PAEC – Piracicaba (19-02-2011)

Finally, after almost a week in Brazil, I would visit my first football game in Brazil, which would also mean my first game in Latin America. In fact, on this Saturday in Sao Paulo, I would get to see two games. The first one was a small game in the Campeonato Paulista – Serie A2, i.e. the second division in the state of Sao Paulo. While this sounds really marginal, one should not forget that the city of Sao Paulo is the largest city in the Southern hemisphere with 11 million people; the metropolitan area has 20 million people, while the whole state has 41.250.000 people.

It wasn’t easy to find the stadium, as the Estádio Nicolau Alayon is tucked away off a busy street in Sao Paulo, the Avenida Marquês de São Vicente, between factories and opposite to the training facilities of two of the biggest clubs in the city: Sao Paulo FC and Palmeiras FC. A. dropped me off at the entrance, about 20 minutes before kick-off (at 4 PM). It was a very hot day, roughly 35 C (93 F), with a scourging sun. I first sat down at the little café to have a drink, before going to the ticket office to buy a ticket for a mere R$10 (ca. €4.40), one of the cheapest things I encountered in Sao Paulo.

The Estádio Nicolau Alayon was built in 1938 and is owned by Nacional Atlético Clube, a team that plays in the Paulista Third Divison (A3). Pão de Açucar Esporte Clube (PAEC) shares the stadium, which has a capacity of 9.660, and is in a pretty decent state.

Upon entering, I was pat down by the riot police, which seemed a bit excessive because at that time only some 50, mostly older, people were in the stadium. As I was looking around, I heard people sing and drum. Slowly but steadily the chants became louder, and there were the away supporters, from Piracicaba.

I took a place on the (one) Main Stand with the roughly 250 home fans. The audience was quite mixed in terms of ethnicity, age and gender. Most fans seemed local and closely tied to the little club. While the atmosphere was relaxed, they were true fans, who would follow the game intensely.

As I was in the stadium, I thought Piracicaba was just another suburb of Sao Paulo, which explained why there were so many away fans. Turns out that these ca. 200 fans has traveled 160 km (100 miles), mostly in a large bus, though many also in cars. They were by far the loudest fans in the little stadium.

To my surprise, the game was preceded by the Brazilian national anthem. This is the third country where I experienced this (others being South Korea and, obviously, the US). Another surprise was the good state of the pitch, given that Sao Paulo had experienced tropical rain storms for days.


The visitors started the game well, forcing the home goalie to make three good safes in the first ten minutes (all against the same striker). The quality of play was quite high with regard to technique, but tactically both teams were poor, particularly in defense, leaving huge spaces. Despite the clear dominance of Piracicaba, it would be PAEC that scored the first goal, after a beautiful attack in the 15^th minute: 1-0. Although only some 550 people were at the stadium, the atmosphere was great.

The game slowed down, which was not surprising given the heat, but the short passing remained really good. The visitors still had the best of the game, but it would again be the hosts who scored, after a great counter attack in the 38^th minute: 2-0.

I guess the home coach gave a thunder speech during half time, because PAEC started the second half much better. Unfortunately, in the 62^nd minute the central defender and captain of the hosts got his second yellow card and was sent off. The visitors took this as an opportunity to change the game and started to pressure again.

But the visitors wouldn’t give up and after a long, sustained attack a good ball was well controlled and finished: 2-1. With only three minutes to go in the first half, most home fans thought they were safe. But in the last minute of regular play the referee gave a soft penalty to the visitors, for holding on the edge of the box: 2-2, half time.

Although the game remained entertaining, and the atmosphere good, the pace was lower and the passing less accurate. Increasingly PAEC was with its back against the wall, but defended well. The visitors created a lot of pressure, but few real chances. And even when they were able to shoot at goal, the good PAEC goalie would save. Hence, 2-2 was also the final score.

I really enjoyed this game. Sure, the perfect sunny summer day helped, but that wasn’t all. It was a kind of intimate, relaxed as well as intense, football experience with entertaining and pretty decent football. Moreover, it was my first game in Latin America, which meant that I now have seen football games on all six continent (where professional football is played)!

Botofoga – Macae (13-02-2011)

I had to be in Sao Paulo, Brazil, for a conference, but decided to first go to Rio, to see my friend A, and a game in the Campeonato Carioca, the highest division in the state of Rio de Janeiro. We had selected a home game of one of the biggest clubs in Rio, Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas – like many other football clubs in Rio, Botafogo started as a regatta, a rowing club. A had already bought the tickets, but that was without thinking about Delta Airlines… after a delay of almost three hours at Atlanta, we finally took off… only to return after three hours because of “technical difficulties”. Adding insult to injury, the technical problems weren’t urgent, we could have made it to Brazil, but Delta doesn’t have accurate mechanics in Latin America, so we were made to return. After a night at an airport hotel in Atlanta, and a long flight, I finally arrived in Rio de Janeiro… at 3AM on Monday, with a 17 hour delay, and almost 12 hours after kick-off. Hence, no game in Rio. Thanks Delta!

SC Cambuur – FC Dordrecht (14-01-2011)

I meet up with my brother T. halfway between Amsterdam and Leeuwarden. The weather is terrible; it has been raining for days, but according to the website the game is still on. More than an hour before kick-off we arrive at the Cambuurstadion (Cambuur Stadium) and park our car directly in front of it. While the stadium was built in 1936, it has been renovated several times; the capacity remained roughly the same, however, and is currently set at 13.500. Recently it has become almost integrated into a shopping center, which is a pretty bizarre view.

We kill the time by eating something in a fish restaurant at the square in front of the stadium. By the time we walked over to the stadium, the square was filling up with Cambuur fans. We went to the ticket office and bought tickets for the seating area behind the goal for 14 euro each.

Tonight’s game was the first game of the second round of the Jupiler League (Second Division), between SC Cambuur-Leeuwarden and FC Dordrecht, both in the center of the table. Officially 5.850 people had found their way to the cozy Cambuurstadion; a small, all covered stadium that was so typical until the 1980s, but can hardly be found in the Netherlands anymore. The weather was terrible.

From the outset Dordrecht was the better team, even if they created only a couple of half chances. In the 15th minute a deflected header of the visitors went wide, while a couple minutes later a great Dordrecht pass led to a free header that went wide. Although we truly enjoyed the atmosphere, the game didn't bring much and was, thus, 0-0 at half time.

After getting some snacks from the (very busy) snack car next to the stand, we got back to our seats for the second half. The pace was already much lower and the quality of play wasn’t particularly high either. In fact, it took until the 58^th minute for the first really noteworthy situation: a shot by the visitors was cleared from the goal line. Three minutes later the first good shot at goal of the hosts was a goal: 1-0.

Dordrecht seemed dazed by the goal. Having dominated the game up till that point, the Cambuur goal was truly unexpected and the lead undeserved. Five minutes later the hosts scored again: 2-0, which again led to much song and dance.

[ Here should have been a video, but the shitty blogger page doesn't upload it ]

After Cambuur’s second goal the visitors no longer believed in an away win. The fans, who had been critical for most of the game, were now chattering happily. The game slowly but steadily rolled toward the end. At the end of the game Cambuur brought in Mark De Vries, a prolific striker who used to play at Hearts in Edinburgh (among various other teams). Within minutes he scored his goal: a smart through ball was professionally finished by De Vries. 3-0 was also the final score.

SC Cambuur is one of the last teams in the Netherlands were you can still experience football as it was in the 1970s: cozy… local… authentic. I am happy that the club is no longer under threat of bankruptcy, although saddened that they want to love to a new stadium in the future.

FC Wil – FC Sankt Gallen (12-01-2011)

No Ticket

As the students and my wife left for Prague, I took my rental to drive 800 km/500 miles south to Wil, Switzerland, to see a friendly afternoon game. I had chosen the game as it was close to where an old friend of mine lives now, so I picked him up at work on my way to Wil. We arrived about 15 minutes late, avoiding motorways so that I didn’t have to buy an expensive vignette for the Swiss motorways.

FC Wil 1900 was founded as FC Stella, by two English workers, in 1900. It plays in the Swiss Challenge League (Second Division). The club plays its home games at the Sportpark Bergholz, which has a capacity of a mere 4.800. Then again, the town of Wil only counts 17.000 inhabitants. When we arrived, the old and unimpressive stadium was being renovated.

To our surprise the game was not played on the main pitch, but at a practice pitch, in front of some 150, increasingly soaked, supporters. While this didn’t really give us the normal FC Wil experience, at least we didn’t have to pay to get in (as we didn’t have Swiss money on us).

By the time we join the few supporters on the side of the training pitch, the first half was already half played. It was cold and wet, which was probably the reason why both teams played at a pretty high pace. Still, most people were mainly trying to not get absolutely soaked. Among the few vocal fans were a small group of away fans (probably local youth, who supported the ‘big’ team from the area).

At the end of the first half FC Wil was pushing for a goal. In the 42^nd minute an attack of the host team seems to have broken up, but then the player turns and shoots it in the upper corner of the goal: 1-0! A couple minutes later a Wil free kick is saved in last instance, so 1-0 is the half time score.

[ Video should have been here, but shitty Blogger doesn't upload it ]

The second half is even colder and wetter. Most of the 150 spectators stayed for the whole game, but only two groups of ca. 5 fans each made some noise. There also wasn’t too much to get excited about. The first fifteen minutes there was little to report.

In the 60^th minute a Wil attack finished with a great sliding-shot: 2-0. The five Wil ‘ultras’ next to us went crazy, shouting insults to the away ‘ultras’ on the other side of the pitch. While both teams pushed for more, 2-0 was also the final score (obviously, there was no scoreboard). Although we didn’t have the real FC Wil experience, I doubt regular games present much more excitement than we experienced that day.

1. FC Union Berlin – FK Teplice (09-01-2011)

Berlin is one of the few capitals that lack a dominant football team (think also of Bern or, to some extent, Paris). At this moment, for the first time in many years, the city has no team in the 1. Bundesliga (First Division). Instead, they have two teams in the 2. Bundesliga (Second Division): Hertha BSC, the team from the former West that was relegated last year, and 1. FC Union Berlin, from the former East.

Being in Berlin with a group of US students, M and I made our way by car to the Stadion An der Alten Försterei. After a five minute walk over an iced and snowed path we arrived at the stadium. Created in 1920, and significantly removed in 2008-2009, the stadium has a capacity of just under 19.000, with a mere 3.014 seats (just over the minimum required for the Second Division). We bought tickets at €7 for the standing section of the stadium (only two stands were opened for this game). On the program was a friendly game (Testspiel) against FK Teplice, currently the number 6 in the Czech Gambrinus Liga (First Division), in preparation of the new season.

Union is a team from the former East Germany, which has a mostly local (district) and working class support. They still refer to themselves as Eiserne Union (Iron Union); in the GDR they were the team of the trade union (FDGB). Before the game the 1.021 fans, spread over just two of the four stands, sing their club song, sung by the famous German punk diva Nina Hagen, which creates a nice cozy atmosphere.

The fans are clearly happy that the new season is about to start and that they see their friends again in the stadium. This happiness is elevated by a freak goal in the 14^th minute; a beautiful shot from 16 meter in the upper corner of the goal: 1-0. After that the game becomes pretty poor, as Union has the will but not the talent, and Teplice the talent but not the will. After a couple of half chances for the visitors, a Union player gets stuck at the edge of the penalty box, turns, and kicks the ball in the low far corner: 2-0. Half Time!

After our students have raided the fan shop, and joined us on the stand, the second half starts and continues the bizarre game. In the 48^th minute, after a Union attack seems to have been stopped, the striker turns and kicks the ball in the cross of the goal: 3-0! After a couple of minutes, a Union player was brought down in the box: penalty!

With the penalty taken care off, and a comfortable 4-0 lead, Union no longer pressured for more and Teplice, while still unmotivated, created some small chances. However, very little exciting happened after that, and 4-0 was the final score. The fans said goodbye to each other, had a last beer or sausage, and went home happily.

Union is the third team I see in Berlin, after Hertha and TeBe, and it is clearly my favorite. Even with just over 1.000 people at a friendly, an Union game is experiencing football as it was meant to be, passionate, friendly, and local. Here people love their club, respect their players, and know their fellow supporters. Definitely highly recommended for every real groundhopper!

Hamburger Sport Verein – ajax (08-01-2011)

Having arrived in Amsterdam the morning before, I had taken a day to adjust to the jetlag, before renting a car and making my way to Berlin to join my wife and a group of American students. I had decided to take a detour through Hamburg, which added a good hour to the trip, but also promised the interesting test game (Testspiel) between HSV, the team with the longest history in the 1. Bundesliga (German First Division), and ajax, the Dutch (former) power house.

Fortunately, the Autobahn Gods were good to me, and the many road works didn’t slow me down too much, so around 15.45 I parked at about 10 minutes from the new Imtech Arena. The former Volksparkstadion was last renovated in 1998 and is a modern arena with a capacity of 57.274. I bought a ticket for 8 euro at the Nordkurve (Northern Stand), a standing section behind the goal, where the (young) hardcore home fans gather.

For both teams this game was the biggest test before the start of the season, respectively one and two weeks later. The stadium was roughly half full, officially 22.742, with at least a thousand from Amsterdam (a trip of ca. 465 km/ 290 miles).

It was going to be the game of Dutch star Ruud Van Nistelrooy, enthusiastically cheered on as “Roooooooeeeeeeeeedddddd”, who broke through internationally at PSV Eindhoven, the arch rival of ajax. Already in the 3^rd minute he picked up his first one, after some poor defending: 1-0.

After the first goal both teams excelled in losing the ball, which made for an amazingly poor game between these two big European teams. Moreover, the pace was low. In the 24^th minute an ajax shot from 16 meters was tipped over the goal, while two minutes later the ajax goalie boxed away a bouncing shot from a HSV player. After a couple of other half-chances on both sides, the hosts executed a great counter that was finished professionally by Van Nistelrooy: 2-0 in the 37^th minute. Seven minutes later another counter was finished after Van the Man gave a great sneaky through pass: 3-0. Half-Time!

After circling the stadium at half time, and being struck by the incredibly ugly merchandise in the fan shop, I took my place among the HSV supporters again. The second half seemed to continue as the first one had finished, although HSV missed its early chances. But then, within two minutes, ajax scored twice (I missed both; no, honestly, I did, it’s not because I hate ajax).

However, rather than pushing further, with still one third of the game to go, ajax returned to its horrible level of play, and the hosts were able to consolidate their small lead. In fact, with only 15 minutes to go, Van the Man gets the ball totally free, thinks he is offside, but then continues to score easily: 4-2, also the final score.

I don’t know what it is, but HSV just doesn’t do it for me. There is nothing wrong with the stadium, the support, or the team, but they just miss something, a soul, an identity. This is even more the case when you compare them to their city rival, FC Sankt Pauli, the overcommercialized anarchist city team. HSV might have the longest streak in the 1. Bundesliga, they haven’t made much impact, and are definitely not among my favorite German teams.

Hamilton Tiger-Cats - Edmonton Eskimos (08-10-2010)


For business in Toronto, Canada, I decided to see a game of Canadian Football with my wife. We drove the 44 miles (73 km) to Hamilton, Steel Town, Canada. This Friday night the Hamilton Tiger-Cats were taking on the Edmonton Eskimos.

We parked close to the Ivor Wynne Stadium, a large, old football stadium with a capacity of 30.000. It has been the home of the Tiger-Cats since 1950 and I doubt much was invested in it since that time. It has the shape and atmosphere of a high school football stadium, but then just a very big one. Oh, and an expensive one, as our tickets for the top ring of the stadium were CAD 29 a piece (ca. USD 29 or EUR 21).

The stadium was roughly three-quarter filled, mostly blue collar workers, many seem to know each other. Reminded me of going to soccer games at provincial clubs. Now, Canadian Football is very similar to American Football, but there are (at least) two major differences: (1) there are only three tries (not four); (2) you get 1 point for a punt that ends in the endzone (‘single’). As a consequence of the first difference, the game is much quicker than American Football with the ball much more often changing sides.

The game was dominated from the beginning by the home team, one of the dynasties in Canadian Football (seemingly similar to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the US). Because you have only two real plays, the first one is almost always thrown. Depending on the outcome of the first, the second is ran or thrown again. In most cases, the third down is kicked. In the first period the Tiger-Cats scored one touchdown, through running the ball.

The second period was more exciting, as well as confusing, with the Tiger-Cats first scoring through a ‘safety’ (9-0) and then by ‘single’, after a punt bounced in the endzone (10-0). Then, the Eskimos finally hit back, by a touchdown: 10-7. The first half is ended by a field goal of the Tiger-Cats: 13-7. Half Time.

In the third period the Tiger-Cats take the initiative again, scoring a touchdown: 20-7. But the Eskimos hang in with a field goal (20-10) and a single (20-11). But in the fourth and final period the hosts make an end to any last speculation. They score a touchdown (26-11), but when they go for the conversion there is a flag, and they decide to go for a play conversion (28-11).

Although it had become quite cold, almost all people were still in the stadium, enjoying the game, the company, and the beer. I don’t think any Eskimos supporters were in the stadium; it is 2.050 miles (3.300 km) from Edmonton to Hamilton! We stayed until what turned out to be the last touchdown (35-11).

We had an excellent time at the game! Canadian Football is much faster than American Football, though this makes it, oddly enough, also a bit less exciting. In terms of atmosphere, it is in between college football and NFL: it has the class base of NFL, but the familiarity of college. Anyone who has a chance to see a game, should definitely do so.