"Butcher Wolfpack" Team - German national butcher team to compete in Paris in 2025

Team captain Dirk Freyberger presents the new line-up of the national butcher team "Butcher Wolfpack".

What is the World Butchers Challenge (WBC)?
The World Butchers' Championship is a competition in which the butchers have to debon and prepare a lamb, beef, pork or chicken professionally and sustainably within a time limit. The focus is on the cleanliness of the craft and the associated creative, ready-to-cook presentation of the sausage and meat products. Independent judges evaluate the work of the butchers and also ensure that hygiene regulations are adhered to.
The entire competition is divided into categories. There are sections for: Apprentice, Young Butcher and the Senior Team. Both the apprentices and the young butchers compete individually, while the Senior Team competes as a group.

From Setbacks to Success
"We've never had it easy," explains Dirk Freyberger. He is referring to the last World Championship. "All members of the team work on a voluntary basis, in addition to their jobs," says Michael Keller, one of the team managers. The butchers pay for training materials, travel expenses and equipment out of their own pockets. "Even though we invest a lot, we couldn't manage a trip like this without partners," adds Keller. In addition, there have also been organizational difficulties in the past. "We trained for the World Championship during Corona times. As a result, many sessions had to be canceled," reveals the team captain. In addition, the team captain broke his arm shortly before the WBC and had to participate injured. They still won the title in Sacramento, California in 2022. But now the Butcher Wolfpack is facing another challenge. The butcher squad has to restructure and is losing both the vice world champion (apprentice) Fabian Schüttler and Michael Moser, who also made it into the All Star Team, as well as Jörg Erchinger from the senior team. This is not unusual due to the voluntary work. "The self-employed among us are responsible for their company and their employees. It is therefore understandable that priorities can change," says Freyberger. For this reason, the team now had to reorganize and get back into working order.

The Butcher Wolfpack will defend the world title they won in 2022 in Paris this year.

The new Butcher Wolfpack
While the senior team now consists of Dirk Freyberger, Matthias Endrass, Jürgen Reck, Katharina Endrass-Lacher, Katharina Bertl and Sabrina Minkenberg, Pascal Karatay and Carina Schüßler represent the young butchers. The young butchers are very successful participants in the Butcher Wars competition. Karatay won the Butcher Wars Germany 2024 and Schüßler ended up in the top five of the Butchers Wars England 2024 as the best woman. Also new is Lina Martha Wachter, who will represent Germany as a trainee on March 30 and 31, 2025 in Paris. "We know that all eyes are now on us. This championship will be different," confirms the team captain. Before, they were chasing the title. But now the hunters are becoming the hunted.

Further information can be found on the homepage of the “World Butcher Challenge” Association
www.worldbutcherschallenge.com/programme-2025