Hand holding smartphone displaying a football player in a brown jersey with crossed arms against a dark background with the text 'LOVE'.

FC St. Pauli

The club‘s digital home

Intro
Challenge
Approach
Impact

Website and System Relaunch for one of the strongest brands in the Bundesliga. New system architecture, new Content Management System, new interfaces, new design system, and a new, accessible User Experience: This cornerstone of FC St. Pauli's digital strategy balances the needs of professional sports, amateur sports, and the entire club, utilizing state-of-the-art solutions in the backend and frontend to optimally position the club for a successful future.

FC St. Pauli approached us with the goal of fundamentally overhauling its website and the underlying systems. To be well-prepared for the future, the aim was to regain system ownership, be technically up-to-date and stable in operation, as well as finding a solution that is strategically flexible and expandable. Together, we developed a solution that perfectly suits the club and represents the central pillar of its digital strategy.

We provided strategic consulting and built a modular, club-centric platform based on a headless Craft CMS architecture in the Microsoft Azure Cloud using Kubernetes. We integrated automated Opta and DFB data interfaces for match plans and standings, established push notification flows, and implemented a design system with support for Easy Language ("Leichte Sprache").

FC St. Pauli regained full system sovereignty with a scalable, technically modern, and operationally stable digital platform. The new architecture streamlines content management for both web and app from a single backend while ensuring that all content is fully accessible to all users.

Website & Apps
Systems Implementation
Information Architecture
User Interface
User Experience
Accessibility

“We have merged our values with the needs of fans and members, creating a distinctive and inclusive St. Pauli experience.”

Lara Weber Head of Digital at FC St. Pauli

Before, during, and after the match

For fans of the Kiezkickers, the site offers comprehensive and constantly up-to-date information regarding the games of the boys in brown: match schedule, table, team, background reports, and ticket availability for home and away matches. Information, statistics, and live data are automatically imported via Opta and Sportmedia interfaces and can be manually adjusted and supplemented by the editorial team.

Through a central backend system, live tickers and push notifications are also delivered to the newly developed FC St. Pauli App – Shout-out to the agency Shape , whose collaboration was great! Automated editorial processes simplify content maintenance before, during, and after games. The system architecture perfectly matches the club and its ambitions – stable, secure, and scalable. This deliberate system choice guarantees the club flexibility, future-proofing, and complete ownership of the data.

Two smartphones display a website with match times and opponents, next to a desktop monitor showing a soccer team in brown-and-white jerseys and a headline about the derby and city championship.
Smartphone displays website mockup with football news and three men in brown jerseys against brown background.
Hand holding smartphone displaying a website mockup of a football league table.

Together, differently

FC St. Pauli is a unique brand in German football and far more than just a sports club. Encompassing 25 sports departments, a passionate fan culture, popular youth development programs, the first cooperative structure in German professional football, and numerous social initiatives, the website brings together a vast range of content.

To reflect this diversity, we redesigned the site's architecture and navigation from the ground up. New sections are easily accessible via an expanded mega-menu, while strategic cross-linking seamlessly connects related topics, bringing the full breadth of the club to life.

Information architecture diagram showing main categories Home, Football, Club, Millerntor, and Rabauken with subcategories.
Three website screens display a soccer team on the field, a close-up of fans wearing black hoodies with 'RABAUKEN' text, and a player with crossed arms in a brown jersey.
Hand placing smartphone displaying FC St. Pauli website into black pants pocket.
Smartphone displaying the FC St. Pauli website navigation menu with items like Overview, News, Teams, Fans, and Tickets on a brown background.
Multiple football player profiles showing names, jersey numbers, positions, and buttons to buy jerseys and view profiles, with one player highlighted on a smartphone screen.

Accessibility, transparency & identity

FC St. Pauli stands for inclusion and diversity. That's why accessibility was an integral focus from early concepts and design through to final implementation. Our new design system reinforces this commitment with clear layouts, clean visuals, and generously proportioned UI components—delivering a seamless user experience that remains easy to navigate despite the rich amount of content.

An overview of user interface components of the website, showing buttons, social media icons, navigation menu, search field, tabs etc.
Hand holding smartphone displaying a website interface with a football player in a brown jersey and a red search bar menu against a multicolored background.
White text 'Causing good trouble.' on a brown textured background.

“The new website and app are absolutely bangin!”

Andreas Bornemann Director of Sports at FC St. Pauli

Direct line (human beings)

Simon Apfl
New Business, Sounds
simon.apfl@fork.de
Portrait of Simon Apfl.
Dirk Lanio
Consulting, Technology
dirk.lanio@fork.de
Portrait of Dirk Lanio.
Jan Kruse
Creation, Brand
jan.kruse@fork.de
Portrait of Jan Kruse.
Roman Hilmer
Creation, Digital
roman.hilmer@fork.de
Portrait of Roman Hilmer.