66/67 - Fairplay war gestern (2009)

The film is set in May 2008. At that time, as also happened in real life, Eintracht Braunschweig are fighting to avoid relegation from the Regionalliga Nord, at risk of missing out on qualification for the new 3. Liga and thus sinking into footballing obscurity. The film opens with a flashback about a six-man Eintracht hooligan group whose members struggle to reconcile their ordinary lives with their passion for football and fighting. The film also explores the individual problems of the six young men in greater depth: Florian, the leader, acts as the group’s minder; Tamer has to fight to keep his pub, “66/67,” which serves as the group’s meeting place, while also dealing with his terminally ill father; and Henning is unhappy with his job as a police officer. Florian is in a relationship with Tamer’s sister, Özlem, an attractive actress. She suggests that he move to Berlin, but he turns her down because he feels too attached to Braunschweig. One night, four of the six group members break into Eintracht Stadium to steal a replica of the German championship trophy, hoping to surprise their buddy Christian, who plans to propose to his girlfriend, Mareille, at a home game. They are caught by none other than Christian, who works as a security guard for the Braunschweig Security and Locking Company, and flee. Enraged, Christian confronts Florian outside his apartment, even though Florian was not involved in the break-in, but Florian eventually manages to calm him down. Christian then tells Florian about his plans for the future, using a notebook to explain them. The surprise finally takes place at an Eintracht home game in the stadium, where all the members—except Otto, whose stadium ban is discovered at the entrance—intend to surprise the unsuspecting Mareille with Christian’s marriage proposal. The plan goes badly wrong when Mareille disappears in front of the huge crowd, sealing their breakup. After this disappointment, Christian withdraws, dejected. The group then receives a call from rival Hannover 96 hooligans, who want to fight them at a rest stop near Lehrte. Florian persuades Christian to join in, even though Christian had initially been thinking of jumping off a roof because of his personal problems. When they arrive at the rest stop, the group gets a call telling them the Hannover hooligans have called off the fight. Frustrated, they pick a fight with an uninvolved group of fans dressed in red who happen to be at the rest stop, brutally beat them up, and flee. Florian then goes straight to Berlin to see Özlem. She accuses him of childish behavior, and the two finally split up. Earlier, she had already been thrown out of his apartment after finding a diploma while searching through his things—a diploma he had deliberately kept secret from her. The next morning, Henning finds a missing-person notice for Mareille at work. He is also exposed as one of the Eintracht Stadium burglars when his father, who is also his superior, finds in Henning’s locker a portrait of Paul Breitner that Henning stole from the stadium, and suspends him from duty. Henning tells the guys that Mareille is missing and connects this to Christian, who has not been heard from lately. In a garden allotment belonging to Christian’s in-laws, Florian eventually finds Mareille, injured and sadistically tortured by Christian. The flashback finally ends, and the story moves on to the memorial service for Tamer’s father, Ahmet, at the “66/67” pub, where everyone is present. Florian tries once more to persuade Özlem to stay, but without success. Ecstatic, Florian and Otto learn from celebrating fans on a street corner that Eintracht have managed to avoid relegation after all. The film ends with a drug trip that takes the two of them back to Istanbul, as it had earlier in the film.