Jens Mustermann

I have been playing FM2005 for quite sometimes, and while looking for a new goalkeeper to replace the retiring Chris Kirkland, I stumbled upon this player

Jens Mustermann, 36 years of age.
Plays goalkeeper for Bayern Munich
Also plays for Germany, with 80 caps
Has played for Bayern since 1994, and former club was Karlsruhe

Sounds familiar? Indeed it is. The details are all pointed to one very popular, hulk look-a-like, competitive 'keeper. Yes, it sounds like Oliver Kahn, but its not Oliver Kahn. Initially, I think that they messed it up or something, or I have accidently uncovered some easter eggs that create fictitious players. And with that, I let that passed.

However, while playing the FM06 demo, again I stumbled upon the same guy. How can it be that the ppl at FM, boasting that they have database with "more than 270,000 players and staff, 5,000-plus playable teams and 50 countries' leagues", can messed up with somebody as globally known as Oli Kahn? That's when I went on a bit of a scouting mission (aided by Google). And this is what I have discovered.

Oliver Kahn has actually copyrighted his name and "He demands financial rights for whatever use of his image, therefore, he does not allow his name to be used in some football simulation games such as Football Manager, where he instead appears as Jens Mustermann (Mustermann being the fictitious name used in sample IDs and passports, Jens as provocation, because it is the first name of his biggest rival, Jens Lehmann)." Thats what wikipedia says. Clever guy. I remember reading somewhere sometimes the past few weeks that Mourinho also did the same thing. And also Sir Alex Ferguson, however he failed to do so since when he tried to do it, he was already famous. Hmmm....I might want to start copyrighting my name now before I become famous later (whenever later is).............

I also found out a few interesting things about the FM game from wikipedia. Here are a few :

1. German national team players will also be greyed (fictitious).
2. The names of all French league teams had to be changed from their full names to simply the name of the city they represent (for example,Paris Saint-Germain became Paris and Olympique Marseille became Marseille).
3. The name of the Japanese J-League was changed to the N-League or Nihon League.
4. The names of the major European trophies were changed to fictional names. The European Cup or UEFA Champs League became the Champions Cup, the UEFA Cup became the Euro Cup and the UEFA Intertoto Cup became the Euro Vase (no wonder la the names are all somewhat macam tak kena je!).
5. M-League is crap.
   

These are all mainly becoz of copyright issues (OK, I made up no 5). All these things aside, I think FootballManager is one hell of a footie management simulation games. Warning though : This game can cause serious damage to your life due to its high addictive level.