Trailer of „I Never give up! – The Kahn Principle”
The legendary German football player Oliver Kahn launched his own Chinese reality television show in a bid to tap into the nation’s passion for the world game.
I Never give up! – The Kahn Principle aims to discover China’s best young goalkeeper and the winner will be enrolled at the German Football Association (DFB)’s elite training academy Berger Feld Schule in preparation for a professional career.
Although Kahn doesn’t expect to pull “Supergirls” 280 million viewers, he does hope his 10-part series pass on to local football fans his “never-say-die” attitude, which has helped him earn the title of the world's best goalkeeper of the year three times.
The 40-year-old sporting star, who only retired from Bayern Munich last year, plans to show young Asians the power of motivation and how they can make their dreams come true.
And unlike Donald Trump in “The Apprentice”, he promises to be nice.
“We don't want to do an empty and meaningless, mindless casting show. And I don't want to be the one who 'talks big' and diss or offend the young candidates, when they don't succeed.”
“They want to know how they can become successful and on the other hand how to deal with defeats.”
The group of young goalkeepers, aged between 17 and 24 and including two females, will be pushed to the limit, and will raise awareness of the importance of the goalkeeper in the game. “The goalkeeper is the one who wins the games and championships for his team.”
Kahn sees another important point in the “importance of individuality and personality, but most of all, how the contestants can handle defeat”.
And Kahn knows the pain of being beaten. After a great World Cup 2002, when Kahn was elected the best player of the whole tournament (which has never achieved a goalkeeper before or after him), just in the final he made a mistake of serious consequences. He spilled a shot to the Brazilian player Ronaldo who scored only a second after it.
“Finally I have become much more stronger from this defeat,” he says. “The crises in my life I’ve had to deal with have always been a danger of course. Because there is always the potential that you’ll be destroyed.”
“But on the other hand, crises always include an opportunity to learn from, to adjust oneself and then to re-emerge from it in a much stronger position.”
Moreover he sees the goalkeeper in the show only as a symbol. Further more his principles should be adapted to “normal life”, to become successful.
The show is for that reason not only an entertainment, actually it should be a “roadmap to success” for everybodys life.
