Union Berlin – Germany’s quirkiest minnows: Their journey to Europe, and how they’ve done it twice

 

For those who don’t know, Union Berlin are a fascinating club. They play in a forest, their ground is 75% terracing and was built by the fans, and they’ve weathered countless political, financial and legal sagas in their 56 year history.

But now that Union have found themselves pushed into the limelight of the Bundesliga, their intriguing history has been well documented. But, despite the tribulations of the past, Union Berlin are an established Bundesliga side with one of the lowest budgets in the division.

Die Eiserne now look ahead to their fourth season in the first tier, and their second in as many seasons in Europe. This is the story of their incredible rise over the last three years, and how they keep managing to upset the Bundesliga elite.

Picture the scene: It’s May 2019. Union Berlin miss out on automatic promotion to Paderborn on goal difference. A two legged relegation play off against 16th placed Bundesliga side, VfB Stuttgart awaited. This was a tie that had only ever been won twice by a Bundesliga 2 side: Nürnberg in 2009, and Dusseldorf in 2012. A 2-2 draw in Stuttgart, and a 0-0 draw in Berlin meant die Eiserne had done it on away goals, they would be in the Bundesliga for the first time ever.

Once the dust had settled, and hangovers cured, the next step was bigger than any other. Staying there. They’d go in as favourites to go straight back down, and with the sole focus on keeping their head above water, Union assembled a rag tag group.

With veterans such as Neven Subotic, Christian Gentner and Yunus Malli, players from lower divisions such as Marius Bulter and Robert Andrich, alongside club legends such as Christopher Trimmel and Felix Kroos. And surprisingly, it worked. Union finished a comfortable 11^th, but more notably they’d created an identity: a solid defence, a clinical attack, an incredible work rate, and a disciplined system that was very difficult to break down.

As expected with their shoestring budget, the phrase second season syndrome was thrown about going into 20/21. After top scorer Sebastien Andersson left for Koln, the expectation had merit. However, furthering their doctrine of signing experience, the surprise coup of Max Kruse to Kopenick showed Union’s intent. Sticking to their 3 at the back system, and with a team top of the distance covered charts every week, Union recorded home wins against Dortmund, Leipzig and Leverkusen, and the Stadion An der Alten Forsterei became somewhat of a fortress.

A stoppage time winner at home to RB Leipzig from Max Kruse meant Union pipped European stalwarts Monchengladbach to seventh, but more importantly, made the inaugural Europa Conference League’s qualifying rounds. And after a 4-0 win on aggregate over Finnish side Kuopion Palloseura, Union were in Europe.

It would be a tough act follow for Die Eiserne, and with crucial players Andrich and Friedrich leaving in the summer, once again, they didn’t look like anything special coming into 2021/22. As usual they looked towards experience and cast aways: With veterans Rani Khedira and Bastian Oczipka coming to Kopenick, and Taiwo Awoniyi signing on a permanent from Liverpool.

Union’s European tour started in a bad way, after being forced to play at Hertha Berlin’s, Olympiastadion, due to UEFA ground regulations, tied with a loss away to Slavia Prague in their opening game. A win against Maccabi Tel Aviv in Charlottenburg inflated hopes, but back to back losses to Feyenoord quickly scuppered them, and largely put things out of their hands. Union did everything they could with a win and a draw against Maccabi, and Slavia respectively, but it wasn’t enough. They’d fought valiantly, finishing just a point outside the green, but the European dream was over.

Things were very different in the league however, with consistent results, and a mere four losses in the league all season, things were looking rather positive for Union going into February. It seemed right on cue that it would all go wrong, as star player Max Kruse decided on a shock return to Wolfsburg, leaving Union up the proverbial creek without a paddle. Almost immediately results turned sour, with five losses from seven almost straight after.

All of a sudden though things clicked. Union won a very close affair against Koln, then thumped Hertha 4-1 in their own back yard. Then they won again, and again. A heart-breaking last minute loss to Leipzig in the DFB Pokal semi-final, and a draw against an already relegated Gruether Furth, put a slight spanner in the works.

But a 4-1 demolition of fellow European contenders Freiburg in the season’s penultimate game guaranteed Europe for die Eiserne. With a 3-2 home win to Bochum in the final game, Union finished 5^th, only a point shy of getting Champions League. Despite another season of having their squad cherry picked, Union would be in Europe again, and this time they’d gone one better.

Union had made another big statement. Tipped for relegation or mid table mediocrity at best for the last three seasons. It wasn’t fluke and it wasn’t luck. So just how did they do it? With their best players taken each season, and a budget smaller than several second division teams. That would be down to manager Urs Fischer and his genius 3-1-4-2 system.

Fischer is a master of adaptation. He won’t change his system to match superior opposition, like many would, he instead makes certain tweaks to exploit them. Players will press out of their position, and they’ll never press for the sake of it. Meaning Union will rarely find themselves vulnerable. Their system enables many options for ball playing, they play it short ideally, but with the big target men in Awoniyi, Voglsammer or Kruse up front they can go long.

At the back they hold an extremely narrow deep sitting back three. They look to keep possession outside the box, forcing the opposition into unprogressive sideways passes, proving very frustrating for attacking sides, such as RB Leipzig, whom Union beat both home and away last season.

Union love to play out from the back in their notorious 3-1-4-2. With ball playing centre halves in Baumgartl and Jaeckel and Knoche being the anchor. They move the ball quickly, and play short, but possess the ability and options to punt it long if need be.

Often the back three try to find the wing backs: club captain Christopher Trimmel and Nico Giesselmann, both of whom have fantastic creative abilities. They both look to play the ball into the box for the strikers to latch onto, or the 2 attacking midfielders to make a late run onto, with Grischa Promel being an expert at this, getting 8 goals last campaign. They waste no time going forwards, and unsurprisingly they have the one of the lowest possession averages in the division.

Their midfield three are well drilled, with Rani Khedira sitting in defensive midfield, sometimes dropping in centre half to cover for the progressive Timo Baumgartl, it gives the rest of the midfield freedom. Whether it be Grischa Promel, Genki Haraguchi, or Sheraldo Becker on occasion, they have a license to run at the opposition defence, and arrive late into the box to latch onto balls from the wing backs, and sometimes drifting wide to offer added width to the system.

And up top Union like to go with the two traditional strikers. Whether it be the natural goalscoring abilities of Max Kruse, the finishing and work rate of Taiwo Awoniyi, the areal threat of Andres Voglsammer or the sheer pace and desire to run of Sheraldo Becker. They look to be a nuisance for defenders, with Becker and Awoniyi becoming a real handful in the final run in. They come back and assist the defence, and work hard unlike a lot of traditional strikers. This complemented with the fantastically choreographed set pieces, and dead ball talents of Christopher Trimmel, made Union into one of the least wasteful sides in the league.

All in all Union Berlin are a fantastic example of a sum greater than its parts. They play calculated, quick football, they’re adaptive and clinical, and they work tremendously hard. Union Berlin are an exceptional side, who deserve to be in Europe, and will continue to upset the Bundesliga elite for some time to come.

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