Facing a Record Season
August 4, 2007
Tight stadiums, thunderous chanting, a fighting spirit and beer -- it's a winning combo that's traditionally made German fans admire English soccer. But much has changed in the promised land: The Premier League doubtlessly still offers the most attractive soccer, but the legendary soccer culture is ailing.
Clubs are bought up by investors by the dozen. Standing room tickets have been abolished, ticket prices are going through the roof, and the classic viewers have been replaced by more moneyed ones. There's a ban on alcohol, the mood's often mediocre and audiences are dwindling.
That's why England has now found a new role model: The Guardian newspaper named Germany's Bundesliga an English soccer fan's utopia.
Pre-season records
Germany's soccer passion is bigger than ever. Two weeks ahead of the start of the new season, the 18 clubs in the league had already sold more than 377,000 tickets -- a new record.
At the same time, the Bundesliga also surpassed the previous transfer record that was set in 2001/2002. Back then, clubs had invested 153 million euros ($209.5 million) in new legs after getting a lucrative TV deal. This summer, they've already spent 165 million euros ahead of the end of the transfer period on Aug. 31.
Bayern Munich alone invested between 60 million and 70 million euros and paid more money for a single player than ever -- 25 million euros for Franck Ribery. Bremen (Carlos Alberto: 7.8 million euros), Hanover (Mike Hanke: 4.5 million euros), Nuremberg (Angelos Charisteas: 2.1 million euros), Stuttgart (7 million euros) and even Duisburg (Manasseh Ishiaku: 1 million euros) all broke their previous records.
Chain reaction
This shopping spree cannot be explained as a result of high spirits during an economic upswing. Bayern started a chain reaction by completely renewing its team after a disastrous season. In return, Bremen invested the 12 million euros from Munich for Miroslav Klose in new strikers: Boubacar Sanogo and Carlos Alberto. Last season's sensational winner, VfB Stuttgart, needs a larger team for its upcoming Champions League responsibilities, while Nuremberg prepared for the UEFA Cup. Felix Magath meanwhile gave his new club, VfL Wolfsburg, a complete overhaul.
Even Wolfsburg, which notoriously lags behind, is currently experiencing a renaissance with a record-setting 10,000 season tickets sold. Borussia Dortmund found buyers for a whopping 50,000 season tickets, followed by Schalke (44,000) and Bayern (37,000). Eintracht Frankfurt even set a new ticket sales record without investing a single euro in transfers, showing that new stars cannot be the only reason for the boom.
The league is clearly headed for a new audience record even though Germany already topped the list in previous years: 39,957 fans attended Bundesliga matches on average. In England, only 32,000 came, 29,000 sat in the stands in Spain and 21,000 could be found in Italian arenas.
Great sausage, great stadiums
Explaining the Bundesliga's appeal is not that easy: Most world class players can still be found in London, Milan or Madrid and the Bundesliga standard leaves room for improvement. For years now, German clubs have lagged behind the European elite in the Champions League.
Then what's the German secret? The president of the German Soccer League (DFL), Wolfgang Holzhäuser, cites "great stadiums" and "the World Cup aftermath" as reasons. In England, commentators see the Bundesliga as a lost paradise.
"Above all, there is a sense that the game here has not been hijacked -- neither by big commercial interests nor by hooligans," commented BBC sports reporter Margot Dunne. "It still belongs to the, ordinary, decent fans and perhaps that is the secret."
Even if these ordinary Bundesliga fans sometimes eye the dynamic soccer on the island with a tinge of jealousy, a true soccer fan wants to experience something completely different, according to The Guardian -- and the Bundesliga has it on offer: "A crazy race for the title, cheap tickets, sausage, great stadiums and many goals."