Pogon Szczecin have something of a friendship with BFC Dynamo and have a lot of fans in Berlin, giving them a big presence in the Germany. These fans are pretty active. Check out our visit to Szczecin for a full report on Football across the Polish border. Spoiler alert: No Pyro No Party.
You’ve not made it as a city until a pop song has been written for you. New York. Paris. Amsterdam. Bangkok. Erm, Amarillo. This tradition exists among songwriters in other languages also. In German, the ballads are usually dedicated to the romance, excitement and hedonism of Berlin. It lends itself far better to poetry than, for example, Bremerhaven. But one unlikely German city has found itself subject of a modern smash-hit.
Rostock. The song Continue reading
You know the story. One of East Germany’s biggest “start-ups” now looks a challenger for the Bundesliga title, at time of writing. The story has drawn a different kind of foreign attention to the Bundesliga. Outsiders frequently acknowledge the excellency of the German Football experience, but now they are hearing more about the stark mainstream rejection of this story on behalf of fans. Why do Germans hate RB Leipzig so much? German society and culture play a big part. Continue reading
This time last year 1. FC Union Berlin hosted SV Austria Salzburg in a ‘charity match’ friendly with proceeds going to everyone’s favourite fan-owned club in the Mozart-Stadt. We were there for the game in the away end with the Salzbürger for what was a momentous occasion and a rowdy atmosphere during the customary January Bundesliga hiatus that makes every German Football loon twitchy. Some, so fed up of the lack Continue reading
The Football fan who prefers to go down the pub with his freshly washed Spurs shirt and chat all friendly with peers wearing Arsenal, Man City and Villa merch will maybe not know Union Berlin. The Football fan who is more invested in the politics of the sport and knows which fans suck and which fans are boss will definitely know Union. Berlin’s 2nd club playing at the infamous Stadion an der alten Försterei, a stadium partially built by the fans when the club needed to upgrade the facility but couldn’t afford to, 1. FC Union Berlin have a lot of sympathy from fans worldwide. Read up on our visit of a friendly when SV Austria Salzburg came to town.
In this guest post, Chris Lee, founder of Football travel and culture blog Outside Write, describes how he first fell for German Football and how the Bundesliga experience has probably helped change attitudes toward Germany among English Football fans.
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It’s the evening of 13 July 2014. I am sat in a packed bar in Balham, South London, enduring yet another turgid World Cup final. I can’t remember a good one since 1986, when the opponents were (almost) the same: then it was West Germany and Argentina. Continue reading
It was a group of Hertha-mad friends that steered me toward the Blau-Weiße Alte Dame, and an Away Day was something of an eventuality. Down the pub you’re always chatting about terrace life, and these boys had criticism for the atmosphere at English stadia, or rather, lack of it. Naturally that was something I disputed quickly. But the story of my second Hertha BSC Away Day made me understand just what exactly they were talking about. This is that story. Continue reading
Ref blows for kick-off; still queuing. Become aware of the Liverpudlian accent in front of me. The lad finishes his phone conversation, so I ask the obvious Merseyside question;
“Red or Blue?”
Evertonians are in town for the following day’s Continue reading
From Boothferry To Germany 