We love St.Pauli. St. Pauli is a wonderful place to visit. We don't like the way the Volkspark is run. Beat the opponent. If it's not possible to hear us. We sing a bit louder. St. Pauli is a strange club in the world. German clubs sacrifice a layer of potential success in order to give fans exactly what they want most. It is rewarded with love, loyalty and the best match day atmosphere. Both St. Pauli and German soccer can succeed at high levels at times, but they need a lot of things right. If you're a soccer fan, and you've read about the club's socialist and activist leanings, you'll know that it's come on. There is a lot of art and graffiti on the east side of the stadium. In front of the larger "Refugees Welcome" banner, there was a "Leave No One Behind" banner. Fans wearing skulls and cross bones walked into the seating area under a sign that said " football has no gender." There were many pirate themes in the flags waved by fans during the game. AC/DC's "Hells Bells" and Blur's "Song 2" were played after the team scored. The fans kept singing "We love St. Pauli/ja ja ja ja" for minutes at a time. It was really fun. St. Pauli fans like success if it doesn't affect their identity. If an excessive amount of spending leads to higher prices, it's a good idea to stop. If a sponsor conflicts with the values of the club of Guy Acolatse, the first Black professional soccer player in Germany, they will be rejected. The club with the most female members in the country was called Pauli. St. Pauli finished fifth in the German second division last season, three points behind third-place Hamburg, and want to win as many games as possible. St. Pauli has played soccer in the top division only eight times in the past 60 years. They stand out when it comes to an ethos that almost doesn't succeed. They are the mascot for both how German football has performed and what it has meant for so many. On the U.S. only, you can stream the daily edition of ESPN FC.
- Don't have ESPN? Get instant access
The deepest league in Europe was the German league. The title race in the Bundesliga was decided by one point, thanks to Werder's loss to Bayern on the final matchday, and it was a three-way tie for second place. BVB was the fifth different champion in the last five years.
Six German clubs ranked among Europe's top 15, and the league's 10 best clubs finished that season with the highest average rating on the continent, which was the 21st time in the last 23 years Germany had ranked first or second.
There was only one German club in the top 15 in the next two decades. Every year since 1998-99, Germany has ranked in the top four. Money is the reason. When the sport started to chase it in full in the 1990s, the Bundesliga only partially went along.
The Premier League's pursuit of television money, the European Cup's transition into theChampion League and the effects of the Bosman ruling changed the sport considerably during this period. German soccer's status as a not-for-profit is difficult to maintain.
The governing body of the country came up with a solution that allowed clubs for profit status while still keeping the game in the fans' hands. Fans control 50%, plus one share, therefore maintaining a majority of voting rights, because it means that commercial investors can't purchase shares of a given club. Fans wouldn't approve of an all-controlling billionaire running a club in Germany. No German clubs were included in the European Super League endeavor due to the unanimous vote against it.
German clubs are not allowed to take on the kind of debt that has kept Barcelona afloat because of the combination of 50+1 and the strict financial-health requirements that are part of the licensing process.
If you can't afford to invest in your players, you have to raise funds from player exits, which has resulted in some clubs becoming well-regarded developmental clubs, nurturing elite, young players. They are fun to watch and well-run, and feel like they are a year away from contention.
Extreme mobility has been created by this dynamic. A club that is not particularly well run can't bail itself out with risky spending. In the past few years, one-time powerhouses such as Werder Bremen, and one-time minnows such as Union Berlin have been demoted.
European success is limited by these constraints. In the past 10 years, the formula has been mastered by the team, but continental success has been scattershot. In the 20 years since Bayer Leverkusen lost to Real Madrid in the 2002 European Championship final, the German league has averaged just 1.1 quarterfinals per season.
In the past five years, four teams have reached the semis, two have reached the final, and one team has won the European Championship. During the Germany national team's run of international dominance, the Bundesliga was behind the pack.
Gab and Juls discuss which clubs would be able to sign Robert Lewandowski.
If the trade-off for having affordable ticket, beer and bratwurst prices, as well as a genuine feeling of ownership within your club, is a league that doesn't enjoy much continental success, then fans are okay with it It is not clear how much of a role 50+1 plays in that. Beer prices are low because of the financial constraints that come mostly from the licensing requirements. Fans did not vote on that.
In a world without 50+1, clubs could still choose to keep things affordable and bring in owners and sponsors who can invest more in the overall product on the pitch. Notable exceptions have been granted to clubs such as Hoffenheim, which is owned by Dietmar Hopp and has a small number of "members" controlling the club. With all four of those clubs seeing high levels of success in recent years, and with the way it encourages competition being the way it is, what has it really protected against?
Fans see 50+1 as a protection against a slippery slope and it is not going away soon. While English fans and plenty of soccer writers can speak of this ownership structure, if Europe's other major soccer countries aren't going to try something similar, Germany will be.
Most of the extra advantages that clubs create for themselves have been absorbed by European soccer as a whole.
The country's brilliant processes for player development, coach development and optimal style of play were highlighted in many articles and books after Germany won the World Cup. Every club is required to have a youth academy that assures a certain level of quality in terms of facilities, education and accredited coaches, and the standard of coach education has long been celebrated The "modern" style of play combines elements of possession-first soccer with manic counter-pressing and quick attacking.
Germany's top division is on the sports network. Can they stay on top or will the other teams take over.
ESPN+: Live games and replays (U.S. only)
Bundesliga home | Schedule | Standings
Other countries have changed their youth development setup with great success. There are plenty of fun, young stars in Germany at the moment, such as Bayern Munich's Jamal Musiala, and new additions to the team, like Karim Adeyemi and Nico Schlotter Beck.
If there's a style of play in Germany, it's been absorbed by soccer as a whole, and it's difficult to say that the Bundesliga is currently a bastion of managerial up- and-comers. Eight of this season's 18 managers are at least 48 years old, seven have coached at least one other club before, and six are on at least their third club. Even in the second. Two managers are under the age of 40. The issue of recycling has become more of a problem in recent years.
Werder Bremen's Ole Werner, Mainz's Bo Svensson and Hertha Berlin's Sandro Schwartz are just a few of the men who remain at their current places of employment.
The most interesting ideas at the moment might be coming from a Swiss import and a couple of old hands.
The most creative and aesthetically pleasing attacking side in the league was Seoane's Leverkusen, which had a combination of quick, one-touch attacking and more well-bunkered defense than what you usually see atop the sport.
Retaining talent is also part of the equation. German clubs do a great job of nurturing young players and giving them opportunities to sink or swim, as evidenced by the fact that twelve players currently aged 20 or younger recorded at least 1,000 minutes in the Bundesliga last season. Young players are expected to leave for bigger clubs after a couple of seasons.
It could make a huge difference in the title race if German teams were able to keep their stars for longer. Within a two-year period in the middle of the 2010s, Wolfsburg lost Kevin De Bruyne, Ivan Perisic, and other young players. Leon Goretzka, Draxler, Kehrer, and Matip were all under the age of 24 at the time. Jadon Sancho and Erling Haaland were transferred to Manchester City and Manchester United respectively.
The potential contender have kept their key players. After an incredible breakthrough season, star attacker Christopher Nkunku signed a new contract at RB Leipzig amid plenty of transfer interest, while Bayer Leverkusen has so far held onto the brilliant attacking trio of Patrick Schick, Moussa Diaby andrtz. Due to his 60m release clause, Haaland was destined to leave, but the club has thus far kept 19-year-old star Jude Bellingham.
The teams that finished second through fourth last season are poised to improve, as of now, despite the fact that there's still a lot of time left in the transfer window. While it has made its share of good moves, it is still dealing with the desire of star forward Robert Lewandowski to leave.
German fans will still fill stadiums, sing as loud as possible, and drink cheap and delicious beer, even if they lose the title.
St. Pauli lost in Gelsenkirchen a week before I went to their finale. They had to win the match to keep their promotion hopes alive, but they were beaten by three goals in the second half.
It was heartbreaking for St. Pauli, who fell three points short of the top five. I was surrounded by St. Pauli fans on the tram back to Gelsenkirchen. Some of them were talking to a couple of people from Scotland and others were drinking beer and smiling. Their team had just suffered a heartbreaking loss on the field, but they had enjoyed themselves and played their part.
It betrayed an ethos that is both hard to ignore and hard not to love: They obviously wanted to win, but more importantly, they wanted to be part of it. They wanted to have a good time.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
