Kicker (magazine)
Kicker is Germany's leading sports magazine, focused primarily on football. The magazine was founded in 1920 by German football pioneer Walther Bensemann and is published twice weekly, usually Monday and Thursday. Each edition sells around 80,000 copies. Kicker is a founding member of European Sports Media, an association of football publications.
Kicker annually awards the most prolific scorer of the Bundesliga with the Kicker Torjägerkanone award. It is equivalent to the Pichichi Trophy in Spanish football.
The magazine also publishes an almanac, the Kicker Fußball-Almanach. It was first published from 1937 to 1942, and then continuously from 1959 to date. They also publish a yearbook.
History
Kicker was first issued in July 1920 in Konstanz, Germany. The magazine's headquarters were originally in Stuttgart before relocating to Nuremberg in 1926. During World War II, the magazine merged with the publication Fußball, and was eventually discontinued in fall 1944. After the war, the magazine was again published by the newly incorporated Olympia-Verlag publishing company. Former chief editor Friedebert Becker again began publishing Kicker in 1951, and for a number of years, both Kicker and Sport appeared at the same time. In 1966, Kicker was sold to Axel Springer AG. In 1968, Olympia-Verlag in Nuremberg acquired Kicker and merged it with Sportmagazin, which had been published twice weekly since 1952. The first issue of the newly founded Kicker-Sportmagazin was released on 7 October 1968. Beside the two weekly publications, Kicker provides a digital edition since 2012. The online version of kicker.de offers a broad live ticker for over 80 different international leagues. The magazine has three apps in the iTunes store.Magazine
The modern version of Kicker covers a number of sporting competitions and events, including:- The German Bundesliga, 2. Bundesliga, 3. Liga, and Regionalliga
- The German DFB-Pokal
- The Germany national team and Germany women's national football team
- The German Women's Bundesliga
- Various European leagues and competitions, including the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, and Ligue 1
- Various international football leagues
- Formula One racing
- The Olympic Games
- eSports and competitive video gaming
- Various other sporting events, depending on on-going competitions