In the course of the interview we touched on St Pauli, the iconic German rebel football club, and I mentioned I was a fan of punk band Turbonegro, who of course are St Pauli fans. Uli also writes a regular Bundesliga column for ESPN and has written a book about his beloved Borussia Dortmund. I picked up his extraordinary book, Tor! The Story of German Football, to do a little research and got in touch with him for an interview.

I was writing a story about the transformation of German football and what Australia could learn from it when I first came across Uli Hesse. Order our latest quarterly – an analysis of some of football’s boldest talents such as Roberto Firmino and Leônidas instances when football and politics intersected in the UK, Argentina, Georgia and Qatar tragedy and surprise in the midlands and so much more – Issue 39.Shoot Farken Q&A: German football writer Uli Hesse. Uli Hesse is an author and journalist who has written extensively on German football, with books including Tor! The Story of German Football, Bayern: Creating a Global Superclub and Building the Yellow Wall: The Incredible Rise and Cult Appeal of Borussia Dortmund. Marcus also regularly hosts our live Q&A events across the country alongside Jonathan. Marcus Speller is a host of the Football Ramble podcast as well as Answerable Questions with Questionable Answers. He’s contributed to a number of publications including the Guardian and Sports Illustrated as well as having authored Behind the Curtain, Inverting the Pyramid, The Outsider, Angels with Dirty Faces and most recently The Names Heard Long Ago, among others. Jonathan Wilson founded The Blizzard in 2011 and is editor of the magazine. Uli, Jonathan and Marcus discuss the troubles facing of German football in the 80s, the remarkable desperate situation Borussia Dortmund found themselves in and the chaotic scenes which helped ensure their survival. On this episode of Greatest Games, Jonathan Wilson and Marcus Speller are joined by Uli Hesse as they remember the 1985-86 Bundesliga relegation/promotion playoff which could’ve seen Borussia Dortmund drop out of the top-flight.

Uli hesse tor