The Germans do so love their football! So do many other nationalities, including the British, but events in the Bundesliga are interwoven with life in the 18 cities and towns in the top division in a way that isn’t often the case elsewhere.

As a community event there is nothing like standing (yes, you can still stand) or sitting with the fans at a Schalke (in the Ruhr), Union Berlin or St Pauli (Hamburg) game, clubs which have a passionate local following and have come to embody their local community, particularly if it has fallen on hard times.

I’ve travelled to over 20 German football games in the last five years…and it’s fair to say they are some of the best sporting occasions I’ve ever been to, regardless of which city or town they’re in, which teams are playing, and what is happening on the pitch.

It’s relatively easy to get tickets. As a result of the World Cup in 2006, huge investment went into the grounds, with some being extensively rebuilt (Stuttgart, Frankfurt) and some getting entirely new stadia (Munich, Schalke). Some even rebuilt hoping to get on the schedule (Düsseldorf). This means that, with a few exceptions, there are plenty of large stadia and available tickets, the pricing of which is very reasonable. Standing tickets are usually €15-20, with seats usually starting at €25 for even the top games.

As a result of all that investment the quality of the surroundings for nearly all games is fantastic, with customer comfort and enjoyment at the heart of the experience. However most of the stadia are quite a way out of town, so require public transport. The majority of clubs grew up in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as part of sporting societies that saw exercise in the countryside as beneficial, so this is where they started and this is where they have remained. Hence Eintracht Frankfurt play at Waldstadion (Stadium in the Woods) and Hamburg play at the Volksparkstadion (People’s Park Stadium). It’s rare to get stadia which can be reached by walking from city centres, although Dortmund and Hannover are two exceptions.

For the best experience arrive a couple of hours early and sample the pre-match ambience at the beer trucks, as both sets of fans happily mingle and get into the spirit. In all the games I’ve been to, I’ve never once seen even a hint of animosity.

Get into your seat 15 minutes early and you’ll be able to hear the club song belted out by up to 50,000 people, their voices straining with pride. You can also join in the tradition of shouting out the surname of each player in the home team, as the stadium announcer reads out the first name then waits for the surname to be yelled back at him.

During the course of a game, both sets of fans will chant away throughout, often choreographed by someone with a loudhailer at the front of the standing enclosure, ably assisted by a drum or two. What happens on the pitch, whether your team are ahead or trailing, really makes no difference to what is going on on the terraces.

Unlike in the UK, fans can drink during the game and take their drinks back to their seats, adding to the overall sense of Gemütlichkeit which permeates the whole experience. The idea of a ban on beer consumption through the match would be unthinkable to a nation of beer drinkers!

If you want to experience a sporting and cultural occasion that is right at the heart of community life, then a German football game is a great way to do it.

A love for beer, hearty food and – football. Yes, the UK and Germany have quite a few things in common. This post is not the place to mention the colourful history of the two countries’ encounters on the pitch, but rather to encourage you to include a Bundesliga match in your visit to Germany. For with a little bit of timely planning, tickets can be obtained without too much cost or hassle.

A bit of organisation is necessary, though. In recent years the Bundesliga’s surge in popularity means that the majority of tickets are sold as season tickets with only a small amount left over to be bought individually for each match. It is always possible to get tickets via sites such as Viagogo or Eventim, even at short notice and at reasonable prices when compared to the UK, in particular for standing terrace tickets. The latter may have gone in the UK, but they still exist in Germany and are the place to find the club supporters. The west stand in Kaiserslautern or south stand in Dortmund are legendary. Specially priced tickets for families in family stands are available as well.

German clubs are still in the hands of the fans

For many, the country’s football heart traditionally beats in the Ruhr area, Germany’s former industrial powerhouse with a long history of clubs with passionate working-class support such as FC Schalke 04 or Borussia Dortmund. The Westfalenstadion in Dortmund is also Germany’s biggest stadium with space for over 80,000, and the so-called ‘Arena auf Schalke’ in Gelsenkirchen  heaves with more than 60,000 football fans when Bundesliga matches are on. This is the only stadium in Germany where the roof that can be completely closed so that rain or snow cannot detract from the experience.

By the way, unlike in the UK, German football clubs are still in the hands of the fans (i.e. the club members) and legal precautions have been taken to avoid selling out to international owners. Or as the Kaiser of German football, Franz Beckenbauer, explains it: “If a Middle-Eastern Sheikh comes to buy Bayern Munich, he could buy 49 per cent. Fifty-one per cent must stay in Germany with the club. That law came about because of the developments of international football.” So there you have it.

In terms of football infrastructure, 12 of the 18 stadia are of World Cup standard, which is why so many international tournaments have been hosted here. The Deutsches Fußballmuseum (German Football Museum) with 10,000 exhibits on the history of football is in Dortmund, in the heart of the Ruhr industrial zone, which is home to a big percentage of true fans.

And if you follow the Deutsche Fußballroute (German Football Route) in North Rhine-Westphalia via Cologne, Düsseldorf, Bochum or Dortmund, you will see that football is just as close to the nation’s heart as it is in the UK. With the possible exception of how to handle penalties.

A love for beer, hearty food and – football. Yes, the UK and Germany have quite a few things in common. Now this is not the place to mention the colourful history of the two countries’ encounters on the pitch, but rather to encourage you to include a Bundesliga match in your visit to Germany. For with a little bit of timely planning, tickets can be obtained without too much cost or hassle.

A bit of organisation is necessary, though. Since the World Cup in 2006, the Bundesliga has received an extra boost resulting in the majority of tickets being sold as season tickets with only a small amount left over to be bought individually for each match. It is always possible to get tickets via sites such as Viagogo or Eventim, even at short notice and at very reasonable prices, in particular for standing terrace tickets. The latter may have gone in the UK, but they still exist in Germany and are the place to find the club supporters. The west stand in Kaiserslautern or south stand in Dortmund are legendary. Specially priced tickets for families in family stands are available as well.

German clubs are still in the hands of the fans

For many, the country’s football heart traditionally beats in the Ruhr area, Germany’s former industrial powerhouse with a long history of clubs with passionate working-class support such as FC Schalke 04 or Borussia Dortmund. The Westfalenstadion in Dortmund is also Germany’s biggest stadium with space for over 80,000, and the so-called ‘Arena auf Schalke’ in Gelsenkirchen  heaves with more than 60,000 football fans when Bundesliga matches are on. As the only stadium in Germany, the Arena also features a roof that can be completely closed so that rain or snow cannot detract from the experience.

By the way, unlike in the UK, German clubs are still in the hands of the fans (i.e. the club members) and legal precautions have been taken to avoid selling out to international owners. Or as the Kaiser, Franz Beckenbauer, once put it: “If a Middle-Eastern Sheikh comes to buy Bayern Munich, he could buy 49 per cent. Fifty-one per cent must stay in Germany with the club. That law came about because of the developments of international football.” So there you have it.

In terms of football infrastructure, Germany is profiting from the legacy of the 2006 World Cup, i.e. some 21st century football temples such as the Allianz Arena in Munich or the Volksparkstadion in Hamburg. Altogether, 12 of the 18 stadia are of World Cup standard. And there’s a lot around the actual football to be seen as well, such as the Deutsches Fußballmuseum (German Football Museum) that was opened in Berlin in 2009 with 10,000 exhibits on the history of football. Or follow the Deutsche Fußballroute (German Football Route) in North Rhine-Westphalia to discover Cologne, Düsseldorf, Bochum or Dortmund from a different  point of view. You will see that football is just as close to the nation’s heart as it is in the UK, with the possible exception of how to handle penalties. But we don’t want to talk about that now.

German Football Museum:  www.dfm-berlin.de (site only in German)

German Football Route: www.dfr-nrw.de (site only in German)