German Muslims have inundated one of the country's top soccer teams, Schalke 04, with complaints about a verse in the club's anthem which, they say, is disparaging towards the Prophet Mohammad.

The club has its home in Gelsenkirchen in Germany's industrial heartland and immigrants make up about a third of the town's population. Most of them have a Turkish background. Germany's biggest mosque was opened in nearby Duisburg last year and many Schalke supporters are Muslims, as chat rooms like this one point out.

The lines in question are: "Mohammad was a Prophet who doesn't understand football" although the words that follow seem positive: "But from all the beautiful colours he came up with blue and white." Schalke's colours are blue and white.

The club, which plays in Germany's Bundesliga top league and has some of the country's most ardent fans, is taking the complaints seriously. A spokesman has said Schalke has asked an Islamic expert to analyse the text.

But what is most striking is that the song is not new. Some say it dates back to 1924.  So why has it suddenly started to offend Muslims?

The answer may lie in the mounting resentment in Germany's Muslim community after politicians were slow to condemn the murder of an Egyptian woman in a court in eastern Germany about a month ago, which we blogged about at the time. The crime was widely viewed as racially motivated.

Germany's Central Council of Muslims has summed up the situation. "Many Muslims in Germany no longer have a sense of security. Nerves are wearing thin," General-Secretary Aiman Mazyek was quoted as saying in Bild daily, adding he did not believe the club had malicious intentions. 

This storm is another sign of just how tense community relations are in Germany. Maybe a passion for soccer can help overcome some of the divisions.

It was clear from the start that Felix Magath’s move to VfL Wolfsburg in 2007, after winning consecutive league and cup doubles with Bayern Munich, was a step backwards before another big step forward.

No one really expected them to be top of the table with three matches left this season. Magath himself said the team had met their targets earlier than expected.

His next big step now turns out to be Schalke 04, one of the most fervently supported clubs in the country — as opposed to Volkswagen-sponsored Wolfsburg — but also a club that has long failed to live up to its potential.

Without a championship for 51 years, Schalke have come agonisingly close many times. Magath must change that. He has to reorganise a team that includes several key players on their way out, like formidable central defenders Mladen Krstajic and Marcelo Bordon, expensive signings that have failed to deliver like Orlando Engelaar and Jefferson Farfan and volatile striker Kevin Kuranyi, who is still undecided about his future.

Magath, who will have complete control over the team, has to change all that without playing in any European competition next season.

It’s a much bigger job than he’s done at Wolfsburg. Everyone in Gelsenkirchen expects to get what they have been missing out for the past half century. All the second-place finishes, all the last-gasp failures have left fans hungry for lots of silverware and they will want to taste success under Magath sooner rather than later.

PHOTO: VfL Wolfsburg’s coach Felix Magath gestures during their Bundesliga game at VfB Stuttgart, May 9, 2009. REUTERS/Thomas Bohlen

The great and the good of German soccer have been quick to condemn Kevin Kuranyi after the Schalke 04 striker walked away from the national team at the weekend.

Former Germany coach Franz Beckenbauer said Kuranyi’s behaviour was “ridiculous” and had overshadowed the good impression Germany made in their 2-1 win over Russia.

“He not only let the coach down but also his teammates,” the Kaiser wrote in his column for Bild newspaper on Monday.

“I can’t imagine he’ll ever play again for Germany,” he added. “He’d have to go down on his knees to (coach) Jogi Loew.”

But not all reactions were negative. (more…)

Bayern Munich could win the Bundesliga championship this weekend without even kicking a ball.

With a 12-point lead over Werder Bremen and Schalke 04 and four matches left, Bayern — who don’t play again until visiting VfL Wolfsburg on Sunday — will be watching from their recliners on Saturday when Bremen and Schalke try to keep their faint hopes alive.

Should Bremen and Schalke fail to win their respective home matches against Energie Cottbus and Hanover 96, Bayern will be crowned champions.  

The Germans have an interesting term for winning the championship in that fashion — “Sofa-meister” (couch champion).  

But Bayern captain Oliver Kahn said it doesn’t matter how they win a record 21st German championship — even if they take it lying down.  

“If we end up winning as Sofa-meister, that’s the way it goes,” Kahn told Premiere Television on Sunday. “You can’t change it. That’s the way it is. Obviously you’d rather win the championship on the pitch.”  

Kahn missed Bayern’s 4-1 win over VfB Stuttgart on Sunday due to injury. He said he would have played if Bayern could have won the championship on Sunday — which would have been possible had Bremen lost and Schalke not won on Saturday. As it turned out Bremen managed a 3-3 draw at Karlsruhe and Schalke beat Hamburg SV 1-0.

So Kahn didn’t even suit up for the match on Sunday…and gave interviews about “Sofameisters” instead.

Erik Kirschbaum, Berlin

PHOTO: Bayern Munich’s Franck Ribery celebrates with coach Ottmar Hitzfeld during the German Bundesliga soccer match against Stuttgart, April 27 REUTERS/Michael Dalder

Juventus are to become the first Italian club to have their stadium sponsored.

The concept is so alien to Italians that Juve had to hold a presentation in Milan this week to explain what it was all about, and to look for sponsors. I went along hoping to speak to the directors about potential transfers but most of my Italian colleagues asked question after question about this strange new marketing trend.

Having attended the first game at the Reebok Stadium in Bolton 11 years ago, I’ve become rather used to the idea and don’t think it differs much to sponsored shirts.

Certainly in the case of Bolton Wanderers, the revenue from the sponsorship deal has gone a long way to helping them stay in the Premier League. Several of Germany’s excellent stadiums built ahead of the 2006 World Cup are sponsored, like Munich’s Allianz Arena, and fans there are generally happy.

But should we be worried about where all this is heading? Does every time we mention the name sound like an advert?

The Veltins Arena in Gelsenkirchen sounds better than Arena AufSchalke, but do we really want existing stadiums changing their names? Hamburg’s stadium changed sponsors after just six years.

Many basketball and cycling teams in Europe even have sponsors in their name. I don’t think fans will want major soccer clubs to go that far, but it has already been tried with TNS in Wales and others will definitely follow.

Mark Meadows, Reuters Sports Correspondent in Milan

On Sunday night, after five years of calm, Barcelona fans finally exploded. The white handkerchiefs — a common way of showing frustration in Spain’s stadiums — were out, against the club president, the coach, the players … anybody involved in what seems set to be a second straight trophy-less year.

More precisely, Sunday’s exhibition was against the perceived apathy of millionaire players who appear to move ever more slowly, as if they weren’t in the match at all.

People have had enough.

Ronaldinho, the Brazilian who brought magic, enthusiasm and decisive goals two and three years ago to the Nou Camp, is now injured and will miss the most important matches of this very mediocre season. As for Thierry Henry, the fans have pretty much given up hope.

Only the youngsters Bojan and Giovanni seem hungry for titles, but their youth make it difficult for them to resolve the crucial matches at this point in the season.

Barcelona now face an “easy” quarter-final against Schalke 04, having won in Germany 0-1, but the fans aren’t excited. Winning and passing on to a probable semi-final against Manchester United isn’t an encouraging prospect to most fans, many of whom just want the season to end so changes can be made, heads can roll.

People are not hurt about the team not winning so much as what looks like a lack of interest and involvement. ”Menys millons i mes collons!” they shout. “Fewer millions and more balls.”

PHOTO: Henry takes a breather during the Getafe game, April 6, 2008. REUTERS/Albert Gea

It was just like old times for me covering Frank Rijkaard’s press conferences either side of Barcelona’s Champions League win over Schalke, as another Dutch coach got the Louis van Gaal treatment from the media.

I was based in Barcelona when Van Gaal finally called it quits at the end of his first spell at the club and listening to the Catalan press and radio hounding out the former Ajax man was at times almost painful.

Barcelona’s 3-2 defeat by Real Betis at the weekend led to headlines calling the Schalke game an “ultimatum”, while Rijkaard was asked whether a jokey conversation, caught on camera, about him carrying a parachute as hand luggage for the flight had any deep significance.

The difference is that not only does Rijkaard have more credit built up than Van Gaal did — thanks to the Champions League win in 2006 — but that the younger man refuses to rise to the bait. Van Gaal could never resist getting into arguments with journalists, while Rijkaard simply smiles, leans back and mumbles a few well-worn phrases about the team having to work harder.

So what to make of the Schalke game, which was won 1-0 thanks to a goal from the ludicrously talented 17-year-old Bojan Krkic?

If Barcelona go on to win the tie and reach the semi-finals, as they surely now should, it will be remembered as a textbook display in a European away game. That’s not the real story.

This was a case of Barcelona showing the same failings as they had against Betis, when they let slip a two-goal lead, but getting away with it.

Barcelona were so superior to Schalke in the first half that it was quite ridiculous. Xavi and Iniesta in midfield strolled around the Arena AufSchalke as if they owned the place, creating what seemed to be an endless series of passes that led to the early goal for Bojan and should have brought them many more.

In the second half Barcelona just stopped playing, and failed to create a single scoring chance. Schalke showed how you beat them by not giving them anything like the time on the ball they had in the first half, pouring players down the wings and sending high balls into the middle. A better team would have had them.

It’s worth remembering that Deco, Ronaldinho and Messi all missed the game through injury, while Eto’o looked barely fit. Still, it must be frustrating to Barcelona fans to see a team with such talented players play themselves into trouble again and again.

What’s the next step? From talking to my colleagues from Barcelona it looks more and more like a change of coach at the end of the season, even if Rijkaard doesn’t quite have his parachute packed yet.

Kevin Fylan, Gelsenkirchen