FC Germania

The first team playing currently in the fifth division has managed to establish a place at the top of the league and goes as second place into the summer break. Overall, the group FC Germania is playing in this year seems very equal with unexpected results coming in each week and each team having the potential to beat another. Thus, fans and followers might longingly look after the one or other point that our team might have left behind. However, as everything is super tight, nothing is lost and everything is up for grabs for the team that shows the most consistent performance throughout all games of the second half. We for sure are looking forward to more exciting matches.

Numbers & Facts

Last games

• DRAW FC Germania 1–1 HePu (TI 5.7.)
• WIN FC Kiffen/2 3–5 FC Germania (TI 28.6.)
• LOSS FC Germania 0–1 Ellas (TI 14.6.)
• WIN FC Germania 3–1 Vesa/Töölö (MA 6.6.)

Upcoming games

• KE 3.8 20:15 FC Germania vs. HJK/Yellow
• MA 8.8. 20:20 HePu vs. FC Germania
• KE 17.8. 18:15 Etu-Töölön Urhot vs. FC Germania
• MA 22.8. 20:20 FC Germania vs. Tavastia
• KE 31.8. 20:15 FC POHU/Simpsons vs. FC Germania

All games: FC Germania (palloliitto.fi)

League table 

after 9 games (as of 7th July 2022)

	#	Team	O	V	T	H	M	P
	1	HePu	9	5	3	1	17–6	18
	2	FC Germania	9	5	2	2	22–15	17
	3	FC POHU/Simpsons	9	4	3	2	23–14	15
	4	Ellas	9	4	0	5	12–17	12
	5	Vesa/Töölö	9	4	0	5	27–25	12
	6	HJK/Yellow	9	3	2	4	19–20	11
	7	Etu-Töölön Urhot	9	3	2	4	29–25	11
	8	Tavastia	9	3	2	4	18–20	11
	9	FC Kiffen/2	9	3	1	5	15–44	10
	10	Colo-Colo	9	2	3	4	21–17	9

Goals

• 6: Sebastian S. 
• 5: Emmanuel (aka Kuku)
• 3: Benjamin B.

Assists

• 4: Sebastian S. 
• 3: Marek
• 3: Ion

Voices from the team

Matthias, the team played yesterday its last match before the summer break against the leading team HePu. Already for spectators, it was a nerve-wracking and intensive game. After sleeping over it, what is your conclusion about the match and the team’s performance?

To be honest, I was quite happy with our performance right after the match. Especially after the red card for our side, we still managed to step it up a notch and pressure them for the remaining 20 minutes. Looking back, I’m also a little disappointed we couldn’t win it – we did have the chances! Of course, it would have been sweet to spend the Summer on the sunny top spot of the table but we’ll be ready to take that in August when we win HePu.

Zooming out, you won two games against Kiffen/2 and Vesa/Töölö in June but also lost against Ellas. Now yesterday the last game before the summer break with the tie. Are seven points out of the last four games, too little?

We sure would have liked to gather more points. We were somewhat unlucky, also with absences and injuries, but also not calm enough to bring home some more wins. But we still have things in our own hands, so we’re good.

Now the team is heading into the well-deserved summer break before starting again on 3rd August against HJK/Yellow. What things have already worked very well during the first part of the season that the team can build on?

We changed the system from a 4-2-3-1 to a 3-2-3-2 and that has worked pretty well. It gives us more options offensively and we have created tons of opportunities and scored a lot of goals. This goes hand in hand with a consistent growing together as a team – I feel we really have gotten to know each other better, on and off the pitch. Not so easy with loads of new players but it’s been a lot of fun.

… and what things do you guys still need to improve for a successful second half of the season?

As a defender, I’m not happy with how many goals we’ve conceded already. This is mainly an issue of defensive organization and we’re working on that. On the other side of the pitch, we will need to be more clinical and score more goals from the great opportunities we create. Our strikers are fast, strong, aggressive, and have great technical abilities. Everyone has shown they know how to score – I’m sure the summer break will be good for all of us so we get that little bit of extra calm in front of the goal.

Speaking about being more successful in the second half, have you discussed internally within the team what a successful season would look like? You have been pretty close to the promotion already last year…

First and foremost we’re a group of friends enjoying our passion together. So being a close-knit group with a good atmosphere is the most important and we’re well on course for that goal. Of course with such quality players, you also want to be successful. I think winning this league is realistic – all we gotta do is win all remaining games. We have seen that in this league, anything can happen, and results tend to be even more unpredictable in the second half of the season. We’ll keep working on ourselves, improve the little things, and then I doubt that anyone can stop us.

Anything else you would like to let our fans and supporters know?

I want to say “Thank you!” to everyone who has been following the season this far, especially our fans on the sideline. Quite a few people showed up for our match against HePu and especially in a tight match like that, it’s a great motivation boost. So all Germania followers: please show up for a match or two – it really means a lot!

Thanks for the interview Matthias and have a great summer.

FC Germania/Akademie

The beginning of June started as bad as one can imagine as the team had no chance against ToTe/Tapio. While outside the sun was shining and a heat wave brought people into parks and on terraces, in the indoor arena “the sauna of Tali halli” the academy had a pitch-black day that everyone wanted to forget as quickly as possible. However, as more people return from the injury list and also the team chemistry improved thereafter, the first win of the season was celebrated shortly after. While there has been no official goal set for the academy team, looking at the table shows that if the form curve continues to go up, finishing the league not as the last team but somewhere in the middle should be very much doable.

Numbers & Facts

Last games

• DRAW FC Fortuna/Itä 3–3 FC Germania/Akademie (MA 4.7.)
• LOSS Ponnistus/Kermaa 3–1 FC Germania/Akademie  (TI 28.6.)
• WIN FC Germania/Akademie  1–0 FC Babylon/2 (MA 13.6.)
• DRAW Wartti/Wild Boars 1–1 FC Germania/Akademie (TO 9.6.)
• LOSS FC Germania/Akademie  0–10 ToTe/Tapio (KE 1.6.)

Upcoming games

• TO 4.8 20:40 FC Germania/Akademie vs. FC Fortuna/Itä
• KE 10.8. 20:40 Chicken Wings/2 vs. FC Germania/Akademie
• MA 15.8. 18:00 FC Inter Vuosaari vs. FC Germania/Akademie
• MA 22.8. 19:40 FC Germania/Akademie vs. FC Kontu/Kupa

All games under FC Germania/Akademie (palloliitto.fi)

League table

after 8 games (as of 7th July 2022)

	#	Joukkue	O	V	T	H	M	P
	1	FC Inter Vuosaari	8	5	3	0	22–9	18
	2	FC Kontu/Kupa	8	5	2	1	16–5	17
	3	ToTe/Tapio	8	5	2	1	29–8	17
	4	Ponnistus/Kermaa	8	3	0	5	10–16	9
	5	FC Babylon/2	8	2	2	4	8–12	8
	6	Wartti/Wild Boars	8	2	2	4	13–19	8
	7	Chicken Wings/2	8	1	4	3	11–13	7
	8	FC Fortuna/Itä	8	1	4	3	10–19	7
	9	FC Germania/Akademie	8	1	3	4	10–28	6

Goals

• 2: Benjamin G.
• 2: Giorgi K.

Assists

• 2: Nick G.
• 2: Ilya M.

Voices from the team

Niklas comments on the last results:

The academy team has achieved very mixed results in recent games. Everything from a clear defeat to two draws to the first win of the season. The mood within the team continues to be very good. This is also due to the improvements in performance that we have seen in certain areas in recent games. That creates motivation for the second half of the season. After the summer break, we need to take the positive developments from the last few games with us and focus more on training again.

FC Germania Hki 2015

The hobby team was able to book three wins in the first four games of this season. Word is out that the league they are playing in this year has a very high level and the teams are playing on a good level. While FC Germania Hki 2015 has fewer games played so far than some of the other teams, a look in the league table confirms that there are several strong contenders for the top spot with our team being one of them. With six games being scheduled for the month of August, one against the so far unbeaten team FC Peppan, the team will have to come out of the summer break well rested and prepared.

Numbers & Facts

Last games

• WIN  Darras Taas 0–4 FC Germania Hki 2015 (MA 20.6.)
• LOSS FC Germania Hki 2015  1–3 FC Aztecas (SU 12.6.)
• WIN  FC Elite 0–7 FC Germania Hki 2015 (PE 3.6.)

Upcoming games

Some games are still to be determined for August. For updates see

FC Germania Hki 2015 (palloliitto.fi)

League table

(as of 10th July 2022)

	#	Joukkue	O	V	T	H	M	P
1	1	FC Peppan	5	5	0	0	13–2	15
2	2	Darras Taas	6	4	1	1	16–8	13
3	3	FC Aztecas	5	4	0	1	22–7	12
4	4	FC Germania Hki 2015	4	3	0	1	24–3	9
5	5	CLE/Wifi 2	4	2	0	2	10–4	6
6	6	FC Onnellinen loppu	6	2	0	4	8–19	6
7	7	FC Pelle	5	2	0	3	9–12	6
8	8	FC Elite	5	2	0	3	8–20	6
9	9	FC LeJa/KKI	5	1	1	3	8–13	4
10	10	FC Kaljamahat	5	1	0	4	4–22	3
11	11	AiPa	4	0	0	4	5–17	0

FC GERMANIA: MIESTEN VITONEN

What happened in May

Our first team had a very good start to the season, securing three wins in the first three games against HJK/Yellow, Etu-Töölön Urhot, and Tavastia. Unfortunately, in the next game, the team around head coach Keegan had to give three points to the opponent. But there was also a positive side to that loss: Being down 0 to 3 and playing with one man less due to an unlucky red card of our goalkeeper Liam, the team never gave up and showed its fighting spirit. Consequently, two late scores from our side made the game still close until the last seconds but unfortunately it was not enough for a draw. The last game of the month against Colo-Colo was played under lousy weather conditions with wind, rain, and not much more than 10 degrees showing on the thermometer. After a goalless first half, FC Germania received a cold shower from Colo-Colo after half-time, as the opponents managed to score two quick goals. Again, our team did not give up and fought until the very end, scoring one goal in the 86th and the other goal just before the final whistle in the 90th minute making it a draw. As a result, FC Germania is currently in the upper half of the table with five games played and ten points gathered. So far, it seems that the league once again is very tight with everyone having the potential to beat everyone: eight of ten teams have at least one win and everyone has at least some points so far. At the top of the league besides our team it seems that FC POHU/Simpsons and HJK/Yellow have established themselves as well – both teams we have already faced in May. But also many teams are just closely behind that still have all chances of a top spot at the end of the season. June being again full of games, a more clear picture will emerge for sure until the teams will go into their summer break beginning of July.

We also asked our head coach Keegan, what he thought of the first month into the season (before the last game against Colo-Colo):

The season has gotten off to a good start: 3 wins and 1 loss so far. We have scored some nice goals and have not given our opponents too many chances to score. There is still some work to do to tighten up our organization in both defense and attack, but some very positive signs so far. The outlook for the season is good. Of course, we miss Benji now that he is gone, but we are thankful for his good contributions to the team. We also are missing several key players that are on holiday or have been dealing with injuries, but these players are slowly coming back now and we will have our full squad available again soon. I see as key some good hard work in training sessions to get to play together as a team and do some tactical work, and we all expect the wins will keep coming. In any case, the spirit and togetherness in the team are excellent. When you’ve got that, I think that the sky is the limit.

Next games

There are still four games until the summer break with a chance for FC Germania to show what is actually possible this season. Three of the four teams that will be played have at least two wins, indicating that no points will be for granted and our team needs to perform consistently and on a high level before going into the summer break. Especially the game against Ellas might be interesting to watch, as both teams have had some legendary fights already during the previous seasons and players know each other very well.

All games, actual league tables and results can be found at SPL

• Monday, 6. June – 20:15: FC Germania vs Vesa/Töölö @ Lauttasaari TN
• Tuesday, 14. June – 20:20: FC Germania vs Ellas @ Töölö PK 6 TN
• Tuesday, 28. June – 19:20: FC Kiffen/2 vs FC Germania @ Pitjäjänmäki TN
• Tuesday, 5. July – 20:00: FC Germania vs HePu @ Töölö PK 6 TN
• then summer break until beginning of August

FCGH/AKADEMIE: MIESTEN KUTONEN

What happened in May

After the first couple of games, the academy team stands with two defeats and one tie in the lower third of the table. However, the numbers do not tell us how the team managed to come back gloriously from being behind 3 to 1 in their first game against Chicken Wings. This one point definitely felt like a win and proved that the team chemistry and fighting spirit are there already early in the season.

Despite the two following losses, the team has shown good individual and team performances and many players are rotating between the first team and academy team to help both teams. As the first team had a lot of injuries and missing players already this early in the season, the academy will continue to work on establishing a core team while helping the first team as much as possible through the shared player pool. And of course, working on the team spirit and having fun on and off the pitch together.

Next games

All games, actual league tables and results can be found at SPL

• Wednesday, 1. June – 20:40: FC Germania/Akademie vs ToTe/Tapio @ Tali Halli TN
• Thursday 9. June – 19:30 : Wartti/Wild Boars vs FC Germania/Akademie @ Kartano 1 TN
• Monday, 13. June – 19:40: FC Germania/Akademie  vs FC Babylon/2 @ Pitäjänmäki TN
• Tuesday, 28. June – 19:20: Ponnistus/Kermaa vs FC Germania/Akademie @ Tali Halli TN
• Monday, 4. July – 18:30: FC Fortuna/Itä vs FC Germania/Akademie @ Kartano 1 TN
• then summer break until beginning of August

FC GERMANIA HKI 2015: MIEHET HARRASTE VITONEN

What happened in May

Who thought that our hobby team will take the only game in May slowly, got it all wrong. At the end of the game day a result that reminds us more of other sports types, made the team to the top contender of this year. The team around coach Lautner was able to secure a 12 to 0 victory against FC Kaljamahat, the winner of the series last year. Two players of FC Germania HKI scored three goals each, but overall a disciplined and strong team performance made everyone shine that day and the team was able to celebrate the victory with some cold refreshments afterward.

We asked sports director for the hobby team, Oliver, for a short comment as well:

The 7er team start had a dream start into the new season. The 12:0 “Kanter” victory and highly composed performance against last year’s top team FC Kaljamahat gives us confidence for games to come.

Next games

All games, actual league tables and results can be found at SPL

• Friday, 3. June – 18:45: FC Elite vs FC Germania Hki 2015 @ Töölö PK 6 TN
• Sunday 12. June – 14:30 : FC Germania Hki 2015 vs FC Aztecas @ Kontula TN
• Monday, 20. June – 19:45 Darras Taas vs FC Germania Hki 2015 @ Tali halli TN
• Friday, 1. July – 20:30: FC Germania Hki 2015 vs CLE/Wifi 2 @ Jätkäsaari TN
• then summer break until beginning of August

Game previews for May

An old FCGH country lore (german: Bauernregel) goes something like that: The safest sign that Finnish summer is finally here is that the season has finally started, let it snow or not.

In that line, we are excited that all our three adult games start their summer with the first games in May. May will be everything else but a slow start for our first team FC Germania with a fully packed schedule of five games. As the team is again competing in the sixth division (Vitonen) just like last year, there are many old faces like Tavastia, POHU/Simpsons, and Etu-Töölön Urho where our strengthened team can set a trajectory for the whole season already from early on. Also new opponents like Colo-Colo await.

Our development team FCGH/Akademie has three games in may and also plays in the same league as last year (Kutonen, seventh division). There are many new names in the group this year and the goal should be to focus mostly to focus on ourselves and grow together as a team. The first game will already be a true test with the first team playing on the same day so two full roosters have to be gathered.

While the 11vs11 leagues start already at the beginning of May, our 7vs7 hobby team has still some time to polish their skills and game strategies before also they enter the competition at the end of May with their first game. The team will play in the same hobby league as last year with the goal to find a good balance between winning points and having fun together.

Pre-season interview with our head coach Keegan

Keegan, our 11ers head coach answered some of the key ‘burning’ questions before the start of the league season for both 1st team and Akademie team on May 5.

FCGH I now enters its 3rd season in Miesten Vitonen and FCGH / Akademie its 2nd year in Kutonen. How would you compare the starting point and strategy for the teams with last year?
Keegan: I think that the starting point of this season is really optimistic. We are in a good place with a lot of new players in the squad. We have a really fast attacking unit, especially in the 1st team. So we will look to play a little more counter-attacking football than we did in the past. For the Akademie team we have a lot of quality and a much deeper player pool all over the pitch this year.

You got quite many new players over the last months. How have they been integrating into the 11ers? 
Keegan: I can’t even count exactly how many new players we have! We brought in a lot of really good quality players to strengthen the squad. Another team from the 5th Division and one of our former opponents, FC Ruisku, has stopped existing. Their most committed and best quality players have decided to join our team as a result of that. They are really good guys and are enjoying the community of FC Germania.

Managing close to 50 players in two teams is quite a challenge. How have you organised yourselves?
Keegan: This is our second season with two teams. This season, instead of having really clear definitions between the first team and the Akademie team, we’ll have a single player pool. Players who are not selected for the first team in a given week will be eligible to play in the Akademie team. This is possible because of the extra depth that we have, with so many good quality players joining. It will take a little bit of time, especially in the Akademie team, to build an identity. But that is something we hope the players will be committed enough to work on. Having committed players who are able to attend on a regular basis as much as possible is something we really want to stress for this season.

You had some resounding victories in pre-season matches lately. How are they to be rated with a view to the upcoming season?
Keegan: Indeed, we had some heavy victories, including an 8-0 win over FC FC, a team we had never beaten before. Furthermore, we bet Chicken Wings, a mixed team of its 4th and 6th Division players, 8-2. And even our 0-2 Cup loss against a team from the 3rd Division was a really good showing from our team. From all these results everybody is really positive about what we are capable of doing, especially from an attacking perspective where we have a lot of speed and quality. Our players are very excited to get started with the league, have fun playing together and score goals.

The first team’s goal for the last year was clear: Promotion to Nelonen. You made it to the promotion round. Would you have the same ambition for 2022? 
Keegan: We haven’t had a meeting to set official goals for the team yet, but that will be coming very soon. If you take our practice match results, you would say that we should absolutely be trying to push for promotion. But I’m not going to impose such a goal on our squad. What I think is most important for the season is that we have a group of committed and strong players that work hard for each other and the team week in week out, and that we take it game by game.

If we perform as well as we can in all of the matches of the season, I’m pretty sure that at the end of the season we will be promoting to Nelonen. But you have to play the games. There are some strong teams in our group that have potential to give us a really good challenge. One of them is Ellas, a team that we played in the Cup last year and who were relegated from Nelonen.
There will be some challenging matches, but I’m confident with our squad that when we play to the best of our abilities, we can beat anybody in 5th Division.

Any final words you would like to share?
Keegan: Personally, as a player who is getting to the end of his playing career I am currently injured once again, with a broken hand. While this is a bit frustrating for me as a player, it allows me to focus even more on the management and coaching for the next couple of weeks. I will have to work hard as a player if I even want to get a chance to play later this season in the first team. But I’m looking forward to the challenge of both coaching and playing yet again.

In a nutshell

FC GERMANIA: MIESTEN VITONEN

(Up to date schedules, results and table can be found at SPL)

• MA 5.5. 20:00 HJK/Yellow vs  FC Germania
• MA 16.5. 18:00 FC Germania vs Etu-Töölön Urhot
• TI 24.5. 20:20 Tavastia vs FC Germania
• TI 31.5. 20:00 FC Germania vs FC POHU/Simpsons
• TI 31.5 20:20 Colo-Colo vs FC Germania

FCGH/AKADEMIE: MIESTEN KUTONEN

(Up to date schedule, results and table can be found at SPL)

• TO 5.5. 19:30 FC Germania/Akademie vs Chicken Wings/2
• SU 8.5. 15:45 FC Germania/Akademie vs FC Inter Vuosaari
• TI 17.5. 20:40 FC Kontu/Kupa vs FC Germania/Akademie

FC GERMANIA HKI 2015: MIEHET HARRASTE VITONEN

(Up to date schedule, results and table can be found at SPL)

• SU 22.5. 18:45 FC Germania Hki 2015 – FC Kaljamahat

Newsletter January/February 2022

Dear Supporters and Followers of FC Germania Helsinki ry!

We hope that your new year has started well and still wish you all the best for 2022, foremost health and happiness! This is our first Newsletter for this year. We got some interesting contents in stock for you:

 

CONTENT

Introduction
Outlook for 2022
News from our teams – 11ers, 7ers & kids
News from the FCGH Board

FCGH Supporting Members
Our honorary member Thomas Dähne excels at Holstein Kiel!

 

Outlook for 2022

The year has started once again with some challenges, as the pandemic has imposed some restrictions on our football practice. But we are happy that our men can still train outside every week.

We have many plans for the new year and have already signed up our three adult teams for Vitonen (1st team), Kutonen (Akademie team) and Helsinki’s hobby league (7er).

To prepare for the season, we would like to organise a joint training camp for all teams in Vierumäki, the famous Finnish sports centre, this April. We also want to expand our activities for the kids.

And at the end of the year, the next football World Championships are awaiting – we surely want to organise our public viewing again, if possible. We will also organise other social events to bring together our members, their families and our supporters.

We are very happy that we can also go through this year once again with our three main sponsors Bruhn Spedition, Hetzner and Deutsche Schule Helsinki!

 

News from our teams

The “11ers”

The 11ers are reaching out to all members of the club as well as externals regarding the next season of its two 11er teams, our first team playing in the “Vitonen” and our second team, the Academy team playing in the “Kutonen”.

On top of the regular season matches, we will again have one team fight in the Miesten Suomen Cup, a cup played between 314 teams from all over Finland playing in different leagues (Last year called the Suomen Region’s cup). We will start in the second round where we will be facing the winner of the match held between Helsingin Ponnistus (Nelonen) and PuiU (Kolmonen), meaning we can expect a great fight and a spectacle of a match.

In order to ensure the success of both teams, the 11ers are still looking for a few key players to join either of the teams, especially players that can support our first team in the defense. We welcome everyone to join the 11ers for a few try-out Training sessions so if you’re interested or if you know someone who might be interested in joining, please don’t hesitate to contact either Lennart (lennart@fcgermania.fi, +49 176 803 85 835 / +358 45 202 3881) or Konsta (konsta@fcgermania.fi, +358 40 158 8801).

The 11ers train during the winter season on Fridays between 19:00 and 20:30 on the outdoor Pitch at KäPa Campus I, Elisabeth Kochin tie 3. However, a second fitness training held in small local groups, will also be introduced soon to help the players of both 11ers to get back in shape in time for the season start.

The “7ers”

Our 7ers had to move their weekly Friday training out from the hall in Pajamäki until further notice. Luckily they can continue practice outside for the time being on a nice heated pitch in Töölö, the “Sahara” field next to BOLT Areena, on Sunday mornings. The situation is reviewed every two weeks. In order to maintain the players’ fitness, head coach Oli introduced a daily planking exercise for the team in the month of January.

Kids

There are almost 20 boys and girls in the FC Germania Kids football team who at the moment meet on Saturdays in the premises of the Deutsche Schule Helsinki.

At the moment the football practice is focused on 5 and 6 year old kids, but the plan is to extend this offering further. We are considering setting up a group for kids born in 2017 and also football practice for older kids in cooperation with the Deutsche Schule is under discussion.

Should you be interested in joining your child for our kids football or are yourself interested in volunteering as a coach or coordinator (we could use an extra pair of hands especially for setting up possible new teams) please contact andreas@fcgermania.fi.

 

News from the FCGH Board

At our last annual meeting on 20 November 2021 a new FCGH Board was elected for the year to come. The following eight fellow members are now looking after the daily management of our club, i.e. two more than last year:

• Tim Becker, Chairman
• David Wunder, Vice-Chairman
• Simon Schultheis, Treasurer
• Oliver Boldt, Team Manager 7er
• Andreas “Andi” Jank, Youth Coordinator
• Lennart Schmitz, Sporting Director 11ers
• Konstantinos Oikonomides, Key Operations Manager
• Niklas Becker, Community Manager

If you want to get in touch, please use our contact form.

 

FCGH Supporting Members

We are very grateful that a number of people have recently subscribed to be an FCGH Supporting Member.

Ingolf Becker (Silberstrasse, Germany), Jens Klein (Järvenpää), Max Zrunek (Wien), Niels Hegewisch (Greifswald/Islamabad), Robert Dirksen (Helsinki), Stefan Schröder (Helsinki)

If you wish to become an FCGH Supporting Member as well, you may subscribe at any time on our website.

 

Thomas Dähne excels at Holstein Kiel

We have been receiving very positive news from Kiel lately. Our honorary member Thomas Dähne has become the undisputed Number 1 in the goal of his club Holstein Kiel, competing in Germany’s 2nd Bundesliga. He has been delivering top performances lately, keeping a clean sheet when beating the frontrunners from FC St. Pauli 3-0 before the Christmas break, and saving a penalty and the away win just recently against Jahn Regensburg. After a bumpy start into the season 2021/22 “the Storks” of Holstein Kiel are now safely in the midfield of the very strong 2. Bundesliga, with famous clubs like HSV, Schalke 04 or Werder Bremen.

For those who don’t know it yet, Thomas Dähne became a honorary member of FC Germania Helsinki in November 2017, when he attended our initial meeting as a registered association and signed our founding charter. At the time he was a goalie with HJK Helsinki. After leaving Finland, Thomas played in Poland’s top national football league for Wisła Płock, before joining Holstein Kiel in summer 2020.

Thomas, fingers crossed and keep up your strong performance in the next games! We hope to be able to visit you soon at a match in Kiel.

Last Friday, 17 December 2021, the players of the 11s (amateurs) and 7s (hobby team) of FC Germania Helsinki came together for a friendly match among themselves at our “home ground” in Vallilanlaakso in the heart of Helsinki. The match, scheduled for the end of the year, ended 3:1 for the 11s. On arrival, the COVID19 passport of all participants was checked by mobile phone – the “new normal” as they say in pandemic times. 

A year ago, training and game activities had already been suspended due to the second Corona wave. The football-free winter of 2021 was not easy for us. It was only in the beautiful spring that we were able to resume training at the club. In April, we started German-language training with pre-school children for the first time. And from May, our men were finally able to kick together again in the now three teams (two 11s and one 7s). 

Then everything went on in quick succession. League games began in June. Our 1st team got off to a good start in the Vitonen season and thus in the race for promotion to the fifth highest Finnish division, “Nelonen”. In the “Suomen Regions Cup” they managed a surprise penalty shoot-out against FC Ellas Helsinki, a Greek community club. Meanwhile, the newly founded 2nd team “FCGH Academy” quickly grew together into a harmonious unit, even though they had to concede most of the points in the “Kutonen” to their opponents. Meanwhile, our 7s had fun in the Helsinki hobby league and enjoyed the cool beer after the final whistle.

Away from our own pitch, we were in demand as interview partners for German media on the occasion of the EURO2020 European Football Championship with Finland’s first participation ever. Our “local experts” even made it to Germany’s first television “Sportschau” and Deutschlandradio. Our outdoor viewing of the Portugal vs. Germany match (2:4) on a warm Saturday evening in June attracted around 80 guests to the German School Helsinki – a joyful event after the end of the restrictions at the time. 

After the summer break, things continued a bit bumpy. Our first team made it into the promotion round, but was ultimately beaten by other teams. Finally, the pandemic reared its ugly head again. But thanks to the COVID19 pass and other precautions, we have been able to continue playing so far. 

Overall, 2021 has been a very exciting, yet successful year for our club. We have now even exceeded the “magic” limit of 100 members for the first time! Economically, we are on a firm footing, not least thanks to the financial support of our main sponsors Bruhn Spedition, Hetzner and the German School Helsinki. Many of our members volunteer as coaches, on the FCGH board and in other functions. 

Special thanks also go to the growing community of our fans and followers on the pitch and in the social media channels. We are also counting on your support in the new year – for which we already have many plans! 

Until then, FC Germania Helsinki wishes all supporters, sponsors and partners a relaxing holiday season and a happy and hopefully healthy year 2022!

FCGH meets Ambassador Konrad Arz von Straussenburg

On Friday, Ambassador Konrad Arz von Straussenburg received us to get to know each other in his residence in Helsinki. We were able to tell him about our development from a group of German soccer fans to a registered soccer club with now almost 90 members from more than 20 countries, 3 adult teams and our own youth department. As a permanent partner of our club, the German Embassy Helsinki has played a special role in this ambitious development. We are very much looking forward to further cooperation.

 

Meeting on Friday, September 3rd, 2021 at the German Embassy Helsinki – residence of the Ambassador.
from left to right Tim Becker (FCGH Club Chairman), David Wunder (FCGH Board Member for Sponsoring & Marketing), Ambassador Konrad Arz von Straussenburg

On Saturday, 19 June 2021, we organised an outdoor viewing of the second European Championship group match between Portugal and Germany (result 2 – 4) in cooperation with Deutsche Schule Helsinki and with the support of Lidl Suomi. Among the approx. 80 spectators there were many club members as well as numerous invited guests with representatives of the Portuguese and German embassies in Helsinki. 

Du musst angemeldet sein, um diesen Inhalt sehen zu können.

FCGH Kids – German-language soccer training for preschool children

A sunny, not too warm Saturday morning at the end of May in Finland. The previous evening, the three adult teams of FC Germania Helsinki had been training at the KäPä Campus, and now ten children between the ages of four and six are running onto the pitch and placing their water bottles on the designated marker plate in the circle. Then it’s time for the warm-up, which has a different theme every week. This time it is a journey with the spaceship. The training of the kids of FC Germania Helsinki takes place for the sixth time today. Parents are sitting on the sidelines in the sun, taking care of the youngsters who can’t go on the field yet, or chatting. “During the first sessions, the parents still had to intervene a few times, but now it’s nice to see how the kids also grow together as a group and support each other,” a father tells me. The Saturday session is already firmly rooted in the family’s weekend schedule, he says. Another family also emphasizes the social aspect and the opportunity for their son to make new friends. The family moved to Helsinki from Berlin only last year and will stay in Finland only temporarily, which is why the son does not speak Finnish. Together with friends from the German kindergarten, he independently decided to join the soccer training. The parents are happy that there is such an offer in German for children of this age here in Helsinki.

The demand for a German-language offering for children was great and the maximum number of participants was reached after only a short time. “We have a unique selling point here, as German-language hobbies are rare in Helsinki for girls and boys of this age,” says Markus, one of the initiators. Together with Andreas and Felix, he drew up an initial concept last year and set about putting it into practice. “The idea of founding a junior team at FC Germania Helsinki had been around for a long time, even before the club had its own young players,” laughs Andreas, who himself has also played and been active at FC Germania Helsinki for many years. “So it’s all the nicer that we’ve now been able to take the first step and that it’s been so well received by the children.” No wonder, since the ten children are looked after by three German-speaking trainers* with pedagogical and sporting experience in dealing with groups of small children. The focus of the training is on the fun of movement and togetherness, but simple typical soccer movements such as passing, shooting and dribbling are also taught.

The current offer is limited to ten training sessions and will end at the summer break. However, those responsible are already making new plans. “After the summer, we will continue with a weekly training for children of pre-school age,” Markus tells us. Also the foundation of a Bambini team and the participation in tournaments are planned. Of course, it is hoped that many children from the current group will like it so much that they will continue after the summer break. At the same time, they would like to recruit new children for the Bambini training. Preparations for this are underway and interested parents can find out more at www.fcgermania.fi/kids.

We were chatting with our coaches from the three adult teams Keegan (FCGH I, Vitonen), Markus (FCGH/Akademie, Kutonen) and Felix (FCGH Hki 2015, Harraste Vitonen) about the upcoming season and their thoughts.

First of all, how are you guys doing?

Keegan: excited for the new season!

Markus: Really happy to be on the pitch again playing football with awesome people.

Felix: Doing great. Happy that we can finally have team practices again.

After returning to the field and having the first training sessions, what are your first impressions?

Keegan: My my, how the club has grown! Last Friday with 40+ guys on the pitch at some point was really an eye opener. There’s a little bit of rust visible in some players (myself included!), but that’s normal after not paying for 6 months.

Markus: You could see how excited everyone is to be back on the football field. All players are very motivated which is the most important precondition for a good season.

Felix: I agree, it felt great to be back together on the field after such a long time. Everyone was highly motivated and the atmosphere so far has been great.

How did the preparation go overall and how did the Covid-situation affect this?

Keegan: the guys who were interested took part in regional training sessions in small groups during the last few months. This was mainly fitness work, and I think helped to keep many guys in good shape coming back. Touch on the ball though will take a little while to return.

Markus: Obviously, the fact that we could not train for half a year did not allow us to prepare that much. As our FCGH/Akademie-Team is completely new with many new players, there hasn’t been any preparation as a team for the upcoming season yet.

Felix: We had a small group of players that met once a week for a training session, but other than that we mostly prepared individually. Most of the guys are already in good shape physically, but the feeling for the ball is obviously not as good as it was before the break.

The first games are scheduled already for the beginning of June. Do you feel that the team is ready for the season?

Keegan: Not yet. We only announced a preliminary squad for fcgh 1. on the 24th of May, and with some new players coming in, the guys have to get used to playing with each other again. We will be ready though! And also all of our opponents will be in a similar situation, so the playing field remains level.

Markus: Depends on how you define ready. Our team will be ready regarding its organisation, we have a great pool of players and I am very confident that we will have a functioning team on the pitch. Of course we are not used to playing together, thus it will take time to find the right position for every player and work well as a team on the pitch. But as our team mainly aims for having fun, I am not worried about that at all. 

Felix: We definitely need more practices together to get in game shape. We are also happy to have a few new team members that we need to integrate, however, we have a core of players that have been playing together for several years already. This was already our strength in the last years and should also be an advantage this year. 

Anything about your tactic and playing style you want to reveal at this point? Where do you see the strengths of the team?

Keegan: Counter attacking and set pieces will remain important sources of goals for fcgh 1 this season, but we would like to get better at controlling the tempo of games and keeping possession too. We will also experiment some playing a 3-5-2.

Markus: That is really too early to say, as we haven’t had any training or match together, yet. It is likely that we will focus on having a stable defense, first.

Felix: Since we are a hobby team we like to keep it simple tactically. The emphasis is definitely on getting everyone involved both offensively and defensively. This makes it a lot easier in a 7v7 game. As our main strengths I would point out our experience and physicality.

Short and precise – what is the goal for your team this season?

Keegan: promotion to Nelonen.

Markus: Having fun and winning as many games as possible.

Felix: Our main priority is definitely to have fun, but this is usually easier when you win games 🙂

If a soccer god existed and you had one wish for the upcoming season, what would that be?

Keegan: no injuries and always a full squad of players to choose the team from.

Markus: That we grow together as a team where everybody loves to be a part of.

Felix: Getting through the season without any major injuries

Any final words you would like to share?

Keegan: looking forward to another great season and to the continued support of the Germania family!

Markus: Our club is built on voluntary commitment. It is fantastic to see so many people caring and working for the club by contributing their free time. 

Felix: Best of luck for the upcoming season to all our teams!

Thanks so much for the insights and all the best for the upcoming season!