Another exciting round leading to some changes.
Karlsruhe was outplayed at Unterhaching, and despite a late charge, had to take a loss. This allowed Bielefeld to grab first place with a solid performance at troubled Rostock. The Arminen played a well organized defense and took their chances with ice in their veins. Hansa ran around a lot but are left with nothing but rioting fans.
Wehen has been “got enough to draw”, but they put in a great effort to beat down Osnabrück, Despite playing in nearby Wiesbaden, the villagers get no love, despite playing fairly decent football. Of course I can’t think of a more worthless football town in Germany than Wiesbaden (perhaps Heidelberg? – Readers: Vote for the most worthless football town in Germany!), so I guess no surprise. VfL suffers a painful defeat that leaves their fans on edge.
Preußen Münster should have been the major benefactor of the top teams struggles. Preußen was sailing along at home against Saarbrücken 3-0, the game in the bag after an hour. But suddenly FCS turned things around and the hosts were like chickens running around with their heads cut off. The visitors fought back and might have even won the match.
Heidenheim had a rough time, but got the needed win to stay in the promotion hunt.
In the equally nerve-racking relegation battles, Erfurt got a huge win at Stuttgarter Kickers, and although Darmstadt got another critical point against Aachen, they are probably disappointed they couldn’t get a win.
Total attendance 53,440 (avg 5,344)
SV Darmstadt 98 - Alemannia Aachen 0:0 (0:0) 5,800 Hallescher FC - Wacker Burghausen 0:0 (0:0) 5,488 SV Wehen Wiesbaden - VfL Osnabrück 3:2 (1:1) 3,049 1. FC Heidenheim - VfB Stuttgart II 1:0 (0:0) 8,000 Stuttgarter Kickers - Rot-Weiß Erfurt 0:1 (0:0) 3,875 SpVgg Unterhaching - Karlsruher SC 2:1 (1:0) 3,400 SV Babelsberg 03 - Kickers Offenbach 0:0 (0:0) 2,174 Preußen Münster - 1. FC Saarbrücken 3:3 (1:0) 8,554 Chemnitzer FC - Borussia Dortmund II 1:0 (0:0) 4,100 Hansa Rostock - Arminia Bielefeld 0:2 (0:0) 9,000 1 Arminia Bielefeld 32 18 10 4 52:26 +26 64 2 Karlsruher SC (A) 31 18 9 4 55:20 +35 63 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 VfL Osnabrück 32 18 6 8 53:31 +22 60 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 4 Preußen Münster 31 16 11 4 54:26 +28 59 5 1. FC Heidenheim 31 18 5 8 58:41 +17 59 6 Chemnitzer FC 31 13 8 10 45:37 +8 47 7 SpVgg Unterhaching 32 13 8 11 42:42 0 47 8 SV Wehen Wiesbaden 32 8 18 6 40:39 +1 42 9 Wacker Burghausen 32 11 8 13 36:39 -3 41 10 VfB Stuttgart II 30 10 8 12 30:33 -3 38 11 1. FC Saarbrücken 32 10 8 14 44:53 -9 38 12 Hallescher FC (N) 31 10 8 13 30:40 -10 38 13 Kickers Offenbach 31 10 8 13 38:37 +1 36 14 Hansa Rostock (A) 31 9 7 15 28:43 -15 34 15 Rot-Weiß Erfurt 29 8 8 13 31:45 -14 32 16 SV Darmstadt 98 31 6 12 13 23:38 -15 30 17 Stuttgarter Kickers (N) 31 7 7 17 29:42 -13 28 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 18 SV Babelsberg 03 29 7 7 15 22:38 -16 28 19 Alemannia Aachen (A) 31 6 10 15 29:49 -20 26 20 Borussia Dortmund II (N) 28 5 10 13 26:46 -20 25 A = Absteiger just Relegated N = Neuling just promoted 1st line: Promotion to 2.Liga 2nd line: Promotion Playoff with 2.Liga 16th place 3rd line: Relegation to Regionalliga Aachen and Offenbach deducted two points for financial shenanigans Aachen is also basically relegated due to pending insolvency.
So the criteria for “Most worthless football city in Germany” is really open. However for me, I basically look for something along the lines of
a) they have to be a city – therefore some pip-squeak village doesn’t really apply
b) They’ve *never* had a football tradition
The second is more contraversial. I would be tempted to say something like “Wuppertal” or “Essen” or “Mannheim” because they really suck. But that’s now. All three of those cities had teams in the Bundesliga at one point – and if they could get their act together, they’d probably be respectable today. Of course they’ve been pretty crap for quite a while, so maybe they could qualify. I mean it is pretty disgraceful that a city of 350,000 (Wuppertal) probably averages less than 2,000 fans for their top club. On the other hand, I can’t even find a respectable amateur club for jokers like Wiesbaden or Heidelberg…
So I guess my vote is for Heidelberg, since I think there was a team called SV Wiesbaden that I think played in the 3rd level before it was national…
The ‘most worthless football city in Germany’? There can only be 1 winner – Berlin – easily the biggest city, not had a championship winning team since 1931, never had a cup winning team, done nothing in Europe, has the team with the worst Bundesliga record – ever.
I was going to say ‘Essen’, because it’s much larger than the other two mentioned, but Berlin takes the cake easily. Before reunification, there was at least the excuse of being an economic and political backwater, but more than 20 years down the road, and there’s not even a promising development (maybe aside from Union). Hertha, whose job it would be to put Berlin on the map, is fighting the promotion/relegation fight and had until recently a clown like Dieter Hoeness as vice president (who then, fortunately, left to wreck Wolfsburg) and still has the clown Michael Preetz as… whatever it is that he does.
Berlin must be the worst footballing capital city in Europe – only Paris gives it a run for its money.
I’d agree with Berlin, Hertha does nothing and Union seems content to be a 2nd liga teams.
What I would like to know is why a city as large as Berlin can only seem to support two professional clubs? London has off the top of my head 6 clubs in the premier league alone. Berlin should have more than just Hertha and Union in the top 3 leagues!
The same also applies for other large, one club cities such as Köln or Stuttgart (Fortuna and Kickers barely count!) Even in Frankfurt FSV draw tiny crowds despite being in the 2nd Liga for a few years now.
I think it’s a historical thing. When football was in it’s infancy London was a very big city whereas Berlin was not. Also the London teams all represent a small part of the city – it has only been comparatively recently that the bigger teams have drawn their support from a wider area. Also many German teams are the results of numerous amalgamations leading to a dominant team representing the whole city – in England that has only happened in Newcastle.
Hmm, Berlin doesn’t seem to be getting lots of love
Although I would grant that Hertha hasn’t won since 1931, I suppose you could say that Dynamo won a host of DDR titles. True, some were tainted by shoddy referees, but the Stasi did usually see to it that they were stocked with pretty good players. Hertha does get pretty decent support – many years they were near the top in Bundesliga attendance. Union has a pretty decent following as well, given their small stadium.
Berlin is a great place, I’ve been there several times and being divided for many years hasn’t helped. However as you say Hertha get a big following so it makes it even worse that they haven’t won anything for 80 years or so. With regard to the east – GDR teams never did anything in Europe (except for Magdeberg), many of Dynamo’s titles are tainted and when reunification came the eastern teams sank without trace.
I also vote for Berlin. Compared to the city’s potential, it should have at least two permanent 1st division clubs. But they haven’t, and Hertha is a joke anyway. Union has “cult” potential at least…
Berlin is nationally in the top sports ranks regarding ice hockey, field hockey, handball, basketball, track & field, swimming, winter sports, boxing etc. But in football – no way. Funny.
PS F.e. handball: most German pro clubs are located in the north, why? many are smalltown clubs. no idea why.
Ice hockey: is most popular in Bavaria, especially its countryside, but the successful clubs come from other parts of Germany & larger cities. Why?
field hockey: no smalltown clubs at all in the first two divisions, the sport is concentrated in a few metropolotan areas. Why?
Most German pro basketball clubs are located in university towns, why?