FC St. Pauli played an almost perfect 2019 season and only lost a single game. Unfortunately, this was the last game of the 2019 season, the blind football final for the German championship. The Kiezkickers only had to admit defeat in a close call and only in the penalty shootout. The spectators saw the best blind football that can currently be seen in Germany. A thrilling game that was ultimately deservedly won by SG BG Blista Marburg. The revenge for them Final defeat two years ago Marburg succeeded with this.
Thank you FC St. Pauli blind football
Everyone who has brought life to the blind football department at FC St. Pauli in recent years can go through life with their chests swollen with pride. I have the current national players Joni Tönsing and Rasmus Narjes first, along with Paul Ruge Photographed playing football in 2013 – and I was the only beginner in this fascinating sport. A lot has happened since then and the three have become the absolute pillars of the team. The team has now reached the final of the German championship three times in a row.
The team also finished the last two seasons in first place in the table. Undefeated this season with a lead of 7 points (with 6 teams in the Bundesliga and the first and second round). This is really worthy of all honor. It's like FC Bayern Munich becoming champions 6 games before the end of the season.
Something has been built there over many years that is worth seeing. The field players in Sankt Pauli's starting eleven consisted of players in their 20s. And the next generation is already in the starting blocks. Furthermore, it is an amateur sport. Who the wonderful Documentary "Lass rasseln" on NDR has seen, knows that team captain Rasmus Narjes, for example, takes a 4-hour train ride for each training session.
Of course it's the same in Marburg, but unfortunately not at all clubs. Other well-known clubs prefer to call national players from other nations on match days rather than let their own club members and German national players kick the ball. The final game between FC St. Pauli and SG Blista Marburg was also an advertisement for sustainable work in the spirit of inclusion.
Final match day
The final match day was introduced three years ago. On the last matchday, the neighbors in the table fight for positions. Interestingly, the resulting championship trophies were always raised to the sky at the end by the runners-up of the current season. In 2017 it was FC St. Pauli, last year MTV Stuttgart and this year Marburg won the title for the 5th time.
The opening and final match days always take place in a selected city in Germany. The final yesterday in Saarbrücken. On the way to the venue in front of the Saarland State Theater, I passed many stands of associations in the pedestrian zone that took care of illnesses and disabilities. At first I thought it was related to the choice of venue. But it was only an event organized by the statutory health insurance companies. Nevertheless, a reference to the location of the blind football finals, which is barely a 5-minute walk away, would certainly have been well placed.
So only a few fans found their way to the field. Some also happen by chance. A bachelor party was actually on the way to the nearby park. At first they stood there confused and then became so captivated by the game that they stayed until the end. That's what happened to many viewers. Anyone who has ever seen this sport will not soon forget it.
However, it makes me a little sad that this high-class game was played on poorly laid artificial turf. The players rely on their ears and sense of touch. If the ground suddenly shakes when you enter certain areas of the pitch, that is not at international level. You know how it feels and sounds when a floorboard in the parquet gives way and creaks? That's how it was sometimes on the field. Of course this affects both teams and my comment is really not intended as an excuse. But it's supposed to be a final day and things like that just have to be right.
The final of the blind football championship 2019
Let's get to the game: FC St. Pauli starts nervously, but quickly recovers and Jonathan Tönsing's first shot at the post makes people sit up and take notice. After that, the attack machine rolls like clockwork. Only Taime Kuttig from Marburg can provide relief. Then a shot from Joni is deflected and gives national goalkeeper Sebastian Themel no chance. Deserved 1-0 lead for Brown and White! Barely two minutes later, the lively Marburger Pektas is fouled in a promising position by the reliable defensive terrier Hippo.
Marburg cannot miss this opportunity. Kuttig cleverly places the ball past the wall on the short side and hits the ball unstoppably under the crossbar in the short corner. Compensation.
But Sankt Pauli doesn't let up. With assertiveness and will, Joni holds the ball in front of the Marburg goal. Pektas rushes in to help and clears the ball - into his own goal. 2:1 lead for brown and white!
Half time. Deserved lead for brown and white. But in the second half, the blue and yellow increased the pressure. In tropical temperatures, the intense game demands everything from the protagonists on the pitch.
This is why August 31, 2019 will not go down in the brown and white annals as goalkeeper day. While a few hours earlier Robin Himmelmann had the rare mishap of being to blame for the opponent's equalizer, this was reserved for Sven Gronau in the final of the German blind football championship. A ball from Taime Kuttig that wasn't shot particularly firmly is parried by Sven with his leg, but from there the ball bounces against his hand and he very unfortunately hits the ball into his own goal.
Joni had put his FC St. Pauli in the lead twice, and Marburg came back twice. And like in 2017, the 2019 final between FC St. Pauli and Blista Marburg was decided on penalty kicks.
While national goalkeeper Sebastian Themel was able to decisively deflect the two shots from his national team colleagues Tönsing and Narjes, Matze Gutzmann was not able to do the same in the Brown-White goal - even though it was his turn too. Horn and Kuttig score – SG BG Blista Marburg is once again German champion in blind football.
The FC St. Pauli team can leave the pitch with their heads held high. In addition, Joni was named best player of the season and took the top scorer spot with 17 goals.
Now comes the European Blind Football Championships in Rome. On the first weekend in October you can see first-class blind football in Hamburg again - then there will be the Masters on the grounds on Borgweg. Come over, it is worth it….
