SC WESTFALIA HERNE (Stadion am Schloss Strünkede)

OBERLIGA WESTFALEN, SC WESTFALIA HERNE 4-3 SpVgg ERKENSCHWICK, ATTENDANCE: 477

After visiting two grounds in the two previous days that, to be honest, didn't linger long in the memory, today's trip certainly made up for that!

A groundhopping friend of mine says that the halcyon days of "proper" grounds in the upper echelons of German football are fading away as stadia slowly get "modernised".

To find "proper" grounds with character you now have to go lower down the food chain.

The Stadion am Schloss Strünkede is certainly one of those grounds. It is almost a rite of passage in German groundhopping! The ground is absolutely stupendous, with it's vast open terraces and large main stand.

It was constructed in 1910 and has a capacity of 32,000 but SC Westfalia Herne play in the Oberliga Westfalen, which is the fifth tier of German football, though as I write these words SC Westfalia are second bottom of the table, six points from safety.

They secured a much needed victory over local rivals SpVgg Erkenschwick, after coming from behind three times.  

Stefan Oerterer (9) gave Erkenschwick the lead before Dennis Gumpert (12) equalised. Oerterer (32) grabbed his second of the game before Fatmir Ferati (32) pulled Herne level once more. Janos Bluhm (39) restored the visitors lead then, in stoppage time at the end of the half, Sebastian Mützel ensured it was all square at the interval.

Ferati (61) hit home a brilliant free-kick to score what proved to be the winner for Herne.


SC Westfalia Herne's glory days of the 1950's seem a long way off as they battle to remain in the current Oberliga.

They were actually champions of the Oberliga West in 1959, which was one of West Germany's five championships at the time (representing the North, South, West, and Southwest of the country, plus another representing Berlin).

Erkenschwick finished the game
with 10 men as Davide Basile saw red

The Bundesliga was formed for the 1963/64 season but Herne suffered a poor finish in season 1962/63 and were relegated, which resulted in them missing out on a place in the newly formed league. The club, in truth, has been on a downward spiral ever since.


To emphasise how big Herne were back in the 1950's, three players actually represented the German national team whilst playing for Herne, the most notable being Hans Tilkowski, who later played in the 1966 World Cup final. Helmut Benthaus and Alfred Pyka were the others.

Back to the present, today was a great game in a great old stadium. I urge any football fan worth their salt to put a visit to the Stadion am Schloss Strünkede on their "bucket" list right this minute. You will not be disappointed!

SC PADERBORN 07 (Benteler Arena)

BUNDESLIGA, SC PADERBORN 0-0 TSG HOFFENHEIM, ATTENDANCE: 14,401

I completed my visits to all 18 clubs/grounds of the Bundesliga with a trip to the Benteler Arena, the home of SC Paderborn 07.

I couldn't actually get a ticket in the home end so I joined the visiting fans who had made the trip north from Sinsheim.


I had been pre-warned by many a football fan in both the UK and Germany that Paderborn's ground is possibly the most disappointing ground to grace the top of German football.

I can't really argue against that but it wasn't a bad as the picture that had been painted. The ground put me in mind of a Dutch ground.

Regardless, on such an auspicious occasion I was expecting the full red carpet treatment and a personal greeting from President Wilfried but, alas, none was forthcoming. Therefore with no champagne reception, I had to content myself with one or two or three 'Paderborner Gold' and a Currywurst for soakage.

It was a good job I did have a few beers as alcohol was much needed to numb the senses as I watched a dreadful goalless draw. Struggling Paderborn were taking on Hoffenheim but neither side looked like breaking the deadlock.

Hoffenheim's Ermin Bicakcic was shown a red card in the 65th minute for a second yellow card offence, and that was the only real incident of note. Most of the chances that came and went were half chances at best. This was not a great advert for Bundesliga football.

The current club was formed in 1985 when FC Paderborn and TuS Schloß Neuhaus merged to form TuS Paderborn-Neuhaus, before shortening their name to SC Paderborn 07. The Neuhaus club was founded in 1907, hence the 07 in the name.

Paderborn have spent the last decade or so in the Bundesliga 2 after a previously inauspicious history. Paderborn reached the top flight for the first time this season and actually started off reasonably well.

Paderborn were mid-table at the winter break but since the restart they have slumped down the table and are now in one of the relegation places.

Given the circumstances a point was probably a decent result for the home side after four straight defeats, though as we approach the business end of the season it is wins that Paderborn need if they are not to make a swift return to Bundesliga 2.

SV WEHEN WIESBADEN (Brita Arena)

3.LIGA, SV WEHEN WIESBADEN 2-0 VfL OSNABRUCK, ATTENDANCE: 2,636

After leaving behind Kyiv, I headed into Germany for a few more games. After landing at Frankfurt it was an easy train journey to Wiesbaden where the city's team were taking on Osnabruck in a 3,Liga game.

SV Wehen Wiesbaden was originally founded under the name of SV Wehen Taunusstein in 1926 and club played it's home games at the Stadion am Halbergh in Taunusstein. The club spent most of it's existence in the lower reaches of German football before reaching the 2.Bundesliga in 2007.

It was in this year that the club moved 10km away from their home town, to the nearby city of Wiesbaden, to play their home games as the newly constructed Brita Arena.

Wiesbaden was then added to the club's original name. Wiesbaden lasted two seasons in the second tier before being relegated to the newly created 3.Liga in 2009. The club have remained in this league ever since.

The Brita Arena has a capacity of 13,000 and is your typical modern new build. Indeed if the club wanted to move to back to Taunusstein then they could probably take the ground with them, it would just need someone with a rudimentary knowledge of Meccano!

A crowd of 2,636 watched 8th placed Wiesbaden beat 12th placed Osnabruck by two goals to nil, courtesy of a Michael Wiemann penalty (28) and a Benyamina Soufian (86) strike.

The game was ok as a spectacle, but Osnabruck will rue not getting something out of this game. Their final ball, when in good positions left a lot to be desired. That would be of no concern to Wiesbaden who secured the victory to leave themselves firmly ensconced in mid-table.

Post match I wandered into town, which is about 20 minutes from the ground, and found a local brauhaus where the food and drink went down a treat.

DYNAMO KYIV (NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadion)

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE ROUND OF 16 SECOND LEG, DYNAMO KYIV 5-2 EVERTON (6-4) ATTENDANCE: 67,553

Everton's latest Europa League adventure led me east to Ukraine. Ukraine has been in the news a lot over the past 12 months, given the political upheaval that is happening in the the East of the country. I have to confess to having doubts about travelling to this game but after much deliberation, I decided to go ahead with the trip.

I left a fog bound Manchester on a flight bound for Kyiv nearly two hours late, which was rather worrying as I had a connection to make in Amsterdam. Luckily this flight was also delayed so I just about got there. If it had gone off on time then things could have got interesting.

I therefore arrived at Boryspil Airport around 6pm local time, where I was greeted by a group of fellow Evertonians who I was meeting up with. It was a taxi for the journey to our hotel, which overlooked the Olimpiyskiy National Sports Complex.

Dynamo Kyiv now play their home games at the NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadion. The club moved here in 2011 after the ground was renovated in time for the 2012 European Championship, which Ukraine co-hosted with Poland. Spain beat Italy 1-0 at this ground to lift the trophy.

The closed block

The 70,050 capacity stadium was slightly reduced tonight after UEFA ordered a partial closer after crowd disturbances in Dynamo's last Europa League home game with Guingamp. The attendance of 67,553 was still a new Europa League record crowd (beating the previous record by 255, which was held by Manchester United).

Dynamo's previous home, which is now used for reserve and youth games, was named after the legendary manager Valeriy Lobanovskyi, under whose stewardship the club enjoyed their most successful period, winning countless domestic honours and two European Cup Winners Cup (in 1975 and 1986).

Statue to legendary manager Valeriy Lobanovskyi
outside the stadium named in his honour

After collecting our Match tickets (and free t-shirts) from the Everton officials in a local hotel, we headed over to the Lobanovskyi Stadion, via Independence Square, to take some photographs. It was there we bumped into a club official and she invited us in for a tour of the stadium, museum and fanclub area. A superb gesture and very gratefully received.

The club have a long and illustrious history.  After being founded in 1927, as part of the Soviet Dynamo Sports Society, the club have not spent a single season outside the top flight of whichever league they competed in. They have 13 Soviet League and 13 Ukrainian League titles to their name and legendary names such as Oleg Blokhin and Igor Belanov have won European Footballer of the Year whilst playing for Dynamo.

Dynamo are currently managed by another hero of the past in the Serhiy Rebrov, though to most British fans he will be remembered for his spell at Tottenham Hotspur, where he struggled to hit the heights but still managed to score his first goals in England against, of course, Everton.

The Toffees held a slight advantage going into tonight's game courtesy of a 2-1 first leg victory at Goodison Park last week, though it would be a tough ask to get any sort of result this evening, especially when you consider Dynamo have yet to lose on Ukrainian soil this season.

It was a chastening experience for The Toffees as Dynamo went nap to dump Everton out of the competition. 

Andriy Yarmolenko (21) started the rout with a superb curling effort before an equally fine strike from Romelu Lukaku (29) levelled things and at least gave the 850 or so travelling Evertonians a chance to have a jump around. That was as good as it got for the blues.

By half time Everton were 3-1 down. Lukasz Teodorczyk (35) and Miguel Veloso (37) giving the Ukrainians the advantage. It didn't get much better as Oleg Gusev (56) made it four before another wonder strike from Antunes (76) ensured it was Dynamo going through. Phil Jagielka's (82) header was of little consolation.

Taking nothing away from Dynamo's performance, Everton's wounds were largely self inflicted as, in my opinion, at least three of the goals were wholly preventable. It was a shocking defensive display, with Antolin Alcaraz being the pick of the ineptitude.

A few of the travelling supporters were understandably upset at the end of the game and did not hold back in voicing their opinions towards Roberto Martinez and certain players. 

Who knows where Everton's season will go after this but for Dynamo Kyiv it is a trip to Fiorentina in the last eight and, probably, another domestic title.

Despite all the scare stories I was told before leaving the UK, I enjoyed my brief stay in Kyiv and the locals we met were friendly and welcoming. I would like to wish Dynamo all the best for the rest of the season. The Europa League is much maligned but not by me. I have loved all my trips this season. Just a shame it will be a while before Everton take part again.