The Ball is Round and the Game Goes 90 Minutes (Der Ball ist rund und das Spiel dauert 90 Minuten)
With many sayings the origin can be traced back far and often there is an exciting story behind it. Todays saying (proverb) is...
...The Ball is Round and the Game Goes 90 Minutes (Der Ball ist rund und das Spiel dauert 90 Minuten)
What does "The Ball is Round and the Game Goes 90 Minutes" actually mean and how did the phrase come up? We provide you with the answers here!
In 1954 Sepp Herberger, a famous German national coach , said "Der Ball ist rund und das Spiel dauert 90 Minuten" (translated: The ball is round and the game goes 90 minutes). Whereas many people tried to interpret it, the expression means that the outcome of a game is unpredictable.
Sepp Herberger started his career as a football player but only became famous for being the national coach of the (west) German national football team who won unexpectedly the FIFA World Cup in 1954 for the first time.
When asked about the outcome of a game, Sepp Herberger said "Der Ball is rund", emphasizing that everything can happen in a game. Sometimes luck and bad luck play huge roles when it comes to a game between somewhat comparable opponents. The need to play every minute and second of the game is crucial, because "das Spiel dauert 90 Minuten" (the game goes 90min).
While being an iconic he has uttered a whole range of wisecracks from which entire generations of football players and sports journalists have drawn.
Examples:
- You can make a drop kick, a scorpian kick or a bicycle kick but at the end the ball is round.
- The game is 90 minutes. So let's try to score to make it up to at least a draw.
Other phrases from Sepp Herberger:
- The round most go into the square
- A football team needs to be 11 friends
Or how the Germans say: "Der Ball ist rund und das Spiel dauert 90 Minuten." 
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about your roundest ball, the longest match that you played or the best goal you scored.
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