Berlin is without a doubt the German capital of sports – the city has no less than six professional sports teams, playing five exciting spectator sports: Hertha BSC and FC Union play football, the Eisbären is an ace ice hockey team, Alba is Berlin's renowned basketball club, the Füchse play handball, and volleyball is taken care of by the BR Volleys. Their home matches attract huge numbers of visitors to Berlin's stadiums; last season alone 2,4 million tickets were sold for their events. In addition to this, Berlin's streets regularly host huge sports events such as the public viewing festivals during major sports events abroad, and the city also hosts countless amateur sports matches.
Despite being rivals, Berlin's six professional sports collaborate to improve the circumstances for professional sports in Berlin, promoting Berlin's image as an international sports event destination.
The home matches of Berlin's pro teams are easy to visit: you don't need to understand German to be able to follow a match and unlike in other European countries, sports matches in Germany are quite peaceful events, meaning it's no problem to bring the whole family to the stadium for an afternoon or evening of fun. Finding out about which matches are playing where can be problematic for visitors however as the club websites are not all available in English, and some make it difficult to find the upcoming playing dates. In the club details here we have listed all home matches for the following months, though always keep an eye on the club websites for changes or additional matches. Berlin's official English-language sports website www.berlin-sportmetropole.de has information about all the teams, venues and tickets; ticket booking site www.eventimsports.de sells tickets for all matches.
There are two main sports events this season: from 5-10 September the German basketball team plays against Spain, Serbia, Turkey, Italy and Iceland in Eurobasket 2015. Then on 27 September the huge marathon takes place, with runners often setting new world records in Berlin.
Enjoy cheering for Berlin!