In sporting terms, there are few people better qualified to front a reality show intended to find a country's best young goalkeeper. Former Germany and Bayern Munich No. 1 and all-round legend-between-the-sticks Oliver Kahn went everywhere and won just about everything in a career which established him as one of soccer's best-ever stoppers.
Which is why Olli the Titan was chosen as the face of "I Never Give Up," his own reality show in China, which aired for the first time on Thursday, June 18.
The Chinese producers of the show are hoping that the three-time winner of the World's Best Goalkeeper Award and the Best Player at the 2002 World Cup will bring his star quality to the soccer talent show which hopes to find China's best goalkeeper and make that person's dream of being a professional soccer player a reality.
The contestants, aged 17-24, including two women, will compete for the prize of a spot in the German Football Association's elite training academy.
China is a country of football lovers -- a passion often dashed by the poor performance of the men's national team that ranks 98th in the FIFA rankings, behind the Cape Verde Islands and Iceland.
Kahn, who retired from Bayern Munich last year, plans to show young Asians the power of motivation and how they can make their dreams come true.
And unlike Donald Trump in The Apprentice, he promises to be nice.
"We don't want to do an empty and meaningless, mindless casting show. And I don't want to be the one who 'talks big' and disses or offends the young candidates when they don't succeed.
Kahn has designed his show to reflect the "importance of individuality and personality but most of all, how the contestants handle defeat".
Kahn knows the pain of being beaten.
He was voted the best player at the 2002 World Cup, a feat never achieved by a goalkeeper before but in the final, he made a serious mistake, spilling a shot to Brazilian player Ronaldo, who pounced on it and won the game.
"Finally, I have become much stronger from this defeat," he says.
"The crises in my life have always been a danger, of course, because there is always the potential that you'll be destroyed. But on the other hand, crises always include an opportunity to learn, to adjust and to re-emerge much stronger."
Kahn says Chinese viewers will see how his principles can be adapted to everyday life and how they can be a "roadmap to success".
AFP
Shanghai - German football needs a bigger presence than Friday's friendly international in Shanghai to make an impact in China in particular and Asia in general, according to goalkeeping Legend Oliver Kahn. "In Germany they always speak about it as an interesting market. But if you really want to penetrate it it's not good enough to play a match there, be it Bayern Munich or the national team," Kahn said.
"It is not that easy."
Clad in a typical Chinese suit, the "Titan" Kahn knows what he is talking about on the 32-floor terrace of the Hyatt hotel in Shanghai.
Kahn has been immensely famous in Asia ever since his heroics in the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan, where he conceded just one goal in Germany's surprise run to the final which they lost 2-0 to Brazil.
He has made several trips to Asia since then and is currently in China for several weeks until mid-June to tape a 10-part television show with young goalkeeper candidates.
"This is very important to me," he says.
"I started with 10 candidates, now four are left. The experience is great, the boys want to know so much, they soak everything in and want to improve."
Kahn, a father of two himself, said he felt especially drawn to a boy from Tibet: "His father told him: 'son, you must become a goalkeeper, as a goalkeeper you learn a lot about life.'"
That suits Kahn, who was one of the most dedicated players in his professional career and names "courage and responsibility" key phrases as he works with the young Chinese keepers.
The TV show will air from mid-June onwards and millions of Chinese are expected to tune in.
That is not the situation with Bundesliga broadcasts. The ruling German body DFB in Shanghai renewed its deal with national broadcasters CCTV for three years, but the Bundesliga market share in China is not more than 0.2 or 0.3 per cent.
Kahn mentioned kickoff times as one problem, with Bundesliga games starting late in China. The English Premier League, by contrast, has at least one match each weekend starting early in England for prime time viewing in Asia.
"You must create a permanent presence, be visible permanently, and not at 12 or 1 at night when most people are asleep. You must have decent kickoff times for the Chinese," he said.
Kahn also named the American National Basketball Association as another example, even though that also generates big interest in China because the best Chinese player, Yao Ming, plays in the NBA.
"You must invest and create a constant presence. This process can not be achieved with one friendly match per year," Kahn said.
That even more as coach Joachim Loew had only a handful of established players available for Friday's game as captain Michael Ballack led a long list of absentees owing to club duty or injury.
The presence of Kahn has helped the depleted team and the DFB to get some attention in their first visit to China, but Kahn said that he can't be the saviour for German football in Asia.
"I can generate attention, but only temporarily," said Kahn.
[Deutsche Presse-Agentur via Earth Times]
Former Bayern München and Germany goalkeeper Oliver Kahn bowed out of the game on Tuesday after 20 years as a professional, his testimonial at Bayern's Arena finishing 1-1 between Bayern and the German national team.
Kahn, 39, made 557 appearances in the Bundesliga for Karlsruhe and Bayern and bade farewell, having Monday insisted that "there aren't many things I miss" about the game. Kahn played the match for Bayern, with whom he won eight league titles as well as the Champions League in 2001.
He was also voted player of the tournament at the 2002 World Cup, where he helped "Die Mannschaft" reach the final only for a mistake to give Brazil the opening goal in a 2-0 win for the South Americans.
For his final game he was coached by new Bayern handler Jürgen Klinsmann. "Tonight was very moving for me, perhaps the most moving moment of my career," Kahn said.
"I was under pressure my whole career whereas now I just had the joy of being out there in this stadium and before these fans one last time."
After 75 minutes and having made several top-drawer saves Kahn gave way to Michael Rensing in the Bayern goal before embarking on a lap of honour to cheers from the 69,000 fans at the Arena.
"It's the end of an extraordinary part of my life but also the start of something new," said Kahn, whose only regret - aside from not capturing the World Cup - was not scoring a league goal.
He will now begin working as a TV consultant on September 10, when Germany meet Finland in a World Cup qualifier.
Former Bayern Munich goalkeeper Oliver Kahn is convinced that new Bayern coach Jurgen Klinsmann can help the club make a 'big impression' at next season's Champions League.
With Klinsmann at the helm, the recently-retired custodian believes the Bavarian giants can make a real impact in Europe and overcome the disappointment of losing to Zenit St Petersburg in the UEFA Cup semi-finals last season.
'I trust Jurgen not only with the two title defences of the Bundesliga and the DFB-Pokal but also to a make a big impression in the Champions League,' Kahn told Munich-based newspaper Tz. 'I still know him from the year we had together at Bayern in 1995/96. He is very bright and will prepare Bayern very well. Certainly Klinsmann will be under pressure at Bayern, but that always exists there. It is only about titles, titles, titles. I think it is good that with Klinsmann there is someone with new ideas and other methods.'
Besides playing together with Klinsmann at Bayern Munich during the 95/96 season, Kahn was also under Klinsmann charge during his 2-year reign as the German national team coach. However, their time together in the national team was marked by the fierce rivalry between Kahn and Lehmann, with Klinsmann deciding to pick Lehmann as his number 1 in the end.
However, with all this in the past, Kahn seems to be happy to lend his support to the new coach of the club which he has spent a large part of his career at.
Former Germany number one Oliver Kahn has challenged Jens Lehmann's claim that the Euro 2008 ball deviates in the air.
Lehmann has admitted he is struggling to adjust to the flight of the new ball after conceding two soft goals in Germany's surprise 2-2 with Belarus on Tuesday. The former Arsenal goalkeeper, who hardly featured for the London club last season, feels he needs more time to get used to the movement of the ball.
But Kahn, Lehmann's rival for the number one spot leading up to the 2006 World Cup, insists that there is no problem with the ball. The former Bayern Munich keeper, who retired at the end of this season, told the Bild newspaper: 'At Bayern Munich we played all of our home games in the second half of the season with the this Euro ball. And I have to say, it is clearly better than its predecessors.' He added: 'It is covered on the outside with minute bumps. They provide the goalkeepers with a firmness of grip. I also cannot say for sure that the ball deviates in flight if the wind suddenly turns. But the ball is of course seriously quick - an advantage for the attackers.'
