Berliner AK 07 is a semi-professional club from the German capital of the same name, who were formed on the 15th December 1907. Berliner Athletik Klub 07 e. V, to give them their full title, were originally formed with an interest in running, with the football section following in 1908 in the Wedding district of the city.
For numerous decades, the club played in the lower reaches of Berlin football before gradually coming to life in 1994-95 with a sixth-tier Landesliga Berlin championship win to gain promotion to the Verbandsliga Berlin at their home Sportanlage Lüderitzstraße stadium.
The Verbandsliga was won in 1998-99, leading to a further elevation
to the fourth-tier NOFV-Oberliga Nord.
This created a relationship with Turkish first division club Ankaraspor in June 2006 to focus on player development in Germany. For a short period from 2006, the club changed its name to Berlin Ankaraspor Kulübü 07 and changed its traditional club colours to blue and white, while electing the Mayor of Ankara as club Chairman, before reverting back.
To reflect the ambition of the period, the club moved to play their home games at the 20,000-capacity Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark. As a Regionalliga Nord side in 2011-12, AK pulled off a massive DFB Pokal shock by hammering Bundesliga team 1899 Hoffenheim 4–0.
The club became a member of Regionalliga Nordost the same year that the club settled into its new surroundings at the historic Poststadion. A fourth-place finish came the season following their cup feat, which was followed by eleventh place in 2013-14, which was improved upon with seventh place twelve months later.
The 2015-16 Regionalliga Nordost season saw BAK end as runners-up. A seventh place was bettered with third in 2017-18, with the strike partnership of Felix Brügmann and Enes Küc scoring the goals for the team led by head coach Markus Zschiesche, who was replaced for the following season by Ersan Parlatan.
He led the side in 2018-19 to second spot with goals coming from Abu Bakarr Kargbo and Tunay Deniz before seventh in 2019-20 when the season was cancelled owing to the COVID-19 pandemic after Dirk Kunert took over as coach in August 2019.
He led the side in 2018-19 to second spot with goals coming from Abu Bakarr Kargbo and Tunay Deniz before seventh in 2019-20 when the season was cancelled owing to the COVID-19 pandemic after Dirk Kunert took over as coach in August 2019.
Fifth place followed in 2020-21 with Enes Kuc topping the scoring chart before André Meyer was appointed as trainer for the following season, before being replaced by Benjamin Duda and then Volkan Uluç as BAK were relegated to Oberliga Nordost-Nord at the end of the 2023-24 season.
Jeffrey Seitz arrived to lead the team before Uluç was given a second chance, taking his charges to eighth place, with Fodelcio Pereira leading the scoring. Philipp Sternitzke was appointed as trainer ahead of the 2025-26 campaign.
Berliner
AK 07 will play in NOFV-Oberliga Nord in the 2025-26 season.
My
visit
Saturday
10th October 2015
It
was getting near the end of daylight on the first day of my German weekend, and
my feet were starting to severely ache. I’d had a tremendous day after arriving by plane around lunchtime, and included a visit to Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark.
I then took in the Berliner
Landespokal massacre, which had seen SV Lichtenberg 47 hammer VfB Sperber
Neukölln 1912 15-0.
The historic streets, full of history, looked at their best on a bright day, as I crossed over the Spree, past the Dom, DDR Museum, Altes Museum and along Unter den
Linden to the Brandenburg Gate.
I had been met by thousands of protesters along
the route, on their way back from their protest over Germany’s trade deal with
the USA. While they were peaceful, they clogged up my progress when I wanted to cram in as much as possible.
Finally, after walking around to the front of the majestic Reichstag building and
strolling over Platz der Republik, I caught the U-Bahn one stop from Bundestag to
Hauptbahnhof. I was ready just to book into my room for some shut-eye, but I
hate to waste opportunities that might never arise again.
I
continued over the square, past the old jail and up Lehrterstrasse. I knew the
stadium wasn’t too far away, but by now it seemed a long way. I cut through by
the new sports centre and found myself at the rear of the Main Stand at
Poststadion. I couldn’t see an open gate.
No
way was I to be denied seeing a stadium of such historical significance, so when I saw a temporary wire fence at the end of the
stand, I decided to take my chances, as nobody was around. It led to an overgrown grass bank, but I knew I could take a shower as
soon as I got to my room, so in I scrambled.
It
really was worth the effort to be inside such an iconic venue, which is often overlooked. A shale
running track surrounded the pitch. There was open terracing at the far end and
down the far side, with just a gap behind the goal for access.
My end was out
of bounds to spectators, but the terracing was still there under the grass,
trees and bushes, along with crush barriers. A fine Main Stand with a small open
paddock in front was the outstanding feature.
The
stadium oozed history. In 1936, Adolf Hitler was part of a 55,000 crowd to see
Germany dumped out of the Olympics football tournament in the quarter finals by
Norway. The manager was immediately replaced! In 1945, Germany had drawn 3-3 with England in the arena in front of a gate of 45,000. David Jack scored England’s final equaliser to cancel out a Richard Hofmann hat-trick.
After
a few seconds of reflection and taking in the aura, I left, while watching out
for security! I wandered to the far end, where I saw the clubhouse of SC Union
Berlin 06, which shared the stadium. There were lots of AK posters pasted to the walls
around the area and all the way to the station.
My
body was ready to pack up, so I waited with a friendly local lady for the 123
bus back to the station before checking into my smart Accor hotel and having an hour’s shut-eye. It
was then time to check out a couple of bars in a wonderful city!
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