Mission Sommermärchen (Mission Summer Fairy Tale) traces the journey to the 2006 World Cup on home soil and the course of a tournament that left a lasting mark on Germany. Following a disappointing performance at Euro 2004, German football found itself in a deep crisis. Jürgen Klinsmann ushered in a period of sweeping change: new training methods, new structures, new standards and, at the same time, considerable resistance from within the German football community.

This three-part documentary shows how, within two years, a team emerged from this difficult starting point that inspired an entire nation in the summer of 2006. The focus is on the sporting and personal conflicts on the road to the tournament and during the World Cup, including Klinsmann’s reform programme, the goalkeeping duel between Oliver Kahn and Jens Lehmann, and the development of a young team centred on players such as Lukas Podolski, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Philipp Lahm and David Odonkor.

With numerous interviews and extensive use of archive footage, Mission Sommermärchen paints a vivid picture of this special period – from the crisis in German football and the resistance to the upheaval, right through to the euphoria that has defined the summer of 2006 to this day.