The ninth-tier side are guided by their army of online followers who make decisions on everything from starting XIs to ticket prices.
The Essen-based amateurs have 384 managers who pay €5 a month for the privilege.
With the aid of player stats, video interviews, GPS trackers in training and a player/coach who recommends a team each week, 'managers' vote online up to 5am on a matchday to select their starting XI.
But it’s not just on the pitch where the bosses make their calls. The online voters also get control over additional matters such as ticket prices, player transfers, staff/player budgeting and even merchandise in the club shops.
If a player fails to hit a 60% approval rating from all the managers, then he gets released at the end of the season.
"Some people think it's perverse," the club director Peter Schafer said in a feature for ESPNFC. “But I think it's open and transparent. Everyone knows where they are.
“The board had to decide if the club was finished, or if there was anything crazy we could do to save it.
"We wanted to do something crazy. We planned it for two years; one technical guy, one financial guy and me, the football guy. And this is what we came up with."
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