Hello, here is the ballreiter, a football blog!

ballreiter is a german football blog that has been around since summer 2015. After 10 years, I had the idea that it would be nice to occasionally write something about this great game in English…

The english section of ballreiter is called Short Pass. Because we want to play the ball fast, with occasional posts about football written in english. Trying to reach out over the language border!

Who is writing?

My name is Ralf G., and I have been blogging and been active on social media for several years.

I live in Karlsruhe and follow the local and regional football scene. I was born in the Lower Rhine region and, as a child, I learned to love football at Borussia Mönchengladbach's Bökelberg stadium in the traditional way (by going to the stadium with my father). And old (football) love never rusts!

Nowadays, I like to hang out at regional (non league) and local (semi-)amateur football pitches. With occasional trips into the 'big wide world' of football…

When it comes to professional football, I enjoy watching Spain's La Liga, especially Club Atlético de Madrid. But I also enjoy European Cup matches and games from Serie A or the MLS. Enthusiasm for (non league) regional and local football comes across in this blog without any strange 'against modern football' attitude.

And since my first visit to Scotland a few years ago, I have been fascinated by Scottish football and Celtic. Perhaps because it is so different from german football. Or perhaps it is the aura of tradition that surrounds almost every stadium and is almost tangible.

What’s a ballreiter?

A ballreiter is an artificial german word, meaning someone riding on a ball. Think the famous Munchausen, but riding a football instead of a cannonball…

Sounds strange? In this glorious modern times we can ask AI what it thinks a ballreiter looks like:

Well…

Kick off!

So here we go! Let’s blow the whistle and see how this new section of ballreiter develops…