It has only been clear for almost two weeks that the Munich football club Türkgücü will be allowed to play those home games that cannot take place in the Grünwalder Stadium outside the city gates: SV Heimstetten agreed to take on the competitor in the regional league after it became clear was that he couldn’t afford games in the Olympic Stadium, which cost 25,000 euros. Now, on Saturday, in Türkgücü’s second game of the season at the Sportpark, there was a tangible incident: the game against the amateurs FC Bayern Munich was called off after a police operation in the FCB fans’ block.
Cell phone recordings of the incidents were already circulating on the internet a short time after the incidents: You can see how police forces go into the block of Bayern fans on the back straight of the Heimstetten sports park, who hit supporters with batons and pepper spray. The background was a banner brought by Munich supporters with the inscription “FC Bayern Fanclub Kurdistan”, which fans and officials from Türkgücü did not want to accept.
Additional toilets and a separate kiosk for Bayern fans should prevent riots
The escalation on Saturday is a big disappointment for SV Heimstetten, as office manager Selmir Sabic, who had engineered the deal with Türkgücü, admits: “After consultation with Türkgücü, we actually secured the stadium really well and actually assumed that that would happen banner is not hung up, at least that was the requirement,” says Sabic. The fact that the Bayern supporters did not have to stand in a separate area, the so-called cage, as is actually required in the regional league, was decided in consultation with representatives of both clubs.
However, additional toilets have been set up and a drinks stand installed behind the Bayern block to separate the fans even better, says Sabic, who emphasizes that SV Heimstetten bears no responsibility for the Türkgücü games; domiciliary rights lie with the Turkish club. “Our job is primarily the hospitality.” But he was also affected by the incidents on Saturday and, after using pepper spray, rushed to the injured fans with water bottles to wash their eyes.
He is completely neutral in the matter, emphasizes the office manager, who is also a youth trainer and small field coordinator at the sports club. “I thought the Türkgücü project was cool at first, also because there was suddenly another higher-class club in Munich.” But the last few years under the president and patron Hasan Kivran, who let the club run into bankruptcy, were anything but positive in retrospect: “What was done there was cheeky,” says Sabic.
Advance payment was agreed with Türkgücü: “If there is no money before the game, the game will not take place”
The anger in the greater Munich area at Türkgücü, which committed and fired players excessively during the boom years, ultimately meant that in the summer nobody wanted to take the club on to their sports facility. In addition to Unterhaching, Heimstetten also canceled after Türkgücü had found asylum in the Sportpark during the 2018/19 Bayernliga times. President Magnus Harlander declared in the summer that Türkgücü’s concept does not correspond to what one would imagine from an amateur club.
The fact that they finally got through to letting it was mainly for financial reasons: “I was also employed here to promote marketing and sponsorship,” says Sabic. “The rental brings money that we put into our 30 youth teams.” The Heimstetten sports park, with its perfect training conditions, is always the host for other clubs or individual footballers. Atlético Madrid moved into quarters here a few years ago as part of a preparatory tournament, and professionals such as Robert Lewandowski and Joshua Kimmich shot commercials. “It’s a win-win situation,” explains the SV Heimstetten official.
And that should be continued after the escalation from the weekend. So that you don’t one day belong to the extensive circle of Türkgücü creditors, a clause has been included in the rental agreement as a precaution that requires payment in advance. “The contracts are watertight,” assures Sabic. “If there is no money the day before the respective game, the game will not take place.”