Thank you Lamprey and 96; BVB ended up being my team since I keep coming back to them. I was interested in them last season, along with several other teams, and found it easy to "connect" with them through the BVB Total!, the Yellow Wall podcast, and Talking Fussball. (For me, to feel connected with a team, I want to be able to watch all their games, read about them, listen to pods, buy some gear, etc.). I also found myself emotionally invested in them, unlike the other teams. In my heart of hearts, I just don't want to support Bayern, and the other local Munich teams just don't do it for me. I tried to like Schalke, and watched them in the Schalke cup games, but it didn't stick. Gladbach was a real contender, especially with Die Fohlen podcast and their monthly pay video site for complete games, but again, no emotional connection. Basically BVB chose me, and I'm all in. The description of the Dortmund area sounds like Buffalo, NY, where part of my family is from, so I can appreciate the area.
To respond, I really liked most everywhere I traveled in Germany. Heidelberg, Berlin, the "Romantic Road", Köln, Bremen, Mannheim, Frankfurt, and several other cities and towns. Other than Heidelberg, no city grabbed a hold of me like Munich did. I really loved the country, and can't wait to get back. Now I'll need to make a trip to see the Westfalenstadion.
Hahaha, exactly! I've noticed this so much in the past 6 weeks with Keller, after the loss to Hannover at the start of the season and Dresden kicking Schalke out of the DFB cup everyone wanted his head on a large stick. One month later, two draws and two wins (namely, winning the revierderby) and 'alles gut' Amazing write up, very informative Fair enough, that was pretty uninspiring stuff
Welcome auf Schalke. Maybe you like the website of the Schalke Supporters Club UK There you find not only English speaking Schalke Fans from England but from around the world. They are at facebook as well btw.
I just started getting into football mainly because i got fifa for free on ea access and its a great game its got me interested in looking it up. Plus my phone company, just gave me a free year subscription to Bayern Munich tv, and been checking it out. tbh, its all about being able to follow the team and with the fox deal and if I get the games I will be following it for sure.
Being an Army brat and having lived in Darmstadt for about 5 years, I was excited to read about their promotion. The fact that it was just in time for the Bundesliga to FOX was icing on the cake. Because they're a newly promoted team, I probably won't be able to catch them on TV much (FOX will probably stick with the big boys), but looking forward to following them from here.
May I recommend the Fox Soccer2Go app? I put it on my iPad, and the subscription is about $120/year. Every Bundesliga match, every Champions League match, and most (maybe all?) Europa league matches. The best investment I made last year. That, plus $70 in cords and an hdmi adapter for my ipad, and Weekend mornings are for the Bundesliga for me now. I absolutely love it, any game I want. And the announcers are great too - not sure if they are the same as on FS1 or not, but I wouldn't trade them for anyone.
For that price I can't even see Bundesliga here in Germany. I pay about 3 times of yours for Buli+2nd Buli only! Lucky guy
Hello! I read articles about pros & cons on RB Leipzig and other "corporate" clubs in Bundesliga, in those articles mentioned that FC Ingolstadt 04 also one of the most hated club in Bundesliga. Why? I couldn't find any information written in English about FCI being hated in Germany. I know only that FCI was formed from a merger of two clubs in Ingolstadt.
Audi is located in Ingolstadt and while Ingolstadt is a real city in comparison with e.g. Leverkusen, the club itself is just a plastic project for Audi. They are satisfied being part of the Bundesliga, though. Nevertheless most fans would love top see a club with a 'name' to be in their place. Union, Braunschweig, Stuttgart, Hannover, Dresden etc.
You have to look at each club particular because it depends. Carl Zeiss Jena has just the name of the concern, they are not even their main sponsor and in no way can push money into the club like Bayer, Red Bull, VW or others. They also have a rich East German football history and even participated with results on the European stage. Despite their name, Carl Zeiss Jena is just your ordinary club and has nothing in common with most of these plastic clubs. I don't know much about LR Ahlen, though.
Usmnt fan who has chosen the Bundesliga as his main league. Why are Schalke such underachievers despite being a top 5 team in Germany with such a great academy? Likewise for Hamburg? They are in a big city and own their own stadium, what gives?
1 They werent a top5 team before the mid 90s/2000s but rather relegation fodder. 2. They didnt have a good academy until around 2010 when the first "revolution" products came out of all Buli academies. 3. Gelsenkirchen is a poor rust belt city with high unemployment and few economic power houses that could fuel them with money. GE is basically like if Pittsburgh and Detroit had a child so they needed the Russians to sponsor them. 4. Ruhrgebiet has many competitors nearby all taking possible talents away from one another: Dortmund, Bochum, Essen, Wattenscheid, Duisburg, etc - they all used to play in Bundesliga. This is a former mining region where people didnt want to see fancy Brazillians for the largest part of the last century but football "workers" on the field. So, their approach to the game was not as advanced as it was elsewhere. 5. All in all, they are actually over-achievers. Hamburg is a like most German teams an actual club. Fans have a say and they are more or less run by former legends not always delivering state of the art "work". Fans live in the glorious past and can dictate when somebody gets kicked so that long term planning is virtually impossible. Meaning Hamburg consider themselves top3 while they are fielding "last 3" infrastructure and personnel. The money certainly is there in a rich city as Hamburg but that leads to the arrogant belief that you can win by just fielding a more expensive squad. That doesnt get you anywhere. So yes, reasons for underachieving are mostly incompetence and arrogance. Hertha in Berlin is another example for a seemingly big city not delivering a top club. But they are more comparable to GE as Berlin is still recovering economically from the cold war. It think Berlin is the only capital city that is contributing less than average to a country's GDP on this planet.