Berolina Mitte: Community football at Sportplatz Auguststraße

Words: Joey Corlett

Images: Joey Corlett

With the last burning embers of the 24/25 season about to extinguish, the Berlin Landesliga fixture schedule threw up a lovely groundhopping opportunity.

SV Blau Weiss Berolina Mitte hosted SSC Südwest 1947, with the visitors chasing promotion. There was something on the line for this fixture but that wasn’t the main attraction.

Rather, it was to visit the host's home ground, Sportplatz Auguststraße, one of the most photogenic pitches in all of Berlin.

Planted right in the heart of the city in Berlin’s Mitte district, mitte translates to middle, this pitch serves up some extraordinary views for a team competing in Berlin’s 7th tier.

©Joey Corlett/ Terrace Edition. Sportplatz Auguststraße with TV Tower in distance.

The main star of this panoramic backdrop is the forever iconic Fernsehturm or TV Tower in English. Hanging over the pitch, it’s always in sight as soon as you enter the sportplatz.

Complemented by a diverse collection of housing architecture, ranging from modern to traditional, it serves as a visually impressive background for a humble grassroots football club.

The pitch nicknamed by the club today as ‘Bero’ has stood since the 1950s, being built thanks to vacant land that was created due to destruction from the Second World War.

The field now cuts completely across Kleine Hamburger Straße, which from above on Google Maps, looks quite ridiculous to have two sides of the street with a pitch bang in the middle.

©Joey Corlett/ Terrace Edition. Sportplatz Auguststraße.

Throughout the 1990s, the site survived numerous attempts by developers to turn the prime real estate into housing. However, local protests thwarted this and paved the way for renovations to the clubhouse and surrounding areas.

Berolina Mitte serves the local community as quoted from their website, “The ‘Bero’ is more than just a football venue. It's a meeting place for families, parents, workers, civil society, art, culture, etc. Craftsmen and start-up managers still meet here on equal terms. Beer drinkers are just as welcome as the Aperol Spritz crowd. We are rooted in the neighbourhood.”

The atmosphere during the game certainly attests to that spirit as we wandered around with people of all ages in attendance, beers and spritzes in hand on a warm summer evening.

The club was formed through six mergers throughout the GDR and post-GDR era. Today, a 100% volunteer team looks after over 1,700 members, offering men's, women's and youth football teams, as well as boxing, chess and yoga.

The visitors would take the much needed three points with a 5-3 victory, confirming their spot in the promotion playoff in the process.

Südwest were in control throughout despite the high-flying result as Berolina did their best to reduce the scoreline, coming closest at just 1 goal down with 20 mins to go but it was sadly in vain.

Both teams applauded their section of fans come the full-time whistle, as the sun began to set.

So if you’re groundhopping and passing through the Hauptstadt to take in a Hertha BSC or Union Berlin match, keep your fingers crossed that fixture gods look down upon you gratefully and give you a chance to grace this magnificent football pitch.

It makes for a wonderful stop on a football weekender or away day. Once your game is over, you’re only a stone's throw away from a myriad of great bars and local food options dotted across the centre of Berlin.

I hope to see you there sometime in the future.