Traded Soccer Players Meet In Germany
Petric Gets Best of Zidan In Hamburg – Dortmund Bundesliga Match
While trades in American sports are nothing out of the ordinary, players swapping teams in European soccer is unheard of. But two strikers switched clubs this off-season in the German Bundesliga. And Mladen Petric and his Hamburg team got the better of Mohamed Zidan's Borussia Dortmund in a 2-1 victory at home on Saturday.
Transfers Instead of Trades
European sports clubs do not trade players from one team to another. Instead clubs buy out the remaining years of contracts of players, paying the other clubs a transfer fee. There is also the same free agent system when contracts run out with teams able to bid to attract players to their team.
Hamburg, Dortmund Swap Strikers
The German Bundesliga clubs Hamburg and Borussia Dortmund got together in August and came up with a deal in which they swapped disgruntled strikers. In what was the closest move possible to being defined as a trade, Hamburg acquired Croatian international attacker Mladen Petric from Dortmund while Dortmund received Hamburg's Egyptian international striker Mohamed Zidan as well as 4.5 million euros - which is actually the difference between the two players' contracts - both of which run until 2012.
Dortmund Talks Down Trade Talk
Dortmund sports director Michael Zorc told the club's website on November 6 that it was a misconception that the players were traded for one another, saying: "I've known a trade since my childhood as this: I give a yellow car and get a red one in return. Rarely did I ever get 4.8 million euros as part of the trade ... These were two separate transfer deals in which both made sense for both sides in both the sporting and economic arenas."
Petric Proving Better Striker
Zidan, 26, has only played a minor role at Dortmund. That could change since Zidan is once again playing for the coach under whom he had his best times. In 41 Bundesliga games for Dortmund's current coach Jürgen Klopp at Mainz, Zidan scored 22 goals. Zidan scored just two goals in 21 matches with Hamburg, which signed him for about 5 million euros transfer fee in 2007 from Mainz. And he has collected just two goals and one assist in 10 games this season.
Petric, 27, transferred to Dortmund prior to last season from Swiss side FC Basel for about 3.5 million euros and scored 13 goals and had two assists in 29 games for Dortmund last season. At Hamburg Petric has become a force, scoring nine goals and setting up two more in 16 games.
Petric Scores Goal, Sets Up Another Vs Dortmund
Both players were highly motivated - and in the starting lineups - as their new teams faced off on Saturday in front of a sold-out crowd of 57,000 at Hamburg's Stadion im Volkspark. But Petric was clearly the more effective player, scoring Hamburg's first goal in the 9th minute and getting an assist on the second goal in the 33rd minute of his team's 2-1 win over Dortmund.
Zidan, meanwhile, was substituted out after 70 minutes after having little impact on the run of play.
Petric Decided To Cheer After All
Petric said before the game that he would not celebrate if he scored a goal out of respect for his former teammates and fans. But he ran to the corner flag and threw up a punch with his right arm after his goal. Afterwards he told the German station Premiere: "I said I would not celebrate. I had a great year with the fans there. But when I came out and heard them booing me then I had had enough."
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