Frank Fechner, then general manager of FC St. Pauli, remembers the summer of 2005. The summer before the “B-series” began: “the club had been broke several times. The court officer had been a regular visitor to the club’s office, but there was nothing more to get for him.” What happened then wasn’t only unique in sporting terms, but also lifesaving for the proud FC St. Pauli. Over eight months and five DFB-Cup rounds, the regional league team prevents that “the club disappears from the soccer map”, as Fabian Boll puts it. FC St. Pauli eliminated four higher-division teams out of the competition. After victories against Burghausen, Berlin and Bremen, the series only ended in the semi-final against Bayern.
