Frank Goosen

Frank Goosen has published a new novel. In “Spiel ab!” he combines everything that characterises him as a person and author: football, music and the Ruhr region. Full of wit, heart and insider knowledge, he tells of a rebellious Bochum youth football team, an eventful season in the district league and three men who learn more from eleven teenagers than they ever thought possible.

Förster has nothing to do with football. That’s why he is sceptical at first when his friend Fränge takes over the training of a Bochum youth football team and asks him to help. He agrees – after all, it is about repairing Fränge’s relationship with his son Alex, who also plays in the team. They receive vital pedagogical support from teacher Brocki, who is soon on the pitch with them twice a week.

They realise that they have vastly underestimated the task: The pubescent boys are a real pain in the neck, they have to deal with opinionated parents, dubious rival coaches and blinkered referees. But, gradually, on the pitch and in the dressing room, a community is beginning to form that is about much more than the fight against relegation. 

Frank Goosen received his initiation into football at the age of eight with his first visit to a stadium and was a youth coach at a small club in Bochum for four years. With “Spiel ab!” he has finally written the football novel everyone has been eagerly waiting for.

In addition to his successful books, including “Sommerfest” and “Liegen lernen”, he has also published numerous short stories and columns in national publications and various anthologies. In addition, Frank Goosen sometimes adapts his texts into cabaret solo programmes with which he tours across Germany. Some of his books have been dramatised or made into films. Recently, Frank Goosen and Jochen Malmsheimer were awarded the German Cabaret Prize in the category “Honorary Lifetime Achievement Award”. Frank Goosen lives with his wife and two sons in Bochum and, of course, he has three season tickets for VfL for himself and his sons.

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The press says:

“‘Spiel ab!’ is not just a football novel – it is about everything that happens on and off the pitch. Written in a pointed and very funny way. Jürgen Klopp would say: ‘Really great tennis.'” (SWR2)

“”A great read (not only) for football fans: in Frank Goosen’s now-published football novel “Spiel ab!”, it is the authentic tone which is its key asset.”” (NRZ)

“In its best moments, ‘Spiel ab!’ reads like a future classic” (11 Freunde).

“You can sense with every line that Frank Goosen writes from experience.” (WAZ)

“It has to be said: there is no such thing as a bad Frank Goosen book (except for “Pink Moon”). But the Förster series (…) is particularly good. And “Spiel ab!” is certainly its highlight for the time being.” (Frankfurter Rundschau)