Annalena Baerbock is a football fan and is often found cheering on Germany’s national teams at major tournaments. Last year, she was on the edge of her seat rooting for the country’s women’s team at the Euros in Switzerland. And now, her fingers are crossed for the men’s team at the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

She’s right in the thick of it because since 2025, Baerbock has been president of the United Nations General Assembly, which is based in New York.

Baerbock attended an award ceremony at the recently opened German House of Soccer, where former Bayern Munich forward Thomas Müller and goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger were awarded prizes. Müller, the most successful German player ever, currently plys his trade for the Vancouver Whitecaps in the MLS and received an honorary prize. The 36-year-old plays a key role in shaping the international image of German football beyond the field thanks to his easygoing, likable manner. Berger received the award in the player category because of the fighting spirit and determination the Gotham City keeper shows on the field.

Speaking at the event, Baerbock praised the Germany teams, calling them role models and the progress itthey havehas made in recent years.

“Today we have great diversity in the team, which symbolizes a new generation of German players,” Baerbock told DW. “That wasn’t always the case. When I had just graduated from high school, we had Gerald Asamoah, one of the first players born in Africa to play for the German national team.” The 45-year-old recalled the discussions surrounding Asamoah at the time.

What is a ‘real’ German?

In 2001, the striker made his debut under then-Germany head coach Rudi Völler. His selection was met with approval by large segments of society, though there were also racist slurs directed at him. In addition, a debate arose over what constitutes a “true” German, since Asamoah was born in Ghana and moved to Germany at the age of 12.

Though Erwin Kostedde was the first Black player to represent the German national team, Asamoah’s selection for the 2002 and 2006 World Cups, also paved the way for the modern era of players with African roots, such as Jerome Boateng, Jonathan Tah, Antonio Rüdiger and Felix Nmecha.

In the current World Cup squad, led by national team coach Julian Nagelsmann, 11 of the 26 players have an immigrant background — but this time around there was no debate like the one that arose when Asamoah was selected.

Nevertheless, some Alternative for Germany (AfD) politicians and supporters of the party refer to the Germany team as the “rainbow squad,” criticizing the push for greater diversity and anti-discrimination. In the build-up to Euro 2024, a survey from German public broadcaster WDR revealed that 21% of the people polled voted “yes” when asked about wanting more white players on the team. The survey was criticized by Germany’s head coach Julian Nagelsmann and team captain Joshua Kimmich.

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Team over superstars

“That shows how important anti-racism campaigns are,” Baerbock said. “A team is also always a reflection of society.”

She said the World Cup team underscores Germany’s diversity, sends an important message to young people in Germany and shows: “You can make it anywhere. Sports—and football in particular—bring people together. On the pitch, everyone is equal, no matter where you are from, what your parents earn, or what language you speak. What matters is that you score and are a team player.” 

For this reason, too, Germany’s former foreign minister hopes Germany will go far at this World Cup.

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“We may not be the team most people have put their bets on, but we have a wonderful team spirit,” Baerbock said. “Sometimes it’s more important to have the best team rather than the most famous superstar.”

This article was adapted from German.

AEW Men’s World Champion Maxwell Jacob Friedman recently shared his thoughts on an age-old debate in professional wrestling- whether it makes sense for promotions to build their product around a handful of top stars.

While appearing in an interview recently with the Shut Up and Wrestle podcast, MJF and interviewer Brian Solomon began a discussion at one point regarding certain wrestling legends who never became main event names or World Champions in major promotions like WWE, despite their undeniable in-ring prowess and popularity. Big Hebrew specifically brought up the case of WWE and AEW legend Jake Roberts, alluding to the sports entertainment juggernaut not pushing The Snake despite the reactions he had generated against Hulk Hogan.

This opened up a broader discussion on promotions like the Stamford-based company pushing and presenting only a select handful of their talent as upper-card, main-event calibre stars, a trend that is arguably followed to this day. Friedman suggested that a product built around one or two top names is less interesting than it could have been otherwise, stating:

“Jake Roberts attacks Hulk Hogan, gets a louder reaction than Hulk Hogan by a fair margin, they’re screaming ‘Jake’, they’re screaming ‘DDT’, nothing happened after. Because there was only time for one guy on top, according to sources, right? So I.. I talked about this in an interview recently with Ariel Helwani, I think the best product is not a product where there’s only one figurehead and person of importance.”

The Salt of The Earth continued:

“Now granted, don’t get me wrong, I am that guy, especially in this modern era, I move the needle for my company more than anybody else- however, if I’m watching a product where that ball can’t be passed, and I can’t have anyone else on top, and there’s no time for anybody else, it’s boring, what am I watching for? I’m only investing in one guy? I’m only investing in the story of one guy on this weekly episodic professional wrestling show? It’s boring! Again, that’s what made the territories so exciting. Yes, you had your 1A guys, but you also had 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F, 1G, it was crazy,” said Friedman.

MJF will be involved in a huge cage match at AEW Forbidden Door

In less than two weeks at AEW Forbidden Door 2026, MJF will team with the Don Callis Family’s Kevin Knight, Kyle Fletcher, Kazuchika Okada, Jake Doyle and Andrade El Idolo to take on Mark Briscoe, his Conglomeration partners Kyle O’Reilly, Roderick Strong and Orange Cassidy, International Champion Konosuke Takeshita, and former World Champion Darby Allin, in a multi-person steel cage match. If The Sussex County Chicken’s team wins the bout, he will earn a shot at Friedman’s AEW World Title.

The Wolf of Wrestling and his DCF allies will head into Forbidden Door with momentum on their side, having defeated the babyface team in a standard tag match this week on Wednesday Night AEW Dynamite.