In Soccer as in Life, Will A Resurgent Germany Dominate A Weakened Europe? Our colleague Nicholas Kulish has written a year-end sports piece sure to get folks thinking. "The resurgence of German soccer began, like the country's economic comeback, after a long slide toward stagnation amid dire prophecies of impending irrelevance," Nick writes. It may be hard to believe today, but a decade ago Germany was seen, economically, as "the sick man of Europe." Nick says the epithet could have just as easily been extended to the country when it came to soccer. How times have changed. Just as superior soccer nations like Italy and Spain have fallen on dire economic times, Germany - economically and on the soccer field - has roared back, taking advantage in both realms of others' weakness to cement its resurgence, including building a whole new infrastructure to train the next generation of soccer stars. "Where England's soccer analysts bemoan a British league brimming with foreign mercenaries but crowding out local players, German teams have improved with a rising share of domestic players," Nick writes. The German league has seized the advantage while many clubs in crisis-stricken, austerity-squeezed countries like Spain and Italy have been unable to deal with deep debts and older stadiums in poor condition. The Spanish team Valencia started the season with an unfinished stadium and no sponsor for the team's jersey, a standard moneymaker in European sports. Nick concedes in his in-depth analysis that the crowning achievement for German soccer would be a World Cup - and that has not happened since there were two Germanys. And debt crisis or no, Italy beat Germany in the semifinals of the European Championships title last summer in Poland. But if investment is the key to future prosperity, and other nations barely have the funds to upkeep the stadiums and teams they have now...the German teams "are preparing for an era of European dominance," as Emmanuel Hembert, an expert in the business of soccer at the consultancy A. T. Kearney, told Nick. The time of the German league is coming. And will Germany be able to translate its economic dominance into soccer dominance? And what will that do to relations between the members of the eurozone who are more dependent on Germany than ever?