Skip to main content
170804FB2BLunionKiel
1.FC Union Berlin © Camera4

1. FC Union Berlin

Never forget, iron union!

Bird of paradise, Nina Hagen is the most glamorous fan of the 1. FC Union. Her jersey bears the number 66 and from her originates the “iron union” anthem. The club from Oberschöneweide looks back onto a long and turbulent union history, and has sensationally made it into the first Bundesliga in 2019. Red and white are the club’s colours; the fans embody the typical “Berliner attitude and humour with lots of heart!”.

Everything had started in 1906 in a sandpit in today’s Plönzeile in Oberschönweide. After several moves, the union found its home stadium, “Alte Försterei” (Old Forest Ranger’s Office), which can hold around 19,000 spectators; here, the fans have preserved for themselves a piece of soccer romance of bygone times. At small booths, fish sandwiches, bratwursts and deep fryings with sour cream are sold.

The fans are at times termed “good old ruffians”; in any case, it is rougher here than at other games. Already in DDR times the union fans were regarded as loud and maladjusted, and that has held up unchanged to this day. During the game, when from all sides it resounds “and never forget, iron union”, the stadium becomes a witch’s cauldron.