High Bidder Faces Off Against Dortmund

Looking for a way to inject some cash into the club's coffers, Hamborn 07's team coach Ingmar Putz saved a spot on his Wednesday night roster for the friendly match against the Bundesliga's Borussia Dortmund for the highest bidder of an eBay auction.

At €5,250 ($6,327), an anymous bidder logging in under the name of Giusal won 10 minutes on the pitch against the pros.

"There is always someone crazy enough to spend money on this kind of thing," club chairman Hans Herr told Die Welt newspaper prior to the conclusion of the auction Tuesday night.

Bidding for the three-day auction began at €1 Saturday and shot up to over €1,000 by Tuesday morning. With just a few hours left on the clock, the bids jumped up to well over €4,000. "We never expected such a high amount," Hamborn's coach Putz said after the winning bid was announced.

While 10 minutes of playing time probably won't be enough for the high bidder to score a goal against the likes of German national team midfielder Sebastian Kehl, there will be plenty of time to get some autographs in the locker room.

The auction has been a boon for the Hamborn club. The stands at the team's Holtkamp stadium, near the city of Duisburg, are already sold out, and several television stations have said they would broadcast the game -- a first for the Hamborn club.

Currently ranked eighth in the German premier soccer league, Dortmund's team officials aren't as excited about the auction as their colleagues in Hamborn. They're afraid someone hardcore enough to spend thousands of euros for a ten-minute appearance might also be willing to injure one of their players.

The Hamborn coach said the inclusion of a novice player would be a one-off, and the money would go to a good purpose: the purchase of an artificial turf for the junior league.