It’s February and Jordan Pefok is sitting on the Union Berlin bench as the starting XI is about to walk out to face Schalke at home.
Normally substitutes would be disappointed at being on the bench but there sat the striker, singing along passionately as one of the fiercest fanbases in Europe sang their pre-match hymn: ‘Eisern Berlin’.
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“I learned the song!” the French-speaking forward tells Sky Sports. “I’ve been doing German lessons and some of my team-mates helped me learn the phrases. It shows I’m having a good time, and it even benefits me by singing along.
“These fans are extraordinary, they’re what I like to call proper fans. That means they’re not impacted by the results and that helps so much. You can win and go up the table, but they’re always supporting and pushing us and they really love the team.”
Image: Union Berlin fans are considered to be one of the most passionate support bases in Europe
That moment symbolises the connection there is between fans and team at this special club, one that nearly went out of business around 20 years ago but has gone from second division regulars in 2019, to an established European side and outsiders for the Bundesliga title in the space of four seasons.
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City rivals Hertha – blessed with Berlin’s 60,000 Olympic Stadium but locked in a relegation fight – are being behind left behind in the German capital. Instead, a modest club with a 22,000-seater ground in the city’s suburb of Kopenick is taking all the limelight.
Even the term ‘overachievers’ may not do this club justice. The club with the third-lowest wage bill in the division are threatening to break up the triumvirate of Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig – and they have seven points from the three encounters against those teams this season.
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And at the start of last month, Union were shock Bundesliga leaders. Since then, their league form has dropped and they currently sit in fourth – but beating Ajax in the Europa League play-off in and amongst that blip has reminded everyone about how special this club is.
Image: Union Berlin are currently in the Champions League places and even led the table in February
So how have they managed all this? Pefok gives us some understanding as to why. “It can seem inexplicable, but it’s clear to me,” he says.
“There aren’t world-class players in the team so every game and weekend we have to fight,” Pefok claims. “That policy hasn’t changed. It’s the mentality of the club. It’s very much like a family.
“We have a group who are just for the team. We don’t have anyone here – in the team or the staff – who is arrogant among us.
“The vast majority of teams who come here say they find it difficult to play here with the support and the atmosphere we have, it makes it a more complicated to play against.”
What is baffling at Union’s current state of play is while their form is progressive, their style is pragmatic.
The Berlin club are currently in the Champions League places despite having created the fewest chances in the league, with the worst shot tally in the division and the third-lowest amount of possession too.
Ok, so it’s a defensive set-up in a 5-3-2 formation. But then only Bayern Munich and RB Leipzig have conceded more shots in the Bundesliga this season. Union give nothing away.
“Our style is very defensive,” says the forward. “We spend a lot of time on the counter-attack, getting the ball forward quickly. That is where we are really on it: To score via those moments.
“We’re not a team like Leipzig and Bayern who always hold on to the ball. We are a team that has to suffer for a long time on the pitch, but then we have lots of players who can punish teams and score goals.
“For me, it’s a bit new for me being in a more defensive team. But our attackers have lots and lots of individual training sessions, as we defend a lot more compared to the other forwards in the league.
Image: Pefok admits he does not mind doing any of the defensive work at Union
“We just have to do it together. The team counts on us for the counter-attack and scoring goals so we’ve got a lot to do in matches.”
To implement this, Union have two masterminds at the helm in manager Urs Fischer and sporting director Oliver Runhert.
The latter’s previous experience as a scout has made him an astute spotter of talent that normally slips under the radar and has worked very closely with Fischer since they began working together in 2019.
In the last two seasons, Union have signed 32 players. Half of them have either been free transfers or loan deals and none of the signings cost more than €10m.
Last summer, which saw Pefok join for around €6m from Young Boys, saw Union spend around €25m in total – the same amount of money they gained by selling Taiwo Awoniyi to Nottingham Forest.
Image: Union Berlin have beaten Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig this season, and they've drawn with Bayern Munich
“The recruitment was very specific,” says Pefok, speaking with a clear awareness of what is around him despite being at the club for less than a year.
“The club knows what it wants and needs – and the new players have settled in quickly to the set-up. It’s a club that uses its head.”
And then there’s head coach Fischer, who has developed a coaching reputation of quiet and brilliant. The media see him as a calm figure in press conferences, one who never raises his voice. Pefok says he carries this to the Union players as well, but the veil slips too.
“He’s very passionate on the pitch, he tries to give off his intensity, determination, his way of playing and always tries to push us,” Pefok says.
“Away from the pitch, he’s calmer. This week, for example, he was very easy in talking about the big game [against Union Saint-Gilloise in the Europa League last-16].
Image: Union Berlin head coach Urs Fischer
“He pushes us every time and wants us to limit our errors. He’s big on that as we don’t have the ball so often.
“When we do have it, if you make fewer errors then we’ve got a better chance of getting into the final part of the pitch.”
Fischer’s man-management skills came in handy when Pefok’s form dipped after a brilliant start to life in Germany.
The USA international had three goals and two assists in his opening six Bundesliga matches, but then a run of no goals in his last six has seen Pefok lose his place in the team, leaving him with one goal, one assist and two league starts since the start of October.
“I started very well and landed on my feet,” Pefok recalls. “But then during the World Cup break I had a muscle problem so I was playing with injections. I wasn’t at 100 per cent and it was holding me back as a striker, I wasn’t scoring goals and my head was down.
“The coach spoke to me and told me I started well, got injured and did well to come back. All this with getting used to a new league. He said he was going to leave me on the bench to help me recover with the view to being back when the season resumed after the World Cup. And then Kevin [Behrens, his replacement] came in, played and scored.
“It’s all normal. He’s been telling me to work hard and get my place back and all this time I’ve been keeping a cool head.”
All this culture – fans, coaching staff, club hierarchy, players – has even created a humble club who know that the way down can be as quick as the journey up.
So much so that the notion of getting enough points to stay up is still being discussed despite sitting fourth in the table and one win away from a Europa League quarter-final.
1. FC Union Berlin
Eintracht Frankfurt
Sunday 19th March 2:20pm Kick off 2:30pm
“The objective at the start of the season was staying up,” says the Union striker. “You have seen in the past clubs coming up, spend two or three years doing well and surprising people, then going back down. For us it’s about lasting the distance.
“This is the second season this club has played in Europe, next season it’s looking certain that we will be in Europe again. Now, the discussions with the coach and the president at the moment is at the end of the season, we’ll be where we deserve. Whether that’s the Champions League, Europa League or Conference League.
“The objective this season was survival. It could be the same next season.”
Given their progression in such a short space of time, providing they keep those key figures at the top, that looks unlikely.
Watch Union Berlin vs Eintracht Frankfurt live on Sky Sports Football this Sunday from 2.20pm; kick-off 2.30pm
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