A lower-league football team from Braunschweig is traveling across Europe to play matches in abandoned stadiums and forgotten sports grounds.
Players from the Polizeisportverein Braunschweig describe their matches as a cultural journey rather than standard fixtures.
“Andere wollen in ihrem Leben einmal den Louvre oder Notre-Dame sehen, unser Kultururlaub findet eben auf verschiedenen Fußballplätzen statt,” striker Helge Keller toldardmediathek.de.
The team targets venues where matches no longer take place, seeking out locations with worn infrastructure and historic character. Transforming these empty sites requires extensive preparation before any kickoff can occur.
Preparations at venues like the Motodrom Halbemond in East Friesland and the Millmoor Ground in England involve rolling the pitch, cleaning the facility, and providing temporary restrooms. The club also produces a dedicated matchday program for every fixture they host at a historic site.
The club even converted the Olympic ski-jumping stadium in Garmisch-Partenkirchen into a functioning football pitch. Organizers configured the temporary venue to meet official regulations capable of accommodating several thousand spectators.
“Wenn sich die Groundhopper nach dem Spiel mit Tränen in den Augen dafür bedanken, dass wir das möglich machen und sie ein weiteres Stadion sammeln konnten, dann weiß man, warum man das alles auf sich nimmt,” captain Nils Burgdorf told ardmediathek.de.
Groundhoppers travel internationally to document and visit as many stadiums as possible across different countries. Traveler Wiebke Roprecht from Wilhelmshaven noted that she avoids trips to locations without active football fixtures, having already watched matches in more than 70 countries.
British photographer Ian Hunter documented the team’s matches during their visits to England. The Braunschweig squad’s latest project shifts focus to the Ruhr region at the Jahnstadion in Marl, where TSV Marl-Hüls once drew crowds of 18,000 spectators before the venue fell into disuse and the turf was converted for baseball.
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