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/

1.FC KöLN (Müngersdorfer Stadion) FC COLOGNE

BUNDESLIGA, 1.FC KöLN 0-0 1860 MüNCHEN, ATTENDANCE: 48,300

The final day of our European weekend saw us cross the border back into Germany for the Monday night Bundesliga 2 game between FC Cologne and 1860 Munich.

We caught the train from Groningen to Utrecht, where we were to change to catch our train to Cologne, but upon arrival the train had been cancelled! This meant a train to Arnhem, then a coach to Duisburg and finally another train to Cologne. This put another 90 minutes on our journey which wasn't bad in the circumstances.

Cologne is one of my favourite German cities with it's imposing cathedral and vast array of Kolsch (the local brew) beer houses.

The ground had been redeveloped for the 2006 World Cup and as redevelopments go, I was really impressed with the stadium. The capacity of the ground is 50,000 and the stands are built upwards so you are really on top of the action. The noise was fantastic and it would have been interesting to hear what it was like if Cologne actually scored a goal. It was an impressive attendance for a second level game, on a Monday night, that was live on TV.

The game ended goalless but it was the homesters who came closest to breaking the deadlock. Anthony Ujah had a penalty saved by ex-Crystal Palace 'keeper Gabor Kiraly in the first half and Daniel Halfar hit the crossbar in the second period. It was a good game overall and i'm guessing Munich would be far happier with the point, however the result displaced Cologne from top spot in the table.

I met up with another couple of Evertonian hoppers and we all headed into town for a few late Kolsch's before catching an early morning flight back to the UK. Another fine weekend of European groundhopping at an end!!

FC Koln's mascot - Hennes the Billy Goat

SpVgg UNTERHACHING (Stadion im Sportpark)

3.LIGA, SpVgg UNTERHACHING 0-0 1.FC SAARBRUCKEN, ATTENDANCE: 1,100

Our weekend in Europe began in one of the most famous beer cities in the world, Munich. An early arrival meant plenty of time to visit a couple of brew houses, the best one today being the Augustiner.

The beer was so tasty that we lost track of time so that meant a very quick dart to the s-Bahn in order to make kick off. The running of the trains into the suburbs meant we may not have made kick off so we bailed out a few stops earlier and jumped in a taxi. We made it to the ground with just 5 minutes to spare! Luckily there were plenty of tickets available on the terrace for 8 euros a pop.

Founded in 1925, Spielvereinigung Unterhaching are Munich's third team and have played in the lower reaches of German football for most of their existence. In terms of wider publicity SpVgg Unterhaching are probably more famous for their Bobsleigh division (a bobsleigh features on the club badge) which has won World and Olympic titles.

The football team did have a moment in the sun, so to speak, at the turn of Millennium when they reached the Bundesliga for season 1999/2000. They finished a respectable 10th in their debut season and denied Bayer Leverkeusen the title by beating them on the final day. The following season though they finished 16th and were relegated, but they did enjoy beating both Bayern and 1860 in league games.

They are currently members of Liga 3, the, err, third tier of German football where they are currently mid-table.  The opposition tonight was 1.FC Saarbrucken, which is a town near the French border, so that meant a long trip on a Friday night for the team and it's supporters, of which I'd say around 200 made the journey.

I always try to be positive with my brief match reports but I was really struggling with this one. The game ended goalless and I can't recall either goalkeeper being forced into a meaningful save. My ability to speak German is less than limited but even I know the word 'scheiss' and this game was definitely that! 

Bloody cold on the terrace as temperatures dipped below freezing and the game nor gluhwein did little to warm us up. So, so glad to get back to the warmth of a beer haus!