More Like THE Bundesligas (And Murray Bookchin!)

Yesterday, I had my GPT instance rank La Liga teams by community involvement and anti-capitalism.  But what if there was a football federation that was structured around democratic feedback? Well, that's what they have in Germany.  And it isn’t just a marketing line. Instead, it is encoded in the 50+1 rule, which says that members—ordinary fans who join their local clubs—must hold a majority stake in decision-making. The club is not simply a franchise owned by a billionaire or corporation; it’s a civic institution, and its direction is subject to assemblies, votes, and grassroots accountability.

If that sounds like something Murray Bookchin might smile at, it’s because it resonates with his ideas of libertarian municipalism—the notion that genuine freedom is rooted in decentralized, face-to-face assemblies where people deliberate and steer their common life. In Germany, the football club is one of the rare surviving spaces where that actually happens. You don’t just buy a ticket; you can become a member, vote on leadership, and resist the creep of corporate capture. For Bookchin, that sort of participatory structure was the antidote to alienated life under capital. For many Germans, football is where that antidote still has teeth. (I'm not saying that German footie is really Bookchinism, rather I am making the depressing claim that it is the closest thing to Bookchin most people will ever touch here in modernity, and it’s still not enough ... But sometimes we need to just relax, watch and enjoy... I looked up and Getafe just scored.  That's the top team on my La Liga chart! Wow!  Wowie! Score one for the good guys).
 

There are exceptions to the 50+1 law. Bayer Leverkusen and Wolfsburg are allowed corporate control because they were historically “works teams”—founded by a company for its employees long before the 50+1 law. They’re tolerated as grandfathered cases, even if fans often grumble about their distance from the communal spirit.

And then ... there’s RB Leipzig.  Boo!  Hiss!  Fuck those guys! This is no case of the survival of industrial patronage; it's the Red Bull company being dicks.  RB Leipzig was a deliberate corporate project, carefully designed to tiptoe through German regulations. Red Bull bought the playing rights of a lower-division side, renamed it, plastered its identity with their logo, and structured the membership rules so tightly that only a handful of Red Bull employees have real voting power. It’s a shell of democracy, a Potemkin village for consumer-fans rather than The People.

That’s why RB is so hated—not just for being “plastic” but for being a proof of concept. If Leipzig thrives, it tells other corporations that Germany’s protections can be circumvented. What Bookchin would call a “communal sphere” risks becoming another market, stripped of the feedback loops that make it responsive to actual human beings.

In other words: RB Leipzig isn’t just one more club to dislike. It’s a breach in the wall. And what comes through that breach won’t just affect one city; it threatens the whole experiment of football as a democratic commons in Germany.

Appendix. 

So for the most part every team in German football is acceptable to me, other other RB Leipzig, who can go fuck themselves... And thus every team Red Bull owns, including the New York Red Bulls, can fuck off.

Enter Datum:

Bundesliga Ranking by Soul, Not Standing

Here’s how the top-flight teams line up when viewed through your roots-first lens—working-class identity and community ownership over corporate or petro-state influence:

1. FC St. Pauli

   • Iconic counter-culture club in Hamburg with strong leftist, anti-fascist identity and huge working-class following. Pure soul.

2. Union Berlin

   • Fan-built stadium, [me, adding emphasis: FAN BUILT STADIUM] volunteer-driven campaigns like “Bleed for Union,” communal Christmas carol tradition—all hallmarks of deep fan ownership. 

3. FC Schalke 04

   • Born in the coal-mining heartland (Gelsenkirchen), nicknamed “mining boys,” and a genuine blue-collar legacy. 

4. SV Werder Bremen

   • Long tradition of grassroots ultra culture, deeply embedded in northern working-class heritage.

5. Bayer Leverkusen

   • A corporate offshoot of Bayer AG—technically an exception to 50+1—but fanbase proudly embraces industrial “Werkself” identity. Real soul, albeit industrial. 

6. Eintracht Frankfurt

   • Strong local traditions, passionate fan base, and community-oriented. Though bigger club, retains soul better than corporate giants.

7. Mainz 05

   • Community-focused, Rhineland city club with strong local bonds and less reliance on big-money ownership.

8. SC Freiburg

   • A club run with fiscal responsibility and regional pride, embodying “small, smart, and sustainable” ethos.

9. VfB Stuttgart

   • Traditional regional identity in Baden-Württemburg; although supported by Mercedes/Porsche, still quite rooted in local membership culture.

10. Borussia Dortmund

• Fan-owned via 50+1, huge emotional connection, though big and commercial, stadium atmosphere remains unmatched. 

11. Heidenheim

• Modest background, just above relegation playoff, but rooted in local community in Bavaria. Not overrun by big investment.

12. FC Augsburg

• Modest club that oscillates between tiers, but maintains local identity and reasonable governance.

13. Borussia Mönchengladbach

• Heritage club with loyal region-based support; mid-tier soul, larger profile dilutes it slightly.

14. Wolfsburg

• Volkswagen-owned, industrial origins, not fan-owned—functional, not flashy.

15. Borussia Dortmund still above corporate teams here.

16. FC Bayern Munich

• Largest and most successful, but increasingly corporate in operation. Not heartless—but far less groovy.