The Bundesliga Saturday evening Topspiel this week belongs to Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund. In the match non-Germans refer to as ‘der Klassiker’, the corporation responsible for administering Germany’s top two professional footballing flight (DFL) has announced some special forms of media coverage.
Twelve international broadcasters will be at the Allianz Arena on Saturday night. All will have access to what the DFL terms a “pioneering, top quality media concept” feed. A total of 30 cameras will cover the action. In addition to 26 individual cameras, a free-flying drone and a spider cam, there will also be additional special cameras.
Two “cinestyle” hand-held cameras will wirelessly capture images in 16:9 widescreen format of the fan curves and the emotions in the stadium. A so-called “Polecam Highspeed”, which is attached to a four-metre-long swivel arm, enables extreme slow-motion shots and covers the entire goal, including the perspective through the goal net.
Two cameras shall pointed at the two coaching zones to capture the communication and emotions of Vincent Kompany and Niko Kovac. As in the first leg, an additional “RefCam” will be used to show impressions of the game from the referee’s perspective. Just like in the first leg, players will be interviewed on the pitch just after the full-time whistle.
As noted above, the term Klassiker isn’t traditionally used by German football consumers. The name nevertheless accords the DFL a chance to market the Bundesliga internationally by promoting the fact that there’s something of a German equivalent to La Liga’s El Classico.
It’s such that the league body has launched the “ALWAYS DER KLASSIKER” campaign; of which all this new camera technology is a part. On the day of the match,m public viewing events will be organized in New York City, Tokyo and Osaka, among other places.
Media partner beIN will also accompany two fans from Thailand who have never been to a Bundesliga game before on their special trip to Munich.
GGFN | Peter Weis
