The word announcer is a little clunky really. The literal translation, stadium speaker, is far more accurate in describing the profession. It implies more engagement, a livelier tone. And even speaking on the phone, the Bundesliga's leading stadium announcers have booming, confident voices that demand your attention.

"It's like a TV show, just a really big, emotional one," said Lotto King Karl, Hamburg's long-standing announcer, to DW. The fabulously named King Karl is a singer in his own band and, along with Borussia Dortmund's Nobby Dickel and Bayern Munich's Stephen Lehmann, is perhaps the most famous voice inside a Bundesliga stadium. Lehmann himself believes “the stadium announcer is a figure who connects the fans and the club. He's an energy source.”

Ahead of perhaps the biggest adventure of his stadium hosting career, Augsburg's Rolf Störmann summed up the profession quite nicely: “Whoever sees it as just a job is misguided.”

Crucial energy sources

Many European clubs have followed the American sports pre-game model and seized on the down time before kick off when crowds gather in and around stadiums, but in Germany it has grown into part of the allure. Games, music, match highlights and information are offered, and the crowds are lapping it up.

"The fans like it. They have got used to it and think, 'well if someone is going to offer me this information in an entertaining manner and it's included in the cost of my ticket, why not?'" Lehmann told DW. The difference in Germany is delivery, at least according to King Karl. “Only here is there such a broad profile between atmosphere and information, which gives an entertaining mix of emotion and objectivity."

For all of their enthusiasm, it is clear there is a line never to be crossed. All echoed the same mantra of respect. “You have to remember, they [the opposition and their fans] are guests and it wouldn't work without them. More than that, you can never forget it is a football game,” said Lehmann. Balancing that act starts by guiding atmosphere not instigating it. Störmann, who once got in trouble for disputing a goal that was wrongly given in Augsburg's crazy 6-2 defeat to 1860 years ago, said he tries to create a good atmosphere in the stadium without manipulating the crowd. King Karl simply doesn't see it as his job to stand on the pitch and get carried away. "At 50 years old and after 10 of those as Hamburg's stadium announcer, that would be silly. On the other hand, too lax and harmless would grow dull quickly."

The majority of stadium announcers at Bundesliga clubs work in radio or as presenters, as is the case for Lehmann, Störmann and King Karl. Yet, despite the job being part-time on paper, it requires a serious time investment. “Football fans will forgive you a lot, but not if you get your facts wrong,” said Lehmann, who prepares for matches weeks in advances.

More than the time is the connection. King Karl first went to the stadium in Hamburg 40 years ago, Lehmann has been a Bayern member for the same number of years, and Störmann has been an Augsburg fan ever since he was born just south of the city. Without the connection, the fans will quickly lose interest. With it though, as King Karl said, "fans can be sure that the bloke down there is someone who feels the same way they do.”

Learning from English

I couldn't help but ask what the leading voices of the Bundesliga thought of the muffled sounds coming out of Premier League stadiums. King Karl hailed the tone as pedestrian, adding: “The English commentary of old that was made legendary by the tight design of old English stadiums has been left behind." Lehmann believes, like King Karl, that it is a case of tradition over entertainment in England although, "if it was done properly, I think fans in England would like it." The Bayern Munich man had the mic at Old Trafford and Highbury, when Bayern Munich was on their travels for the Champions League, but this guest-speaker custom seems to have sadly faded out of fashion.

In England, the role of the stadium announcer retains the same stiffness that accompanies the translation of the German equivalent, with King Karl citing Alan Keegan's situation as the best example. The former Manchester City announcer later took up the same job for the red side of the city, something incomprehensible in Germany because announcers are closer to the club than the job. They are, as Lehmann so wonderfully put, energy sources.

It is a special relationship, the fan and the stadium announcer. The question-and-answer game between the crowd and the man with microphone lasts longer than the game. From the starting eleven to the latest score, the interaction is typical of the Bundesliga's fan focus. Some may argue it is the excessive manipulation of a sporting event into entertainment, but with the lines already blurred at least the Bundesliga has some fan-orientated fun with it. It is high time the Premier League caught up. Then again, as Störmann said, it is not surprising they have yet to, what with everyone driving on the left.