1.FC LOKOMOTIVE LEIPZIG (Bruno Plache Stadion)

REGIONALLIGA NORDOST, LOKOMOTIVE LEIPZIG 1-1 ENERGIE COTTBUS, ATTENDANCE: 6,299

For the final game of my latest weekend in Germany, I headed back east to Leipzig. The seeds for this visit were planted last year when I visited the city and took a tram (number 15 in the direction of Meusdorf) out of the centre to visit the Brauhaus Napoleon.

I noticed the Lokomotive Leipzig fanshop (which was no longer there but there is a stall inside the stadium) so I figured the ground must be nearby. It was. I went and had a little peek before resolving to come back and watch a game. I didn't think it would be this soon!

Lokomotive Leipzig play at the fabulous Bruno Plache Stadion. The ground has been home since the club was reformed in 2004. The ground was first opened in 1922 and the wooden stand, which was packed to the rafters today, was built in 1932. It is a truly fantastic sight. The rest of the ground is terracing and has a capacity 15,000 but for safety reasons the capacity is reduced to just under 7,000.

Lokomotive Leipzig are celebrating their 50th anniversary this year having been founded in 1966 when the club adopted the name. In 1963 a merger of two of Leipzig's most important clubs, SC Rotation and SC Lokomotive Leipzig, lead to two new sides being founded, SC Leipzig and BSG Chemie Leipzig. In 1966 SC Leipzig became 1.FC Lokomotive Leipzig.

However the origins of the club can be traced back to VfB Leipzig, who were founder members of the German Football Association in 1900 and the very first national champions in 1903. The club also won the title in 1906 and 1913 before the club was dissolved in the aftermath of the second world war.

After German reunification in 1990 Lokomotive Leipzig were placed in the 2.Bundesliga and changed their name back to VfB Leipzig. The club reached the Bundesliga in 1993 but they finished bottom and began a slide back down the leagues.

VfB Leipzig went as low as the Oberliga Sud before they went bust in 2004 and were reformed as a fan owned club under the name Lokomotive Leipzig. They had to begin again in the lowest level (11) of German football, the Kreisklasse.

After a series of promotions, the club are now back in the Regionalliga (level 4) for this season and today were hosting Energie Cottbus, who are currently experiencing their own slide down the leagues, having suffered two successive relegation's from 2.Bundesliga and Liga 3, having been in the top flight Bundesliga as recently as 2009.

It was Cottbus that had the better of the opening exchanges and it was no surprise when they took the lead after 12 minutes, though there was an element of fortune to the goal when a deflected cross was diverted into the path of Marc Stein, who headed home from close range.

Lokomotive were level after 39 minutes when a cross from the right was slotted home by Djamal Ziane to send the home crowd wild.


The second half was pretty even with both teams having chances but unable to find the winning goal. Cottbus finished the game with 10 men Benjamin Förster was shown a second yellow cards in the final minute.

   

A visit to this ground was my highlight of the weekend and if you have not visited the Bruno Plache Stadion I urge you to do so, I promise you will not be disappointed!

ENERGIE COTTBUS (Stadion der Freundschaft)

3.LIGA, ENERGIE COTTBUS 1-2 HOLSTEIN KIEL, ATTENDANCE: 5,122

An early morning train took me cross country, to the old East Germany, to the Brandenburg city of Cottbus. Upon arrival in the city it is noticeable that all the signs are bilingual.

As the city is only 25km from the border with Poland I mistakenly thought is may be Polish, however I actually discovered it was Lower Sorbian, a Slavic minority language spoken in eastern Germany, but mainly spoken in and around Cottbus.

The 13th century Spremberg Tower provides
superb views over the city. If you look closely you can
see the floodlights poking out from behind the trees.

Energie Cottbus were founded in 1966, but like most of the old East German clubs their genesis was a series of mergers, takeovers and movement of players for political and/or sporting reasons.

The club hasn't had an illustrious history to speak of, their solitary title being a Regionalliga championship in 1997.

The did reach the Bundesliga at the turn of the millennium, staying for three seasons, and also had another three season spell between 2006 and 2009. The club do hold a footnote in Bundesliga history as they were the first side to field an all foreign team (versus Wolfsburg) in April 2001.

The club play their games at the Stadion der Freundschaft, which was opened in 1930 as the Städtische Stadion and was given it's present name in 1950. It became the home of Energie Cottbus in the late 1970's and the club eventually bought the stadium in 2011.

Tonight FC Energie were hosting Holstein Kiel, only a 960km midweek round trip for their fans, so hats off to the 60 or so hardy souls that made the journey east.

Cottbus had not won in seven games, and had sacked their coach Stefan Kräme on Sunday, so it came as no surprise when Kiel took the lead after Raphael Lewerentz (16) was sent clear to fire home.

Cottbus though came out firing for the second half and were level after Joni Kauko (50) bundled home after the Kiel goalkeeper dropped a cross.

However, their joy was shortlived as Dominik Schmidt (54) headed home to put the visitors back in front.

Kiel soaked up the late pressure as Cottbus pushed for an equaliser, but they held on for the victory.

VfL HALLE 1896 (Stadion am Zoo)

NOFV OBERLIGA SUD, VfL HALLE 1896 4-0 ENERGIE COTTBUS II, ATTENDANCE: 118

Following on from SpVgg Bayreuth on Saturday, our Sunday game took us on a very interesting journey North through the old DDR to the city of Halle (Salle) the birthplace of George Frideric Handel.

The journey also involved a change of train at Zwickau, where the old Hauptbanhof gave an idea of the old East Germany.

VfL Halle 1896 are the oldest football club in the city of Halle and were founder members of the DFB (Deutscher Fußball-Bund) in 1900. The football club have been playing at their Stadion am Zoo since it was opened in 1910. The ground has a large uncovered stand on one side and a massive old open terrace on the other.

There is a clubhouse but today we opted to drink our Köthener from the patio chairs outside the door!

The club play in the NOFV Oberliga Sud (level 5) which is basically the old East German Oberliga, which came into being after reunification in 1990.

Energie Cottbus reserves (cue audible gasps from the groundhopping purists) were the visitors to VfL Halle's today, a 4th v 5th encounter, but in truth an end of season dead rubber. It was a baking hot afternoon and the pace of the game never really got above pedestrian.

The game had 0-0 written all over it until in the 68th minute Robin Huth finally broke the deadlock to give the homesters the lead. No sooner had the dust settled then Matthias von der Weth (70) doubled Halle's advantage.

Huth scored his second from the penalty spot in the 81st minute before Stephan Schammer (86) completed the scoring.

Both teams finished the game with 10 men apiece after Franz Hausdorf (Cottbus) and Pascal dos Santos Coelho (Halle) received straight red cards, both for serious foul play.

Robin Huth scores from penalty spot (left) The melee after the

foul by Franz Hausdorf's that led to his red card (right)

The final whistle of the game brought down the curtain on season 2013/14 as far as I was concerned, so once again I'd to thank all who have took time to read my inane ramblings. Until next time....