Germany's footballers honoured

Germany's national team have been awarded the Silver Bay Leaf, the country's highest sporting honour, from the German Federal President, Johannes Rau, in recognition of their achievements this summer.

World Cup runners-up
Rudi Völler’s team were runners-up in the FIFA World Cup in Korea/Japan, and they were not the only ones honoured as the country's women footballers also received the award following their success in the 2001 UEFA European Women's Championship. The Silver Bay Leaf was created in 1950 to reward sporting excellence.

Order of Merit
Völler and his assistant Michael Skibbe, meanwhile received the German Order of Merit, along with the women’s national team coach, Tina Theune-Meyer.

'Beneficial for Germany's image'
"The outstanding results achieved by both teams have been beneficial for the image of Germany all over the world," said Rau. "The men's team were in no way inferior to the stars of Brazil. Without the coaching staff such results would never have been achievable."

Balls for auction
Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder, chairman of the German Football Association (DFB), presented Rau with five footballs bearing the signatures of all 23 World Cup players and the coaching staff. The footballs will be sold in an auction to raise funds to aid the victims of the terrible floods that have devastated the eastern part of Germany.

Players present
Also at the ceremony were the injured team captain Oliver Kahn, as well as Oliver Bierhoff and Marco Bode who have both retired from the national team.