Not at all. It was obvious after Effenberg's decision to spend another year with Wolfsburg, that he can't quit wisely. And after the first complaint of his new trainer Jürgen Röber, he retired from his active career in the Bundesliga, which he said he would do after Bayern Munich, also. Having this in the back of your mind, it is not surprising at all. I can understand why he did so , but this move won't tolerate any acknowledgement from the media to his awesome career. At any rate, he is far too busy writing(now promoting) his book to play football or do anything soccer-related. Not money-related, do not misunderstand ^^
No, the german football association (DFB: Deutscher Fußball Bund) and Cologne wanted him to be suspended, but he went to Schalke afterwards. When Schalke lost their membership to the 1.Bundesliga he moved to Fenerbahce and had great success, I think. He came back to the Bundesliga in 1996, in the last game of the season, goalkeeping for the champions of Borussia Dortmund at age 42.
I just saw on TV.... Mario Bassler(not Mario from above) signs with a club in Qatar. Batigoal is now in the Gulf state.