Red-white vs. Blue-white: Why football Germany is divided into two - kicker

Dresses make people, colors are irritant. That's what Peter Krohn knew. The HSV President put his team in 1976/77 in pink jerseys - and cried attention, laughter and misunderstandings. "It was terribly bored, if there was just red against white," said Krohn Lapidar and somehow hit a point. Since then, a lot has happened. Bavaria in Canary yellow yellow, the rainbowbunted Bochum end of the 90s, slightly later Werder in green-orange, the raspberry-colored Schalke in the DFB Cup final 2011. The eyes of the fans was considered all sorts.

So diverse jerseys in German football but are now: in the official club colors there is a certain uniformity. And this is also reflected in the clubnames. Blue-white, red-white, green-white. These three combinations cover 82 percent of all 876 clubs in the Kicker database that deleted their names colorfully. It can be seen clear patterns: blue-white rather dominates in the north and the east, the other two variants in the south and especially in the west. Why it is like that? "The blue in the north and east," says sport historian Prof. Michael Krüger from the University of Münster, "could have something to do with Pomerania and East Prussia." Finally, the flag Vorpommern adorn a blue and a white strip. Next to the sky, the blue does not mean the sea last.

_ +++ This text is part of the We series via football association names._ _ About this tool you can display yourself the distribution of different terms such as Eintracht, TSV or Blue-White. +++ _

Only over time, colors as namesake elements joined the repertoire of the clubs, in some areas more, in some less. South of Hesse and Thuringia barely such references are found in the name of the football clubs. Around five percent of all men's and women's teams participating in DFB game operations attach colors to the lapel. Almost always, there are exactly two, never more and only twice less: Pouring the FSV Red West and the SV Kohlis Gohlis. "During the start-up waves around the year 1900, you looked around in the area and oriented at the competition: how does it name that? Bears a color in the name or not? Man tried to adapt as to compelligence," says sportsociologist Norbert Schütte From the University of Mainz. So came to the already colored club names in certain places more. Elsewhere, the card remained colorless - such as in width parts of Bavaria (to the zoom and scrollable card).

Like the HSV new entries Arno Steffenhagen, Ferdinand Keller and Felix Magath stood to their new jersey color, is not tradition. Imago / Horstmüller

But why does all other sounds in the shadow? "White fabric for the jerseys was most likely to get," says Schütte. "Clubs had very little money in the founding times. Often sewed player women's jerseys from the fabrics that were available." A complete football potion finally cost around 20 marks - about half the week's wages of a skilled worker. Schütte and Krüger points out that this is mainly guesses. Scientific work exists as well as no.

International hardly play colors in the name

The assumption that coat of coats or country flags could play a role, which is not confirmed by the We data analysis. Despite the white-blue diamonds deep-anchored in Bavaria's identity, only three clubs lead this combination in the name: The FC Blue-White Linach, the SV Blue-White Sassendorf and the SV White Blue Alliance Munich. On the other hand, the Saxons gone, which has always been white-green, are in turn the most common blue-white in football.

The explanation is something more complex. Or as sportsociologist Schütte says, "Structures play as a role as coincidences." Looking over the national borders falls on: International colors hardly play a role when it comes to naming clubs. In Austria, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, about decorating colors occasionally decorate the names. Overall, however, it is first and foremost about a German phenomenon.

The three rarest combinations

In the GDR, the club colors were started at the beginning without immersing themselves in the name. The company sports communities (BSG) had sorted themselves in higher-level sports associations, which in turn were prescribed by color combinations depending on the industry. Chemistry? Green white. Unit? Red White. Empor or Turbine ? Blue White. After the turn, almost all East German clubs named themselves and stroked the BSG from the title. The color combination, however, remained sometimes - and was over and was even in the name.

Dense in the north, not in the south: the three most common club colors enjoy very different popularity. Kicker / Datawrapper

Today are red-yellow, green-red and gold-blue the rarest combinations. You are interested in this country exactly one football association name. Red-yellow Wesseling owes its combination of a mineral oil company, the SV green-red Bornstedt does not make people with a certain visual weakness - and the SV Gold-Blue Augsburg has served in matters with a Russian dressing. Rosa is looking for in the Kicker database in both men and women, however. Since the HSV jerseys of Peter Krohn were also not aligned. Which filter was set here? Kicker / Tableau Hier is the interactive tool for browsing, searching and finding ...