The power of community: Even players rave about it after they have left Union.
Photo: imago/Matthias Koch
Training at 1. FC Union was a little later than usual on Friday. Not because promoted FC Schalke 04 are underestimated as opponents this Saturday in Gelsenkirchen – an absurd thought if you know Urs Fischer. No, instead the television was switched on in Köpenick. “Of course we’ll look together,” said the coach the day before, with a view to the Europa League group draw in Istanbul. The great anticipation for this day could be felt in the club and its environment for months, to be precise since May 14th – the day that Dirk Zingler describes as “extraordinary”. “It’s great for our club to end the season fifth in the Bundesliga,” said the club president after the last 90 minutes of the past season and the associated direct qualification for the group stage of Europe’s second most important competition.
Cristiano Ronaldo in the old forester? A match at Manchester United’s Theater of Dreams? Or against AS Roma with coach José Mourinho? Somehow unreal, but still true – that’s how these ideas sounded for many Unioners. That still applies to the development of the club in recent years. Reality put 1. FC Union against Sporting Braga, Malmö FF and Union Saint-Gilloise on Friday afternoon’s second European trip. Surviving the group phase, which will be played from September 8th to November 3rd, seems possible. Group D is quite difficult, says manager Oliver Ruhnert: “Nevertheless, we have the chance to spend the winter in the Europa League.”
Fischer had no ideal opponent. It doesn’t matter who comes, “we have no qualms.” He gratefully followed the self-confident words: “We have to enjoy that.” But that’s exactly where we have some problems. Since Uefa allowed standing room in the European Cup again at the end of June, discussions in the fan scene have also revolved around terms such as exclusion. Because Zingler immediately made it clear: “There is nothing above our home, the old forester’s house. And if we have the opportunity to play here, then we will play here.«
This unequivocal rejection of possible European Cup games in Charlottenburg hit and still hits many hard. Because there more than three times as many fans could have seen their club. The quite understandable argument for the Olympic Stadium is supported by the ultimately good experiences with the games in the European Conference League last season. The President also looks back on this with pleasure and says he was also a bit happy that “we were able to invite people to Union games who otherwise would not have the opportunity at the Alte Försterei”. But as is so often the case, it’s about the basics, about principles. And this type of action makes 1. FC Union as strong as it is.
Zingler describes home games as “closed events”. And that’s because of »the low capacity for years«. Nevertheless, the number of members rose rapidly to currently around 42,500. Not even half, and thus roughly corresponding to the seats in the stadium, were there in the 2018/2019 promotion season. Ten years earlier, when 1. FC Union made it into the 2nd Bundesliga, there were not even 6,000 members.
Constant and rapid growth while at least maintaining community and cohesion is a task in the football business that many clubs despair of. This is exactly the power that explains the development of 1. FC Union. The president describes it like this: »We are entering new dimensions in all areas of the club. We spend one of the least on a point. We play in the smallest stadium in the league. We’ll bring the construction down.« Such defiant words keep football romantics in line. They help to endure necessary evil. Zingler also consciously formulates this when he says, for example, that one of the most important tasks is to capitalize on sporting success. And such words ensure that exclusion is also accepted.
Because in addition to the Alte Försterei principle, the club also has other arguments for playing in the Europa League there. “Are we going to play against FC Bayern in the Bundesliga in the Olympic Stadium?” asks press officer Christian Arbeit. No, you don’t even want to open this barrel. And even more important: A renewed move to Charlottenburg would not be credible. It was also 1. FC Union who campaigned for standing room at Uefa. And it is repeatedly emphasized in Köpenick that they are an indispensable part of a football culture that people in south-east Berlin stand for and fight for.
Real Madrid, Manchester City, Juventus Turin, Liverpool FC or FC Barcelona? The dimensions of the discussions about tickets would have assumed if 1. FC Union had ended up in the Champions League can only be guessed at. This idea is not unrealistic either. After all, that May 14th was only one point and a few goals missing from fourth place in the Bundesliga. Nor can it be ruled out in the future. In any case, Zingler is “totally confident”. It’s always better everywhere. And Zingler’s task as president for 18 years has been to “push the boundaries for this club, always a bit further, always a bit more”. Always further to the front – that’s what the anthem says.
The start of the season promises a lot: three games, seven points, third place. Even the commanding victory in the Berlin derby against Hertha BSC was impressive because such special games are more difficult to play and require even more mental strength than others. The second home game followed a goalless draw in Mainz. “This will never be a normal Bundesliga game for us,” Christian Arbeit called out to the fans from the pitch last Saturday before kick-off. Thanks to the Red Bull millions, the opponents, RasenBallsport Leipzig, came with a squad worth almost 500 million euros – more than five times the value of the Union squad. In the end it was 2-1 and everyone from Leipzig, including coach Domenico Tedesco, emphasized almost stubbornly that they were actually better in all the crucial statistics.
This victory did not happen by chance, nor did the three previous ones in the Bundesliga against the RasenBallsportler. No doubt: The system is right, coach Fischer makes players better and, together with manager Oliver Ruhnert, manages to bring a strong team onto the pitch despite the departure of top performers. What cannot be measured in numbers seems at least as important. Team spirit, cohesion, community – every footballer at Union finds different words for it, but means the same thing and expressly emphasizes it. Fischer likes to put it this way: »Solidarity«.
This state, a vague feeling for outsiders, is difficult to describe without using clichéd football jargon. Zingler can do it better: »Security, love and trust – that’s what players who leave us talk about. That makes me particularly proud, because that’s a rather rare situation in my job.«
Tim Maciejewski has been part of this special community at 1. FC Union for five years. So far, seven Bundesliga minutes are in the offensive player’s statistics. The 21-year-old is the club’s next attempt to establish a footballer from their own youth in the professional squad. Steven Skrzybski is the last one to do that – and that was more than ten years ago. In this respect, too, 1. FC Union is a victim of its success. The rapid sporting development of the professional team has set the hurdle on the way out of youth too high.
However, the club is not completely blameless. Seven years ago, the Köpenicker dissolved their U23 team because they were allowed to do so according to the decision of the German Football League. The organizational and structural effort was too high, so the reasoning, then and now. It is undisputed that this step saved money. Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Schalke 04, Borussia Mönchengladbach and VfB Stuttgart: the list of those who benefit from good youth work in their second teams is prominent and long. Oliver Ruhnert knows that. He was head of the successful Schalke youth department for many years. When he became manager at Union four years ago, he was asked if he thought it was right to abolish it. “That’s the way it is and can’t be changed,” he answered curtly. The conclusion is just as short: 1. FC Union is successful, and therefore right.
