Germany - Volleyball Bundesliga (VBL) 2014/15

    Congrats again to Friedrichshafen. After their very good main round, this title is truly well deserved. I can't talk about todays match, but overall this final series was spectacular and made pride of german volleyball :teach: .


    For Berlin this could mean the end of an era, depending on what will happen in summer. Only three players (E. Shoji, Kmet and ??) have a contract for next season and surely there will be good offers for Mark Lebedew as well. Probably the management will have to rebuilt a complete new team. It is really going to be a very interesting transfer periode.....

    Congrats to Friedrichshafen :win:



    And special congrats to Maxi Gauna who performed well above my expectations is his first ever season in Europe :super:

    Other news from Bundesliga:


    • After the final match, Max Günthör declared his retirement :white:
    • Jan-Phillip Marks, Sebastian Gevert and Matthias Pompe are extending their contracts in Düren.
    • After Patrick Steuerwald, also Ferdinand Tille signed a contract with bavarian club TSV Herrsching 8o . Quite astonishing transfers for such a small club. It probably helped that both players are coming from Bavaria and are planning to put more value on private live/studies. Money surely hasn't been the most important issue here.

    Max Günthörs retirement set aside, those are good news for the next year. Lüneburg will keep most of its players as well and if Bühl still improves, we might see a better competition than we had this year. On the very top, Berlin's level might decline a bit but they still should be able to give Friedrichshafen a good battle.

    Quote from TimHH

    Other news from Bundesliga:


    • After the final match, Max Günthör declared his retirement :white:
    • Jan-Phillip Marks, Sebastian Gevert and Matthias Pompe are extending their contracts in Düren.
    • After Patrick Steuerwald, also Ferdinand Tille signed a contract with bavarian club TSV Herrsching 8o . Quite astonishing transfers for such a small club. It probably helped that both players are coming from Bavaria and are planning to put more value on private live/studies. Money surely hasn't been the most important issue here.

    Max Günthörs retirement set aside, those are good news for the next year. Lüneburg will keep most of its players as well and if Bühl still improves, we might see a better competition than we had this year. On the very top, Berlin's level might decline a bit but they still should be able to give Friedrichshafen a good battle.


    Gunthor's retirement came out of the blue! I did not see that coming. I guess retirement from all teams and sports activities, right? If you find out why, please, do let us know.


    The transfers in Herrsching is good news. Their scoutman and also a user here (won't reveal his identity, but I guess he is not much online these days) averred in Facebook yesterday that we should expect more surprises from the club. We just have to read. Perhaps there is/are another signing(s) to be announced soon.

    Quote from YavorD

    Gunthor's retirement came out of the blue! I did not see that coming. I guess retirement from all teams and sports activities, right? If you find out why, please, do let us know.


    The transfers in Herrsching is good news. Their scoutman and also a user here (won't reveal his identity, but I guess he is not much online these days) averred in Facebook yesterday that we should expect more surprises from the club. We just have to read. Perhaps there is/are another signing(s) to be announced soon.


    Yes, Günthör`s retirement includes NT as well. MB section looks quite thin now.....


    Günthör has always been a player who took care of his life outside the volleyball court. He has a family, finished his studies and now has a good job offer. He might even earn more money there than at VfB. For NT he played Olympics, won a medal on WCH so I guess he simply lacked motivation to go "All In" for another year.


    Other signings in Herrsching? Maybe some of the pre-retirement guys? Popp/Andrae should know Herrschings coach from Beach Volleyball. So maybe one of them, maybe both? That would be quite a fun team 8) Probably worth a trip for you, Yavor..... ^^

    Quote from TimHH


    Yes, Günthör`s retirement includes NT as well. MB section looks quite thin now.....


    Günthör has always been a player who took care of his life outside the volleyball court. He has a family, finished his studies and now has a good job offer. He might even earn more money there than at VfB. For NT he played Olympics, won a medal on WCH so I guess he simply lacked motivation to go "All In" for another year.


    Other signings in Herrsching? Maybe some of the pre-retirement guys? Popp/Andrae should know Herrschings coach from Beach Volleyball. So maybe one of them, maybe both? That would be quite a fun team 8) Probably worth a trip for you, Yavor..... ^^

    Mhm, I've seen the families of the guys who used to play for Unterhaching. I totally understand such a decision in this case. I also know Ferdinand Tille was (or still is, I am not sure) a student in Munich, so obviously these guys will have a plan B in life. It's not the first case, won't be the last, that's volleyball life in many regions of the world. The first other example that comes to my mind is Matthias Mellitzer, a former Austrian indoor and beach volleyball player, who quit his career on the beach to start a job at Red Bull, one of his sponsors back then. Volleyball players are usually smart guys, most of them at least, so finding alternative ways to support their families hasn't always been difficult.


    We'll see about new recruits in Herrsching, I have no idea really :) To be honest, I couldn't travel a single time last year to Herrsching for various reasons. Even if I know their scoutman and despite his invitations, the trip to Herrsching takes some time and the sports hall is not really close to the station in the municipality. And I don't have a car :) It usually requires a day off, counting also the return trip, and I didn't enjoy much free time last season. Also, it was their first season in the top tier, so I wanted to see first if they have the quality to stay in the league. Even the arrival of Friedrichshafen and Berlin wasn't that much of an incentive to me (I am sorry to say that). However, with the current roster being reinforced with some international stars, Herrsching does sound indeed like a place I should finally visit on a Saturday this season. It's gonna take a while for volleyball fans down here to relocate from Unterhaching to Herrsching, if possible at all, but the new guys should attract some audience for sure. So yes, maybe it's finally worth a trip for me as well :)

    Quote from TimHH


    Yes, Günthör`s retirement includes NT as well. MB section looks quite thin now.....


    Günthör has always been a player who took care of his life outside the volleyball court. He has a family, finished his studies and now has a good job offer. He might even earn more money there than at VfB. For NT he played Olympics, won a medal on WCH so I guess he simply lacked motivation to go "All In" for another year.


    Other signings in Herrsching? Maybe some of the pre-retirement guys? Popp/Andrae should know Herrschings coach from Beach Volleyball. So maybe one of them, maybe both? That would be quite a fun team 8) Probably worth a trip for you, Yavor..... ^^


    I read that Max Gunthor is starting a careet at ZF (a Friedrichshafen-based company dealing with driveline and chassis technology), one of VfB's main sponsors. Also, Nick Vogel seems to have ended his professional career.

    Quote from YavorD

    I read that Max Gunthor is starting a careet at ZF (a Friedrichshafen-based company dealing with driveline and chassis technology), one of VfB's main sponsors. Also, Nick Vogel seems to have ended his professional career.

    Interview with Max Günthör about his career ending: http://www.volleyball-verband.…545tt28vmn5tpg9dij0gnmob0


    Nic Vogel had to end career because medical staff in Friedrichshafen detected a serious cardiologic problem which doesn't allow high level sports anymore.

    If only most of our guys were as smart as Max here, unfortunately many suffer the "chalga" mentality.
    Is he going to be a software engineer?

    All teams who applied for a license to play season 2015/16 were awarded with a license. There are still some issues to be solved for Netzhoppers Königswusterhausen and TV Ingersoll Bühl but hopefully they will go through as well.


    For Bühl it seems that this year they will have to make a step back again. So far, they only extended contracts with some very young players and for the moment it seems questionable whether they can afford any "high level" transfers.


    On the other hand there is of course TSV Herrsching who delivered the "wow" moments in this transfer period (P. Steuerwald, F. Tille and Trenkler). They surely will assemble a good squad in the next season. There are rumours as well that newly promoted TG Rüsselsheim might still deliver some surprises on the transfer market but so far no hard facts have been reported.


    It is still quiet in Friedrichshafen and at the moment it is only reported that Marc-Anthony Honorè (MB) will arrive from Benfica Lisbon.


    Berlin Volleys renewed contracts with Carroll, Kromm, Kmet, Kühner and E. Shoji. That means that they already have a good and solid base and more transfers will probably happen, when the new coach will be appointed/announced.


    All Bundeliga transfers so far: http://volleyball.de/misc/wech…rse/maennerwechselboerse/

    Quote from TimHH

    There are rumours as well that newly promoted TG Rüsselsheim might still deliver some surprises on the transfer market but so far no hard facts have been reported.


    The club announced the new coach, which will be Michael Warm, former youth NT coach, coach of SCC Berlin and Austrian NT coach. Furthermore Christian Dünnes and Jan Zimmermann wil play for the club in the next season and there is probably still more to come.


    That seems to be a very promising project. The club will play in the Fraport Arena in Frankfurt (5000 places) and the budget is said to be around 750.000 Euro which would be the third highest budget of the league, behind Berlin and Friedrichshafen. I hope, this will all work out well, the league would really need an ambitious club like that.


    source: http://volleyball.de/nc/news/d…ill-die-szene-aufmischen/

    Quote from TimHH


    The club announced the new coach, which will be Michael Warm, former youth NT coach, coach of SCC Berlin and Austrian NT coach. Furthermore Christian Dünnes and Jan Zimmermann wil play for the club in the next season and there is probably still more to come.


    That seems to be a very promising project. The club will play in the Fraport Arena in Frankfurt (5000 places) and the budget is said to be around 750.000 Euro which would be the third highest budget of the league, behind Berlin and Friedrichshafen. I hope, this will all work out well, the league would really need an ambitious club like that.


    source: http://volleyball.de/nc/news/d…ill-die-szene-aufmischen/


    The only problem I see is how and whether they will need 5000 seats for the Bundesliga. I was in this hall during the 2012 World League Week 1 tournament at the end of May (the group featured Germany, Argentina, Bulgaria and Portugal) and the German Volleyball Federation suffered terribly to promote the game to fans in Frankfurt. If it hadn't been for the Bulgarian fans back then, the hall would've been partially empty. And it's the national team we are talking about. Of course, volleyball attendance in Germany is an old problem, I am not going to start it all over again now, but to me, this is one of the regions dominated by football and it would take a lot of effort to sell tickets for the Fraport Arena regularly. But Berlin also started ambitiously with the Max-Schmelling-Halle when they used to be called SCC Berlin, so who knows. I also hope Rüsselsheim can maintain the investment and keep their status as long as possible. And maybe even come close to what Herrsching is trying to do, for Unterhaching and Berlin RV are/were surely a step or two ahead.