Storm Ciara and Stoppage Time Drama

I 10.02.2020
I Daniel Barthold
I Holstein Kiel v FC St. Pauli 2-1

THE CITY

Kiel is actually a pretty nice port city – if you go in the summer. There are plenty of bars and restaurants along the water, the so-called ‘Kieler Foerde’ and the city has a university so a number of locations for young people are within walking distance.

Obviously, this game was in February where Kiel is not the best place to go. It is cold, windy and pretty grey but since I grew up in the Hamburg area I am pretty used to that in winter so bottom line is if you go to Kiel it is better between May and September. Lubeck is another nice city in northern Germany that clearly has some Scandinavian vibes.

The interesting fact about Kiel is that it is the only bigger city in Germany where football is not the number one sport – it is actually handball.

THE GAME

Holstein Kiel vs FC St. Pauli

2-1

Oh dear… Sankt Pauli played a dreadful 1st half which resulted in a deserved Kiel lead. In the 2nd half St Pauli shaped up and actually made it 1-1 only to ruin the evening as usual. First, a goalkeeper error led to Holstein Kiel’s 2nd goal and then St Pauli got a penalty awarded in stoppage time which took quite a while to be confirmed due to VAR. The guests missed the penalty followed by an indirect free-kick over the crossbar – a Kiel defender had passed the ball straight into his goalkeeper’s hands.

In the end, the hosts celebrated and St Pauli once again finished an important fixture empty-handed. They have not won away from home for nearly one year now which is seriously no fun. It must be so much easier to support clubs like Real Madrid or Bayern Munich…

THE STADIUM

A relatively small Bundesliga 2 stadium with a capacity of roughly 15,000. Holstein Kiel recently built a new stand which looks quite nice. Since the club got promoted to the 2nd tier the attendance is pretty solid without being a very hostile or loud crowd. I personally would not attend a Holstein Kiel match without ticking off a few more grounds in the Hamburg and Lubeck area and even Denmark is not too far. Another option is attending a THW Kiel match additionally which is one of the biggest handball clubs in Europe.

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HOW TO GET THERE

If you are travelling from outside Germany you are likely to arrive at Hamburg Airport which is roughly 2 hours by shuttle bus to Kiel or 1.5 hours by regional train from Hamburg Central station.

Kiel Central is nice, a compact station with easy access and it is close to the city centre and right next to the Port of Kiel.

It is usually quite convenient to get there, however, in my case Storm Ciara caused a whole lot of problems in Europe that week. The train tracks between Hamburg and Kiel were shut down so it was quite a detour via Lubeck to just about make it on time to see my team lose a game of football once again.

7/10

Daniel Barthold

Born in 1983 in Hildesheim (Lower Saxony, Germany) and raised in the Hamburg Area. Supporter of FC St. Pauli and since 2010 living and working in London (England) as a sports business consultant. Groundhopping has been a passion since the early days but I am actively counting and ticking off grounds since the Euros 2004. I have been to 500 stadiums in 65 countries so far.