Arminia BielefeldGround: SchücoArena (Alm) Visits: 1 Date: 11th May 2013 Match: Arminia Bielefeld - Osnabrück 1-0 (3. Liga) Attendance: 26 500
The biggest match on this tour was hopefully going to be the one played on the Saturday. In January Maik contacted me and said I should really consider going to Bielefeld for local derby and possible promotion decider between Arminia Bielefeld and Osnabrück. Of course I followed his advice and in early March Maik bought two tickets for the match. The match was always going to be a derby but for it to be a promotion decider we needed some luck with results. Last Saturday the results did go our way and I knew I had something extra to look forward to. My Saturday started in Frankfurt and upon entering Frankfurt Hbf I was greeted by the news my train to Hannover was cancelled. After a while I realized there was a replacement train a couple of minutes later though. The train became more and more delayed during the journey and I knew I would probably miss my connecting train in Hannover. I only had 14 minutes for my change and with my train being 18 minutes delayed I missed the train to Bielefeld. Via Minden I eventually made it to Bielefeld though and shortly before noon I could meet up with Maik at Bielefeld Hbf.
Today´s derby was in round 37 (of 38) in 3. Liga with Bielefeld being in 2nd place and Osnabrück right behind them in third. This was indeed a huge derby for both clubs. Two teams are promoted straight to 2. Bundesliga while the team in 3rd place end up in the play-offs. Bielefeld Hbf was full of police and as we walked up to the ground you could feel the buzz of a big match. SchücoArena (formerly Bielefelder Alm) has a capacity of 26 500 and is a proper football ground. Our seats were in the upper rows of the Westtribüne and as I found my seat an hour before kick-off the terrace areas were already starting to fill up. The stadium was almost rocking already with songs and chants. Osnabrück had an official allocation of 2 500 but there were several thousand away fans in other areas as well. Once the match started I was reminded why I have started to like German football so much. Fantastic atmosphere with lots of chants and songs from both sets of fans. I couldn´t think of a better way to spend this afternoon. It was still 0-0 at half-time but in the second half Arminia broke the dead-lock, 1-0 in the 57th minute. If the atmosphere was good before it was even better now. Osnabrück tried to find the equalising goal but their strikers did not have one of their greatest days. The match finished 1-0, Arminia promoted and the pitch was soon packed with home fans celebrating a memorable derby victory. Being promoted as well as meant Arminia had every reason to be be in a good mood after the match. Maik didn´t want to stay behind for too long and we went back to the U-bahn station. 90 minutes later we were in Osnabrück. A day of travelling, delayed trains and football came to an end.
Going to football
Outside SchücoArena
Nordtribüne
Haupttribüne
Südtribüne
Westtribüne
Nordtribüne
Osnabrück fans
Osnabrück fans
View of play
Haupttribüne
Kick-off
View of SchücoArena
Südtribüne
Arminia fans
Banner
Celebrating a memorable victory
After the match
After the match
After the match
Pano
Pano
Pano |