Matt Ford

On the terraces: Solidarity at Schalke as the 2. Bundesliga returns In a weekly Newsletter, Matt Ford keeps an eye on the action off the pitch in the Bundesliga and German football, explaining what’s going on from fan protests to finances.

🇩🇪 We‘re back! On the terraces in Germany this week:

🔵 Solidarity at Schalke
⚪️ Hertha in white, not yellow
🟡 Dynamo back in Bundesliga 2
☘️ Why SpVgg Fürth fans want a name-change

Full stories from the opening weekend of the 2. Bundesliga on Gegenpressing ⬇️
gegenpressing.substack.com/p/on-the-ter...

🇩🇪 "Separate league for second teams!"

Bonner SC ultras vs. Borussia Mönchengladbach U23 in the fourth-tier Regionalliga West, which this season features seven reserve sides (out of 18):

Bochum II
Dortmund II
Düsseldorf II
Gladbach II
Köln II
Paderborn II
Schalke II

"Da rennt der Uth" hingegen nicht 😬

🔵 FC Schalke 04’s Nordkurve on the opening night of the 2. Bundesliga season vs. Hertha BSC:

"Many a dark day came over the land …

Financial crises, relegations, internal power struggles, media campaigns, 'champions of the hearts,' 1,000 coaches gobbled up …

Yet we always stand hand in hand!"

Correct! A built-in advantage which applies across most northern English accents. Pronounce German vowels like you would in the North West, Yorkshire or the North East, and you won't go far wrong 👍

Did they not even approach the FSA for comment?

Police report 18% rise in disorder at football matches during 2024-25 season Latest Home Office figures show the number of football matches in England and Wales with reported incidents of disorder increased by 18% during the 2024-25 season.

You have to get to the fourth para before this article even mentions that football arrests are DOWN by 11%.

Another stat:

- 4.2 arrests per 100,000 at football.
- 14.8 arrests per 100,000 at Glastonbury.

Where's the BBC article on that?

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/footba...

The football club letting fans in for free Fortuna Düsseldorf, in Germany's second tier, has traditionally struggled to match the passion of their neighbours. So they're giving tickets away

🔴 Fortuna Düsseldorf have announced their 5 free "Fortuna für alle" fixtures for next season (up from 4 last year):

MD4: Karlsruhe
MD13: Magdeburg
MD17: Fürth
MD20: Paderborn
MD29: Kiel

🔴 Piece from Düsseldorf recently for @thenewworldmag.bsky.social:

www.thenewworld.co.uk/matt-ford-th...

How Chelsea signing Gittens blossomed at Borussia Dortmund German football expert Matt Ford traces Jamie Gittens' journey from Reading to Stamford Bridge

"Jamie has incredible abilities to accelerate the pace of the game and find solutions in tight spaces," Edin Terzic told me after Jamie Gittens' first BVB goal in August 2022.

Three years, 100+ apps, 17 goals and 14 assists later, he's back in England.

Piece on his time in Germany ⬇️

Record-breaker Wirtz's journey to Liverpool German football expert Matt Ford looks at how Reds' new signing became one of the world's best young midfielders

Florian Wirtz & Jeremie Frimpong have swapped Leverkusen for Liverpool. Can't see the attraction myself 🤷‍♂️

🇩🇪 Anyway, couple of pieces from Germany:

How Alonso got the best out of Frimpong ➡️ www.premierleague.com/news/4314888

Wirtz's lessons from the living room ➡️ www.premierleague.com/news/4324665

Unsere Kurve (nationwide fan organization):

"'Football belongs to the fans' is not an empty phrase but the fundamental principle of German football. It might be a big challenge [to make the necessary changes] but it will ultimately strengthen German football and its unique selling point: the fans."

Fanszenen Deutschlands (alliance of ultra groups):

"Our expectations are clear: 50+1 must be consistently applied and maintained. The clubs in question must adapt their business models to adhere to 50+1 or be excluded from organnized football."

Bin grundsätzlich bei dir.

Borussia Dortmund official Fan Department says "German football sets an example with the 50+1 rule" and demands:

- Abolition of exemptions to ensure fair and stable competition
- Closure of loopholes in league statutes
- Effective enforcement of statutes in case of breaches"

DFL board spokesperson Hans-Joachim Watzke: "The 50+1 rule is an elementary foundation of German football. The DFL board will continue to stand up for the protection and continued existence of the rule."

Some reactions to the latest 50+1 ruling (see earlier post):

German Football League (DFL) "welcomes [the fact that] the Bundeskartellamt has no fundamental concerns regarding the 50+1 rule ... The board will discuss how demands can be implemented and anchored in league statutes."

In other words: Exemptions for Bayer Leverkusen and VfL Wolfsburg (and implicitly "RasenBallsport" Leipzig) effectively need to go in order to ensure uniform application of the 50+1 rule and justify its existence under European competition law.

🧵 Full details below.

Bundeskartellamt President Andreas Mundt: "The DFL must, in our opinion, ensure uniform competition conditions, therefore the 50+1 rule must be implemented consistently and without discrimination."

The ball is now back in the DFL's court to bring about the required changes to protect the 50+1 rule.

Bundeskartellamt statement concludes: "In the case of the overwhelming majority of Bundesliga clubs, the 50+1 rule current fulfills the societal aim of ensuring participation for broad swathes of the population."

It also takes issue with the voting process over proposed investment in the Bundesliga in 2023, finding that the DFL failed to investigate whether Hannover 96 CEO Martin Kind had voted in accordance with instructions of the parent club and thus did not ensure the consistent implementation of 50+1.

However, in the wake of recent ECJ rulings, it states that the current exemptions afforded to Bayer Leverkusen & VfL Wolfsburg on historical grounds are "no longer viable" and calls on the DFL "to ensure that parent clubs control the professional football divisions and are open to new members."

The Bundeskartellamt reiterates that the aim of safeguarding the member-led nature of German football justifies the existence of the 50+1 rule despite its potentially restrictive nature in terms of European competition law, provided it is implemented consistently.

50+1: Germany's Federal Competition Regulator (Bundeskartellamt) continues to have "no fundamental concerns" regarding the 50+1 rule, but has called on the German Football League (DFL) to take "concrete measures" to ensure that all clubs allow "open access to membership and participation for fans."

Police officers briefly in the block but seem to have moved on.

Where do Ohio police stand on freedom of expression these days?

"10 years Baur au Lac - world football is more poorly governed than before! Smash FIFA!"

Bayern Munich supporters from "Munich‘s Red Pride" (MRP) at the Club World Cup today.

Continued...

Rot-Weiss Essen vs. Borussia Dortmund
Eintracht Norderstedt vs. FC St. Pauli
SC Preußen Münster vs. Hertha BSC
BFC Dynamo vs. VfL Bochum
Eintracht Braunschweig vs. VfB Stuttgart
FK Pirmasens vs. Hamburger SV

#DFBPokal 🏆

🇩🇪 #DFBPokal 1st round selected fixtures:

SG Dynamo Dresden vs. 1. FSV Mainz 05
SV Wehen Wiesbaden vs. FC Bayern München
1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig vs. Schalke 04
DSC Arminia Bielefeld vs. SV Werder Bremen
1. FC Saarbrücken vs. 1. FC Magdeburg
FC Energie Cottbus vs. Hannover 96

Smart but not the same stadium ;)

After three years in the fifth tier, Bonner SC promoted back to the Regionalliga West as champions.

Former West German capital Bonn remains the largest German city (pop: 340,226) to have never had a team in professional, nationwide football - although the women’s team were German champions in 1975.

TSV Havelse 3-0 1. FC Lok Leipzig (aet) [agg: 4-1]

In the past five years, Lok Leipzig have now won the league twice, had to enter two play-offs, consisting of four games in total, lost none of them in normal time, and have still not gone up.

Scrap play-offs. Champions must go up.