German Chancellor Merkel to join Energie Cottbus

BERLIN, Nov 15 (Reuters) German Bundesliga club Energie Cottbus are looking forward to having a new big name on their books next year, when German Chancellor Angela Merkel will become an honorary member.

''We are really delighted we were able to get Angela Merkel for our club'', Cottbus President Ulrich Lepsch said in a statement on the club's Web site today.

Cottbus are the only team from the former communist east of Germany in the top division of the Bundesliga. Merkel grew up in the old East Germany.

''Cottbus are a beacon for the east,'' the club quoted Germany's first woman chancellor as saying.

Merkel will officially become a member at a home match in the New Year, the club said.

Cottbus are in a respectable ninth place in the table following their promotion last season.

Gerhard Schroeder, the man Merkel replaced as Chancellor, is an honorary member of Bundesliga rivals Borussia Dortmund.

REUTERS SY RAI2330