HERTHA BSC AND KARSLRUHER SC: FOOTBALL AND FRIENDSHIP

May 7, 2025

“The atmosphere was just as good. And the attendance was frankly insane. 63,612 people packed into the stands.

THE PARTY STARTED THE NIGHT BEFORE

On the western fringes of Berlin, a festival of friendship is in full swing. Two teams. A carnival of blue and white. The giant sweeping tifo proudly declares ‘Hertha and the KSC’.

The relationship between Hertha BSC and Karlsruher SC is an enduring kinship that goes beyond football and seeps its way into the very fabric of both communities.

It’s probably worth mentioning that the town of Karlsruhe is not close to Berlin. Lying near the French border, it is about as far away from Germany’s capital as you can get. A 14-hour round trip, no less. And yet, the draw of this fixture is enough to draw in thousands, and the party started the night before.

DAWN CAME ALL TOO SOON

The friendship which began in 1976 is one of the oldest fan connections in European football. As such, bars and pubs across the city were packed with sets of both fan groups – drinking beer, necking shots of Berliner Luft and chanting each other’s names.

Hertha fans sang Karlsruher SC songs, and vice versa. The fact that it was an early kick-off the next day didn’t seem to deter anyone; they were out for the night, determined to enjoy the conviviality for as long as they could.

Most of the world’s beer that isn’t consumed in Fife is consumed in Germany. And quite possibly by these two fanbases alone.

The final beer went down too easily, and the dawn came all too soon.

The bright sunshine of early spring burst through the vast glass roof of the Hauptbahnhof and seared itself into my beer-soaked retainers. It was time to head to the ground.

I didn’t have to travel far before I saw the first glimpses of blue and white. What began as a trickle, a scarf here and there, soon became a torrent. There was no doubt I was heading in the right direction.

THE ATTENDANCE WAS FRANKLY INSANE

Arriving at the mighty Olympiastadion, the vibe was not what I had expected. I had been warned that the German police were not known for their light touch at football matches.

Think the Central Park Rangers from the film Elf, and you’ll essentially have an idea. But here, there was very little policing needed.

Fans mingled, shared beers, said and sang German sentences I couldn’t understand (but given how they gave way to bellowing laughter, I’m assuming it was one of those famous German jokes).

Old men and women shared stickers and swapped the fabric badges of each other’s clubs with all the enthusiasm of a ’90s kid in the playground dealing Pokémon cards.

Inside the ground, the atmosphere was just as good. And the attendance was frankly insane. 63,612 people packed into the stands. Think about that for a moment. A second division game, between two teams experiencing disappointing seasons. 63,612 people. That’s more people than could cram into Anfield. Or the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. 63,612 people. An all-singing, all-bouncing wall of unity. In the second tier.

BEST FRIENDS CAN NEVER FALL

Before kick-off, a huge display emerged, hundreds of meters long and spanning two-thirds of the ground. ‘HERTHA UND DER KSC’ a show of incredible unity between the fanbases. The whole stadium bouncing and chanting “Hertha KSC, best friends can never fall”. A deafening noise.

The second the game kicked off, my shoulders were grabbed and linked by those around me. Soon, as one united ring, the stadium started to bounce up and down. The home fans sang, then the away fans replied with the same song.

The match itself was great, and Hertha got a well-deserved 3-1 win. But the day was never about that. It’s not why I came, and honestly, I’m not sure it’s why the other 63,611 people came either.

We live in an increasingly divided world. And football is not exactly known for an all-embracing unity between fan groups. But here, somewhere west of Berlin, in a stadium built and designed by literal actual Nazis, I’d witnessed how communities can unite around one idea. And if football is that idea, then that’s more than OK by me.