As Frankfurt host Liverpool on Wednesday, it will be a reunion between the German side and former striker Hugo Ekitike, who joined Liverpool over the summer as the latest forward export from the system, but as the Reds descend upon Deutsche Bank Park in the middle of the forest, something special is happening. No team has gotten the true meaning of the term Champions League as Frankfurt, who face the reigning champions of Spain, England and Italy during their eight league phase games, but that also gives the teams a chance to see what’s special about Frankfurt, as well as showing where soccer in Germany is going.
Finishing third in the Bundesliga last season, Frankfurt are seeing their club membership climb as it now sits at 155,000 members, which is the fourth highest in German soccer. Due to the 50-plus-one rule in Germany, to play in the Bundesliga, supporters must be included in decisions, with members holding the majority of the voting rights in a club, guarding against commercial ownership of clubs, which has become increasingly common over the years. It’s something that can be seen as holding German soccer back due to the lack of financial muscle compared to bigger teams around the world, but when looking at ticket prices, accessibility to the game, and the atmosphere at stadiums, the impact that the connection has on the fan experience is clear.
With around two percent of the German population being members of clubs, it shows how important their connection is. Fans have a say on what goes on in the club and are able to vote on things such as who is on the board of directors, to have a hand in the direction that the club moves. How exactly it looks is different from club to club, but it’s still quite different from how most of the world operates with supporters’ opinions truly mattering, but it’s up to the club to determine if anything will come of it or not.
How to watch Frankfurt vs. Liverpool, odds
- Date: Wednesday, Oct. 22 | Time: 3 p.m. ET
- Location: Deutsche Bank Park — Frankfurt, Germany
- Live stream: Paramount+
- Odds: Frankfurt +400; Draw +350; Liverpool -175
The current Bundesliga motto, “Football as it’s meant to be,” may seem cliché, but one step into a stadium shows just what that means. In the historic scene, the sports club came before soccer, and members may be taking part in things such as basketball, table tennis, track, hockey, darts, or so much more, all while sporting the iconic eagle badge. This is quite different from how American sports operate with their franchise model, and it also means that Bundesliga clubs have to balance both sporting success along with keeping the sports club doors open for the community.
“We have about 10,000 kids and minors doing sports with our club, and to understand that, the system in Germany is completely different than in the United States,” Frankfurt vice president of sport Armin Kraaz said. “Here in the U.S., all the school, high school and college, do the sport. In Germany, it’s all the clubs. The school doesn’t do sport, any sport, an hour a week, that’s it. So the responsibility for us is to keep the kids away from the streets, bring them on the field, or into the gyms, and doing sports with us. And on the other hand, of course, we are a football club as well. So, we have two different organizations under one roof.”
It’s something that presents unique challenges but also it makes the connection to the community unique, as these teams have such a direct impact on their communities. With ownership being much more of an investment venture in other leagues, they’ve moved more in the direction of business operations than holistically representing the community that they exist in. That’s not to say that community clubs don’t exist elsewhere, because they do, but it’s almost a requirement to exist as a club in Germany. That balance is something that Frankfurt strikes well, as from the top down, they know that it’s important to function as a business while also winning soccer games, which is even harder to do when leagues like the Premier League are buying up talent in the Bundesliga at a faster rate than ever.
Bundesliga international CEO Peer Naubert put it bluntly during a media roundtable, saying, “So we’re not trying to, you know, get it to the same level as the Premier League because they’re, they are doing a different game.”
That doesn’t mean that the Bundesliga isn’t trying to advance, but it’s critical to know where they are currently and how they can do something unique to produce talent to compete at the highest level.
While that can be an issue for keeping talent, it’s something that can be a selling point about the league. There’s a way to have success while developing talent, and while Frankfurt CEO Axel Hellmann admits that it isn’t the plan to sell a striker for $100 million every six months or so with Randal Kolo Muani, Omar Marmoush, and Ekitike all being Frankfurt products, that doesn’t mean that this isn’t their project working, having won the Europa League in 2021-22. When bids of that nature come in, it’s in the best interest of everyone to say yes, and this is also what Frankfurt prepares these players for.
“It’s not only buying or integrating players, you have to develop a plan. What is the player made for? For example, if we look particularly at the U.S. for players we have, for them it’s not that easy to go directly from the club or the college leagues directly to the Premier League. directly to the top level,” Hellmann said. “What we can offer is that they make a step, going first in the Bundesliga because they play and they develop and they grow. It’s important that in commercial interests and alignment on the pitch that you have an alignment of interest where the players’ interest is to make the next step and at the club end, we develop that player for the benefit of both and that’s an economic question .”
They may already have their next $100 million talent at the club in 19-year-old Can Uzan. Joining during the summer of 2024 from FC Nuremberg in the 2. Bundesliga, Uzan was eased into things at the club last season, making 31 appearances totaling just over 1,000 minutes and scoring five goals and assisting three more. Now, looking at playing Liverpool, he’ll be one of the key figures that Frankfurt will be relying on. He’s catching eyes around the world with six goals and four assists already in 10 matches this season, including a UCL goal against Galatasaray.
But things haven’t been all smiles for Frankfurt in Europe’s premier competition. After winning 5-1 in their opening match facing Galatasaray, they then lost 5-1 to Atletico Madrid at their home stadium. Facing Liverpool will be a chance to show that the real Frankfurt lies somewhere in between those two performances, while being able to provide those passionate fans with something to celebrate at their home stadium.
There hasn’t been a German champion of Europe since Bayern Munich won it in the 2019-20 season, and a German team has only won one of the last 10 finals. Frankfurt, Bayern Munich, and Bayer Leverkusen are all looking to be the team to end that drought, but with so many high-priced exports to teams elsewhere this summer, they’ll need to lean on those fans, which make them special, to make their home stadiums fortresses in pursuit of European glory.
