FC St. Pauli (pronounced Sankt Pauli) will for the first time since the 2010-11 season. The club, based in Hamburg’s central quarter which carries the same name, secured the second division’s top spot after beating Wehen Wiesbaden away on the last matchday of the season.
FC St. Pauli has become known around the world for . Refugee rights, LGBT+ rights and the fight against various forms of discrimination stand at the heart of the Hamburg club and its fans.
The Millerntor Stadium, located at the heart of the St. Pauli Quarter, sports the sentence Kein Mensch ist illegal (no person is illegal), a known slogan for refugee rights in the German-speaking space.
Pro 50+1, support for women in management
As part of its philosophy, FC St. Pauli’s management is one of the strongest supporters of the , which gives club members the majority control over the club. The Hamburg side also became the first professional club in Germany whose members voted in favor of its various boards and committees having a minimum of 30 percent female representation.
The head of FC St. Pauli’s supervisory board is Sandra Schwedler, who has been in the role since 2014. Schwedler was the only female boss of a football club in Germany’s top two divisions until March 2022, when Nicole Kumpis was voted in as Eintracht Braunschweig’s president.
Supporters: Left wing, sub culturally diverse
The club’s supporters belong to different elements of the left-wing scene in Hamburg, Germany, and indeed, around the world, which also represent different subcultural connections. The local antifascist scene in Hamburg, too, is known to be intertwined with St. Pauli’s organized supporter groups.
As well as being one of Germany’s most famous Partymeilen (party mile), the Hamburg quarter of St. Pauli is known as an epicenter of alternative subcultures, which are also represented among the club’s support.
Banners portraying political messages are a regular feature of games, with ultra groups free to hold such banners and voice their opinions.
Conflicts between support in Germany and abroad
St. Pauli are one of the most well-supported German clubs abroad, despite winning no significant title in its 120-year history. Given the different views on certain topics within the left-wing scene worldwide, this also brings conflicts.
In light of the war between Israel and Hamas, some of St. Pauli’s 59 registered international fan clubs were not happy with the messages the club and many of its organized supporter groups had communicated.
While there has been no official siding with Israel as such, the club and its Germany-based organized group sent messages in support of Hapoel Tel Aviv and their many supporters affected by the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7 due to the long-year friendship between the two clubs’ main ultra groups, Ultras Hapoel and Ultra Sankt Pauli.
Fan clubs withdraw support
The conflict between the club’s supporters reached a point where St. Pauli’s spokesperson of the fan club board issued a statement, calling for the international fan clubs to revisit the style of their posts about the war in the Middle East in the wake of .
“Some clubs and their statements are already borderline, some even cross the line,” according to the statement, titled “terrorism is not resistance.”
FC St. Pauli did use their account to raise awareness to a fundraiser for the civil population in Gaza, but for a few of the club’s international fan clubs, it was far from enough.
A team on the up
The club is coached by Fabian Hürzeler. The 31-year-old took over the club in December 2022 after the sacking of Timo Schultz, with the Hamburg side only above the relegation places due to better goal difference. Come the end of the season, though, St. Pauli finished fifth.
Despite interest from the Bundesliga, Hürzeler chose to extend his contract at St. Pauli. That deal could also help St. Pauli in securing their top player’s services next season. Marcel Hartel, the club’s top scorer with 17 goals, is the only main player to have not extended his contract. While St. Pauli know they will not be able to financially compete with most Bundesliga clubs, the Hamburg side hopes Hürzeler’s close relationship with Hartel will be decisive.
Other than Hartel, the squad’s main players are all expected to play for FC St. Pauli in the Bundesliga, headed by the club’s Australian captain Jackson Irvine and defenders Eric Smith and Hauke Wahl. Their sporting goal will simply be to stay up.
Edited by: Matt Pearson
The post St. Pauli back in the Bundesliga and set to grab attention appeared first on Deutsche Welle.