Hooligan

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Heiko Kolbe, the narrator of this novel, is torn between feelings of obligation for his family and for the surrogate family he has found in the hooligan scene affiliated with his local professional Fussball club, Hannover 96. The “96” in the name refers to the year the club was established, 1896. Football, in its various translations, is how the rest of the world refers to what Americans call “soccer.” In this book, to better reflect Heiko’s Fussball universe, we’ve retained the term closest to the one he would use in German.

One difference between European professional football and the franchise model of North American soccer is the possibility of relegation. Depending on the size of the league, the two or three teams with the worst record are relegated, or sent down, to a lower league, and are replaced by teams ascending from that league. This system enhances the stakes for a team’s performance. Several of the novel’s most exciting scenes revolve around the possibility of Hannover 96 moving up or down.

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