3.LIGA, TÜRKGÜCÜ MÜNCHEN 1-2 VIKTORIA KÖLN, ATTENDANCE: 1,016
Since their promotion to the third tier, and in a surprise move, Türkgücü München have been using the ground for home games. I missed out on a visit here as I never started visiting Germany regularly until 2006 when, ironically, a trip to Munich for a World Cup game opened the Pandora's Box.
You could say the seeds for this visit were planted much further back though as, when I was a wee boy, my beloved Everton played Bayern here in 1985, drawing 0-0, setting up that famous night at Goodison en route to winning the European Cup Winners' Cup. I never attended that match because I was only 10 but, after 36 years, I couldn't let the chance slip away.
Both teams began brightly but the first chance fell to Köln when Seokju Hong's deflected effort clipped the crossbar after 14 minutes. However, less than 60 seconds later, from the resulting corner, Patrick Sontheimer drilled home from 22 yards to give the visitors the lead (pictured left).
Türkgücü did have the ball in the net through Sercan Sararer but the a flag for offside ruled the effort out but half time came at a great time for the homesters.
The Stadium construction began in the late 1960's and with it's famous tent roof, designed to resemble The Alps, the arena was the centrepiece of the 1972 Olympic Games. Afterwards Bayern, and later 1860, Munich used the stadium for home games until they both moved to the purpose built (for football) Allianz Arena in 2005.
The Stadium has been used for some big games over the years including the World Cup Final (1974) and Euro Final (1988). The ground has hosted three European Cup/Champions League Finals in 1979, 1993 and 1997. The 1979 final was when Nottingham Forest won the first of their two successive European Cups.
After the two Munich teams moved out, apart from the odd match, the ground has been largely dormant for the last 15 years. In 2020 an agreement was reached for newly promoted Türkgücü to play a maximum of eight games at the stadium. This was now my window of opportunity!
Türkgücü München's origins can be traced back to 1975 when Turkish immigrant workers formed their own football club (Türkgücü roughly translates as Turkish Power). The club spent most of it's early years in local leagues before rising up as high as the Bayernliga in the late 1980's. After missing out on promotion to the professional league in the 1990's the club's star began to fade and dwindling support lead to the club being dissolved in 2001.
From the ashes of the dissolved club, the players formed a new club, Türkischer SV 1975 München, and played in the lower leagues of Bavarian football. Meanwhile, back in 1981, another club with Turkish origins was formed, ATA Spor München. This club only ever got as high as the Berzirkliga. In 2009 these two clubs merged. In 2013 the club won promotion to the Landesliga and then things got interesting.
In 2016 businessman Hasan Kivran, and former Türkgücü player in the 1980's, invested heavily in the club and this spending of over €1M led to three promotions in three years, the club reaching the third tier in 2020. The club finished in a respectable 13th place in it's debut season at that level.
Prior to promotion, the club had been playing it's home games in Heimstetten but this ground was unsuitable for 3.Liga football. Agreement was made to play at 1860 München's Grünwalder Stadion and also the Olympiastadion.
So that brings us onto this Friday night game. I had spent pre-match in the Augustiner-Bräuhaus near the main hauptbanhof. Over 20 months since my last visit to Germany, those biers tasted amazing! I caught the U-bahn to Westfriedhof and walked the 20 minutes to the stadium.
Viktoria Köln were the visitors and they ran out comfortable Winners, despite there only being the one goal difference.
On 19 minutes Hong had his goal when he headed home from a cross into the box. There seemed no way back for Türkgücü. Viktoria were in complete control and should have added to their total before half time when Hong, through on goal saw his effort saved by Rene Vollath in the Türkgücü goal.
The second half followed a similar pattern to the first with Köln in control and happy to play on the counter attack. However chances were few and far between. Türkgücü finally got a goal back after 81 minutes when Boubacar Barry scored with a sidefooted volley. Tremendous technique and a great finish. This set up a grandstand last ten minutes and despite Türkgücü throwing everything forward the equaliser would not come.
I was absolutely knackered after the game and couldn't face the bright lights of Munich so it was back to my hotel to reflect on a fantastic ground tick. It was well worth the effort and indeed, in these Covid times, hassle.
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EDIT: March 24th 2022
