“Football? It’s like chess, just with no dice”

It’s a shame that the quote is apocryphal. Prince Poldi never said it, but it illustrates something that so many people were happy to believe it was true for a long time. It is the beautiful poem of the dumb. In many ways, like football itself. A game that can be as elegant as it can be brutal or as cerebral as it can be, well, stupid.

We have always believed that football is a perfect way to understand and get inside a city and its people. This is as much the case in Berlin as anywhere else. Berlin – with its unique history of togetherness and division, of war and peace, of immigrants and locals – tells so many stories through its football.

Though it’s not been considered a ‘football town’ since the game started being played in Germany, the amount of people that play and watch the game in Berlin is astonishing. The Berlin Fußball Verband alone has over 100,000 members. We aim to provide the slightest snapshot of that.

And, yes, it’s in English. But not necessarily just for the English speakers. There are simple reasons why we chose the language – the primary one being that our language skills make Giovanni Trapattoni sound like Günter Netzer – but also because there is an ever-increasing number of English speakers being seen and heard at stadiums around the city. It should be encouraged and it should be celebrated.

Football is the universal sport. We do not want to exclude readers of any language, and hope that there will something in No Dice for everyone in Berlin with an interest in the beautiful game.

Others about No Dice:

“Icke and Rush – Berliner Fußball auf Englisch” – Tagesspiegel (18.10.2012)

“Aus Liebe zu den Amateuren” – Fußball-Woche (23.12.2012)

“No Dice Magazine – Berliner Amateurfußball auf Englisch” – goal.com (27.12.2012)

“Kater verbindet” – taz (20.01.2013)

“No Dice – In the name of Fußball” – fussball.de (15.03.2013)

“No Dice: Englisches Magazin berichtet über Berlins Amateurfußball” – dfb.de (20.03.2013)

No Dice Magazine auf Deutsche Welle “Kick Off”