Documentary about FC Kaiserslautern: As the devil wants it

A documentary shows the wide range of football feelings using the example of FCK. This goes to the point of fainting and not without Palatinate.

Ciriaco “Ciri” Sforza, number 10 of the then 1. FCK, with the championship trophy Photo: Werek/Imago

If a documentary is about 1. FC Kaiserslautern, how they were relegated in 1996, rose again in 1997 and immediately afterwards became German champions in 1998, which is still unique today, then the question arises: how much emotion fits into a film?

If you then consider that the makers of that SWR documentary also manage with a crisp 45 minutes to put together historical quotes, game scenes, stadium shots and current interviews in such a way that even the very, very pathetic background music cannot harm the viewer’s goosebumps , then one can only congratulate.

You don’t have to be a fan of the “Red Devils”. Yes, you don’t even have to be half a football fan to have pee in your eyes in the first few minutes.

For example, when Rudi Völler, who narrowly escaped relegation himself with his Leverkusen team, hugs his crying and relegated opponent Andreas Brehme after the decisive game and in front of the cameras. Or when the future champion coach Otto Rehhagel, dismissed prematurely by FC Bayern (greetings at this point to Julian Nagelsmann!), later returns to Munich with 1. FCK to defeat Bayern there and then celebrate happily in front of the away block permit.

“Karlsruuuuu”

The documentary is also worth seeing because it doesn’t limit football to the game or even business, but gives an impression of what a club, a stadium full of people, can mean. That happens, for example, when a young woman, sobbing and in broad Palatinate, expresses her wish shortly after relegation that one should at least win the cup final against “Karlsruuuuu” after relegation (one has!).

Or when the documentary makers Jürgen Schmidt and Marius Zimmermann let two long-time fans have their say, from whom they have even collected archive material on which you can see one of them at the final whistle of the championship, how he almost fainted with happiness.