Union Berlin's improbable rise
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Union Berlin players wave to fans. Photo: John MacDougall/AFP via Getty Images
Bayern Munich has won 10 straight Bundesliga titles. Now a club with a fraction of Bayern's payroll has perhaps the best shot at ending their run.
State of play: Union Berlin — first promoted to German soccer's top division just four years ago — are only four points behind Bayern with eight matches left. With a win over second-place Borussia Dortmund on Saturday, they'd leapfrog them into second and inch closer to the top of the table.
By the numbers: Union's payroll is just $24 million — one-fifth as much as Dortmund's ($131 million) and one-twelfth as much as Bayern's ($290 million).
Between lines: The club has overcome its financial disadvantage, in part, through tactics, utilizing a 3-5-2 formation designed to neutralize more talented clubs.
- The scheme — implemented by manager Urs Fischer, whose 2018 arrival was immediately followed by Union's promotion — involves their forwards pressuring opposing defenses into playing the ball out wide.
- Union's outside back then attacks the ball carrier as the remaining defenders (and two defensive midfielders) shift toward that side to shut down passing lanes, wreak havoc and score mainly on counter-attacks.
- The result? No club in the Bundesliga has allowed fewer goals than Union's 28.
The backdrop: If that scheme is their tactical advantage, Union's uniquely passionate fanbase is their cultural one.
- The club was founded in 1966, not long after the Berlin Wall went up, to represent East Berlin's working class. And those fans have come to the team's aid on numerous occasions beyond their rabid game-day support.
- Over 2,000 supporters helped rebuild their stadium in 2009, saving the cash-strapped club nearly $3 million. Two years later, 5,000 fans bought shares in the stadium to help fund renovations. They've even donated blood to help Union stave off bankruptcy.
What they're saying: "In a sport increasingly populated by sheiks and American billionaires, this upstart in leafy East Berlin has become something of a hipster's paradise," writes Yahoo's Henry Bushnell.
The big picture: Union's season calls to mind Leicester City's shocking 2016 Premier League title — two underdogs who used elite defense and quick counters to mount an unlikely challenge.
