They have been a lot of fairytale stories that have caught the heart of all us soccer lovers, but I honestly do not think that none can compare to the story of German Bundesliga side Union Berlin.
Union Berlin are a club located within the capital of Germany and were founded back in 1966. They were never really a club that would play in the top tier and were constantly floating between the 2nd and 4th divisions within Germany for most of their existence. Back in 2002, the club went into financial turmoil due to them not being able to pay for their licensing fee needed within German Bundesliga II. Because of this, thousands of club supporters had to donate their own blood in order to raise funds to pay for the club’s licensing. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t be long until they were in more financial turmoil and were relegated back to the fourth division by 2006, this time being on the brink of extinction due to not being able to pay for stadium repairs. The fans came to their rescue yet again by volunteering 140,000 hours of free labor in order to assist in the repairing of the stadium which would eventually be the catalyst for them rising back into the Bundesliga II by 2009 where they stayed until finally gaining promotion to the Bundesliga in 2019. After all of these potential disasters, Union Berlin are now a Champions league team after finishing in the top 4 of the 22/23 season. From potential extinction back in 2006, to now receiving Champions league funds in the space of 17 years, not even Leicester City winning the Premier League in 2016 can match what Union Berlin have accomplished in my opinion. An amazing story to behold indeed.
Similar to Newcastle, Union Berlin had been within the top 4 for majority of the season and never seemed like dropping out at any time
I mentioned in the Newcastle episode that they did not have the squad to match up against the elite within their league, but I personally believe that Newcastle would beat this Union Berlin squad with ease! That just goes to show how fantastic Union Berlin’s performances have been. They have indeed overachieved and may it continue! The key to perform above expectations with a lower rated team is through proper balance within the starting XI. Berlin had no intention of keeping possession for long spells which is indicated with each player’s role. Ronnow stayed between his sticks for majority of the match, the back 3 kept it simple on the ball with Robin Knoche being responsible for playmaking from the back. The Midfield 3 are all robust and energetic players who may not have a lot of talent, but surely made it difficult for their opposition to perform well. The Wingbacks worked like dogs (which is always necessary whenever you play with a back 3), while their front 2 basically had to work with ‘scraps’ (a term used for players who don’t get a lot of time on the ball), but they had a very good connection with Becker operating deep to link the midfield and attack, while big man Siebatcheu stayed upfront and turned himself into a handful as a ‘Robust Target Man’.
STRATEGY
What you will come to realize is that majority of teams tend to use the Counter Attack as their main strategy since they simply would not be able to outplay majority of their opposition.
INSTRUCTIONS
GENERAL
Union Berlin relied a lot on their defensive set up to ensure that they were always remaining in games. After they did this, they simply played to their strengths (which we will be talking about next) to keep on winning matches or getting good results
ATTACK
In my opinion, this is the best and ONLY set up which allows a team to play a long ball style of game. Robin Konche was crucial as his ball playing abilities got the team on the attack swiftly without the need of long spells of possession. The beauty about this was that it occured regardless of whether Knochr was under pressure or not. The Wingbacks were also crucial to this set up since they would’ve had a lot of space which meant that they would be crossing the ball into the box quite often. And with the likes of Haberer and Schafer making late runs into the box, it meant that Berlin always had enough numbers to cause any opposition a problem
DEFENDING
This was the foundation of everything that went right for Union Berlin. They were OUTSTANDING defensively! They stuck to their guns and made it VERY difficult for teams to break them down. This resulted in them finishing the season with the joint best defence within the Bundesliga
This squad had to work very hard to obtain the level of success they have obtained. What really allowed them to push on was the fact that they started very well and kept on using their form to outplay the opposition. The amazing rise of Union Berlin is truly amazing, and with the way how they have been progressing over the past 15 years, let’s hope that they are able to continue their upward trajectory. One thing that is certain is that this team is going to be in good conditions off the field for a very long time.
We head to Spain tomorrow to check out one of the members of the Basque country doing their best to make that region of La Roja proud 👌
The Soccermanager Experience 