Bengt Kunkel and Pasquale Seliger are setting the tone as cheerleaders in the German fan block at the European Championships. They want to ensure that the fans of the German national team do the same. So far, they have not been able to keep up with the Scots or the Dutch. Even the national coach complained that Germany’s fans were too quiet. Kunkel and Seliger are nevertheless optimistic in the Zoom interview: things are going well for the German team so far and the mood in the stands is also improving.
TIME ONLINE: So you are the “AG Stimmung”. Did you give yourself this name?
Bengt Kunkel: Oh God, no. Last autumn, the DFB finally opened up to independent fan clubs, with the aim of creating a fan culture around the national team. Around 150 fan clubs have been added to the official national team fan club, including Pasquale’s Eff Zeh Confianza and mine, the eagle in my heart. It was clear to us: we want to go to the stadium to sing. And how do you get people in Germany to get involved? In any case, the DFB has set up a working group with the great bureaucratic title “AG Stimmung”.
TIME ONLINE: And how do you create a mood?
Pasquale Seliger: We are at every game in the stadium and try to get people to sing. We stand with our backs to the game and give the audience the rhythm and the song.
European Championship
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TIME ONLINE: So you are capos?
Blessed: We wouldn’t call ourselves that. There are capos in the ultra scene, for example in the Bundesliga. We are not ultras and don’t want any trouble with them. We are lead singers, warm-ups, shouters. These aren’t names I would tattoo on my back, but they describe what we do.
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Kunkel: Capos, like those in the Bundesliga, have 20, 30 years of experience and are also involved in the politics of their club. We can’t keep up with that and we don’t even want to try to imitate it.
TIME ONLINE: What is your goal then?
Kunkel: Well, atmosphere! People want to sing, they just need someone to tell them what to sing. And we take care of that.
TIME ONLINE: What is being sung?
Kunkel: In the sub-group “Fangesang”, as we call it in our nicely structured working group, a few crazy people from different fan clubs have come together. They have written songs themselves.
TIME ONLINE: How do they sound?
Kunkel: They are more creative than the typical “Super Germany, olé olé”. On the other hand, they shouldn’t be too complicated. People in the stands should be able to learn them quickly. Even after one or two beers.
TIME ONLINE: Does this work?
Blessed: The song “In the Heart of Europe”, the first one on the song sheet that we hand out, definitely gets people excited. Our goal is for everyone to be able to sing it by the finale.
TIME ONLINE: Why wait until the finale?
Blessed: At every game, there are different fans in front of us. It’s not like in the Bundesliga, where season ticket holders are always in the stadium. And it takes time until millions of people can sing our song.
TIME ONLINE: How do you teach the curve a song?
Blessed: Handing out notes and singing along isn’t enough. It only becomes ingrained through repetition. Fans need to hear the songs over and over again – and not just in the stands. Also at fan marches or parties around the games. Luckily there are others who create a good atmosphere and know the lyrics.
Kunkel: It doesn’t matter if the lyrics aren’t perfect in the curve. We’ll carry on singing anyway and at some point there’s always an “olé, olé, olé, olé” passage where people can join in and celebrate again. On the radio they say that a song has to be played seventy times before it reaches the listener.
Blessed: We still have at least twenty more to go before it becomes a catchy tune …
TIME ONLINE: Speaking of catchy tunes: How do you prevent songs from being sung by right-wingers?
Kunkel: You can’t prevent that. Gigi D’Agostino didn’t mean anything bad in the nineties and for 25 years Love always just a great song. We make sure that our lyrics convey the values we represent. I think that means right-wingers don’t want to sing them. That’s a good step. It’s important to us to show that you can be patriotic. We are a diverse and open country. That’s something we can support.
TIME ONLINE: You were also at the World Cup in Qatar in 2022. How did you like it there?
Kunkel: I had rainbow-colored fan merchandise with me. When I got in, they said it wasn’t a problem. But in the second half, four police officers took me out of the block. 15 were waiting for me in the catacombs and said: Either you hand over the stuff or your visit to the stadium is over. That really shocked me. In general: the police violence, the way they treat people who think differently. I consider myself lucky to live in Germany.
TIME ONLINE: Would you like to see more flags on the streets?
Blessed: Society should not allow right-wingers to take things away from us. This is our flag and not using it anymore because right-wingers are using it is not a solution. We are certainly not in the best of company in the fan stands either, but we can’t do anything about it. What we can do is try to bring society together a little with our good mood. It’s about gathering back the people who have drifted away. And sport is a good opportunity to do that.
TIME ONLINE: Do you also receive criticism for this approach?
Kunkel: Someone commented on Instagram: “Phew, it’s difficult to be proud of Germany right now. The European elections have left their mark.” We sense the disappointment of the middle class about how things are going right now. And we understand them. That’s precisely why we want to create a sense of community. When we all stand on Straße des 17. Juni and watch Toni Kroos raise his last big trophy, I hope that this is a moment from which people start to get in touch with each other again.
TIME ONLINE: Do you hope that the European Championship will get society talking to each other again?
Kunkel: That sounds a bit pathetic. In the end, it’s about having a good time together in the stands and singing.
