TÜRKGÜCÜ MÜNCHEN (Olympiastadion)

3.LIGA, TÜRKGÜCÜ MÜNCHEN 1-2 VIKTORIA KÖLN, ATTENDANCE: 1,016

I had a crazy moment this weekend when I decided to have a day trip to Munich to watch a game.  Yes, a ridiculous notion but when the game was taking place at the iconic Olympiastadion, then you understand why.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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 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

https://www.liga3-online.de/tuerkguecue-stellt-spielbetrieb-ein-alle-spiele-werden-annulliert/

HOLSTEIN KIEL (Holstein Stadion)

2.BUNDESLIGA, HOLSTEIN KIEL 2-2 ERZGEBIRGE AUE, ATTENDANCE: 9,702

My final trip of the weekend took me to north to the city of Kiel, located on the shores of the Baltic Sea. The city is a major maritime base and busy port and the Kiel canal is one of the busiest in the world.

It was an early start from Münster in order to make the 1300 kick off. The ground is a good 30 minute bus ride from the main station, but fortunately buses are frequent so there was plenty of time for a beverage and a frikadellen. Holstein Kiel were hosting Erzgebirge Aue in a 2.Bundesliga clash. Coincidentally, Kiel were the visitors when I travelled to Aue a few years ago.

Kieler Sportvereinigung Holstein were formed in 1900 and in their early years were a dominant force in the north. They won the German championship in 1912 but have never reached the promised land of the Bundesliga, spending most of their history in the second and third tiers.

The club returned to the 2.Bundesliga for the 2017/18 season and are enjoying a very good season thus far. Admittedly the good ship KSV has hit choppy waters in 2018, having failed to win so far, but going into the winter break they were in one of the automatic promotion positions. Kiel are still third in the table, which is a promotion play off position, but the other teams below them are now closing in.

In order to meet the criteria for any promotion, plenty of work has been done on the Holstein Stadium. At one stage the ground did not meet the minimum criteria necessary for the Bundesliga so major renovation has taken place. Two new stands were erected to replace the old terracing. In fact the only remnants of the old terracing are behind one of the goals where the away fans are placed.

All the differing builds give the feel of a bit of a hotch-potch ground. I was having a chat with a couple of fans and there is talk that the club could, in the next few years, be demolishing the ground completely and re-building it to create a stadium with a capacity of around around 25,000. 

Erzgebirge Aue were the visitors this afternoon, making the 400 mile journey from Saxony and they would have returned happy having secured a precious point as Holstein Kiel's inability to turn draws into wins haunted them once again.

It started well for the Stork's as they found themselves 2-0 up. After 10 minutes good work down the right led to Dominck Drexler crossing the ball to an unmarked Marvin Ducksch to sidefoot home from 12 yards. Kiel were on the front foot and their winless run looked to be coming to end when Drexler swept home a second goal, after Rafael Czichos headed the ball on from a corner kick.

However on 36 minutes The Violets got a goal back in slightly controversial circumstances. A corner was flicked on and Malcolm Cacutalua challenged the Kiel 'keeper, Kenneth Kronholm, who appeared to have caught the ball. He subsequently lost control and Cacutalua prodded the loose ball home. It terms of modern football it was certainly a foul on the 'keeper but the referee let the goal stand.

It got better for Erzgebirge Aue 90 seconds later when Cacutalua levelled things up. A free kick was launched forward and Cacutalua's header from the edge of penalty area looped over the 'keeper into the net.

The second half was a more cagey affair and both teams had chances to seal the win but the game eventually petered out and both teams had to settle for the draw. That's eight games without a win for Kiel and if that continues their promotion hopes will surely be sunk.

After the match I headed back to Hamburg for a few night caps. On the journey north it was noticeable how much snow there was on the ground and on my way back south I received confirmation the my game of choice for Sunday had been postponed. The weather had played havoc with other games in the lower leagues too, so this turned out to be my final game of this trip. Another fantastic weekend in Germany and hopefully I will be able to get over once more before this season is out.

SC PREUßEN MÜNSTER (Preußenstadion)

3.LIGA, PREUßEN MÜNSTER 2-0 HANSA ROSTOCK, ATTENDANCE: 8,310

For my Friday night football fix I found myself in the North Westphalia region of Germany for a 3.Liga clash between  Preußen Münster and Hansa Rostock. Münster is a student city and is famous for the amount of bikes within the city. Everywhere you turned there was a bike and the parking station by the hauptbanhof is certainly the first thing you notice upon arrival!

I arrived late afternoon after a slight delay in my flight from Bucharest but there was still time to catch up with a mate in the Pinkus Müller brewery tap for a few beers before catching the bus to the ground.

Formed in 1906, Preußen Münster have spent all of their years below the top flight of German football apart from one season, 1963/64, when, after consistent Oberliga finishes, they were invited to become one of the founder members of the Bundesliga. They finished 15th in that inaugural season and were relegated back to regional football.

The club are currently in the third tier of German football, where they have been since 2011 but at the start of play tonight they were 4th from bottom whilst the visitors from Rostock were 4th from top, but both teams were in good form since the winter break.

Off the pitch though there could possibly be troubles ahead. At an extraordinary general meeting in January members voted to for the football department to became separate from the sports association, thus opening the football club club to investment and the possible move away from the 50 plus 1 model, where members retain a controlling interest.

This has led to Preußen Münster ultras withdrawing their support by not partaking in the things most admired in German football such as, for example, not displaying banners or constantly singing during matches. At this time though there is no apparent boycott of games.

The main home block(s) behind the goal. Note there are no flags on display.

The Preußenstadion has been home since 1926. When it was built it was one of the most impressive stadiums in Germany with a capacity of around 40,000. That is now down to around 15,000 but in my eyes it still looks a fantastic ground. There has been work done in recent times such as the building of a new grandstand (in 2009) and covering added to the far side. There are swathes of open terracing and there is still the feel of a proper 'old skool' stadium.

On a freezing cold evening, the game was a routine win for the home side however the opening goal was anything but routine. Inside the opening 10 minutes Martin Kobylański unleashed an unstoppable shot from 25 yards into the top corner to give 'Die Adler' the lead. Janis Blaswich in the Rostock goal had no chance of saving the effort.

Simon Scherder (54) headed home from close range to make it 2-0 and from then on the game was pretty much a non-event. Skipper Adriani Grimaldi had a chance to extend Preußen Münster's lead but he blazed over when clean through.

Hansa Rostock, considering their form, offered little and the game petered out. I must give credit to the Rostock supporters who, having travelled in numbers, never stopped singing and bouncing up and down all game despite having very little to cheer.

Post match analysis took place in The James and Braukunstwerk, which was an excellent way to round off the evening!

SV EINTRACHT TRIER (Moselstadion)

REGIONALLIGA SUDWEST, EINTRACHT TRIER 0-1 WALDHOF MANNHEIM, ATTENDANCE: 1,375

After much deliberation I decided to join a couple of fellow groundhoppers on another European weekend that involved taking in three games in three countriesin 39 hours. A new route from Birmingham to Luxembourg was launched last year and this was the first time I had taken advantage of this. From Luxembourg City there are a myriad of doubles and trebles available within Luxembourg, Saarland and Lorraine.





So for this particular treble, the first port of call was the city of Trier in southern Germany.

The direct train from Luxembourg to Trier took less than one hour so there was time to pay a visit to the famous city attraction, Porta Nigra, the UNESCO world heritage site, which is a Roman city gate dating back to 200AD.

From there it is a 20 minute walk to the Moselstadion where today the local football club Eintracht Trier were hosting Waldhof Mannheim in a Regionalliga Sudwest game. 

As we approached the ground we noted the heavy police presence surrounding the visiting fans, which made us ponder as to whether Waldhof Mannheim have a bit of reputation?

It seemed a bit much for an end of season dead rubber as the game had nothing riding on it. After losing 2-1 to Stuttgarter Kickers last weekend, Trier's bid to avoid the drop into the Oberliga for the first time since 2009 was unsuccessful, whilst Mannheim's bid to win the title for the second year in succession failed but they have secured runners up spot and a place in the promotion play-offs for 3.Liga (they lost to Regionlliga West champions Sportfreunde Lotte in last season's promotion play-offs).

The Eintracht Trier in existence today was formed in 1948 after a merger of SV Westmark 05 Trier and SV Eintracht 06 Trier. The highest level the club have reached is the second tier of German football as on two occasions they have had a spell in 2.Bundesliga.

The first period was from 1976 to 1981, when the league was split into north and south, but when the two leagues merged in 1981, Trier missed the cut and were dropped back into the Oberliga. They were back in the 2.Bundesliga in 2002 but were relegated after three seasons. The club dropped to the fourth tier of German football in 2006 and have remained there since, but will obviously start next season in the fifth tier of German football.

The Moselstadion, built on the banks of the river Mosel that flows through the city, is another superb example of grounds that can be found in the lower reaches of German football. 

Originally opened in 1930 the ground has a capacity of around 10,000. There is a large seated main stand, with wooden benches in the lower section. The other the three sides of the ground are terracing, of with one side is covered. Tremendous set up, even allowing for the athletics track!

The drinks kiosk was doing a roaring trade in bottles of Bitburger as the famous brewery which started brewing in Bitburg, a city which is just 25 miles north of Trier. I had to partake in a couple. It would have been rude not to.

The game was watchable enough as both teams went on the attack but the end product was woeful, especially from the visitors. On another day Mannheim could have scored three or four goals but they were let down by some poor finishing. However they did finally find the net three minutes from the end when a headed clearance dropped into path of Sebastian Gärtner who shot home from inside the area. The result meant Trier finished second bottom of the league and went down with a whimper. Waldhof will now play Regionalliga Nord Champions SV Meppen in the play-offs.