🇩🇪 On the terraces in Germany this week: 🇺🇸 Bayern ultras vs. Trump 🔵 Support for Karlsruhe Fanprojekt ⏰ Bremen&HSV kick-off time protests 🤝 Jena helping Lok (seriously) 🏥 Heidenheim fan injured after fall 🧨 Pyro of the week Full stories on Gegenpressing: gegenpressing.substack.com/p/on-the-ter...

🇩🇪 On the terraces this week: 🏟️ Frankfurt: two huge choreos 🍻 1860 Munich’s Oktoberfest hangover 🤝 Bayern & Bochum friendship ❌ Gladbach ultras miss B04 away 🌲 BVB vs. Schalke fight 💰 50+1 update 🏴‍☠️ USP statement Another packed Gegenpressing newsletter! ⬇️ gegenpressing.substack.com/p/on-the-ter...

50+1 update: In addition to Bayer Leverkusen & VfL Wolfsburg (+ other clubs), Bayer AG & Volkswagen AG are now officially party to deliberations between Bundeskartellamt & DFL regarding exemptions from 50+1 in the context of the latest appraisal, reports Kicker. Background: bsky.app/profile/matt...

United may be taking a well-earned break from Europe, but United We Stand certainly isn’t. First stop: Hamburg. Buy the fanzines and support an independent fan culture in Manchester: www.uwsonline.com/subscribe.php #mufc 🇾🇪

Harry Kane x3 for Bayern Munich vs. Hoffenheim Oliver Burke x3 for Union Berlin vs. Eintracht Frankfurt Hat-tricks from two British strikers on one #Bundesliga weekend. Surely a first?

On the terraces this week in Germany: 🏴‍☠️ Ultrà Sankt Pauli speak out on Israel & Gaza 🟢 VfL Wolfsburg celebrate 80th anniversary 🟡 Borussia Dortmund away kit protest 🎆 Hannover 96 pyro show Full stories on Gegenpressing: gegenpressing.substack.com/p/on-the-ter...

🔵 Earlier today, Schalke welcomed their 200,000th member before playing in front of a 62,000 sell-out crowd. And losing to Holstein Kiel. In the second division. My report from Gelsenkirchen on the situation at Germany‘s third-biggest club in 2025 ⬇️ gegenpressing.substack.com/p/schalke-ba...

HSV‘s trips to Munich prior to relegation … Im Süden nichts Neues … #bundesliga

An unusually busy international break on the terraces: 🎟️ Germany: ticket price protest 🌎 Games abroad: fan reactions 🇩🇪 Security: Friedrich Merz criticism 👮‍♂️ Hannover: Niedersachsenderby appeal 🔷 HSV: Nordtribüne warning Full stories on Gegenpressing: gegenpressing.substack.com/p/on-the-ter...

Was braucht es, um die Kriminalisierung von Fans endlich zu stoppen? Über unsere konkreten Forderungen haben wir mit der @faznet.bsky.social gesprochen. #Fanrechte www.faz.net/aktuell/spor...

"The price of greed = empty seats! Football must be affordable!" German fans at tonight's World Cup qualifier against Northern Ireland in Köln, which isn't sold out. With standard tickets costing between €50 and €127.65, unsurprising. 📷 @shermanns.bsky.social

📽️ Chat with @manuelveth.bsky.social about the pros and cons of the #Bundesliga's new UK streaming deal and the unique selling points of German football in 2025. www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRId...

Incredible Matt Ford work once again. 50+1 is easily the best part about German soccer, but sometimes its a fight to keep it going. Give this a read, the Leverkusen addition and the upcoming fight over exemptions will be a big thing to watch.

The German Football League (DFL)'s AGM took place in Berlin today: - Hans-Joachim Watzke (BVB) re-elected as supervisory board chairman & board spokesman - Jan-Christian Dreesen (FCB) & Axel Hellmann (SGE) elected to board - Fernando Carro (B04) elected to supervisory board 🧵What does it all mean?

🇩🇪 On The Terraces this week where some choreos were clearer than others... 🔷 HSV together against everyone (or Aue?) 🏴‍☠️ St. Pauli's Trojan horse (obviously) 🇮🇩 Stuttgart: Karawane Cannstatt + 100 Jahre Brustring 🟡 BVB: 'It's about what you do on the pitch!' gegenpressing.substack.com/p/on-the-ter...

Bayer Leverkusen 2-1 Viktoria Köln Two days after sacking Erik ten Hag, assistant coaches Andries Ulderink & Rogier Meijer (who came with EtH) take charge of 2x30mins friendly. 19-year-old Christian Kofane with the opener, Malik Tillman with a pen, Lucas Vazguez with 45mins.

Selection of fanzines and assorted ultra literature to start the season: Südkurvenbladdl (Schickeria, FC Bayern) Möwenschiss (Castaways, HSV) Schwaadlappe (Wilde Hörde, Köln) Der Bahnwärter (Blue Side Lok, Lok Leipzig) Blickfang Ultrà (nationwide) Give 'Em Beans (Barrow AFC) Fanzines > transfers

Bayer Leverkusen sack Eric ten Hag after just three competitive games. An absolute car-crash from all involved. #bundesliga

🏆 #DFBPokal 2nd round stand-out ties: FV Illertissen* vs. 1. FC Magdeburg Borussia Mönchengladbach vs. Karlsruher SC Eintracht Frankfurt vs. Borussia Dortmund 1. FC Köln vs. FC Bayern München 1. FSV Mainz 05 vs. VfB Stuttgart *Regionalliga Bayern (IV) 📆 Ties to be played 28/29 Oct

Sport-Club Freiburg supporters making a 900km round trip to Cologne on a Sunday night: "Scrap Sunday 19:30! Kick-off times for the fans, not the broadcasters!" FT: 1. FC Köln 4-1 SC Freiburg #bundesliga

🤔 "Is Woltemade really worth €80m?" asked Bayern Munich director of sport Max Eberl as yet another transfer target headed elsewhere. Decide for yourself: www.premierleague.com/en/news/4398...

🔷 Hamburger SV 0-2 FC St. Pauli 🏴‍☠️ Clinical and controlled St. Pauli show what a difference a year in the #Bundesliga makes - and teach HSV a valuable lesson. ⬇️ Report from the Volksparkstadion for Gegenpressing. "On the terraces" to follow on Wed… gegenpressing.substack.com/p/hsv-0-2-st...

Some top writing in this edition, definitely one of the best so far I was at the recent @altona93.bsky.social v @dulwichhamletfc.bsky.social centenary match and took the HSV and St Pauli museums (and the amazing Miniatur Wunderland!) while there. Quite magnificent city.

⚓️ Moin aus Hamburg 🔷 HSV‘s first #Bundesliga home game in seven years. The visitors, of all teams: FC St. Pauli 🏴‍☠️ Looking for Hamburg derby reading material in English? The latest Glory mag has you covered, including my excl. interview with #HSV coach Merlin Polzin ➡️ glory.studio/collections/...

🇩🇪 On the terraces on the opening #Bundesliga weekend: 🔴 Bayern ultras launch kit campaign 🚦 Terrace traffic lights in Frankfurt 🎉 Stunning choreos at Union Berlin & Schalke 04 Full stories on Gegenpressing ⬇️ gegenpressing.substack.com/p/on-the-ter...

⚓ Want some in-depth reading - in English! - ahead of the Hamburg derby next week? 🔷 The latest Glory magazine has you covered, including my exclusive feature with #HSV head coach Merlin Polzin and director of sport Stefan Kuntz. Photos look mint, too. Order here ➡️ glory.studio/collections/...

"Nothing is achieved alone", the banner says, with an advert for the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia displayed immediately below. A more perfect photo could not possibly have been taken. bsky.app/profile/geor...

🔷 #HSV almost nicked a last-minute winner on their #Bundesliga return - and it wouldn’t have been entirely undeserved. After a solid defensive display, coach Merlin Polzin says his team is "ready for the Bundesliga adventure." 🔷 Piece from Borussia-Park: gegenpressing.substack.com/p/hsv-ready-...

⚓ Want some in-depth reading - in English! - ahead of the Hamburg derby next week? 🔷 The latest Glory magazine has you covered, including my exclusive feature with #HSV head coach Merlin Polzin and director of sport Stefan Kuntz. Photos look mint, too. Order here ➡️ glory.studio/collections/...

🇩🇪 Guten Tag vom Niederrhein 🔷 12th May 2018: Hamburger SV are relegated from the Bundesliga for the first ever time despite a 2-1 win over Borussia Mönchengladbach. 🔷 24th August 2025: HSV return to the Bundesliga away at … Borussia Mönchengladbach. #bundesliga

One of the things I’ll never stop appreciating about ultra groups in Germany: transparency on finances. Here, SC Freiburg ultras Synthesia detail the exact costs of their Bundesliga season-opening choreography, including materials, transport and the amount of hours it took them to make it. #SCFFCA

Bayern Munich 6-0 RB Spoke to Harry Kane about his eighth #Bundesliga hat-trick, working with Vincent Kompany and his new on-field relationship with Luis Diaz. Quotes and story on Gegenpressing: gegenpressing.substack.com/p/bundesliga...

"Implement 50+1 consistently! Kick out red bull!" FC Bayern ultras in the wake of the Bundeskartellamt‘s summer appraisal that 50+1 should be applied uniformly and without exemptions to avoid falling foul of German & European competition law. #bundesliga

"One shirt - greater than all others" FC Bayern ultras launch their new kit campaign, demanding not only exclusively red-and-white shirts, but also designs which "recognisably reflect the club‘s identity" rather than blindly "hankering after modern trends." #bundesliga

🇩🇪 Servus aus München Here we go again! Another season covering German football on the ground, in the press box, on the terraces, in the boardrooms, every week 😎 Editors: I’m available for commissions/work throughout the season. Auch auf Deutsch. DMs open. Get in touch. Los geht’s! ⚽️ #bundesliga

🔷 The #Bundesliga returns this weekend - including, for the first time since 2018, Hamburger SV. 🔷 I've spoken exclusively to young head coach Merlin Polzin, director of sport Stefan Kuntz and others. 🔷 Feature for Glory magazine, available now ➡️ glory.studio/collections/...

You know the Bundesliga is about to start when the head of a significant police trade union in Germany includes antisemitism and pyro (!) in the same sentence to demand more repression against football fans. That’s a bit rich given German police’s many far-right incidents among its ranks.

🏆 On the terraces in the #DFBPokal: ⚖️ "No exceptions!": 50+1 latest ahead of #Bundesliga start ❌ Racism and the two faces of Lok Leipzig 🏟️ Top first round choreos ⬇️ Full stories in a packed Gegenpressing newsletter this week gegenpressing.substack.com/p/on-the-ter...

After the new ISL season was postponed and several clubs suspended players' salaries, global union FIFPRO has demanded a solution. www.dw.com/en/india-foo...

🇩🇪 On the terraces in Düsseldorf this week: 🔴 "Fortuna für alle" enters third season 🟢 Hannover 96 fans protest away ticket price hike 🇮🇱 Weissman transfer saga shows German football doesn’t exist in a vacuum ⬇️ Full stories on Gegenpressing: gegenpressing.substack.com/p/on-the-ter...

‘Can you tell us how he died?’: Mohamed Salah criticises Uefa over tribute to ‘Palestinian Pelé’

Fortuna Düsseldorf 0-2 Hannover 96 "Everyone gives all he can because it’s worth effort." No shortage of effort from Fortuna but harmless up front. Hannover on the other hand: well organised and lethally efficient on the break - new signing Mustapha Bundu the standout. 2 wins in 2 for Die Roten.

🇩🇪 We‘re back! On the terraces in Germany this week: 🔵 Solidarity at Schalke ⚪️ Hertha in white, not yellow 🟡 Dynamo back in Bundesliga 2 ☘️ Why SpVgg Fürth fans want a name-change Full stories from the opening weekend of the 2. Bundesliga on Gegenpressing ⬇️ gegenpressing.substack.com/p/on-the-ter...

🇩🇪 "Separate league for second teams!" Bonner SC ultras vs. Borussia Mönchengladbach U23 in the fourth-tier Regionalliga West, which this season features seven reserve sides (out of 18): Bochum II Dortmund II Düsseldorf II Gladbach II Köln II Paderborn II Schalke II

🔵 FC Schalke 04’s Nordkurve on the opening night of the 2. Bundesliga season vs. Hertha BSC: "Many a dark day came over the land … Financial crises, relegations, internal power struggles, media campaigns, 'champions of the hearts,' 1,000 coaches gobbled up … Yet we always stand hand in hand!"

You have to get to the fourth para before this article even mentions that football arrests are DOWN by 11%. Another stat: - 4.2 arrests per 100,000 at football. - 14.8 arrests per 100,000 at Glastonbury. Where's the BBC article on that? www.bbc.co.uk/sport/footba...

🔴 Fortuna Düsseldorf have announced their 5 free "Fortuna für alle" fixtures for next season (up from 4 last year): MD4: Karlsruhe MD13: Magdeburg MD17: Fürth MD20: Paderborn MD29: Kiel 🔴 Piece from Düsseldorf recently for @thenewworldmag.bsky.social: www.thenewworld.co.uk/matt-ford-th...

"Jamie has incredible abilities to accelerate the pace of the game and find solutions in tight spaces," Edin Terzic told me after Jamie Gittens' first BVB goal in August 2022. Three years, 100+ apps, 17 goals and 14 assists later, he's back in England. Piece on his time in Germany ⬇️

Florian Wirtz & Jeremie Frimpong have swapped Leverkusen for Liverpool. Can't see the attraction myself 🤷‍♂️ 🇩🇪 Anyway, couple of pieces from Germany: How Alonso got the best out of Frimpong ➡️ www.premierleague.com/news/4314888 Wirtz's lessons from the living room ➡️ www.premierleague.com/news/4324665

Some reactions to the latest 50+1 ruling (see earlier post): German Football League (DFL) "welcomes [the fact that] the Bundeskartellamt has no fundamental concerns regarding the 50+1 rule ... The board will discuss how demands can be implemented and anchored in league statutes."