FC Nurnberg

This Saturday is Nurnberg’s first derby match with Bayern Munich of the season. Bayern Munich will host the match at their Allianz Arena and will hopefully not demolish my beloved side. Unfortunately Bayern Munich are outscoring the competition 26-3 in competitions so far so I fear for Der Club who are sitting in the bottom half of the table. While Bayern Munich has been the team to beat in German football for the last few decades, Nurnberg was the team in the early 20^th century.

With that said, you could compare Nurnberg and Bayern Munich to the Mets and Yankees of American Major League Baseball. On a success and monetary standpoint though, I think Nurnberg is much further behind Bayern Munich, than the Mets are with the Yankees. Nurnberg’s whole team payroll probably equals that of just the midfield for Bayern Munich. With that in mind, I’m being realistic about Der Club’s chances. I of course would like them to win (anything is possible) but ultimately I simply just don’t want it to be a devastating loss. If Nurnberg wins I’ll be ecstatic, if they draw I’ll be happy, if they lose 1-0 or 2-0 I’ll be disappointed but content, and if they lose worse than 2-0 I’ll be ashamed and devastated. To top it off, I have a new coworker that works from Germany and of course is a Bayern Munich fan. I really would like at least a draw for some bragging rights. I guess I could take the hits from a 2-0 loss (that’s a respectable loss) but again anything worse, well I’m just asking for it returning to the office on Monday.

Now, those reading this are probably wondering – Why are you a FC Nurnberg fan anyway?

Well, my connection with Nurnberg is stronger than with my other football clubs I follow. Most namely, Nurnberg is the only one of the three cities that I have actually been too. Between my sophomore and junior years of high school, I took a class trip to Germany. I think we only stayed a day or two in Nurnberg but it stuck out in memory as my favorite city on the trip. As far as details go, all I can remember is that we toured the city’s old fortifications, had a lunch in the town’s main square next to the old Gothic fountain, and stayed in a hostel that was essentially the newer section of the city’s castle. Still I just remember having a good feeling about the place. The memories of being in Nurnberg led me to be a follower of Der Club (a nickname for FC Nurnberg).

I returned to Germany with another school trip during my senior year of college. Although we went in January during the Bundesliga’s winter break, the return to Germany sparked my interest in German football, and really now that I think of it football in general. I must admit too that I did buy my first club jersey while on that trip too…a Bayern Munich jersey. Deeper into my following of FC Nurnberg, I hate admitting that I had a Bayern Munich jersey before I had a Nurnberg jersey. I haven’t worn the Bayern Munich one for quite some time (I can’t remember when I did) and frankly am disgusted when I see it at the bottom of my shirt drawer (maybe I should just take it out).

My Nurnberg jersey though I wear very proudly (as I will at work tomorrow in advance of Saturday’s game). My coworker in Germany and another coworker who is natively German (a Borussia Dortmund fan) tell me I should have picked a better team. I’m not bothered by not being at the top of the tables, although I wouldn’t mind it. FC Nurnberg has been relegated from the Bundesliga more times than any other club in Germany. However, with that said they have always returned every time too. They may be underdogs, but they always put up a good fight.

I’m also a proud supporter of Nurnberg even though they are the toughest of my teams to follow. There is a greater time difference to Germany than with England, seven hours instead of six. Luckily though the matches seem to start later in Germany, so the early Saturday games are usually at a respectable 8:30am my time. The largest hurdle to overcome in following Nurnberg though is the language. I took four years of German in high school and a semester in college, but that was awhile ago. The Bundesliga streams live audio commentary of the league matches on their website. Luckily I still remember bits from my schooling so I can mostly follow (with the assistance from a match tracker of course). From my German classes I knew “ecke” was corner so I know when it’s a corner kick for example, but I have picked up words from listening too – most importantly that “tor” means goal.

And with that said, I hope I hear “tor” come up for Nurnberg a lot this Saturday.