Kicker (magazine)

*kicker*
Editor	Klaus Smentek
Categories	Sports magazine
Frequency	Twice weekly
Publisher	Olympia-Verlag GmbH
First issue	14 July 1920
Based in	Nuremberg, Germany
Language	German
Website	kicker.de

kicker Sportmagazin (commonly kicker) is Germany's leading sports magazine and is focused primarily on football. The magazine was founded in 1920 by German football pioneer Walther Bensemann and is published twice a week, usually Monday and Thursday, in Nuremberg. The Monday edition sells an average of 240,000 copies, while the Thursday edition has an average circulation of about 220,000 copies (2005 figures).

The magazine also publishes a yearbook, the kicker Almanach. It was first published from 1937 to 1942, and then continuously from 1959 to date.

History

The magazine kicker first appeared in July 1920 in Konstanz, Germany. The magazine headquarters was originally in Stuttgart but moved to Nürnberg^[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] A mobile version of kicker.de can be found among others in the mobile portal of T-Mobile, Vodafone, O2 and E-Plus. In addition, the online magazine has three apps in the iTunes store.^[4]

Magazine

The modern version of kicker covers a number of sporting competitions and events, including:

The German Bundesliga, 2. Bundesliga, 3. Liga, and Regionalliga
The German DFB-Pokal
The German national (football) team and women's national (football) team
The German Women's Bundesliga
Various European leagues and competitions, including the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, and Ligue 1
Various international football leagues
Formula One racing
The Olympic Games
eSports and competitive video gaming
Various other sporting events, depending on on-going competitions

The kicker magazine provides live scores for the following sports:

soccer
ice hockey
basketball
handball
tennis
formula 1

Trivia

kicker is a founding member of European Sports Magazines, an association of football publications.
kicker annually awards the most prolific scorer of the Bundesliga with the kicker Torjägerkanone (kicker Scorer Cannon) award. It is equivalent to the Pichichi Trophy in Spanish football.

List of german football ranking by Kicker

The ranking of the german football is an assessment of football players of the german bundesliga, the kicker - sports magazine is carried out. In january 1956, was first produced and published a ranking, since there are (with few exceptions) each year in the summer and in the winter break of the season a new edition of the traditional ranking.

Rangliste des deutschen Fußballs/2010er (in German)

Greatest Football Clubs of the 20th Century

In 1998, kicker published a list of the best football clubs of the 20th century. The list was based on the votes of specialists (Giovanni Trapattoni, Johann Cruijff, Udo Lattek etc.) to name 5 best clubs and give arguments in their support.^[5]