MSV Duisburg: Who needs the Champions League?

Meidericher Spielverein (MSV) is 123 years old. It was a founding member of the Bundesliga in 1963 and finished second in its first season. MSV Duisburg has played in the Bundesliga for a total of 28 years, with interruptions, and is still ranked 17th in the all-time table. It has reached the DFB Cup final four times and has played in the European Cup three times. In 1979, MSV reached the semifinals of the UEFA Cup.

The Duisburg team, also known as the "Zebras" because of their striped jerseys, is currently playing in the fourth division for the first time in their history. But no one in the city is really upset about it anymore; quite the opposite: more spectators are coming to their home games than at any time in seven years – back then, when they were still in the second division.

When the glorious MSV completed its return to the third division in an away match against Gladbach II on Friday evening, around 16,000 MSV fans stood in the south stand of Borussia Park. Never before have so many traveling fans attended a Regionalliga match in Germany. MSV managing director Michael Preetz said of the season, the supposed low point in Duisburg's football history: "Ultimately, it's been an incredibly great year."

What's happening this season in Duisburg, on the western edge of the Ruhr region, is a phenomenon. After their club's tearful fall into the depths of professional football, the fans haven't turned away, but have rediscovered their love for the club and football. In the fourth division, an average of 16,340 people have attended each Duisburg home game so far. That's more spectators than first-division clubs Heidenheim and Kiel, more than six current second-division clubs, and more than 15 third-division clubs.

The Duisburg phenomenon shows that football doesn't necessarily need a Champions League anthem and a whole bunch of world stars. The heroes of Duisburg football are Patrick Sussek, Malek Fakhro, and Alexander Hahn. The coach who led the team to promotion is Dietmar Hirsch. Their opponents included Eintracht Hohkeppel, 1. FC Bocholt, and SC Paderborn II.

Michael Preetz has been MSV's managing director for 15 months. The 57-year-old was a former professional footballer and later manager of Berlin's big-city club Hertha BSC. Although he was born in Düsseldorf and briefly played for MSV as a player, Preetz didn't necessarily give the impression at the beginning of his time in Duisburg that he wanted to settle down at MSV for the long term. But then things took a different turn, and Preetz was captivated by the city's emotionality. The season was still young when he explained the people's unexpected euphoria as follows: "When you reach a point zero and everyone feels like it can't go any worse – that's when a great sense of solidarity often sets in."

Football can work just as well on a small scale as it does on a large scale. "Now we want the double!" shouted player Mert Göckan on Friday evening. He meant, after winning the Regionalliga West championship, also winning the Lower Rhine State Cup in the final against Rot-Weiss Essen on May 24. This would crown a very special year in MSV Duisburg's history.