Vedat Düzgüner (right) and Concordia had no chance in the 0:3 against Niendorfer TSV around Theo Behrmann. The goal remains: promotion to the Regionalliga Nord.
Foto: imago images/Felix Schlikis
“I’ll say go right away and then we’ll start, right?” a visibly stressed cameraman with a North German accent calls down from a camera pedestal. It is possible to reach the employee with a loud shout, here on Sachsenweg, the home of the Hamburg Oberliga club Niendorfer TSV. His colleague at the microphone is surprised by the spontaneous start of the transmission. “As? I don’t even have a line-up yet,” replies the sound manager. »Well, just do it, that’s fine!«, it comes back from the pedestal. Then comes the “go”, the transmission starts and the moderator is immediately in his role. “Hello rockets” he greets the approximately 400 online viewers who want to follow the fifth division game between the Niendorfers and the Wandsbeker TSV Concordia in the YouTube live stream.
Those viewers who the moderator addressed with rockets are part of the “Club rockit!” project, with which Concordia wants to stir up Hamburg’s top division. A project that is making waves far beyond the borders of the Hanseatic city. The principle is simple: as many people as possible can, should and are allowed to make concrete decisions about the fate of the traditional Hamburg club via app – swarm intelligence is the magic word. Instead of a handful of decision-makers on the top floor of the club, 500 football fans vote online: it should be grass-roots democracy.
The idea of taking the club to the digital level came from club president Matthias Seidel, who is the founder and managing director of the transfermarkt.de website, and his long-time friend Stefan Kohfahl. Transfermarkt is one of the largest football platforms in Germany – so know-how is available, but the fan rockets should still be there. So that the app users know what they should vote on, three technicians film the game on this sunny Easter Monday in Niendorf, two commentators accompany the transmission in the YouTube stream. One of the cameramen says it’s the same with every Concordia game – it’s filmed whether it’s raining, storming or snowing. He is happy about the good equipment here in Niendorf, where the main camera can record the game from a four meter high scaffolding tower.
In addition to the live streams on YouTube, a documentary about the club is still being made, explains Club Rockit! manager Stefan Kofahl, not without pride. Concordia has a set of tools that even some regional league teams cannot or do not want to muster.
The home fans at the Niendorfer Sportplatz shrug their shoulders at the hustle and bustle surrounding Concordia – it’s not the first time that the guests have been here with their media team. While Concordia wants to turn the big wheel, the hosts are down to earth. A smart, elderly woman sits at the ticket booth and greets every visitor with a snappy slogan. The beer is tapped into plastic cups by volunteers from the association for 2.50 euros. For many spectators in Niendorf, this is more exciting than Cordi, as the Hamburg club is called, going online.
The WTSV Concordia is pursuing an ambitious goal with the path it took more than a year ago: promotion to the regional league. Back to big football, those are the plans of the former first division club. In the Oberliga, after a difficult few years, Cordi is once again part of the regular inventory, and the club is also on a healthy footing financially. The idea for the app idea came during the corona pandemic, which also made some problems in football visible for the first time. “We had plenty of time and then we had the idea,” says club advisor Stefan Kohfahl, who is also active as a youth coordinator for Real Madrid in addition to his commitment at Concordia. With small clubs, all the pressure is on a few people, be it financially or in terms of decisions. Kohfahl wants to do things differently at Cordi: “We also want to get those responsible out of the hamster wheel.” In the future, there should be active participation on the sidelines: “Many people spend money on their club, but where are fans allowed to actively intervene in day-to-day business? ‘ asks Kohl.
For a single-digit euro amount, which varies depending on the subscription level, Concordia fans and other football enthusiasts have the opportunity to play a scaled-down version of the computer game classic »Football Manager« in real life. While Concordia’s kickers are on the field, the missiles can decide player substitutions in real time or prompt the coach to change tactics. The app users each have two minutes to cast their vote – then coach Frank Pieper-von Valtier has to react to the result of the vote.
Next to the Concordia coach, who was pacing up and down in front of the bench in Niendorf during the first half, there was not an assistant coach, but a young man with a tablet in his hand. In close exchange with the coach, there are repeated discussions during the game. But even before the community is allowed to vote for the first time, Pieper-von Valtier is already forced to act independently. When defender Jan Novotny had to be replaced due to injury after being 1-0 down early on, Pieper-von Valtier sent Vedat Düzgüner onto the pitch on his own initiative.
Despite the offensive change, the game continues to be sobering for Concordia. After the half-time break, his team came under more and more pressure. Nevertheless, the community decides to keep the game system with a simple majority of 53 percent. After conceding two more goals, Pieper-von Valtier decides to act on his own again and not to consult the community first. With a fourfold change he would like to turn the game. The coach has thus forestalled voting on player changes, there are no more votes after that.
Concordia’s coach, who earns his living as a senior teacher and sports teacher at an elite school for young footballers in Hamburg, need not fear for his autonomy on the sidelines. He still makes most of the decisions himself, such as the exact line-up. Pieper-von Valtier can also veto decisions made by the community. The coach has four of these veto jokers per month – plus any additional vetoes for games won. If these possibilities of objection have been completely used up, the forum decides on the further whereabouts of your trainer. “Of course, Frank can’t understand every decision, but he doesn’t reject very many of them. He’s also very interested in the project,” says Stefan Kohfahl.
Final whistle, 0:3. Today it wasn’t enough for a win at Niendorfer TSV. But the officials remain optimistic. The club management agrees that the “Club Rockit!” project will be carried out at Cordi indefinitely – with all the consequences. But prominent examples show that such a project is not as easy as those responsible imagine. The source of inspiration for the app, how could it be otherwise, has its origins in England. In 2007, the sixth division club Ebbsfleet United started a similar project there with the internet platform myfootballclub. For £35 a year, fans were given a say in line-ups, transfers and the club’s finances. At peak times, 32,000 followers were registered to work together on the future. After a successful year, many did not extend their membership, three years later the community shrank to 3,000 users, and only around 150 people took part in the voting. The project was scrapped, but after all it had brought around 700,000 euros into the club’s treasury. A similar concept at the regional league team Fortuna Köln also failed.
For those responsible at Wandsbeker TSV Concordia, their project remains groundbreaking. In return, they make concessions to the community. So there was an intensive debate and vote on possible new signings. Kohfahl, who has an international network at his disposal, asked Brazil if there was a talent there who would like to take the leap to the Hanseatic city. The friendly scout sent more than 200 videos of potential players that were made available to the community. The result: two new kickers for Cordi – selected by the users. Kohfahl is happy about the cooperation of the club supporters: “That was just our experiment and many users typed their fingers sore on the keyboard and submitted analyzes to us that nobody else in the club would have had time for.” That only one of the two new signings turned out to be a reinforcement is just a side note in the Concordia story.
Will this form of applied grassroots democracy and co-determination in football also work in the higher leagues? The license documents for the Regionalliga Nord have already been submitted to the North German Football Association (NFV). “We’re the only club from Hamburg,” emphasizes Kofahl. That means: Although the Wandsbeker TSV Concordia is currently only fourth in the promotion round of the Oberliga Hamburg and can no longer reach first place, it is the only club in this league that took part in the relegation round with the state champions from Schleswig-Holstein and Bremen as well as the Second from Lower Saxony could participate. At the beginning of May, the NFV will decide whether Cordi will be admitted.
Three games in the relegation would have to be played successfully in order to achieve the big goal: promotion to the fourth division. In one of them, the annual winner of the app, i.e. the user with the most experience points, called XP, would also be allowed to sit on the bench next to Frank Pieper-von Valtier. If promotion doesn’t work out, Concordia will start the next attempt in the coming season. “We are determined to take this step and of course we take the risks into account,” explains Kohfahl. Then it’s back to the tranquil grass pitch of TSV Niendorf with a camera tower and mechanical scoreboard.
