1. FC Union Berlin Has the The Hardest Working Fans in Football

Are you looking for a soon to be 2. Bundesliga team to support? Are you any good with a hammer? Then 1. FC Union Berlin could be the team for you.

Union (based in East Berlin) are currently top of the 3rd Liga by nine points and almost certain to be promoted to the 2. Bundesliga for next season. But promotion requires a stadium upgrade, and stadium upgrades are expensive. Luckily for Union, they have some hard-working fans.

Apparently over 500 Union fans are pitching in to remodel the stadium and get it up to 2. Bundesliga standards.

I spotted this story in Jan’s Weekly Dose on the Bundesliga Offside and got interested. Seems the remodelling efforts have been going on since late 2008, none of the fan/workers are being paid and some are even using their holiday/vacation time.

The picture above is taken from a huge gallery of fans working on the stadium, available at the FC Union Berlin website.

And – for the full multimedia experience – here’s a YouTube video of a Ukrainian TV report (not in English, sorry) showing the work in progress:

I know what you’re thinking… health and safety right? Well, don’t worry, Union did hire some professional builders to oversee operations. The whole thing is expected to be done for €15m, which is damn cheap for a nice new stadium.

Here’s my favourite part: the Union Berlin stadium has one of the best names in football: Stadion An der Alten Försterei (the Stadium near the Old Forrester’s House).

Assuming there’s no corporate sponsor involved, the redeveloped stadium will get to keep that name rather than being another Naming Rights Arena.

More importantly, when those fans turn up for the first game of the 2009/10 season in 2. Bundesliga, they can take their place in the stadium knowing that they built it with their own hard work.

Some Related Stories:

Category: Bundesliga