Marked for Benjamin Dietrich
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Lukas Bergmann damages knee ligaments — 41 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 41 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market5 Jul 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
The St. Pauli board call everybody in
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Market5 Jul 2027
The paperwork is done: Lukáš Provod joins from Racing Club in a deal worth $7.5M. Now comes the harder part.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
The St. Pauli board want somebody sold
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Tom Bischof in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at St. Pauli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Benjamin Dietrich is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 17 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
The statement thanked him for his efforts and wished him well, in that order and in about that many words. The search begins immediately.
Match6 Mar 2027
15 matches without a win for St. Pauli
The run now stands at 15, and the questions being asked around St. Pauli are no longer polite ones.
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
The St. Pauli board call everybody in
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Ralf Bergmann recited it perfectly.
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
The St. Pauli board want somebody sold
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jackson Irvine and St. Pauli agree another 2 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Joel Chima Fujita was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Chico da Costa falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Antonio Casas, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match27 Feb 2027
14 matches without a win for St. Pauli
The run now stands at 14, and the questions being asked around St. Pauli are no longer polite ones.
The terraces1 Mar 2027
The mood at St. Pauli has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Match1 Mar 2027
St. Pauli sink to position 18
14 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad1 Mar 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at St. Pauli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
The approach has been made to Chamois Niortais and the answer is somebody else's to give. These things are settled in private and reported in public, usually in that order.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at St. Pauli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Svensson is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match27 Feb 2027
1‑2 to Bayer Leverkusen, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Mio Backhaus gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match6 Feb 2027
The wait goes on for St. Pauli
11 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Match6 Feb 2027
Beaten 1‑4 by Union Berlin, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Joel Chima Fujita was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Daniel Svensson falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Loan watch8 Feb 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at St. Pauli, and 0 appearances in 21 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad8 Feb 2027
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Too much change too quickly at St. Pauli
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match30 Jan 2027
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” VfB Stuttgart have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market1 Feb 2027
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at VfB Stuttgart heard it as anything else.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Paul Bergmann gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Paul Bergmann has just signed for VfB Stuttgart, and for once the answer mattered.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.10, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad1 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Luca Philipp
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at VfB Stuttgart training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ameen Al-Dakhil is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match30 Jan 2027
It needed Chris Führich to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against FC Augsburg, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match9 Jan 2027
7 matches without a win for St. Pauli
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around St. Pauli are no longer polite ones.
Market11 Jan 2027
St. Pauli say no — this time
The offer from Köln for Connor Metcalfe was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” St. Pauli have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Joel Chima Fujita was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Loan watch11 Jan 2027
“I did not go to VfB Stuttgart to sit and watch. I want to come back to St. Pauli and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 17 matches say the rest.
Squad11 Jan 2027
James Sands falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Match9 Jan 2027
Point won or two lost for St. Pauli?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Köln? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Market11 Jan 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Joel Chima Fujita signs something — a contract at St. Pauli or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Dec 2026
Joel Chima Fujita was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match12 Dec 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Ben Voll gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Loan watch14 Dec 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at St. Pauli, and 0 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 58. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” VfB Stuttgart may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nikolas Nartey, and the manager let it.
Squad14 Dec 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. VfB Stuttgart told Nikolas Polster something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
7.48, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. VfB Stuttgart had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Market14 Dec 2026
He is 14, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
13 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Match12 Dec 2026
Point won or two lost for VfB Stuttgart?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Werder Bremen? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match14 Nov 2026
4 matches without a win for St. Pauli
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around St. Pauli are no longer polite ones.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Joel Chima Fujita was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match14 Nov 2026
4 matches without a goal for St. Pauli
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Eric Smith falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad16 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Ben Voll
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match14 Nov 2026
0‑2 to Bayern Munich, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Oct 2026
Eric Smith in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at St. Pauli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match17 Oct 2026
It finished 2‑1, and it was Antonio Casas’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to St. Pauli.
Squad19 Oct 2026
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.28 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad19 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Jackson Irvine
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at St. Pauli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Louis Oppie is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 32. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A move Benjamin Dietrich would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Benjamin Dietrich is living that version at VfB Stuttgart, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Deniz Undav falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Market14 Sep 2026
He is 14, and nobody at VfB Stuttgart signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Deniz Undav knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at VfB Stuttgart, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Match12 Sep 2026
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Borussia Mönchengladbach defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 41. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Gregor Franke
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. St. Pauli lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market7 Sep 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market7 Sep 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Joel Chima Fujita was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Eric Smith falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match5 Sep 2026
0‑1 to SC Freiburg, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market7 Sep 2026
VfB Stuttgart are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. St. Pauli will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Joel Chima Fujita was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
1 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Eric Smith falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Market24 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Heinrich Klein has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market24 Aug 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Connor Metcalfe has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at St. Pauli.