the Concordia sports ground. The frustrated duo finally arrived in the right Haaren at halftime.

October 10, 1971: Schweinfurt 05 vs. PAOK Saloniki. Both teams met in the final of a youth tournament in Ulm, with 3,500 Greek guest workers in attendance. Shortly before the end, a controversial penalty decision gave them the opportunity to beat the referee. When the Schweinfurt players were subsequently attacked and tried to flee to the changing rooms, the battered referee pleaded: "Please come back onto the pitch, or they'll beat me to death!" Saloniki won the match 3-2.