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.

ERZGEBIRGE AUE (Erzgebirgsstadion)

LIGA 3, ERZGEBIRGE AUE 0-0 HOLSTEIN KIEL, ATTENDANCE: 6,700

"This is one, this is one I've waited for" sang those Mancunian funsters, well in terms of Groundhoping this is the one I've been waiting to visit since my trips to Germany became a regular thing.

Why? Well I can't really put my finger on anything specific. Could it be the name, Erzgebirge Aue? Erzgebirge being the mountains within which the club is located. Could it be the city of Aue? The location is really awkward to get to as it is virtually on the border with the Czech Republic? Could it be the old stadium is about to undergo a "modernisation" programme? Maybe it's combination of all three.

Regardless, I left Leipzig at 7am where a bus replacement service (I learnt another German word this week - Ersatz) was waiting for me.

After being dropped off in the middle of nowhere (Neukieritzsch) I picked up the train to Zwickau (and met up with a mate of mine who had travelled from Munich) where another bus replacement was waiting to take us to another station to pick up the train to Aue (this week has destroyed any myth in my mind about German trains).

It is about a 20 minute walk from the main train station, all up hill too, to the ground. The ground is a bowl shaped arena, built into the valley. The views are stunning. The pitch is surrounding by an athletics track but that doesn't diminish the atmosphere, I am glad I opted for the terraces where the noise, led by a megaphone man, was fantastic.

The ground is a mix of standing and seating, with the most recent upgrade in 2010 when part of the terrace was covered and seated along with the installation of Schalke's old scoreboard. As mentioned, the ground is due to be "modernised" soon, with work due to start in the next few months and to be completed by 2017.

The club was founded as SG Aue in 1945 and in 1948 became BSG Pneumatik Aue after the local construction tool works. Further changes in sponsorship led to the club's name being changed to Zentra Wismut Aue (1949) and then to SC Wismut Aue (1951).

The most bizarre name change though occurred in 1954 when the East German government, in typical fashion of the time, decided that the nearby city of Karl Marx Stadt (Chemnitz as it is now) deserved a successful team so the club was renamed SC Wismut Karl Marx Stadt. However, unlike other clubs that had been forcibly merged, Aue did not have to relocate as, for example Dynamo Dresden did when they got moved to Berlin, so you ended up with a club named after a city in which they did not play!

It was during this time though the club enjoyed it's most successful period, winning the GDR championship four times in 1955, 1956, 1957 and 1959, with an East German cup in 1955 thrown for good measure. This success also meant that Aue represented the GDR in the newly formed European Cup competition. 

In 1963 though Karl Marx Stadt finally got a team to call its own, so Aue's team became BSG Wismut Aue. The club stayed in the GDR top flight until reunification, though they did not win another championship. The club changed name again in 1993 to their current name, to recognise the location of the club in the Erzgebirge mountains. 

After the leagues merged the club spent the next decade or so in the lower reaches of German football before they won promotion to the 2.Bundesliga in 2003. The club was relegated in 2008, thus becoming a founder member of 3 Liga.

The club bounced back to the second level in 2010, but are now back in the third tier, after finishing 17th last season, where today they were taking Holstein Kiel, who I saw play at Energie Cottbus earlier in the week.

The game was an insipid affair that ended goalless, but I guess the visitors will be the happier of the two teams after earning a point on the road.

Post match we managed to find a superb brauhaus in the city centre, where a few beers were sunk, some great food was eaten and time was spent reflecting on another fantastic week of groundhopping in Germany.

The main man with the megaphone!

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.