DECRYPTION – Surprising first in the Bundesliga, Union Berlin owes its current success to remarkable groundwork and the atypical nature of its model.
A suprise. Before the ninth day of the Bundesliga, during which it faces VfB Stuttgart this Sunday (7:30 p.m.), FC Union Berlin monopolizes first place in the standings ahead of SC Freiburg, FC Bayern Munich, against whom it obtained a draw at the beginning of September (1-1), Borussia Dortmund and TSG 1899 Hoffenheim. A magnificent start to the season which surprised German football followers, such as Patrick Guillou: “I’m surprised he’s first, that’s obvious. Everyone expected the team to be between sixth and eighth placeindicates to Figarothe consultant of BeIN SPORTSexclusive broadcaster of the Bundesliga. It’s a team that is being built. She has had successive accessions, she has been in the Bundesliga for four years, of course we do not expect – even if it is a snapshot of the championship – that she is so well placed. Especially, playing the European Cup [Ligue Europa, ndlr] in Week.»
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A true gaming identity
And if the training coached by Urs Fischer makes such a remarkable start to the 2022-2023 exercise, it is largely because it relies on a true identity of play based on a system with three central defenders and two attackers. as well as simple principles. Defensively, she willingly leaves the ball to the opponent. “It does not scare him to suffer. This defense of three, in the last minutes of the game, it turns into a defense of five with a very grouped midfielder. When you see the players move relative to each other, they have very small distances. So even when they suffer, they perfectly close the spaces», explains Patrick Guillou. This density pushed to the extreme is what allows him to recover the leather properly, that is to say without making mistakes. “In previous years, they put punches in midfield and broke the game. But now they are the least experienced team in the Bundesliga. So there has been a real evolution in his game“, Specifies the former right-back of AS Saint-Etienne. And it works admirably well since it has only conceded six goals since the start of the championship, which makes it the best defense in the Bundesliga, with the other two teams present on the podium.
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And if she defends so low and so grouped, it is to better suck up her opponent and surprise him through counter-attacks. Patrick Guillou enlightens: “In the exploitation of the ball, they have players who perform well in the change of status, that is to say in the offensive-defensive transition but above all defensive-offensive. They have transition players like Sheraldo Becker and Jordan Siebatcheu. As soon as they recover the ball, they throw themselves quickly. They play very vertical.An attacking game plan that is bearing fruit because only FC Bayern Munich, with twenty-three goals, Werder Bremen, with eighteen goals, and Eintracht Frankfurt, with sixteen goals, have shaken the net more than the Iron Men (fifteen goals) since August.
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Effective background work
The current success of FC Union Berlin has its origins in the 2018 off-season. Following a season in the 2nd Bundesliga (German second division) that ended in the soft underbelly of the standings, in eighth position, the Berlin leaders proceed to important internal changes. Olivier Ruhnert, who held the position of director of recruitment, is promoted to sports director. In the process, Urs Fischer, free after two good years spent on the side of FC Basel, was recruited to take charge of the first team. And the results of this new sporting project are not long in coming: at the end of the 2018-2019 financial year, the Red and Whites reach the Bundesliga for the first time in their history after play-offs.
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Since then, each season, they have continued to progress: tenth in 2019-2020, seventh in 2020-2021, and fifth in 2021-2022. It is quite simply the reflection of an excellent substantive work. “The president, the sporting director, the coach, their work is substantial. President Dirk Zingler sets the pace. Olivier Ruhnert is the cornerstone of the club’s progress. And Urs Fischer is a trainer who, with his wisdom and experience, keeps everyone afloat, never complaining. He does with what he has“says Patrick Guillou. And this excellent management is also felt every summer. Despite many moves during the transfer window – more than twenty during the last summer transfer market – they still manage to improve their workforce and thus continue their development. “This is also what makes it surprising. Scouting work is just awesome“, enthuses the consultant of BeIN SPORTS. In addition, they are not investing all the way since their balance of transfers is either in surplus, as was the case during the last summer transfer market, or slightly in deficit. Really good groundwork.
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In “Iron” and against all
But what also characterizes the Iron Union is its unique history. It is a very popular club, unlike the “football business“, based in a district of the former East Germany, Köpenick, “worth its weight of or”, explains Patrick Guillou, And who, by extension, wants to be very close to his fans. Besides, “at the time, supporters helped build the stadium“, emphasizes to Figaro Marc Pfertzel, who defended the colors of the Red and White between 2011 and 2014. This popular aspect, which reflects in simplicity and “in generosity», is felt on all floors of the Berlin institution. “It’s a very family club, whether at the level of the players, the staff, and the club’s employees in general. When I arrived, one of the first things they wanted to show me was the history of the clubremembers the former right-back who only keeps good memories of his time in Berlin. It is a popular club, a working people. I received a very warm and simple welcome. It was: ‘welcome home’.»
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This closeness – not to say union – that the leading team of the Bundesliga maintains with its fans is undoubtedly one of its main strengths. She is literally driven by their passion and fervor. “The supporters, in victory as in defeat, were always behind us. They were present on all our trips. It was a crazy atmosphereexplains Marc Pfertzel, who now trains in Qatar. I played derbies against Hertha Berlin in front of nearly 80,000 people. They were never aggressive, but always positive.The atypicalism she demonstrates has made her all the more popular, in the other sense of the term. As proof, now, as Patrick Guillou points out, “in Berlin, people would rather go to a Union game than Hertha“. And given the start of the Iron Men season, this dynamic should increase.
