Gazi-Stadion auf der Waldau, Stuttgarter Kickers

Tower and main stand

Waldau-Stadion in Stuttgart is one of only two football grounds (Viktoria Zizkovs stadium in Prague beeing the other one) coming to my mind that are located at the foot of a TV tower. Home team Stuttgarter Kickers, who had two short stints in the top flight in the late 80s and early 90s, are currently playing in the Regionalliga South (level 4). Despite bad success in recent years "Stukis" still attract a decent following.

Kickers use the ground for their home games since its inauguration in 1905, thereby being the German club that plays for the longest time in the same stadium. Nowadays the ground holds 11,410 people (1,068 seated) effectively and it's quite hard to imagine, that it hosted Bundesliga football less than 20 years ago. However, if things ain't working well on the pitch once again, there's still the impressive tower to watch.

Photo Gallery:

All photos by courtesy of German Football Stadiums website - www.German-Grounds.com

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D€RBY

Nomen est omen: Commerzbank-Arena

How to increase your club's budget by more than 14 percent? Easy! Your overpowering local rivals just have to get relegated.

This season 2. Bundesliga (level 2) side FSV Frankfurt are able to spend € 5.15 million, a plus of € 0.65 million compared to last year's campaign. Simply because they moved one game to Commerzbank-Arena, a World Cup 2006 venue with a capacity of 51,500.

And they nearly sold out the huge stadium when they hosted their neighbours Eintracht for the first Frankfurt derby since 1962 on matchday 5. FSV lost 0-4. Currently ranked 16 the move will possibly be exposed as a very profitable mistake in the upcoming relegation battle.

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Klopp 1-3 Podolski

Hey Jürgen, why the long face?

Dortmund coach Jürgen Klopp (being asked by a Sky reporter about a possible interest in buying 1. FC Cologne forward Lukas Podolski) on Sunday:

"Lukas is an exceptional player. But I believe him to be hyped in Cologne so much that it is hard for him to perform well regularly. With his potential, he had to be one of the best strikers, if not the best striker, in the league – but he is not. This is because he is not able to deliver often enough. And then it is too expensive for us  – for a good performance every few weeks."

Shortly afterwards Lukas Podolski responded via local tabloid Express:

"What a charming statement by Mr. Klopp. Maybe he's a little sad because I already denied his transfer requests twice. Then again he's right though: Actually I am too expensive for Borussia Dortmund due to the absence of Champions League revenues. Now that they have been eliminated finishing last place in their group, I absolutely understand that it wouldn't pay off."

Lukas Podolski. Master of counter attacks.

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One-Way Rivalry

Neither inner-city opponents like Union Berlin or TeBe nor Energie Cottbus from provincial Brandenburg are considered to be Hertha BSC's main rivals. No, this iffy honour dues Schalke 04.

What is particularly astonishing for various reasons. First of all, Gelsenkirchen is about 320 miles away and really no one there seems to give a shit about Berlin or Hertha. The capital club are perceived as an Bundesliga competitor just like the rest of the league. Nothing more, nothing less.

And then, what are we to think about a rivalry which is allegedly based on two incidents in the 60s and 70s while keeping in mind that a majority of Herthas's following exist only since 1997. Even in the 90s, they had gates of 3,000 and lower.

To cut a long story short: Sounds not very authentic to me.

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Greuther Fifth

The rather odd logo

The construct of SpVgg Greuther Fürth was actually formed by a merger of three times German champions SpVgg Fürth and the prosperous village club TSV Vestenbergsgreuth in 1996.

Just one year later this convenient marriage of tradition and cash payed off with promotion to 2. Bundesliga. Greuther-Fürth have been playing there since then, making them the longest serving of any current second division teams.

Somewhat quaint, the Shamrock nicknamed team achieved national recognition for finishing in fifth position. Seven times during their actual 14 season lasting stint to be precise:

1997-98: 9th
1998-99: 8th
1999–00: 7th
2000–01: 5th
2001–02: 5th
2002–03: 5th
2003–04: 9th
2004–05: 5th
2005–06: 5th
2006–07: 5th
2007–08: 6th
2008–09: 5th
2009–10: 11th
2010–11: 4th

After completing the first half of the ongoing 2011-12 season, Fürth are ranked on a promising third place. But since the reintroduction of the relegation playoffs in 2009, even this position would not secure automatic promotion for an eventual Greuther Third.

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Doublepost

Borussia Mönchengladbach's Hans-Günter Bruns in 1983 against Bayern...

Now hat would have been a goal!

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Informer, you no say that's who I'm gonna blame

Beef!

Clemens Tönnies, chief executive of Schalke's supervisory board, is notorious for his liability to populism. For a couple of years now, the meat industrialist prefers to attend the annual Revierderby in Dortmund with fellow supporters on the terrace.

Last week's meeting has seen the odd smoke and fireworks coming from the away end. Too much for Tönnies, 55, who instantly started to take photos of the troublemakers with his smartphone.

"All reasonable fans should declare their solidarity against these lone perpetrators and expose them with photos so we can file them. These people have to leave our stadia," Tönnies told a newspaper on Wednesday.

Well, Clemens, literally: If you can't stand the heat, stay in your VIP box.

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Pool

Pool's famous Kop

"The Reds" beeing the club's well know nickname does not prevent a lot of... ehm, let's call them "internet Premier League fans" in Germany using the term "Pool" when referring to Liverpool FC. Not "The Pool" as one of the city of Liverpool's bynames, but simply "Pool".

Pool. Never heard it England, so why is it so popular amongst English football enthusiasts over here? If I only knew. I've propably read the term for the first time on a football message board more than ten years ago. So maybe someone used it on another board, and another one... and so it may have grown in popularity that way over the years. But all in all, it remains a case for Mulder and Scully.

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