Footballing Adventures- FC Magdeburg v SV Hamburg
A visit to Hamburg, the only East German club to win a major European trophy
There was one match left of my weekend in Germany, and the third was probably the least fashionable fixture of the lot.
In Hertha Berlin and RB Leipzig, you have a team who play at one of the country’s biggest stadiums, that has hosted World Cup and Champions League finals, and a team who have become a regular in the Champions League, however unpopular they are.
As for FC Magdeburg, the destination for my final game in Germany, this was a team that have never even played in what is now the Bundesliga. Their most successful period came in the 1970s, where they won three DDR-Oberliga titles, the top division in what was then East Germany. They also won six FDGB-Pokals, the East German cup competitions.
They have however rubbed shoulders with some of Europe’s elites. They won the 1974 European Cup Winners’ Cup, beating an AC Milan side managed by Giovanni Trapattoni in the final, making them the only East German side to win a European tournament.
Things haven’t gone so well since German reunification though. Financial struggles saw them drop as low as the fourth tier, the regional leagues of the pyramid. They were promoted to the third tier in 2015, and after a brief return in 2018, were back in the second division in 2022.
More recently, Magdeburg have become known for that infamous photo where dozens of fans behind the goal hold up arrows pointing in the direction of the goal to remind the players after a number of games without a goal.
Since 2006, they have played at the MDCC-Arena, a fairly basic ground towards the edge of the town. It isn’t a particularly special ground, it’s just a single tier all the way round and only holds around 26,000 people. That said, after games at the Olympiastadion and the Red Bull Arena, it was nice to be a ground where the stands are tight to the pitch, and the fans are right on top of the players.
Like at the Red Bull Arena, all the seats have been removed being one of the goals, and the ultras pour in early in an effort to find the best place to stand. Even for this, a 1:30pm kick off, there were thousands of people milling around outside the ground, drinking and socialising. Part of that is probably the fact that everything in Germany closes on a Sunday, so there isn’t a great deal of other places to go at that point.
Their opponents on this day were Hamburg, who are one of a number of clubs in 2. Bundesliga who are probably far too big for that division. Hamburg and Schalke in particular feel like Bundesliga clubs, as potentially so do Hertha Berlin and Hannover 96. That said, it shows the competitiveness of the division that it seems likely that none of those four will be promoted this season.
Hamburg in particular are very much traditionally a Bundesliga club. Up until the 2017/18 season, they had never been relegated since being founded post World War I, and had been the only team consistently playing in the Bundesliga since its foundation in 1963. Their relegation in 2017/18 came under the management of Christian Titz (a very niche magazine), who was now in charge of today’s hosts, Magdeburg.
They have got close to promotion back to the Bundesliga every season post relegation, finishing fourth on three occasions, then third in each of the last two seasons, though lost the promotion play-off to Hertha Berlin first time around, before losing it to Stuttgart last year.
In February they parted company with Tim Walter, who had been in charge since 2021, and replaced him with Steffen Baumgart, a slightly scary looking man, who a quick google image search would have you believe that he has worn a hat every day since his playing career ended. True to form, he wore a flat cap today.
It looks like being another frustrating season for Hamburg. They still have a potential shot at promotion, but that is probably going to require them to win pretty much every game between now and the end of the season, and hope other results go in their favour. It doesn’t help that their local rivals, St. Pauli, look likely to return to the Bundesliga for the first time since 2011.
For the hosts, there was something riding on this game too. Magdeburg are right on the fringes of the relegation battle. They are currently outside the drop zone, but it isn’t out of the question that they get dragged back into trouble if they don’t pick up many points between now and the end of the season. That said, having seen Hansa Rostock live on the Friday night, that feels like one fewer team for Magdeburg to be worrying about.
This was, as with the previous matches I had been to this weekend, a total sell out, which is always the best way to see a ground when you come to visit. This may be the pull of the bigger sides in the division, or it might be just the importance of the game for Magdeburg. It also helps that that there is much more acceptance of away fans sitting in the home ends, so if the home fans don’t sell out, the away fans will take up their seats.
I try to look at the team sheets for these games and try and work out which players I recognise, but I have to admit I’m struggling a bit here. It puts a bit of a dent in my ongoing belief that any professional game in Europe will feature at least one player who was on the books at any one of Everton, Watford or Nottingham Forest.
Cardiff fans may remember Robert Glatzel for his disappointing 18 months in Wales, though I get the feeling they have dozens of players like that over the last few years. Anyway, his goalscoring record is excellent for Hamburg.
As the players emerged, the Magdeburg fans in the standing section held up cards to spell out ‘Hannes’ in huge letters, the name of a fan who died prior to Magdeburg’s game with local rivals Hallescher FC in 2016. For years, Magdeburg ultras refused to attend games with Hallescher, with police closing down the investigation without any answer to what actually happened. At the bottom of the stand was a banner reading ‘You are watching over us from above’.
The game endured something of a stop-start opening. The referee seemed quite whistle happy, and it meant there was no real pattern to the play. Hamburg had a lot of the ball, but didn’t really do a great deal with it.
Then a little bit after 20 minutes, the game burst into life. A long ball forward from Magdeburg found Luca Schuler in behind, only to be nudged over by Guilherme Ramos in the penalty area. The referee pointed to the spot, and then produced the red card for Ramos. It looked harsh. A VAR check followed with a form popping up on the screen with boxes for what I believe are player, incident and outcome. The outcome remained red card.
Mohamed El Hankouri stepped up, and fired his penalty low into the bottom corner. It wasn’t exactly against the run of play, but they had hardly threatened up until that point.
The red card had an obvious impact on the game. Hamburg had to sacrifice a forward player for a defender, and it effected their ability to keep possession. Magdeburg didn’t really change their game plan though, and an almost identical incident should have bought the second goal. A long ball over the top once again found Schuler, through on goal, who could only produce a woeful, weak finish, that was comfortably saved by Matheo Raab in the Hamburg goal.
It should have cost them almost immediately. A Hamburg corner bounced around the penalty area, eventually stabbed goalwards by Ransford Königsdörffer, but Magdeburg goalkeeper Dominik Reimann did exceptionally well to get across his goal and clear it away right on the line.
But Magdeburg had one real threat in the first half, and they used it again to great effect in added on time. This time the long ball over the top picked out the run of Leon Bell, who was sent tumbling by a combination of goalkeeper Raab and defender Ludovit Reis. Once again, the referee pointed to the spot, and once again VAR agreed with him.
It was El Hankouri from the spot again, though this time he took a very unconvincing Jorginho-like skip in his run-up, and his penalty just about squeezed past Raab, who will really feel like he should have saved it.
That was the end of what was a very interesting first half. Magdeburg had ripped up the script, and there was almost a feeling that the party could begin as they left the field at the break. A win would put them in a brilliant place in the relegation battle, and they were half way there.
There was of course a response from Hamburg, but in the early stages of the second half, it was almost exactly the same as the early stages of the first half. They had more of the ball, but the best they could manage was the occasional half chance, and winning the odd set piece.
It was when they successfully recycled the play from one of those set pieces that they got themselves back into the game. The ball was worked into Sebastian Schonlau eight yards out, and he produced some tidy footwork then a powerful finish into the far corner to halve the deficit.
From then on, Magdeburg’s goal was under siege, despite Hamburg having just the ten men. Laszlo Benes produced a stunning curling effort from distance, only to see it bounce off the top of the bar. With every passing moment, Magdeburg’s back line were getting deeper and deeper.
Benes though was still finding space, and he came even closer. With 15 minutes to go a low ball from the left found him unmarked on the edge of the box, where he saw his sweeping left footed shot superbly kept out by Reimann in the Magdeburg goal.
Reimann was being kept busy, and he was called into action just a few minutes later, this time diving to his left to beat away Glatzel’s header. This one may have been slightly more for the cameras- all the pace had gone off the header with the bounce. The next header the goalkeeper had no chance with, Reis arriving at the back post, only to see his shot rebound back off the crossbar.
It looked like that would be it, only for there to be heartbreak right at the death. With the clock ticking over to the 94th minute, Reis charged down the right wing, cut back onto his left foot, and delivered a hopeful cross towards the penalty area. It took a nick off the defender at the near post, and was turned into the net, almost on the goal line, by Jonas Meffert.
That was the final chance, and Hamburg had rescued a point right at the death. There was a strange atmosphere at the end of the match. It was probably a better point for Magdeburg, but you can’t really celebrate when you’ve given up a two-goal lead against ten men. They sat far too deep in the second half, and invited the pressure on. The longer the game went on, the less it looked like they were playing with an extra man.
For Hamburg, the second half represented an excellent comeback, but a point isn’t really enough if they’re going to be gaining promotion back to the Bundesliga this season. They’re not happy spending an extra season in the second tier.
I wouldn’t put Magdeburg high on my list of places to return, but I’d certainly recommend it as somewhere to visit if you’re in that part of Germany. There’s a nice old fashioned feel to it, the stands are very close to the pitch, the atmosphere is fantastic, and it all just feels very genuine.