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‘Very restrained’: German fans lukewarm on World Cup

Jens Mueller has been following World Cups since the 1970s and says he has never seen "so little enthusiasm" from fellow Germans for their team at a major tournament.

Published: 30 November 2022 09:27 CET

Two Germany fans watch the Germany v Japan match at a pub in Berlin. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Lena Lachnit

The mood would usually be “a bit more euphoric”, the 58-year-old says at a small, crowded Berlin pub where he watched Germany snatch a crucial draw against Spain on Sunday.

“It’s very restrained and I am used to it being different,” he says.

Not just in pubs, but at home too, viewership numbers suggest that football-mad Germany has had so far a muted response to the one of the most controversial World Cups in history.

Concerns over human rights in host nation Qatar, including over the treatment of migrant workers, have dogged preparations for the tournament and sparked calls by some of Germany’s football fan clubs to boycott games.

The timing of some matches — with Germany’s opener against Japan at 2:00 pm on a weekday — and the European winter have ruled out boisterous, beer-fuelled outdoor viewing, including at the traditional gathering point for such occasions, the capital’s Brandenburg Gate.

A row over a dropped plan by Germany’s captain Manuel Neuer to wear a rainbow armband in support of LGBTQ rights further soured the mood, as accusations flew at home against the squad for failing to take a firmer stand against FIFA’s threat of disciplinary action.

When Japan stunned Germany with a 2-1 win at their opening game, the team came under renewed fire for failing to focus on matters on the bus.

“I know not everyone is behind us,” striker Kai Havertz said after the Japan shocker.

‘Everything is possible’

With fears rising of a repeat of their campaign in Russia 2018 when Germany unceremoniously crashed out in the group stage, the team resuscitated their chances of making it through with a draw against Spain — a game watched by 17 million at home.

The audience was significantly up from the first Japan v Germany match, which drew just 9.23 million.

But viewership for the crunch match in a Sunday evening primetime slot still fell way short of the last World Cup in Russia — when 26 million on average tuned in for each of Germany’s three group games.

On the streets of Berlin, residents appear to confirm the negative vibes around this World Cup.

“Generally I won’t follow the World Cup in Qatar simply because I don’t approve of it,” says Angelika Bock, 46.

Like her, Tobias Kliegel, 42, says he won’t be watching because he “rejects the awarding of the competition to Qatar” and because “it’s an inappropriate time in winter when Christmas is coming”.

“I’m not in the mood for this at all,” he says.

Scores of bars that would normally do good business during a football tournament have sensed the disaffection and decided against showing the games,

Bar owner Birgit Arndt, 65, has decided to keep screening the matches from Qatar.

“I love it when football fans come here and are nice to each other and know that it’s about the game and not any power struggles,” she says.

After the full time whistle in the Spain game the mood changed at little. Bernhard Gwosdz, 55, was celebrating an “exciting” performance from his team and said he was “very optimistic about the next game”.

Gwosdz is watching every game he can, but he too admits he finds the World Cup’s staging in the Gulf state “problematic”.

While it comes down to a “personal decision” for Mueller, he says he can understand why others are boycotting the tournament.

But he believes that the resistance of German fans who have so far shunned the tournament could start to weaken if they do advance.

“By the semi-final at the latest everything is forgotten. Then it’s just about the World Cup.

“I think Germany will qualify in second (from the group) and after that everything is possible,” says Müller.

By Sebastien Ash

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Now widely known as the Summer Fairytale (Sommermärchen), the tournament is remembered as the moment a unified Germany shook off the shadows of its dark past and showed the world a new, modern face.

On the field, the German team coached by Jurgen Klinsmann overcame dire pre-tournament predictions to make it to the semi-finals.

Despite losing in extra time to eventual champions Italy and eventually finishing third, Germany’s performance kick-started a decade of dominance that peaked with the 2014 World Cup triumph in Brazil.

Off the field, the tournament changed not only the way the world saw Germany, but the manner in which Germany saw itself.

Philipp Lahm, a key player in 2006 who captained Germany to World Cup glory eight years later, told AFP: “In 2006 we were able to experience the whole nation standing behind the team and giving us energy.

“The celebrations are good. That people come here to Germany and celebrate a big festival together.”

‘Where are all the Germans?’

German sports sociologist and philosopher Gunter Gebauer told AFP the tournament had a sudden and long-lasting impact.

“Before the tournament, the mood in Germany was very, very poor. The economy was not going well. The weather was bad and the football was atrocious.

“And then the World Cup started and during Germany’s first game against Costa Rica, Philipp Lahm scored and the sun burst through — it was almost like something from the Bible.”

Living in a middle-class Berlin suburb, Gebauer saw a neighbour unfurl a German flag from his balcony, previously considered a “taboo” due to the nation’s post-World War II reservations with nationalism.

“From there, we saw German flags and singing the anthem at Germany games — something which just didn’t exist before.”

The dissolving of internal reservations meant World Cup visitors saw a different side to the straight, rule-enforcing Germans familiar from national stereotypes.

“Foreigners who came to Germany were delighted with the German public.

“The English people asked ‘where are all the bloody Germans? We’ve only come across friendly people who are partying everywhere’.”

Wolfgang Männig, a rower who won gold for Germany at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, is now a professor of sports economics at Hamburg University.

‘Feel-good effect’

In an interview with AFP, Männig said while the economic benefits of large events were often negligible, “the feel-good effect was the essence of the 2006 World Cup.”

Before the World Cup, “Germans were not exactly considered world leaders when it comes to being welcoming,” but after 2006 “Germany has improved significantly in international perceptions.”

Albärt, the mascot of the UEFA Euro 2024 European Football Championships, poses with the tournament’s trophy and a ball at the Allianz Arena stadium, one of the host stadiums that will be called Munich Football Arena during the UEFA Euro 2024 European Football Championships. Photo: ALEXANDRA BEIER / AFP

“I believe that foreigners see us completely differently, no longer as unenthusiastic, somewhat peculiar people, but as open and happy, which made us more comfortable with how we see ourselves.”

Jan Haut, a sports sociologist at Goethe University, told AFP “the German people became a bit less stiff. They were more comfortable and confident celebrating victories of the national team”.

“What was rather new was that Germans themselves became more aware that in other countries the picture of Germany isn’t as bad as the Germans had thought,” he added.

‘Only football can do this’

While 18 years have passed and both Germany and the world have changed, many parallels remain.

Germany again is wracked by economic uncertainty, infrastructure concerns and fears of poor on-field performances.

Haut said the world’s attention would again shine a light on Germany, for bad and for good.

“In the worst case, there might be some surprises — maybe that people become aware that things don’t work so well in Germany currently, like public transport.”

After the humiliation of two successive World Cup exits in the group stage, Germany have shown signs of life under coach Julian Nagelsmann.

They won just three of 11 games in 2023 but rebounded with strong wins over France and Netherlands in March.

Whatever the team’s results in the tournament, Maennig said Germany could bank on the unifying impact of the national sport.

“As a rower I say this with a bit of sorrow in my voice, but only football can bring people together like this. The cafes and restaurants show the games on monitors and you can sit and watch in a friendly atmosphere.

“It’s really quite enchanting.”