Cold War-Era Cancelled Football Tie Finally Completed After 65 Years

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Last Updated:July 06, 2025, 12:34 IST

Saturday's unique match was organised as a pre-season friendly after fans from both teams contacted each other to fulfill the long-forgotten fixture.

The game followed a first-leg of the rematch last year. (IG/officialglenavonfc1889)

A European football tie, initially cancelled due to Cold War-era tensions, was finally completed in Northern Ireland on Saturday, 65 years after it was originally scheduled in 1960. Glenavon FC hosted FC Erzgebirge Aue, formerly known as Wismut Karl-Marx-Stadt during the communist era, in Lurgan, 25 miles west of Belfast.

Over 1,000 away fans traveled from Germany to support the visitors, who were the East German champions in 1960.

The original match was cancelled after both teams, separated by the Iron Curtain that divided Europe post-World War II, were denied entry visas amid heightened political tensions.

“Those were hard times, governments weren’t talking, no-one was let in or out," said John Duggan, 91, who played for Glenavon in 1960, speaking to AFP in Lurgan before the game.

Duggan was part of a strong Glenavon side that won the 1959-60 Irish League, earning them qualification for the European Cup.

Despite UEFA allowing the home and away legs to take place in neutral countries, Glenavon withdrew from the competition due to a lack of funds.

Saturday’s unique match, organised as a pre-season friendly after fans from both teams contacted each other to fulfill the long-forgotten fixture, ended in a 2-0 win for the German side.

This game followed a “first-leg" rematch last year in Aue, 185 miles south of Berlin, which the Germans won 5-0.

Completing the tie was “a missing chapter for both clubs’ histories, it’s great to finally get it played," said Adam Carson, a lifelong Glenavon fan and the club’s supporter liaison officer, to AFP.

Football Endured

“Politics paused it, but football endured," said Carson, who originally came up with the idea.

When Glenavon qualified for European competition in 2014, Carson noticed the unplayed European Cup game from 1960 and “put a couple of tweets" about it, he said.

The idea was that “wouldn’t it be great to go across to Germany and actually play this game 60 years later," he said.

Carson’s social media messages were noticed by counterparts at the German side, which currently plays in the third division of the Bundesliga, forging a bond between the two clubs.

FC Erzgebirge Aue fan and volunteer press official Max Richter, who first contacted Carson about a link-up, said, “today we close this little gap in our history and play this game which never happened."

“The years when we were champions were in the 1950s and ’60s. Our club was big then; for all our fans who love the history of our club, it was very important to be here," he told AFP.

Robert Turkington, a Glenavon fan born in 1948 who has followed them since the 1950s “when we were a great side," recalls the original game’s cancellation.

“I was only a kid but I remember people were disappointed. Today is just brilliant to see," he told AFP with a beaming smile.

Glenavon fan Gareth Bridges, who attended the first leg in Germany, said, “a real camaraderie has developed between both sets of supporters."

“Hopefully it is something that can develop between the two clubs into the future as well," the 39-year-old told AFP.

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