Germany’s table football cult: pub and office sports

Everyone knows that football is just as much an integral part of Germany as bratwurst sausages and deposits on bottles. But not everyone knows that that also applies to table football, known colloquially as “kickern” in German. Yet again, multiple world cup winner Linh Tran has just wiped the floor with all her opponents in the German kicker championships. And the German Table Football Federation is the largest in the world. Which is hardly surprising given that every second pub seems to boast a kicker table. The most important rule down the pub is that the loser pays for the next game. 

Table football’s true arena is not the pub, however - but the office. In many German firms, a stylish kicker table has become a symbol of progressiveness and team spirit. So does the clack-clack of the footballing figures represent the heart of corporate culture? Not really. In reality, either the enthusiasts get on the nerves of their hard-working colleagues with their jubilant hooting or the table just gathers dust in the corner because nobody wants to be caught “skiving” by the boss. 

Heated discussions about whether spinning of the bars is permitted can also jeopardise the desired team-building effect. While some defend this wild practice of spinning the bars as an expression of creative freedom, others view it as an absolute sacrilege that should result in the offender being barred permanently from the pub or office. 

And then there are those inconspicuous characters who at best would be bit players on a real football field but with their dribbling skills become true Lionel Messis on the table - and with a lightening-fast “snake shot” outplay even the most perfectly toned posers.

Whether down the pub or in the office, table football is a very democratic pastime because anyone can take part. The most important thing is to have fun - and to decide whether spinning should be allowed.