Last September, Maximilian and Jaden of the Frankfurt International School in Oberursel (Taunus) won the prize awarded by the DFL, Germany's national soccer league, in the b@s videochallenge. This past weekend, the two students claimed their prize by attending the national league game pitting Cologne's club, 1. FC Köln, against the team from Frankfurt, Eintracht Frankfurt, at RheinEnergie Stadium in Cologne. Before the game, they got a TV production tour by DFL's subsidiary Sportcast. Seamus Neary (Director Matchday Operations at Sportcast) took Maximilian and Jaden through the stadium and explained how the interaction of the 26 cameras installed there is meticulously prepared for days ahead of time to ensure that everything is ready for the live broadcast of the game on match day. While the camerapeople took their positions, the two b@s videochallenge winners peered over their shoulders to see how the emotions of players, coaches, and fans can be captured over such a distance. 

Before the game, Maximilian and Jaden also saw the inside of the broadcast van, where numerous screens show the stadium from a multitude of angles. There in the van, where all signals converge, the two students got to watch the director of the broadcast and his team as they made their final preparations. Seamus Neary also quickly transformed a live sequence from the stadium into a slow-mo clip to show Maximilian and Jaden what the workstations in the van are used for besides direction.

Just in time for the kickoff, Maximilian and Jaden took their seats in row 5 and bravely cheered on "their" team from Frankfurt among a sea of red-and-white Cologne fans! Frankfurt ultimately lost 0:3, but the two students still had a great day.

We would like to warmly thank the entire DFL team and Steffen Merkel for their involvement in the b@s videochallenge, along with the Sportcast team and Seamus Neary for making the prize so fun