Worshipping the beautiful game

Football really is a religion for fans of a German football club where an executive box has been decked out like a Gothic chapel.

The box at FC St Pauli features stained glass windows, candles, an altar to football and depictions of the team's players as saints.

The chapel box, owned by marketing firm Jung von Matt, stands in the South Stand of the Hamburg-based club's Millerntor Stadium.

And it would seem the prayers of fans have been answered as the club has just clinched promotion to the Bundesliga for the first time in eight years.

The promotion means that the club and its fans now have even more cause for celebration as they mark their centenary year.

Andreas Kahrs, FC St Pauli's centenary co-ordinator, has arranged special fixtures against English non-league club FC United of Manchester and against Scottish Premier League's Glasgow Celtic.

He believes that the participation of FC United in his club's centenary year is appropriate because, he says, "both clubs are all about their fans".

St Pauli is member-owned and Mr Kahrs takes pride in explaining that fans have a right to voice their opinions about the direction that the club takes.

Although the club colours are brown and white, many fans wear the skull and crossbones symbol that first flew on flags in the Millerntor Stadium in the 1980s.

St Pauli's anti-authoritarian image has mass appeal and the centenary is seen as a celebration of being "non-established since 1910".