| Sportfreunde Stiller | |
| Background: | group_or_band |
| Image Upright: | 1.2 |
| Origin: | Germering, Germany |
| Years Active: | 1995–present |
| Current Members: | Peter Brugger Florian "Flo" Weber Rüdiger "Rüde" Linhof |
| Past Members: | Andi Erhard |
Sportfreunde Stiller (in German pronounced as /ˈʃpɔʁtfʁɔʏndə ˈʃtɪlɐ/) is a German indie rock band from Germering near Munich, Bavaria.
The band was founded by Peter Brugger (guitar, vocals), Florian "Flo" Weber (drums), and Andi Erhard (bass). They initially wanted to name themselves "Bodden" (after football player Olaf Bodden), before later settling for "Stiller".[1] They took the name from their former football manager at SV Germering, Hans Stiller.[2]
As Stiller, the band played their first concerts in 1995.[3] They later changed their name because a different band called Stiller owned the rights to this name. The term Sportfreunde literally translates to friends in sports and is also used in names of sports clubs (e.g. Sportfreunde Siegen). In 1997, bassist Erhard was replaced by Rüdiger "Rüde" Linhof. The band's debut album, So wie einst Real Madrid, was released in 2000.
Sportfreunde Stiller's track "Independent" from Die gute Seite was featured in the video game FIFA 2003.
In 2006, the band wrote 54, '74, '90, 2006", a fan hymn for the German World Cup squad which became a number one hit in Germany; the song commemorates West German championships in the 1954, 1974, and 1990 World Cups. After Germany lost in the semi-final against Italy on 4 July 2006, the song was reworked as 54, '74, '90, 2010" in anticipation of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.
Sportfreunde Stiller were nominated five times for Best German Act at the MTV Europe Music Awards, in 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2009.
Their album "La Bum" was released on 3 August 2007 (and reached the number 1 spot in Germany) with their single "Alles Roger" debuting on 20 July 2007 (reaching number 22 in Germany). The album title is an anagram of "album". The band was also nominated once again for the 2007 MTV Europe Music Awards award for German Act of the year.
The entire La Bum album (bonus track edition) was added to the American iTunes Store in early 2008.
The song 54, '74, '90, 2010" is featured as a downloadable track in the video game Guitar Hero World Tour.
In 2009, Sportfreunde Stiller was the sixth German band to record an album for the MTV Unplugged series. The album includes adaptations of old songs, covered songs and new songs alike. Although titled MTV Unplugged in New York, the album was actually recorded during a concert at Bavaria Film Studios, Munich.
In 2012, Sportfreunde Stiller announced they would be trying out new songs live at festivals that summer, suggesting there may be a new studio album in the works. This album, titled New York, Rio, Rosenheim, was eventually released in May 2013.
In 2016, their single "Das Geschenk" debuted at number 1 in Austria, and also reached number 15 in Germany and number 58 in Switzerland.[4]
In 2020, Florian Weber announced, in an interview with Donaukurier, that after a long break the band were working on a new album.
On 6th May 2022 the band released the single I’m alright from their forthcoming album Jeder nur ein X - planned for release on 11th November 2022.