For the first time, the 9-euro ticket is valid on a weekend with a full professional football program. There are some extremely attractive games for away fans, other routes are off-putting.
FC Bayern in the home game would certainly have preferred FC Hansa for financial reasons, but VfB Lübeck is a dream lot in other respects. From a sporting point of view, the second division team from Rostock is the clear favorite for the club from the Regionalliga Nord, and for the away fans it’s almost perfect – at least on paper.
The journey time with the regional trains is less than two hours, only one change is necessary, and that for nine euros. If everything goes smoothly and there is no extension at the Lübecker Lohmühle, the Rostockers will be back at their city’s main station before 9 p.m.
The away drivers of VfL Bochum should also be satisfied with the draw, because the Bundesliga team is dealing with FC Viktoria 1889 Berlin, who have been relegated from the 3rd division. The fans of VfL are likely to struggle with the kick-off time on Saturday (07/30/2022) at 1 p.m.
1:04 a.m. Departure from Bochum main station
So the people of Bochum, if they want to use the 9-euro ticket, have to leave their main station at 1.04 a.m. Then, after changing trains in Hamm/Westphalia, Bielefeld, Braunschweig and Magdeburg, they would be at the main train station in Berlin at 10.49 a.m., in order to get to the Jahn-Sportpark from there.
but according to plan, little is currently going on at Deutsche Bahn in regional transport. The trains are often overcrowded, especially on weekends, and there are a number of delays. Many trains are also canceled because there is a lack of staff in view of the still very high number of infections with Corona.
The railway speaks of a great success with the 9-euro ticket. “At least 30 million people took advantage of the offer in the first month of June alone”, said a spokeswoman. The railway company did not respond to the request from the sports show as to whether special trains and more staff would be used due to the upcoming full football program. In general, she replied that more than 50 additional trains and 700 additional service and security personnel had been deployed since June.
Reasonably early and a bit of a buffer
Nevertheless, football fans’ desire to travel should be limited to routes that can be reached fairly early and with a bit of a buffer. The Rostock-Lübeck-Rostock route certainly belongs there, as does Hamburg-Duisburg-Hamburg (FC St. Pauli plays against SV Straelen in the MSV stadium), Berlin-Braunschweig-Berlin (Hertha at Eintracht) and Gelsenkirchen- Oldenburg-Gelsenkirchen.
FC Schalke 04 will play fourth division club Bremer SV on Sunday at 1 p.m. at VfB Oldenburg’s Marschweg Stadium. Their own stadium does not meet the requirements of the German Football Association. The journey from Gelsenkirchen to Oldenburg takes less than five hours, and it can be assumed that a number of people wearing royal blue jerseys will board at the possible transfer stations in Münster/Westphalia, Osnabrück and Bremen.
“Business as usual” for federal police
Train stations are often trouble spots from a security perspective when groups of fans meet. The fact that fans of almost all professional clubs now have the opportunity for the first time to follow their team at the weekend for very little money has no particular impact on the operational planning of the federal police responsible for train stations and train traffic. “That’s first business as usual“said spokeswoman Caroline Schröder.
The schedules of the games and travel routes also result in only a few places where there could be skirmishes. Possibly meet with changes in Hamm / Westf. and groups from Hanover (96 plays for TSV Schott Mainz) and Bielefeld (Arminia in Koblenz against FV Engers 07) together at Cologne Central Station. But even if it does, it rarely goes beyond chants of abuse.
A price comparison for the routes Bochum-Berlin and Hanover-Mainz shows how tempting the 9-euro ticket is. Both routes there and back with long-distance transport would cost around 100 euros even with a Bahncard50 (i.e. a reduction of half).
Some connections are associated with so many kilometers of travel and changes that the journey acts as a deterrent, even at a bargain price. These include Cologne-Regensburg-Cologne (FC at SSV Jahn) and above all Hamburg-Bayreuth-Hamburg (HSV at SpVgg).
Overnight option
But even games that seem tempting at first glance have their pitfalls, such as the duel between Kickers Offenbach and Fortuna Düsseldorf. A trip is scheduled to take less than four and a half hours, but since kick-off on the Bieberer Berg is not until 6 p.m. on Saturday, the return to Düsseldorf would not be until around 4 a.m.
Another option is an overnight stay, which then reduces or eliminates the price advantage.
In the cup games on Friday and Monday, there should hardly be any fans who make use of the 9-euro ticket. Should a Karlsruher SC fan still decide to do so and get on the first train at 6 a.m. the morning after the game at TSG, he might just make it home for the 8 p.m.
For fans of FC Hansa, however, the Oberliga club would have been a different dream lot. On Friday at 10:07 p.m., the RE5 departs from platform 3 in Neustrelitz, 76 minutes later it rolls into Rostock. On schedule.