Fußball-Club St Pauli von 1910 e.V., commonly known as simply FC St Pauli (), is a German professional
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
club based in the
St. Pauli
St. Pauli (Sankt Pauli; ) is a quarter of the city of Hamburg belonging to the centrally located Hamburg-Mitte borough. Situated on the right bank of the Elbe river, the nearby Landungsbrücken is a northern part of the port of Hamburg. St. ...
district of
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
, that competes in the
2. Bundesliga
The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...
.
The
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
department is part of a larger sports club that also has departments in
rugby
Rugby may refer to:
Sport
* Rugby football in many forms:
** Rugby league: 13 players per side
*** Masters Rugby League
*** Mod league
*** Rugby league nines
*** Rugby league sevens
*** Touch (sport)
*** Wheelchair rugby league
** Rugby union: 1 ...
(
FC St. Pauli Rugby
The FC St. Pauli Rugby is the rugby union section of German sports club FC St. Pauli, based in Hamburg. The squad currently plays in the Rugby-Bundesliga, the highest level of the German rugby league system. Other sports practised at St. Pauli are ...
),
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...
,
bowling
Bowling is a target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a ball toward pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). The term ''bowling'' usually refers to pin bowling (most commonly ten-pin bowling), though ...
,
boxing
Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...
(FC St. Pauli Boxen),
chess
Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...
,
cycling
Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from two ...
,
handball
Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...
,
roller derby
Roller derby is a roller skating contact sport played by two teams of fifteen members. Roller derby is played by approximately 1,250 amateur leagues worldwide, mostly in the United States.
Game play consists of a series of short scrimmages (jam ...
(
Harbor Girls Hamburg
St. Pauli Roller Derby is a flat track roller derby league based in Hamburg in Germany. It consists of two trip teams, an A team and a B team, which compete against teams from other leagues. They are called ''Harbor Girls A'' and ''Harbor Girls ...
),
skittles
Skittles may refer to:
* Skittles (confectionery), a brand of fruit-flavor chewy candy, distributed by Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company
*'' Skittles Commercial: The Broadway Musical''
* Skittles (sport), the game from which bowling originated
* Skittles (ch ...
,
softball
Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...
, and
table tennis
Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...
and since 2011
Marathon
The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...
. Until the end of 2013, the club also had a department in
American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...
, but it was dissolved because it lacked the youth team required in order to hold a men's team. FC St. Pauli has 27,000 members as of November 2018.
The men's professional football team dropped down to the
Regionalliga
The Regionalliga () is the fourth tier in the German football league system. Until 1974, it was the second tier in Germany. In 1994, it was introduced as the third tier. Upon the creation of the new nationwide 3. Liga in 2008, it became the four ...
in 2003, at that time the third highest football division in Germany and remained there for four years. In 2007, they won promotion back to the
2. Bundesliga
The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...
and in 2010, they were promoted to the
Bundesliga
The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...
, the highest division. After relegation, since the
2011–12 season they have played in 2. Bundesliga,
the second-highest division in Germany.
FC St Pauli has a cross-city rivalry with
Hamburger SV; the matches between the two are known as the ''
Hamburger Stadtderby'' or simply ''Derby''. The club also has a more recent rivalry with
Hansa Rostock
FC Hansa Rostock () is a German association football club based in the city of Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The club is also called as "the cog" because of its club crest. They have emerged as one of the most successful clubs from the forme ...
.
Although the footballers have enjoyed only modest success on the field, the club is widely recognised for its distinctive social culture and has a large popular following as one of the country's "Kult" clubs, which has now developed beyond Germany. FC St. Pauli supporters are strongly identified with their support of
left-wing politics
Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political%20ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically in ...
.
History
Early years
The club began its existence in 1899 as a loose, informal group of football enthusiasts within the ''Hamburg-St.Pauli Turn-Verein 1862''. This group did not play its first match until 1907, when they faced a similar side assembled from the local Aegir swimming club. Officially established on 15 May 1910, the club played as ''St. Pauli TV'' in the
Kreisliga Groß-Hamburg (Alsterkreis) until 1924, when a separate football side called St. Pauli was formed. The team played as an undistinguished lower-to-mid table side until making their first appearance in 1934 in the top-flight
Gauliga Nordmark, 1 of 16 premier level divisions created in the re-organization of German football that took place under the
Third Reich. They were immediately relegated, but returned to the top flight in 1936. Relegated again in 1940, St. Pauli re-appeared in the
Gauliga Hamburg in 1942, and played there until the end of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
Post-war football
![St](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/St._Pauli_Performance_Chart.png)
After the war, the club resumed play in the
Oberliga Nord
The Oberliga Nord was the fourth tier of the German football league system in the north of Germany. It covered the states of Lower Saxony, Bremen, Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein. With the introduction of the 3. Liga, the league ceased to exist f ...
in 1947. A second-place finish in the 1947–48 season led St. Pauli to its first appearance in the national championship rounds. They advanced as far as the semi-finals, where they were knocked out 2–3 by eventual champions
1. FC Nürnberg
1. Fußball-Club Nürnberg Verein für Leibesübungen e. V., often called 1. FC Nürnberg (, en, 1. Football Club Nuremberg) or simply Nürnberg, is a German association football club in Nuremberg, Bavaria, who currently compete in the 2. Bund ...
. The club continued to play well throughout the early 1950s, but were unable to overtake rivals
Hamburger SV, finishing in second place in five of the next seven seasons, and going out in the early rounds in each of their championship-round appearances from 1949 to 1951. In the late 1950s and into the early 1960s, St. Pauli were overtaken by rivals such as
Werder Bremen and
VfL Osnabrück
VfL Osnabrück is a German multi-sport club in Osnabrück, Lower Saxony. It currently fields teams in basketball, gymnastics, swimming, table tennis, and tennis but is by far best known for its football section.
History Foundation to WW2
The cl ...
, but finished fourth a number of times.
Promotion to the Bundesliga
In 1963, the
Bundesliga
The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...
– West Germany's new top-flight professional league – was formed. Hamburger SV, Werder Bremen, and
Eintracht Braunschweig
Braunschweiger Turn- und Sportverein Eintracht von 1895 e.V., commonly known as Eintracht Braunschweig () or BTSV (), is a German association football, football and sports club based in Braunschweig, Lower Saxony. The club was one of the founding ...
joined the new circuit as the top-finishers from the Oberliga Nord, while FC St. Pauli found themselves in the second-tier Regionalliga Nord. That year, the club signed
Guy Acolatse
Guy Kokou Acolatse (born 28 April 1942) is a Togolese former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. He was the first Black professional footballer to play in Germany.
Career
Acolatse made his debut for the Togo national ...
, who became the first
Black
Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...
professional footballer to play in Germany.
Nearly a decade-and-a-half of frustration followed. St. Pauli won their division in 1964, but finished bottom of their group in the promotion play-off round. They took their next Regionalliga Nord title in 1966 and, while they performed far better in the play-offs, still failed to advance to the top-flight, losing out to
Rot-Weiss Essen on goal difference, having conceded two more goals. Division championships in 1972 and 1973, and runner-up finishes in 1971 and 1974, were each followed by promotion-round play-off disappointment.
The success of the Bundesliga, and the growth of professional football in West Germany, led to the formation of the
2. Bundesliga
The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...
in 1974. St. Pauli was part of the new second-tier professional circuit in the 2. Bundesliga Nord and in 1977, they finally advanced to the top flight as winners of their division. The team survived just one season at the highest level in the Bundesliga.
The club's return to the 2. Bundesliga Nord was also short-lived. On the verge on bankruptcy in 1979, they were denied a license for the following season and were sent down to the
Oberliga Nord (III). Strong performances that set the team atop that division in 1981 and 1983 were marred by poor financial health. By 1984, the club had recovered sufficiently to return to the 2. Bundesliga, overtaking Werder Bremen's amateur side who, despite finishing two points ahead of St. Pauli, were ineligible for promotion.
"Kult" phenomenon
![Stpauli](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Stpauli.jpg)
It was in the mid-1980s that St. Pauli's transition from a standard traditional club into a "
Kult" club began. The club was also able to turn the location of its ground in the dock area part of town, near Hamburg's famous
Reeperbahn – centre of the city's night life and its
red-light district
A red-light district or pleasure district is a part of an urban area where a concentration of prostitution and sex-oriented businesses, such as sex shops, strip clubs, and adult theaters, are found. In most cases, red-light districts are particu ...
– to its advantage. An alternative fan scene slowly emerged, built around
left-leaning politics,
social activism and the event and party atmosphere of the club's matches. Supporters adopted the
skull and crossbones as their own unofficial emblem. St. Pauli became the first team in Germany to officially ban
right-wing nationalist activities and displays in its stadium in an era when fascist-inspired
football hooliganism threatened the game across Europe. In 1981, the team was averaging small crowds of only 1,600 spectators, but by the late 1990s they were frequently selling out their entire 20,000-capacity ground.
The skull and crossbones symbol had always been associated with St Pauli (the city quarter) in one way or another. Hamburg fostered the most famous pirate of Germany,
Klaus Störtebeker, and the symbol had been used by the 1980s squatters at
Hafenstraße
Hafenstraße is a street in St. Pauli, a quarter of Hamburg, Germany, known for its legalized squats. The squats were occupied in 1981 and became a figurehead for autonomist and anti-imperialist politics. After a prolonged battle with the city cou ...
. However, the one who should be credited with finally bringing the symbol to the terraces is probably Doc Mabuse, the singer of a Hamburg punk band. As the legend tells, he first grabbed the flag from a stall while passing drunk through the
Dom Dom or DOM may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Dom (given name), including fictional characters
* Dom (surname)
* Dom La Nena (born 1989), stage name of Brazilian-born cellist, singer and songwriter Dominique Pinto
* Dom people, an et ...
on his way to the Millerntor-Stadion.
In the early 1990s, the media in Germany began to recognize the ''Kult''-image of the club, focusing on the
punk part of the fan-base in TV broadcasts of the matches. By this time, the media also started to establish nicknames like "''Freibeuter der Liga''" ("
Buccaneer
Buccaneers were a kind of privateers or free sailors particular to the Caribbean Sea during the 17th and 18th centuries. First established on northern Hispaniola as early as 1625, their heyday was from Stuart Restoration, the Restoration in 16 ...
s of the League") as well as the satirical "''das Freudenhaus der Liga''" ("Brothel of the League", literally "House of Joy").
St. Pauli moved in and out of the Bundesliga over the course of the next dozen years: the club was narrowly relegated to the Oberliga in the 1984–85 season, but won the 1985–86 championship and returned to 2. Bundesliga. Two increasingly strong years followed, resulting in promotion and three seasons in the Bundesliga, from 1988 to 1991. Four seasons followed in 2. Bundesliga, and then another two in the Bundesliga In 1995 to 1997, before another return to the 2. Bundesliga.
Into the new millennium
![Millerntor budapester 2009](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/Millerntor_budapester_2009.JPG)
Until 2010, the club's most recent appearance in the top-flight had been a single-season cameo in
2001–02. A win against
Bayern Munich
Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...
, the reigning
Intercontinental Cup winners, led to the popular "''Weltpokalsiegerbesieger''" ("World Club Champion beaters") shirts. However, the team finished last in the league, partly because the management did not trust the team which surprisingly won the promotion in 2001, but rather spent the additional money from Bundesliga TV contracts and advertisements on expensive but disappointing players. After the relegation to the 2. Bundesliga, only a skeleton of the successful 2001 team remained. The
2002–03 season ended up in chaos, with the team fighting relegation (ultimately in vain) from the very beginning, various coaches departing and other problems internal to the club.
With the club almost bankrupt again and the less-lucrative
Regionaliga Nord (III) looming, the club began its fund-raising activities, the so-called "''Retteraktion''". They printed
t-shirt
A T-shirt (also spelled tee shirt), or tee, is a style of fabric shirt named after the T shape of its body and sleeves. Traditionally, it has short sleeves and a round neckline, known as a ''crew neck'', which lacks a collar. T-shirts are general ...
s with the club's crest surrounded by the word ''Retter'' ("rescuer/saviour") and more than 140,000 were sold within six weeks. They also organized a lucrative benefit game, against Bayern Munich, to raise funds to save the club.
The club has also been active in terms of charity and in 2005 the club, the team and the fans initiated the
Viva con Agua de Sankt Pauli
Viva con Agua de Sankt Pauli (english: Live with Water) is a Charitable organization, charity founded in 2006 in the Hamburg Quarter (country subdivision), quarter of St. Pauli. Viva con Agua is a network of people and organizations committed to e ...
campaign, which collects money for water-dispensers for schools in
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
, for clean water in
Rwanda
Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...
et cetera.
During the
2005–06 season, the team enjoyed unprecedented success in the
DFB-Pokal, with wins over
Burghausen,
VfL Bochum
Verein für Leibesübungen Bochum 1848 Fußballgemeinschaft, commonly referred to as simply VfL Bochum (), is a Football in Germany, German association football club based in the city of Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club has spent 35 seas ...
and, significantly, Bundesliga sides
Hertha BSC
Hertha, Berliner Sport-Club e. V., commonly known as Hertha BSC (), and sometimes referred to as Hertha Berlin, Hertha BSC Berlin, or simply Hertha, is a German professional football club based in the locality of Westend of the borough of Charl ...
and, in the quarter-finals on 25 January 2006, Werder Bremen. Their 3–1 victory in front of a sell-out Millerntor crowd, and their subsequent place in the DFB Cup semi-final, netted the club approximately €1 million in TV and sponsorship money, going a long way to saving the club from immediate financial ruin.
St. Pauli finally went out of the cup to Bayern Munich on 12 April, going down 3–0 with a goal from
Owen Hargreaves and two from
Claudio Pizarro. Coincidentally, Bayern were also St. Pauli's opponents and dispatchers in the first round of
the following season's cup.
After success in the 2006–07 season, the team was promoted to the 2. Bundesliga. After defeating
SpVgg Greuther Fürth
Spielvereinigung Greuther Fürth (), commonly known as Greuther Fürth (), is a German football club based in Fürth, Bavaria. They play in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of the German football league system, following relegation from the B ...
in the
2009–10 season, the team secured promotion back to the Bundesliga for the
2010–11 season. On 16 February 2011, during the 2010–11 season and for the first time since 1977, St Pauli defeated their bitter cross-city rivals Hamburger SV away at the
Volksparkstadion
Volksparkstadion () is a football stadium in Hamburg, Germany, and is the home of Hamburger SV.
History
HSV actually have nothing to do with the origins of the stadium, even though they own the current arena. Before the club moved to the cur ...
courtesy of a
Gerald Asamoah
Gerald Asamoah (; born 3 October 1978) is a German football manager and former professional player who works as the first-team manager of Schalke 04.
During his playing career, Asamoah played as a forward, and he was mainly known for his pace, ...
goal. The team, however, finished the domestic season in last place, resulting in their relegation to the 2. Bundesliga for the
2011–12 season. Since then, the club has remained in the 2. Bundesliga, finishing fourth in 2011–12 but declining in results since then.
Honours
League
*
2. Bundesliga
The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...
(II)
**Runners-up :
1987–88,
1994–95,
2009–10
*
2. Bundesliga Nord (II)
** Champions : 1977
*
Regionalliga Nord (II)
** Champions :
1963–64,
1965–66,
1971–72,
1972–73
*
Regionalliga Nord (III)
** Champions : 2007
*
Oberliga Nord
The Oberliga Nord was the fourth tier of the German football league system in the north of Germany. It covered the states of Lower Saxony, Bremen, Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein. With the introduction of the 3. Liga, the league ceased to exist f ...
(III)
** Champions : 1981, 1983, 1986
*
Stadtliga Hamburg (I)
** Champions : 1947
Cup
*
Hamburger Pokal
The Hamburger Pokal ( en, Hamburg Cup) is an annual football cup competition, shortly known as Hamburg pokal, held by the ( en, Hamburg Football Association) since 1982. For sponsorship reasons, the official name of the competition is ODDSET-Poka ...
** Winners: 1986, 2004, 2005, 2006
Reserve team
*
Oberliga Hamburg/Schleswig-Holstein
The Oberliga Hamburg/Schleswig-Holstein was the fourth tier of the German football league system in the north of Germany, existing from 1994 to 2004. It covered the states of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein. With the re-formation of the Oberliga No ...
(IV)
** Champions: 1995, 1999, 2003
*
Oberliga Hamburg
The Oberliga Hamburg, sometimes referred to as ''Hamburg-Liga'', is the highest league in the German state of Hamburg, incorporating some of its surrounding districts. It is one of fourteen Oberligen in German football, the fifth tier of the Germa ...
(V)
** Champions: 2011
*
Hamburger Pokal
The Hamburger Pokal ( en, Hamburg Cup) is an annual football cup competition, shortly known as Hamburg pokal, held by the ( en, Hamburg Football Association) since 1982. For sponsorship reasons, the official name of the competition is ODDSET-Poka ...
** Winners: 1998, 2001, 2008
Kit
Historically the colors of the St. Pauli are
brown
Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing or painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors orange and black. In the RGB color model used ...
and
white
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
, and to a lesser extent
red
Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...
.
During the 21st century,
LGBT
' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity.
The LGBT term is a ...
details were integrated into the third shirt.
Sponsors
Recent seasons
The club's recent seasons:
Supporters
![FC St Pauli skull and crossbones](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/FC_St_Pauli_skull_and_crossbones.svg)
St. Pauli enjoys a certain fame for the left-leaning character of its supporters: most of the team's fans regard themselves as
anti-racist, anti-fascist,
anti-homophobic and
anti-sexist
Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls.There is a clear and broad consensus among academic scholars in multiple fields that sexism refers primari ...
, and this has on occasion brought them into conflict with
neo-Nazis and hooligans at away games. The organization has adopted an outspoken stance against racism, fascism, sexism, and homophobia and has embodied this position in its constitution. Team supporters traditionally participate in demonstrations in the St. Pauli district of Hamburg, including those over
squatting
Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there ...
or low-income housing, such as the
Hafenstraße
Hafenstraße is a street in St. Pauli, a quarter of Hamburg, Germany, known for its legalized squats. The squats were occupied in 1981 and became a figurehead for autonomist and anti-imperialist politics. After a prolonged battle with the city cou ...
and
Bambule
Bambule, a term of German prison sociolect, originally refers to a form of mostly non-violent prison protest, typically effected by banging hard items against the cells' metal bars. The term is derived from the African dance ''Bamboule'' or ''Bamb ...
. The centre of fan activity is the ''Fanladen St. Pauli''.
Partly because of shared leftist political views, St. Pauli fans have strong relationships with supporters of
Ternana
Ternana Calcio, commonly referred to as Ternana, is an Italian football club based in Terni, Umbria.
The club was founded in 1925 and refounded in 1993. In its history, Ternana has twice played in Serie A (in the 1972–73 and 1974–75 seas ...
,
Unione Calcio Sampdoria
Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Football in Italy, Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Genoa.
The club was formed in 1946 from the List of ...
,
Rayo Vallecano,
Club Universidad Nacional
Club Universidad Nacional, A.C., commonly referred to as UNAM, is a professional football club based in Ciudad Universitaria of Mexico City, Mexico. The club competes in the Liga MX, the top division in the Mexican football league system. Fo ...
,
SV Babelsberg 03,
Hapoel Tel Aviv
Hapoel Tel Aviv ( he, הפועל תל אביב) is a sports club in Israel, founded in the 1920s, and part of the Hapoel association. It runs several sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv which have competed in a variety of sports over the years, suc ...
,
AEK Athens (
Original 21
Original 21 ( el, Ορίτζιναλ 21) is the name of the association which consists of many supporters groups of the Greek multi-sports club AEK Athletic Club. Officially founded in 1982, Original 21 is the biggest supporters' union of AEK. Or ...
),
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
* Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Fo ...
and
Oakland Roots
Oakland Roots Sports Club is an American professional soccer team based in Oakland, California. The club was
formed in 2018 by a group of Oakland natives, and began play in the National Independent Soccer Association in the fall of 2019. In 2021, ...
. In the past they also had a friendship with the fans of
Bohemians 1905 and
Partizan Minsk
FC Partizan Minsk ( be, ФК Партызан Мінск) was a Belarusian football club based in Minsk.
History
The club was founded as MTZ-RIPO Minsk in 2002 as a merger of two Minsk teams from the Second League ( Traktor Minsk, a club wi ...
. The group ''Ultrá Sankt Pauli'' also has a special friendship with the group ''Schickeria München'', from the ultras scene of
Bayern Munich
Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...
. A banner of the Schickeria München is occasionally displayed at the Millerntor Stadion, and a flag of the Ultrá Sankt Pauli – sporting a picture of
Che Guevara
Ernesto Che Guevara (; 14 June 1928The date of birth recorded on /upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Ernesto_Guevara_Acta_de_Nacimiento.jpg his birth certificatewas 14 June 1928, although one tertiary source, (Julia Constenla, quoted ...
– has been displayed at the
Allianz Arena. Both Ultrá Sankt Pauli and Schickeria München are members of ''Alerta Network'', an international anti-fascist network of supporter groups.
The club prides itself on having the largest number of female fans in all of German football.
In 2002, advertisements for the men's magazine ''
Maxim'' were removed from the Millerntor-Stadion in response to fans' protests over the adverts'
sexist
Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls.There is a clear and broad consensus among academic scholars in multiple fields that sexism refers primaril ...
depictions of women. In 2011, the club banned
lap dancers from performing during match before guests at a corporate suite, following fans' complaints. The suite belonged to local lap dance club ''Susies Show Bar''.
St. Pauli is also a worldwide symbol for
punk and related subcultures. The skull and crossbones logo and the team's brown and white football jerseys have often been worn by international artists such as the bands
Asian Dub Foundation,
Gaslight Anthem and
Panteon Rococo. The
KMFDM frontman and Hamburg native
Sascha Konietzko
Sascha Kegel Konietzko (born 21 June 1961), also known as Sascha K and Käpt'n K, is a German musician and record producer. He is the founder, frontman and "anchor" of the industrial band KMFDM. Konietzko jokingly purports himself to be the fath ...
is a recognisable St. Pauli fan, at one point placing a huge picture of a fist smashing a
swastika
The swastika (卐 or 卍) is an ancient religious and cultural symbol, predominantly in various Eurasian, as well as some African and American cultures, now also widely recognized for its appropriation by the Nazi Party and by neo-Nazis. It ...
on his band's main page, with the caption ''"St. Pauli Fans gegen Rechts!"'' ("St. Pauli fans against the
Right
Rights are law, legal, social, or ethics, ethical principles of Liberty, freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convent ...
") underneath it. American punk band
Anti-Flag
Anti-Flag is an American punk rock band from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The band is known for its left-wing political activism. Their current members include Justin Sane (vocals, guitar), Chris Head (guitar), Pat Thetic (drums), and Chris Ba ...
can be seen wearing St. Pauli shirts in numerous music videos for their album ''
American Fall
''American Fall'' is the eleventh studio album by American punk rock band Anti-Flag, from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was released on November 3, 2017, via Spinefarm Records, making it their second record released through the label. In the US, ...
''. Another notable supporter and sponsor is
Andrew Eldritch
Andrew Eldritch (born Andrew William Harvey Taylor, 15 May 1959) is an English singer, songwriter and musician. He is the frontman and only remaining original member of the Sisters of Mercy, a band that emerged from the British post-punk scene, ...
, lead singer of band
The Sisters of Mercy
The Sisters of Mercy is an English rock band, formed in 1980 in Leeds. After achieving early underground fame there, the band had their commercial breakthrough in the mid-1980s and sustained it until the early 1990s, when they stopped releasin ...
. On his 2006 "Sisters Bite The Silver Bullet"- tour, Eldritch wore the famous skull and crossbones shirt.
Georg Holm
Georg may refer to:
* ''Georg'' (film), 1997
*Georg (musical), Estonian musical
* Georg (given name)
* Georg (surname)
* , a Kriegsmarine coastal tanker
See also
* George (disambiguation)
George may refer to:
People
* George (given name)
* ...
, the bassist of the Icelandic
post rock Post Rock may refer to:
* Post-rock, a form of experimental rock music
* Post Rock (South Georgia)
Elsehul (also Paddocks Cove, Else Cove, Elsie Bay, Elsa Bay, Else's Hole, and Else Bay) is a bay along the north coast of South Georgia Island in th ...
band
Sigur Rós
Sigur Rós () is an Icelandic post-rock band from Reykjavík, active since 1994. The band comprises singer and guitarist Jón Þór "Jónsi" Birgisson, bassist Georg Hólm, and keyboardist Kjartan Sveinsson. Known for their ethereal sound, fron ...
, has performed at several festivals wearing a St. Pauli T-shirt.
Alex Rosamilia
Alex Rosamilia (born 1982) is an American musician. Rosamilia is one of the founding members of the band The Gaslight Anthem. He plays lead guitar and provides backing vocals for the band.
Biography
Early in his career he was involved in The Ki ...
, the guitarist for
The Gaslight Anthem
The Gaslight Anthem is an American rock band from New Brunswick, New Jersey, formed in 2006. The band consists of Brian Fallon (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Alex Rosamilia (lead guitar, backing vocals), Alex Levine (bass guitar, backing vocals), ...
, frequently wears a St. Pauli hat and hoodie and displays a flag of the club's logo in front of the speakers of his guitar amp.
Editors guitarist and synthesiser player
Chris Urbanowicz
Editors are an English rock band, formed in 2002 in Birmingham. Previously known as Pilot, The Pride and Snowfield, the band currently consists of Tom Smith (lead vocals, guitar, piano), Russell Leetch (bass guitar, synthesiser, backing vocal ...
frequently wears the skull and crossbones t-shirt. Dave Doughman, the singer for
Dayton, Ohio
Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Day ...
's
Swearing at Motorists
Swearing At Motorists is a two-piece rock and roll band composed of Dave Doughman (guitar, vocals, etc.) and drummer Martin Boeters (previously Joseph Siwinski). They formed in Dayton, Ohio in 1994, releasing their self-titled debut cassette in 19 ...
, who has been spotted in concert with the skull and crossbones on his guitar and amplifier, moved to St. Pauli in 2010.
Bad Religion
Bad Religion is an American punk rock band that formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1980. The band's lyrics cover topics related to religion, politics, society, the media and science. Musically, they are noted for their melodic sensibilitie ...
played a charity match against St. Pauli's third team in 2000. German musicians that are fans include:
Fettes Brot
Fettes Brot () is a German hip hop group that formed in 1992.
History
Band name
Fettes Brot means ''fat bread'' in German. "Fett" is a German slang term for "excellent" and brot is slang for "hash". The band took the name from a fan who ca ...
,
Die Ärzte singer/drummer/songwriter
Bela B.
Dirk Albert Felsenheimer (born 14 December 1962),''Die Ärzte. Ein überdimensionales Meerschwein frisst die Erde auf'', p. 80 better known under his stage name Bela B (formerly Bela B.), is a German musician, songwriter, actor and author, b ...
,
Kettcar
Kettcar is an indie rock music band based in Hamburg, Germany. The band has released five studio albums so far. The band released their fourth album, ''Zwischen den Runden'', in 2012. Their fifth album, ''Ich vs. Wir'', was released in October ...
,
Tomte and many other bands, most of them underground.
![Kollmarlibre 06](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/Kollmarlibre_06.JPG)
Several bands have also made music directly related to St. Pauli: The Norwegian punk rock band
Turbonegro
Turbonegro (Turboneger in Norway) is a Norwegian rock band, active from 1989 to 1998 and from 2002 to the present. The band combines glam rock, punk rock, and hard rock into a self-described "deathpunk" musical style.
History
Early years (1 ...
recorded a special version of their song "
I Got Erection
''Ass Cobra'' is the third full-length studio album by Norwegian punk rock band Turbonegro. It was first released in May 1996 on Boomba Records in Germany and in 1997 on Sympathy for the Record Industry in the United States. It was re-released ...
" with re-worked German lyrics for St. Pauli. In 2009, Italian ska combat-folk punk band
Talco Talco may refer to:
* The Tajik Aluminium Company, abbreviated as TALCO
* Talco, Texas
* Talco (band)
Talco is an Italian ska punk band and alternative band from Marghera, Venice. Musically the group combines the horns and rhythms of ska-punk ...
from
Marghera,
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...
, wrote the song "St Pauli". The team has since used the song as an anthem and Talco has played a number of concerts at Millerntor-Stadion.
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
band
The Wakes have also played the Millerntor, having written "The Pirates of the League" about the club. Also, British band
Art Brut
Art Brut are a Berlin-based English and German indie rock band. Their debut album, '' Bang Bang Rock & Roll'', was released on 30 May 2005, with its follow up, ''It's a Bit Complicated'', released on 25 June 2007. Named after French painter Je ...
has written a song about the club called "St Pauli" which is featured on their album ''
It's a Bit Complicated
''It's a Bit Complicated'' is the second album by British band Art Brut. It is the follow-up to their debut album '' Bang Bang Rock & Roll'' and was released on 19 June 2007. It debuted on the UK Albums Chart at #123.
Writing and recording
''It ...
''.
In 2010, FC St. Pauli celebrated its 100th anniversary. For the occasion, the fan club 18auf12 recorded the song "Happy Birthday St.Pauli, One Hundred Beers for You", with words and music by Henning Knorr and
Christoph Brüx
Christoph Brüx (born 13 December 1965) is a German sculptor, painter, composer, pianist, keyboardist, arranger and music producer.
He composed for artists such as No Angels, Matthias Reim, The Underdog Project ( ''Summer Jam''), Brooklyn Bounc ...
.
The Canadian punk rock band The Pagans of Northumberland recorded a song in 2014 called simply "St Pauli" for their first 7-inch detailing their love of the club and its supporters around the world.
In January 2017, FC St. Pauli announced an extensive co-operation with
Irish-American Celtic punk
Celtic punk is punk rock mixed with traditional Celtic music.
Celtic punk bands often play traditional Irish, Welsh or Scottish folk and political songs, as well as original compositions.P. Buckley, ''The Rough Guide to Rock'' (London: Rough Gu ...
band
Dropkick Murphys
Dropkick Murphys are an American Celtic punk band formed in Quincy, Massachusetts in 1996. Singer and bassist Ken Casey has been the band's only constant member. Other current members include drummer Matt Kelly (1997– ), singer Al Barr (199 ...
. The co-operation includes a strictly limited seven-inch picture disc of the song "
You’ll Never Walk Alone" recorded by the band, and new club merchandise labeled "You’ll Never Walk Alone", sporting both the club and the band.
When the team played in Germany's 2nd Bundesliga, their home fixtures at the
Millerntor used to average greater attendances than any other team and often exceeded turnouts for second division teams. As of the
2011–12 season, St. Pauli is the only team that has close to 100% in average home attendance.
In 2006, St. Pauli had more season ticket holders than many Bundesliga teams. One study estimated that the team has roughly 11 million fans throughout Germany, making the club one of the most widely recognised German sides. The number of official fan clubs in 2011 passed 500 which is an increase of 300 over three years.
In January 2020, the club's famous skull and crossbones flag was listed by the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
's counter-terrorism police in a guide sent to public sector workers, to notice potential
extremism
Extremism is "the quality or state of being extreme" or "the advocacy of extreme measures or views". The term is primarily used in a political or religious sense to refer to an ideology that is considered (by the speaker or by some implied share ...
, prompting a backlash from St Pauli's Welsh defender
James Lawrence.
Club culture
St. Pauli opens its home matches with "
Hells Bells" by
AC/DC
AC/DC (stylised as ACϟDC) are an Australian Rock music, rock band formed in Sydney in 1973 by Scottish-born brothers Malcolm Young, Malcolm and Angus Young. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock, and Heavy metal ...
, and after every home goal "
Song 2
"Song 2" is a song by English rock band Blur. The song is the second song on their eponymous fifth studio album. Released on 7 April 1997, "Song 2" peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart, number four on the Australian ARIA Singles Char ...
" by
Blur is played.
The former club president
Corny Littmann
Cornelius "Corny" Littmann (born 21 November 1952) is a German entrepreneur, entertainer, theater owner ( Schmidt Theater). He served as President (2002–2010) of the football club FC St. Pauli.
Biography
Littmann toured throughout West Germa ...
, long active in German theatre and head of the Schmidt Theater on the
Reeperbahn, is
openly gay.
St. Pauli have made pre-season appearances at
Wacken Open Air
Wacken Open Air (, abbreviated as W:O:A) is a rock music, rock music festival, held annually since 1990 on the first weekend of August in the village of Wacken, Schleswig-Holstein, Wacken in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Almost all styles and su ...
, a heavy metal festival, several times.
The club hosted the
2006 FIFI Wild Cup
The FIFI Wild Cup was an alternative FIFA World Cup, held from 29 May to 3 June 2006 in Germany, prior to the official FIFA World Cup which started one week later. It was run by the Federation of International Football Independents (FIFI).
FIFI ...
, a tournament made up of unrecognised national football teams like
Greenland
Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...
,
Tibet
Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...
and
Zanzibar
Zanzibar (; ; ) is an insular semi-autonomous province which united with Tanganyika in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania. It is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of many small islands ...
. They participated as the "Republic of St. Pauli".
In 2008,
Nike commemorated the club with two exclusive
Dunk shoes, both released in limited quantities. The High Dunk (featuring a black