On the terraces: How Marmoush millions are impacting Frankfurt's finances, Friday night football for Werder Bremen, plus fan culture in the Rhineland

In a weekly Newsletter, Matt Ford keeps an eye on the action off the pitch in the Bundesliga and German football, explaining what’s going on from fan protests to finances.

After several successful seasons in the Europa League and Champions League, Eintracht Frankfurt are increasingly operating on a different sporting and financial level. The recent sales of Randal Kolo Muani and Omar Marmoush, among others, have brought in well over €150m and next week, members will vote on a planned capital increase - but it won’t be quite as large as initially planned. Read on to find out more.

Back on the terraces, Werder Bremen supporters embarked on the first of two 1,500-kilometre Friday night round trips this month, earning the sympathy of Bayern Munich’s ultras. Plus, we take a look back at last week’s eventful DFB Pokal quarterfinal between Bayer Leverkusen and 1. FC Köln and ask: when is a derby not a derby?

---

Matt Ford's "On the terraces" newsletter will continue to appear every week throughout the 2024/25 Bundesliga season. Last season, the newsletter featured exclusive and in-depth coverage of the Bundesliga's private equity plans and the political intrigues at VfB Stuttgart, among other things. If you like what you see, please consider taking out a paid subscription.