Stasi FC

Stasi FC is a 2023 Sky Documentary about Stasi control over association football in East Germany from the late 1970s, allegedly leading to their preferred team, football club Berliner FC Dynamo, winning ten consecutive league titles. It is directed by Daniel Gordon and Arne Birkenstock and produced by Erik Winker. Production companies on the documentary are Corso Films, Fruitmarket and Phiphen Pictures, and it is executive produced by Embankment Films.

Synopsis
The Stasi's preferred team, football club Berliner FC Dynamo, had a decade-long era of success before the collapse of the Berlin Wall. The Stasi allegedly used bribery, intimidation, surveillance, forced transfers and murder. The documentary uses personal testimony from survivors of the era combined with access to the Stasi Files, 111 linear kilometres of corridors containing previously unseen Stasi paperwork and communications from the Stasi Records Agency.

Cast

 * Gerd Weber
 * Ralf Minge
 * Falko Götz
 * Dirk Schlegel
 * René Müller
 * Alan McDougall
 * Harald Wittstock
 * Roland Jahn
 * Bernd Stange
 * Rolf Walter
 * Sven Friedrich
 * Bernd Heynemann
 * Bodo Rudwaleit

Production
The project was unveiled by Sky Documentaries in August 2022 entitled intrusion: Stasi FC. It is directed by Daniel Gordon and Arne Birkenstock and produced by Erik Winker. Production companies on the documentary are Corso Films, Fruitmarket and Phiphen Pictures, and it is executive produced by Embankment Films.

Broadcast
It was broadcast in the UK on Sky Documentaries on 26 November 2023.

Reception
It was described by Victoria Segal in The Times as “excellent” and evidence that there is “still astonishing stories emerging from behind the Iron Curtain.” Harry Guerin for RTÉ described it as “must see” for documentary fans and sports fans alike. Phil Harrison in The Guardian gave it four stars out of five and said “a documentary about football becomes a documentary about pretty much everything but football.”