Why are Germany fans staying away?

Ahead of their friendly against Russia in Leipzig on Thursday, Germany stars Manuel Neuer, Leroy Sané, Julian Brandt and Timo Werner faced questions from pupils at a school in the eastern German city on Wednesday.

The event was part of the German Football Association's (DFB) attempts to reconnect with supporters and combat the disillusionment with the national team since Germany's historic World Cup debacle.

With tickets for children aged six and under costing only €10 ($11.30), some of those asking the questions will have been looking forward to attending the game themselves. But not all because, despite the low prices, only approximately 30,000 tickets have been sold for the match at the 42,000-capacity Red Bull Arena.

Germany's last home international against Peru also struggled to sell-out, despite the much smaller capacity of the Rhein-Neckar-Arena in Sinsheim (25,500).

The trend is not a new one. Even before the 2018 World Cup, attendances at national team games were sinking – most notably at Bastian Schweinsteiger's farewell friendly against Finland in Mönchengladbach in August 2016, which attracted only 30,121 spectators.

So why are German fans staying away?

Price

Child tickets for Germany's friendly against Russia in Leipzig on Thursday might cost as little as €10, but tickets otherwise range from €25-80. For a family of four with two children aged seven or above, attending the match will therefore cost a minimum of €100, before factoring in extra travel, parking, merchandise and food and drink costs – a lot of money for a friendly.

Disillusionment

As part of their World Cup analysis, DFB president Reinhard Grindel, team manager Oliver Bierhoff and coach Joachim Löw admitted that the national team had become somewhat detached from its fans and promised to reconnect.

In October, the team opened up their training session in Berlin to around 5,000 young fans and, in Leipzig, they want to go further. "We want to continue to build more closeness to the people who watch us," said Bierhoff. "We not going to wait for them to come to us at training; we're going to them."

But is it too little, too late? The last two seasons in the Bundesliga have been characterized by significant fan protests against the DFB and the perceived over-commercialization of the game. In the summer, supporter representatives broke off talks with DFB officials, accusing the latter of ignorance, arrogance and a lack of professionalism.

Too much football

Bundesliga, German Cup, Champions League, Europa League, international qualifiers, international friendlies – and now the Nations League and a potential third European club competition. Not to mention other top European leagues which are also popular in Germany.

In 2018, from Monday to Sunday, football is simply omnipresent and something has to give. Given their comparative unimportance, perhaps it's little surprise that international football is falling victim to the over-saturation of the game in Germany.

Location, location, location

Germany's last home friendly against Peru was moved from Frankfurt to Sinsheim, allegedly because of concerns that local Eintracht Frankfurt ultras would attempt to protest against the DFB.

Sinsheim, home to 35,400 people, presented no such problem. Home to Bundesliga side Hoffenheim, who owe their position in Germany's top flight to millions invested by SAP-founder Dietmar Hopp, the village has little football culture to speak of. The stadium on the edge of the motorway is difficult to reach and Bundesliga games rarely sell out – as was the case for Germany too.

Leipzig may be a major city of almost 600,000, but its local Bundesliga team also has its issues. Since promotion to the Bundesliga in 2016, only 14 of RB Leipzig's 40 Bundesliga home games have sold out – a surprising figure in a city which hadn't had a top-flight representative since 1994.

"Leipzig is desperate for top level football," said former Lokomotive Leipzig goalkeeper Rene Müller back in 2012. "The East is desperate for a top team," said Ralf Rangnick in the same year.

But with less than 25,000 attending recent home games against sister club Red Bull Salzburg (Europa League) and Hoffenheim (German Cup) and not much more expected for Germany vs. Russia on Thursday, perhaps the demand isn't quite that high after all.

Nations League game also not sold out

Then again, only 36,000 tickets have so far been sold for Germany's next home fixture, a must-win Nations League game against arch-rivals Holland on Monday. Location: Gelsenkirchen, home of Schalke and hardly a city lacking in footballing pedigree.

Clearly, the DFB are going to have to do a lot more than just answer questions from school children to solve the national team's supporter problem.