1. In Germany, no one can be the sole owner of a club. The controlling interest is by default owned by the club itself. Thus, the pedantic Germans protect their championship from all sorts of crooks and do not tolerate nouveau riches.
In connection with amendments to the unique 50+1 regulation, which effectively prohibited the privatization of football clubs owned by the German Football Association (DFB), private corporations are now allowed private “ownership” of teams with sponsorship in large volumes for 20 years.
Exactly the same right a couple of years later received Martin Kind, who ruined the pretty European Cup Hanover of the mid-2010s. Similar exceptions have already been made for Wolfsburg (Volkswagen automaker) and Bayer (a pharmaceutical company of the same name).
The same exception is made for Dietmar Hopp, who owns Hoffenheim and Europe’s largest SEO accounting software company. Still, it is a great feat to bring the village team out of the regional lower classes into the elite.
2. Gelsenkirchen is a very entertaining city in all respects. Does not let us go with its interesting facts. Once, the stadium administration made a mistake when scheduling games, and scheduled football and handball matches at the Parkstadion, which was actively used at that time, at the same time.
Team members arrived at the game on time and immediately got into a quandary. Neither footballers nor handball players wanted to give up their right to enter the field that evening. As a result, a “Solomonic” solution was found: the games took place simultaneously. Four teams played with two balls.
3. The Munich Allianz Arena is always painted in the traditional red colors when Bayern play there and white when the Bundestim comes to play in the Bavarian capital.
Until recently, the Allianz Arena was also painted in blue illuminations when sworn neighbors from Munich 1860 played their matches on it, but now, after the departure of the Sixties to the third Bundesliga, the need for a large arena has disappeared, and financial opportunities have been drastically reduced.
By the way, it is generally accepted that in the city itself they are more rooting for the more “ancient” “1860s”, which, by the way, have not shone at least in the First Bundesliga for 15 years, so the success of Bayern in the Champions League.
And finally, my favorite interesting fact is that in the German Premier League there have been as many as 32 players with the last name Müller throughout history. Interestingly, none of them were related.