Despite the many controversies—from the deaths of thousands of labourers in horrible working conditions to the corrupt bidding process—the 2022 FIFA World Cup is happening now in Qatar. Instead of focusing on the World Cup, we sat down with journalist Dave Braneck to talk about the politics of German soccer/football.

Here are some of the sources we referenced on this episode:

Too cool for their own good? Union Berlin’s fight to retain their identity by Kit Holden in The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/sep/16/union-berlin-fight-to-retain-identity-bundesliga-book

Fan-Owned Clubs Can Help Democratize Football by Dave Braneck in Jacobin: https://jacobin.com/2021/04/fan-owned-clubs-democratization-football-bundesliga-commercialization

Dave Braneck on Twitter: @braneck 

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Co-hosted by Ted (@ted_knudsen) and Michelle (@shhellgames). Produced by Isaac (@wuermann).

Follow Spaßbremse on Twitter (@spassbremse_pod). Music by Lee Rosevere. Art by Franziska Schneider.