#39 FC Gütersloh (Home, 2010/2011)

12:54 bundesliga , fc gutersloh , german football shirts , gutersloh , gutersloh 2000 , gutersloh porto , gutersloh shirt , gutersloh trikot , oberliga shirts , princess royal barracks gutersloh , rare football shirt 2 Comments

Around one year ago, I had the chance to spend 15 days in Germany covering FC Porto's summer training camp in Marienfeld, a really small town near Bielefeld. It meant a lot of work, with daily reports and stuff, but it also meant a lot of fun.

I knew Porto had two friendly matches against local teams scheduled, so it was pretty much a golden oportunity to get some rare shirts (possibly for free).

As I wrote on the SC Verl entry, I was lucky enough to be helped by a portuguese emmigrant living in Germany. A great lad.


He was at the match, and as soon as I told him I was looking forward to get a FCG shirt, he was kind enough to tell someone at the club a portuguese journalist wanted one. An old man then came to me - I believe it was the kit room guy - with this green shirt on his hands, and gave it to me. Nice one! A really rare shirt for free is the kind of thing all of us usually look for.

On a side note, I ended up having lunch at this portuguese emmigrant house a few months later.


Porto easily defeated Gütersloh for 1-10, pretty much a beach football score, but something quite natural having in mind that the german outfit played in the 6th tier of deutsch football. But before being stuck in the local Verbandsliga Westfalen, Gütersloh had a brief period of success in the 90's. Despite the small fan base (only 96.000 people live in the area), it has two major german companies working there: media group Bertelsmann employs around 11.300 workers, and Miele employs 5000. No surprise these two companies started to invest in the local club, that was rapidly promoted from the 4th division to the Bundesliga 2.

According to locals, FCG was actually on the brink of promotion, finishing 4th. But, in 1999, after only 3 seasons playing 2nd tier football, Miele and Bertelsmann and other companies were quite tired of funding a club that kept spending not so wisely. With something like €10 Million in debts, the club went bankrupt and had to start all over again. Without financial support from local companies, Gütersloh 2000 struggled and is now still in Oberliga Westfalen, 5th level in the pyramid. Not brilliant.



I got the number 19, but I really don't know which player used the number. I'm not 100% about the exact season when FCG used this Jako shirt, but I did find a picture of a 2010/2011 season with some player wearing it, so I'm guessing 2010/2011.


The club seemed quite organized for 6th division standards. It's impressive how amateur clubs in Germany really have a better structure than most 2nd division sides in Portugal. Their stadium was also quite good.


The press area was a bit too small though, but I suspect there are not many journalists around at 6th Division games.

I actually enjoyed my stay in the city. I guess they're used to portuguese pressmen, as Portugal and FC Porto stayed in Marienfeld (the Training Center near Gütersloh) in the past. The city is quite small, but everything looks nice and clean. I was specially impressed with the Theatre building. My hotel was also only a few seconds away from the Lutheran Church, an impressive building too.  So here are some pictures of Gütersloh:

Theatre

Theatre again

Martin Luther Church

The local economy is also helped by the massive presence of british soldiers who live and work at a Military Base near the city. You could easily spot many soldiers around, and we'd pass the barracks everyday on our way between the hotel and Porto's training facilities. It's a pretty big base I think, built by the germans before World War II, but then captured by the americans and the english. I think RAF heavily used in the past, but people told me they were planning to shut it down in a few years, and therefore many soldiers are already moving to other bases. It's still a bit weird to see a British Army base in Germany, reminds us of how different things were just a few decades ago.

Have a look at the Princess Royal Barracks:

Ver mapa maior


And some final pictures: