Background information
Can "MLB The Show 25" make baseball appealing to me?
by Simon Balissat
The Galaxus advertising stars save their team
5.7.2018
Translation: machine translated
Pictures: Thomas Kunz
They were as good as relegated and the team was in danger of falling apart. Then the fourth division amateurs of FC Dübendorf became the advertising faces of the Galaxus campaign - and at the same time took off in sporting terms.
The sun is low over the pitch and the atmosphere on the pitch is buzzing. It's the perfect football idyll. An evening made for a relaxed end to the season for the FC Dübendorf fourth division team. Coach Ralf Todzi has gathered his team around him one last time before the summer break. And despite all the good humour, he doesn't want to let up completely - after all, there are new goals. And why not? The team is alive again. Our advertising faces from real life were almost finished as a team.
Thoughts from yesterday. Here and now, coach Todzi calls out to his players with a view to the new season: "It's going to be one hundred per cent a great season!" And he takes the opportunity to make a few announcements for the training-free period: Continue to work on basic endurance! By the way: some of us still have a few extra kilos to lose. After catching up over the last few weeks, things should only go upwards in the future. There's a team on the pitch that has found its feet. At the last moment.
From the basement to the limelight
Today there are over 20 players on the pitch who are keen to play football. They are running the ball, laughing and clapping their hands. The team has left its days as a points supplier in the league behind it, although just a few weeks ago it looked like a certain relegation candidate. 0:5, 1:4, 1:5, 2:2, 0:3, 4:6 - until the end of April, the results were pretty dismal.
When you lose as often as FC Dübendorf's third team, you have to make a decision: Just give up or keep going - and laugh at yourself in the process. The team opted for option two. Many players were immediately on board when the enquiry for the Galaxus campaign came in. [[video:87454]]
A little hype that bears fruit
It wasn't just in the adverts and on the posters that the team showed its true colours, something suddenly happened: "In sporting terms, it was great, it was a huge motivation for the team. It was real hype, we suddenly had fans," says full-back Roberto Russo, who can enjoy the consequences of an unexpected career as an advertising figure.
"When you go to watch a match somewhere and you see yourself in the adverts, you already feel like a star. Of course we're not, but it's cool."
The fact that the good feelings were accompanied by consecutive victories made things even more exciting. Injured players gradually returned and helped the team on its way to sporting glory. [[image:14910098 "Roberto Russo can enjoy the hype - and really appreciate it."]] [[image:14910103,14910101]]
Suddenly the stands were full
The "stars" are not only to be found in adverts and on posters, but also on the pitch. As a successful unit that has fun and even receives encouragement from opposing teams: "Other teams were also able to identify with us and said: we're exactly the same," says winger Enis Morina, who still grins when he thinks about the match against FC Fällanden.
"The stands were full! That was really fun. There must have been 120 people there, otherwise maybe 20. There were almost more at that game than for the first team."
With fans and new momentum behind them, the final score was 4:0 - a resounding victory to finally save the team. And on top of that, there was recognition from the opponents. "The Fällanders were surprised," says Morina, who was told: "You were last? That can't be!"
The "Galaxusschen" from Dübendorf
All the things that sometimes make amateur football tedious are forgotten: The training sessions in which only a few players make it onto the pitch when work once again takes precedence. The growing frustration caused by heavy defeats. The questions that arise as to whether quitting wouldn't be a better idea after all. On the Dübendorf training pitch, you can sense that many things are back on track.
Not only when the team sings "Happy Birthday" to their coach, who is now tackling the new season with a large team. They are not the Galacticos like Real Madrid, but the "Galaxusschen" from Dübendorf have written their own success story. With a happy ending that is also a new beginning.
Michael Restin
Senior Editor
Michael.Restin@digitecgalaxus.chSimple writer and dad of two who likes to be on the move, wading through everyday family life. Juggling several balls, I'll occasionally drop one. It could be a ball, or a remark. Or both.
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