In front of the stadium at the Alte Försterei on Sunday afternoon, people were still dismantling and clearing away, the remains of the celebrations from the day before were still lying around in the parking lot. In the stadium, after the club’s historic fourth place in the Bundesliga, people were already looking ahead. 1. FC Union will play in the Champions League next season. And he would like to do that in the old forester’s house.
“Whenever we can, we will play here. That’s a basic rule,” said club president Dirk Zingler in a media round at the end of the season. It was previously speculated whether the Köpenick club would have to move to the Olympic Stadium for the Champions League games. Not only would more spectators fit in there, but it might also be easier to meet the infrastructural requirements of the largest Uefa competition.
But as Zingler emphasized on Sunday, their own stadium remains the first choice. “The old forester’s house is our home. If it’s possible, we play here. If not, we’ll play in the Olympic Stadium,” said the Union President. However, he does not expect a final decision until the end of June.
Above all, the evaluation of this year’s Uefa pilot project for the re-admission of standing room will be decisive. It was only because of this project that Union was allowed to play its Europa League games in the Alte Försterei in the season just ended. The year before, standing room in the Uefa competition was still forbidden and Union had to switch to the Olympic Stadium in the Conference League.
The decision on standing room is expected at the end of June, and there are also other technical issues to be clarified, Zingler explained on Sunday. “We’re trying to sort it out as soon as possible because there’s a lot of preparation involved,” he said. Participating in the “best organized competition in Europe” will be a new challenge for the club one way or another.
According to the head of the club, a move to the Olympic Stadium would not be a disaster. “We can all be very happy and grateful that we are in a city with a stadium that is a five-star stadium and belongs to the city. They don’t exist in other cities,” said Zingler.
It should make much more financial sense for Union to play in a much larger stadium because it would allow them to sell more tickets and spend less on temporary renovations to their own stadium. Like a year ago, the club may be faced with a choice between pragmatism and emotions. The old forester’s house, which fans helped to build, remains popularly the Union’s “living room”.
But regardless of whether he plays in Köpenick or Charlottenburg, Union definitely wants to remain rooted. Zingler was skeptical about whether Union would be more in the spotlight after Hertha BSC was relegated to Berlin.
“We should remain 1. FC Union Berlin and not become a club for all of Berlin, because that doesn’t exist,” he said. “I’ve been saying for 20 years: I don’t want to be an all-Berlin club, because nobody can have that claim. This city lives through its diversity and creativity, it is colorful and sometimes difficult. We have found our way in this colorful city and we will continue on it. We don’t give a damn about what’s happening in other districts.”
Source: Tagesspiegel
Brayden White, a veteran sports writer at Global Happening, brings his wealth of knowledge and expertise to the sports section. With over a decade of experience, he is committed to delivering high-quality coverage of the latest games and events.
