1.
1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig (women)
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FC Lokomotive Leipzigs women team represented 1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig in the Frauen Bundesliga, after spending five seasons in the 2. Frauen Bundesliga Lokomotive was the North groups runner-up in the 2010–11 season, since Hamburger II wasnt eligible for promotion as a reserve team, Lokomotive was instead promoted, reaching the Frauen Bundesliga for the first time in its history. In 2013 Loks womens football department collectively left to form a new club, FFV Leipzig
2.
Bruno-Plache-Stadion
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Bruno-Plache-Stadion is a multi-use stadium in Leipzig, Germany. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the stadium of Lokomotive Leipzig. Fans only call it das Bruno, the stadium has a capacity of 15,600 people, but it is only accredited for 7,000 people at the moment. When it was opened, it was the largest stadium owned by a club in Germany, after the Second World War, the stadium was home to SC Rotation Leipzig, until 1990. In 1992, the German Football Association prohibited games to be held for the 2, fußball-Bundesliga due to security requirements not being met. Since 2004, football matches are being held again at the stadium, the city of Leipzig has full ownership of the stadium. On June 13,1999 Bruce Springsteen played a concert at the venue during his Reunion Tour
3.
Heiko Scholz
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Heiko Scholz is a former German footballer who is now manager of Lokomotive Leipzig. Heiko Scholz was part of one of only three East German club sides who reach a final in a European cup competition, He lost the Cup Winners Cup Final in 1987 with 1, FC Lokomotive Leipzig against Ajax Amsterdam. In East and unified Germany the midfielder played 296 top-flight matches, Scholz represented both East Germany and unified Germany internationally. Media related to Heiko Scholz at Wikimedia Commons Heiko Scholz at Fussballdaten Heiko Scholz at weltfussball. de Heiko Scholz at National-Football-Teams. com
4.
Regionalliga Nordost
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The Regionalliga Nordost is the fourth tier of the German football league system in the states of Berlin, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony and Thuringia. These comprise the states of former East Germany as well as West-Berlin, as such, its territorial cover is almost identical to the old DDR-Oberliga. It is one of five leagues at the tier, together with the Regionalliga Bayern, Regionalliga Südwest, Regionalliga Nord. From 1994 to 2000 it was part of the third tier, the last of these occurred in 2012, which saw the Regionalliga Nordost reinstated. The Regionalliga Nordost was formed in 1994 to form a third level of play between the 2. Bundesliga and the NOFV-Oberligas Nord, Mitte and Süd, the league was made up of 18 clubs, with two coming from the 2nd Bundesliga and six each from Mitte and Nord while the south only sent four. It was formed three other Regionalligas, the Regionalliga Nord, West/Südwest and Süd. With the introduction of the Regionalliga also went the disbanding of the division of the NOFV-Oberligas. Its clubs were spread between the remaining two, the founding members of the Regionalliga Nordost were, From the 2. The league winner was not always promoted to the 2nd Bundesliga, the champions of the Regionalligas Nord and Nordost had to play-off for a spot in the 2nd Bundesliga from 1996 to 2000. The winner of this contest was promoted, the loser faced the runners-ups of the Regionalligas Süd, in 1997, Energie Cottbus became the first club from the Regionalliga to reach a German Cup final, losing 2-0 to VfB Stuttgart. The league was disbanded after six seasons, in 2000, the number of Regionalligas was reduced from four to two. Most clubs from the league went to the Regionalliga Nord, some clubs from the south went to the Regionalliga Süd, the Regionalliga Nordost was not recreated, however. Instead, its clubs remained in the Regionalliga Nord, teams from its region playing in the Regionalliga Süd moved to the northern group as well, unless they qualified for the 2nd or 3rd Bundesliga. The other eleven teams were relegated to the NOFV-Oberligas. The number of leagues was expanded to five. The defunct Regionalliga Nordost was reestablished and a Regionalliga Bayern was established, also, the Regionalliga West lost the clubs from the south west to a new league, formed out of those clubs and clubs from Regionalliga Süd outside Bavaria. The new system came into operation at the beginning of the 2012–13 season, the number of reserve teams per Regionalliga was limited to seven
5.
Kit (association football)
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In association football, kit is the standard equipment and attire worn by players. The sports Laws of the Game specify the minimum kit which a player must use, footballers generally wear identifying numbers on the backs of their shirts. Professional clubs also usually display players surnames or nicknames on their shirts, Football kit has evolved significantly since the early days of the sport when players typically wore thick cotton shirts, knickerbockers and heavy rigid leather boots. The Laws of the Game set out the equipment which must be worn by all players in Law 4. Five separate items are specified, shirt, shorts, socks, footwear, goalkeepers are allowed to wear tracksuit bottoms instead of shorts. While most players wear studded football boots, the Laws do not specify that these are required, shirts must have sleeves, and goalkeepers must wear shirts which are easily distinguishable from all other players and the match officials. Thermal undershorts may be worn, but must be the colour as the shorts themselves. Shin pads must be covered entirely by the stockings, be made of rubber, plastic or a similar material, and provide a reasonable degree of protection. The only other restriction on equipment defined in the Laws of the Game is the requirement that a player must not use equipment or wear anything that is dangerous to himself or another player. In the event of a match between teams who would wear identical or similar colours the away team must change to a different colour. The England national team plays in red shirts even when it is not required. Many professional clubs also have a kit, ostensibly to be used if both their first-choice and away colours are deemed too similar to those of an opponent. Most professional clubs have retained the basic colour scheme for several decades. Teams representing countries in international competition generally wear national colours in common with other sporting teams of the same nation, shirts are normally made of a polyester mesh, which does not trap the sweat and body heat in the same way as a shirt made of a natural fibre. Depending on local rules, there may be restrictions on how large these logos may be or on what logos may be displayed, competitions such as the Premier League may also require players to wear patches on their sleeves depicting the logo of the competition. The captain of team is usually required to wear an elasticated armband around the left sleeve to identify him as the captain to the referee. Most current players wear specialist football boots, which can be either of leather or a synthetic material. Modern boots are cut slightly below the ankles, as opposed to the high-ankled boots used in former times, studs may be either moulded directly to the sole or be detachable, normally by means of a screw thread
6.
Away colours
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Away colours are a choice of coloured clothing used in team sports. They are required to be worn by one team during a game between teams that would wear the same colours as each other, or similar colours. This change prevents confusion for officials, players, and spectators, in most sports it is the visiting team that must change – second-choice kits are commonly known as away kits or change kits in British English, and road uniforms in American English. Some sports leagues mandate that teams must always wear an alternative kit. In some sports, conventionally the home team has changed its kit, in most cases, a team wears its away kit only when its primary kit would clash with the colours of the home team. However, sometimes teams wear away colours by choice, occasionally even in a home game, at some clubs, the away kit has become more popular than the home version. Replica home and away kits are available for fans to buy. Some teams also have produced third-choice kits, or even old-fashioned throwback uniforms, in American sports, road teams usually wear a change uniform regardless of a potential colour clash. Further, almost all road uniforms are white in American football, in the National Basketball Association, home uniforms are white or yellow, and visiting teams wear a darker colour. In the United States, color vs. color games are a rarity, most teams choose to wear their color jerseys at home, with the road team changing to white in most cases. White road uniforms gained prominence with the rise of television in the 1950s, a white vs. color game was easier to follow in black-and-white. According to Phil Hecken, until the mid 1950′s, not only was color versus color common in the NFL, even long after the advent of color television, the use of white jerseys has remained in almost every game. The NFLs current rules require that a home jerseys must be either white or official team color throughout the season. If a team insists on wearing its home uniforms on the road, the road team might instead wear a third jersey, such as the Seattle Seahawks Wolf Grey alternate. According to the Gridiron Uniform Database, the Cleveland Browns wore white for home game of the 1955 season. The only times they wore brown was for games at Philadelphia and the New York Giants, in 1964 the Baltimore Colts, Browns, Vikings and Rams wore white regularly for their home games according to Tim Brulias research. The St. Louis Cardinals wore white for several of their home games, until 1964 Dallas had worn blue at home, but it was not an official rule that teams should wear their colored jerseys at home. The use of white jerseys was instigated by general manager Tex Schramm, the Cowboys still wear white at home today
7.
Football in Germany
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Football is the most popular sport in Germany. The German Football Association is the national governing body, with 6.6 million members organized in over 26,000 football clubs. There is a system, with the Bundesliga and 2. The winner of the Bundesliga is crowned the German football champion, additionally, there are national cup competitions, most notably the DFB-Pokal and DFL-Supercup. The Germany national football team has won four FIFA World Cups and it also holds a record three UEFA European Championships. The Germany womens national team has won two FIFA Womens World Cups and a record eight UEFA European Womens Championships. Germany is the nation that has won both the mens and womens World Cup. In addition, Germany is the nation to have won the applicable regional/continental championship for both the mens and womens team. No team has more combined mens and womens World Cup championships, the first football match arguably took place in Braunschweig in 1874. Two schoolteachers, August Hermann and Konrad Koch, initiated the first match after Hermann had obtained a round football from England, in 1875, Koch published the first German version of the rules of football, although Kochs version of the game still closely resembled Rugby football. The Dresden English Football Club is considered the first modern football club in Germany and it was founded in 1874 by Englishmen living and working around Dresden. In the following 20 years the game achieved a growing popularity, Football clubs were founded in Berlin, Hamburg and Karlsruhe. On 28 January 1900, representatives from 86 football clubs from German-speaking areas in and outside the German Empire met in the restaurant Mariengarten in Leipzig, the founding meeting was led by E. J. Kirmse, chairman of the Leipziger Fussball Verband. Ferdinand Hueppe, representing the DFC Prag, was elected first president of the DFB, the first championship beyond municipal areas was held in 1898 from the Verband Sueddeutscher Fussball-Vereine, later affiliated with the DFB. The German national football team represents Germany in international football competitions since 1908 and it is controlled by the German Football Association DFB, the governing body of football in Germany. After the war, Germany was occupied in three states, the DFB and its team continued in what was called West Germany, while the Saarland and East Germany fielded separate teams for some years. The FIFA World Cup 1974 was staged in West Germany, meeting on 22 June 1974 in a politically charged match in Hamburg, East Germany beat West Germany 1–0, on a goal by Jürgen Sparwasser. Both German teams advanced to the second round anyway, the GDR team was eliminated there, while the DFB team eventually went on to win the tournament
8.
Leipzig
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Leipzig is the largest city in the federal state of Saxony, Germany. With a population of 570,087 inhabitants it is Germanys tenth most populous city, Leipzig is located about 160 kilometres southwest of Berlin at the confluence of the White Elster, Pleisse, and Parthe rivers at the southern end of the North German Plain. Leipzig has been a city since at least the time of the Holy Roman Empire. The city sits at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, Leipzig was once one of the major European centers of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing. Leipzig became an urban center within the German Democratic Republic after the Second World War. Leipzig later played a significant role in instigating the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, through events which took place in, Leipzig today is an economic center and the most livable city in Germany, according to the GfK marketing research institution. Since the opening of the Leipzig City Tunnel in 2013, Leipzig forms the centerpiece of the S-Bahn Mitteldeutschland public transit system, Leipzig is currently listed as Gamma World City and Germanys Boomtown. Outside of Leipzig the Neuseenland district forms a lake area of approximately 300 square kilometres. Leipzig is derived from the Slavic word Lipsk, which means settlement where the linden trees stand, an older spelling of the name in English is Leipsic. The Latin name Lipsia was also used, the name is cognate with Lipetsk in Russia and Liepāja in Latvia. In 1937 the Nazi government officially renamed the city Reichsmessestadt Leipzig, the common usage of this nickname for Leipzig up until the present is reflected, for example, in the name of a popular blog for local arts and culture, Heldenstadt. de. Leipzig was first documented in 1015 in the chronicles of Bishop Thietmar of Merseburg as urbs Libzi and endowed with city, Leipzig Trade Fair, started in the Middle Ages, became an event of international importance and is the oldest remaining trade fair in the world. During the Thirty Years War, two battles took place in Breitenfeld, about 8 kilometres outside Leipzig city walls, the first Battle of Breitenfeld took place in 1631 and the second in 1642. Both battles resulted in victories for the Swedish-led side, on 24 December 1701, an oil-fueled street lighting system was introduced. The city employed light guards who had to follow a schedule to ensure the punctual lighting of the 700 lanterns. The Leipzig region was the arena of the 1813 Battle of Leipzig between Napoleonic France and a coalition of Prussia, Russia, Austria and Sweden. It was the largest battle in Europe prior to the First World War, in 1913 the Monument to the Battle of the Nations celebrating the centenary of this event was completed. The railway station has two entrance halls, the eastern one for the Royal Saxon State Railways and the western one for the Prussian state railways
9.
Saxony
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Its capital is Dresden, and its largest city is Leipzig. Saxony is the tenth largest of Germanys sixteen states, with an area of 18,413 square kilometres, located in the middle of a large, formerly all German-speaking part of Europe, the history of the state of Saxony spans more than a millennium. It has been a medieval duchy, an electorate of the Holy Roman Empire, a kingdom, the area of the modern state of Saxony should not be confused with Old Saxony, the area inhabited by Saxons. Old Saxony corresponds approximately to the modern German states of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony is divided into 10 districts,1. After a reform in 2008, these regions - with some alterations of their respective areas - were called Direktionsbezirke, in 2012, the authorities of these regions were merged into one central authority, the Landesdirektion Sachsen. The Erzgebirgskreis district includes the Ore Mountains, and the Schweiz-Osterzgebirge district includes Saxon Switzerland, the largest cities in Saxony according to the 31 December 2015 estimate. To this can be added that Leipzig forms a metropolitan region with Halle. The latter city is located just across the border to Saxony-Anhalt, Leipzig shares for instance an S-train system and an airport with Halle. Saxony has, after Saxony Anhalt, the most vibrant economy of the states of the former East Germany and its economy grew by 1. 9% in 2010. Nonetheless, unemployment remains above the German average, the eastern part of Germany, excluding Berlin, qualifies as an Objective 1 development-region within the European Union, and is eligible to receive investment subsidies of up to 30% until 2013. FutureSAX, a business competition and entrepreneurial support organisation, has been in operation since 2002. Microchip makers near Dresden have given the region the nickname Silicon Saxony, the publishing and porcelain industries of the region are well known, although their contributions to the regional economy are no longer significant. Today the automobile industry, machinery production and services contribute to the development of the region. Saxony is also one of the most renowned tourist destinations in Germany - especially the cities of Leipzig and Dresden, new tourist destinations are developing, notably in the lake district of Lausitz. Saxony reported an unemployment of 8. 8% in 2014. By comparison the average in the former GDR was 9. 8% and 6. 7% for Germany overall, the unemployment rate reached 8. 2% in May 2015. The Leipzig area, which recently was among the regions with the highest unemployment rate, could benefit greatly from investments by Porsche. With the VW Phaeton factory in Dresden, and many part suppliers, zwickau is another major Volkswagen location
10.
FC Carl Zeiss Jena
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FC Carl Zeiss Jena is a German football club based in Jena, Thuringia. The club was founded in May 1903 by workers at the Carl Zeiss AG optics factory as the company-sponsored Fussball-Club der Firma Carl Zeiss, the club underwent name changes in 1911 to Fussball Club Carl Zeiss Jena e. V. and in March 1917 to 1. SV Jena joined the Gauliga Mitte, one of 16 top-flight divisions formed in the reorganization of German football under the Third Reich, the team captured division titles in 1935,1936,1940, and 1941. This earned Jena entry to the finals, but they performed poorly and were never able to advance out of preliminary-round group play. After the 1943–44 season, the Gauliga Mitte broke up into a collection of city-based leagues as World War II overtook the area, in the immediate aftermath of the war, associations of all types were banned in Germany by the occupying Allied authorities. In the aftermath of World War II, East German authorities tagged sports teams with the names of socialist heroes, Ernst Abbe was a local son and he made an early contribution to easing the plight of workers by introducing the 8-hour work day at the Zeiss plant. In 1950 the club became a member of the DDR Liga. Renamed SC Motor Jena in 1954, they played their way back to the league by 1957. Jena won its first honours with the capture of the FDGB-Pokal in 1960, the club was re-founded as FC Carl Zeiss Jena in January 1966, and became one of East Germanys football clubs, focus centres for the development of talented players for the national side. Jena would go on to become a dominant side in the DDR-Oberliga between then and 1975 and they took two more national titles in 1968 and 1970, but finished in second place another half-dozen times to sides like Vorwärts Berlin, Dynamo Dresden and 1. In addition to their titles, FCC captured East German Cups in 1972,1974 and 1980. The club also appeared in the 1981 European Cup Winners Cup final and this was arguably the clubs greatest achievement. After German reunification in 1990, Jena was seeded into the 2 and their second-place finish in 1992 deteriorated into a 17th-place finish in 1994 and relegation to Regionalliga Nordost. They won immediate re-promotion, and played for three years at the tier-II level. Since 1999 the team has primarily played tier III and IV football, bundesliga in 2007–08, avoiding relegation by winning 2–1 away against FC Augsburg in their final match of the season. They would finish last in the 2, bundesliga in 2007–08, returning to the third tier. However, this would not be one of the Regionalligen, the German Football Association launched the new 3, Liga for 2008–09, of which Jena was a charter member. On 9 November 2009 Chairman Peter Schreiber announced his retirement, on 13 November the executive board accepted his resignation, the second team was involved in the 2009 European football betting scandal, accused of match-fixing in the game against ZFC Meuselwitz
11.
Berliner FC Dynamo
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Berliner FC Dynamo is a German football club from Berlin and the record champion of East Germany with ten consecutive championships from 1979 through 1988. A predecessor side to the club was established in 1949 as Sportgemeinde Deutsche Volkspolizei Berlin. In March 1953, this assumed the place of SC Volkspolizei Potsdam in the DDR-Liga. The Potsdam and Berlin sides were formally merged and after 27 March 1953 played as part of the larger Sportvereinigung Dynamo sports club under the name SG Dynamo Berlin. After a 14th-place result in the 1953–54 season, the team was demoted to the Bezirksliga Berlin, the club was again renamed, being christened Sport Club Dynamo Berlin on 1 October 1954. In 1954, team members of Dynamo Dresden were ordered to leave for the capital to establish a side in Berlin. Dynamo Berlin enjoyed some success in the late 1950s and early 1960s with a number of top-three finishes, by 1963, however, their play had fallen off and they had become a lower table side leading to their relegation in 1967. The club returned to first division play after a seasons absence. The side was known as being the team of Erich Mielke. Playing in the DDR-Oberliga BFC won ten titles from 1979 to 1988 allegedly assisted by obedient referees. BFC Dynamo was reviled by many East Germans and referee obedience incurred the unofficially expressed displeasure of the countrys ruling Politburo. After German re-unification in 1990, the side was renamed FC Berlin in an attempt to re-package it and distance it from its past, in 1999, they again took up the name BFC Dynamo. Without its powerful patron and losing its best players to West German Bundesliga teams, the club filed for insolvency in 2001–02 but was required by the German Football Association to play out the balance of its games for the season as mandatory friendlies. BFC recovered to win the Verbandsliga Berlin championship in 2004 and return to fourth division play in the Oberliga Nordost-Nord where they settled in as upper-table side. On 12 June 2013, BFC Dynamo won the Berlin Cup for a time, beating SV Lichtenberg 47 1–0, thus qualifying for the national cup of the DFB. The crowd of 6,381 set a new record for a Berlin Cup final, the subsequent DFB-Pokal match against VfB Stuttgart took place on 4 August 2013 in front of 9,227 spectators. The stadium capacity of the Friedrich Ludwig Jahn Sportpark had been limited, while Dynamos Christoph Köhne came close after hitting the inner post in the 31st minute, Vedad Ibišević won the game for Stuttgart with goals in the 40th and 75th minutes, resulting in a 0–2 defeat. In the 2013–14 Oberliga season, BFC Dynamo won 15 out of the initial 16 games, after 21 season matches, the streak was extended to 20 wins and one draw, effectively securing promotion to Regionalliga Nordost with a 25-point lead
12.
German Football Association
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The German Football Association is the governing body of football in Germany. A founding member of both FIFA and UEFA, the DFB has jurisdiction for the German football league system and is in charge of the mens and womens national teams, the DFB headquarters are based in Frankfurt am Main. Sole members of the DFB are the German Football League, organising the professional Bundesliga, Bundesliga, along with five regional and 21 state associations, organising the semi-professional and amateur levels. The 21 state associations of the DFB have a number of more than 25,000 clubs with more than 6.8 million members. From 1875 to the mid-1880s, the first kind of football played in Germany was according to rugby rules, later, association-style football teams formed separate clubs, and since 1890, they began to organise on regional and national levels. The DFB was founded on 28 January 1900 in Leipzig by representatives of 86 clubs, the vote held to establish the association was 62,22 in favour. Some delegates present represented more than one club, but may have voted only once, other delegates present did not carry their clubs authority to cast a ballot. The DFB consolidated the number of state-based German regional competitions in play for a single recognized national title for the season 1902/03. The German national team played its first game in 1908, before 1914, the German Empire was much larger than todays Germany, comprising Alsace-Lorraine and the eastern provinces. The borders of the associations were drawn according to suitable railway connections. Also, teams based in Bohemia, then part of Austria-Hungary, were eligible, as they were German Football clubs, thus, a German team from Prague was runner-up in the German championship. On the other hand, clubs of the Danish minority in Northern Schleswig refused to join the DFB and this area after World War I voted to join Denmark. Due to border changes imposed by the Treaty of Versailles, the DFB had to adopt its structure, the Saarland, Danzig, and the Memelland were detached from Germany and East Prussia was cut off from the main part by the Polish Corridor. The role of DFB and its representatives like Felix Linnemann under Nazi Germany was documented in 100 Jahre DFB, on a short general meeting on 9 July 1933 in Berlin, the DFB did so, at least formally. Later, the Hitler salute was made compulsory, Marxists and Jews were expelled, on the pitch, Germany had done well in 1934, but after a 0–2 loss in the 1936 Summer Olympics, with Adolf Hitler attending, the DFB and football fell from grace. Germany had made a bid to host the 1938 World Cup, following the Anschluss in March 1938 that made Austria part of Germany, the Austrian Football Association became part of the German federation. Four Germans represented West Europe in a FIFA friendly on 20 June 1937 in Amsterdam, during the war, Germany played international games until 1942. In the aftermath of World War II, German organisations were disbanded by the allies, FIFA decided in November 1945 to ban the no longer existing DFB from international competition, while the Austrian association was re-founded
13.
DFC Prag
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Originally the club was the football department of the Deutscher Eis- und Ruder-Club Regatta Prag established in 1891, consisted mostly of ethnic Germans. It was common for clubs to be founded based on the shared ethnicity of their members and DFC Prag was created by a group of German Jews. When it was formed in 1900, the German Football Association, DFC Prag was a founding member of the German association and its president, Dr. Ferdinand Hueppe, became the first president of this new national association. DFC Prag was a strong side at the time, they were Czech champions in 1896, played in Germanys first ever national final in 1903. The story of Prags appearance in that 1903 final is an odd one as they got there without having to play a playoff match against Karlsruher FV. The Karlruhers received a telegram, supposedly from the DFB, indicating that the game had been rescheduled, Prag, already waiting in Leipzig for the arrival of KFV, were declared the winners by forfeit and advanced to the final, over the loud protests of Karlsruhe. To this day the origin of the telegram is unknown, the final was scheduled for 31 May 1903 at the homefield of FC Altona in Hamburg. The heavily favoured Pragers took themselves off on a pub crawl the night before the match. The contest against VfB Leipzig was delayed half an hour as officials scrambled to find a football that was in good condition to play the match. The Altona club provided a new ball and eleven minutes in Prag scored the first goal, at the end of the half it was 1,1, but Leipzig then pulled away to emerge as the first German champions with a 7,2 victory. They later that same year agreed to a match of sorts against Karlsruher FV and were again victorious. When Germany joined FIFA in 1904, Prag was no longer eligible for play in that country, FIFA also rebuffed attempts to create ethnic German and Slavic football associations within the borders of the fractious Austro-Hungarian empire, preferring to stay clear of politics. DFC played variously in Austria, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia and remained a strong side until about 1914 and they sent a number of players to the Austrian national team in spite of the clubs uncertain status. Prag dominated the Sudeten league in the ethnically German region of Czechoslovakia, in 1938 Jewish players and teams were banned outright as discrimination turned to persecution. The annexation of the Sudetenland by the Germans in 1938 was quickly followed by the imposition of these policies in the region, in 1933 German football was re-organized under the Third Reich into sixteen top-flight divisions known as Gauligen. DFC Prag and Deutsche Sportbrüder Prag were merged into a politically acceptable side under the regime known as Nationalsozialistische Turngemeinde Prag in 1940 and they played one season in the Gauliga Sudetenland where they won the division title, leading to participation in the national championship round and German Cup. The next season won the Gauliga Sudeten-Mitte, and again took part in Cup play. The team disappeared with the end of World War II
14.
Prague
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Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. It is the 14th largest city in the European Union and it is also the historical capital of Bohemia. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city has a temperate climate, with warm summers and chilly winters. Prague has been a political, cultural, and economic centre of central Europe with waxing and waning fortunes during its history and it was an important city to the Habsburg Monarchy and its Austro-Hungarian Empire. Prague is home to a number of cultural attractions, many of which survived the violence. Main attractions include the Prague Castle, the Charles Bridge, Old Town Square with the Prague astronomical clock, since 1992, the extensive historic centre of Prague has been included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. The city has more than ten major museums, along with theatres, galleries, cinemas. An extensive modern public transportation system connects the city, also, it is home to a wide range of public and private schools, including Charles University in Prague, the oldest university in Central Europe. Prague is classified as an Alpha- global city according to GaWC studies, Prague ranked sixth in the Tripadvisor world list of best destinations in 2016. Its rich history makes it a popular tourist destination, and the city more than 6.4 million international visitors annually. Prague is the fifth most visited European city after London, Paris, Istanbul, the region was settled as early as the Paleolithic age. In the last century BC, the Celts were slowly driven away by Germanic tribes, around the area where present-day Prague stands, the 2nd century map of Ptolemaios mentioned a Germanic city called Casurgis. In the following century, the Czech tribes built several fortified settlements in the area, most notably in Levý Hradec, Butovice and in the Šárka valley. The construction of what came to be known as the Prague Castle began near the end of the 9th century, the first masonry under Prague Castle dates from the year 885 at the latest. The other prominent Prague fort, the Přemyslid fort Vyšehrad, was founded in the 10th century, Prague Castle is dominated by the cathedral, which was founded in 1344, but completed in the 20th century. The legendary origins of Prague attribute its foundation to the 8th century Czech duchess and prophetess Libuše and her husband, Přemysl, legend says that Libuše came out on a rocky cliff high above the Vltava and prophesied, I see a great city whose glory will touch the stars. She ordered a castle and a town called Praha to be built on the site, a 17th century Jewish chronicler David Solomon Ganz, citing Cyriacus Spangenberg, claimed that the city was founded as Boihaem in c.1306 BC by an ancient king, Boyya. The region became the seat of the dukes, and later kings of Bohemia, under Roman Emperor Otto II the area became a bishopric in 973
15.
Austria-Hungary
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The union was a result of the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 and came into existence on 30 March 1867. Austria-Hungary consisted of two monarchies, and one region, the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia under the Hungarian crown. It was ruled by the House of Habsburg, and constituted the last phase in the evolution of the Habsburg Monarchy. Following the 1867 reforms, the Austrian and the Hungarian states were co-equal, Foreign affairs and the military came under joint oversight, but all other governmental faculties were divided between respective states. Austria-Hungary was a state and one of the worlds great powers at the time. Austria-Hungary was geographically the second-largest country in Europe after the Russian Empire, at 621,538 km2, the Empire built up the fourth-largest machine building industry of the world, after the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom. After 1878, Bosnia and Herzegovina was under Austro-Hungarian military and civilian rule until it was annexed in 1908. The annexation of Bosnia also led to Islam being recognized as a state religion due to Bosnias Muslim population. Austria-Hungary was one of the Central Powers in World War I and it was already effectively dissolved by the time the military authorities signed the armistice of Villa Giusti on 3 November 1918. The realms full, official name was The Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council, each enjoyed considerable sovereignty with only a few joint affairs. Certain regions, such as Polish Galicia within Cisleithania and Croatia within Transleithania, enjoyed autonomous status, the division between Austria and Hungary was so marked that there was no common citizenship, one was either an Austrian citizen or a Hungarian citizen, never both. This also meant that there were always separate Austrian and Hungarian passports, however, neither Austrian nor Hungarian passports were used in the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia-Dalmatia. Instead, the Kingdom issued its own passports which were written in Croatian and French and it is not known what kind of passports were used in Bosnia-Herzegovina, which was under the control of both Austria and Hungary. The Kingdom of Hungary had always maintained a separate parliament, the Diet of Hungary, the administration and government of the Kingdom of Hungary remained largely untouched by the government structure of the overarching Austrian Empire. Hungarys central government structures remained well separated from the Austrian imperial government, the country was governed by the Council of Lieutenancy of Hungary – located in Pressburg and later in Pest – and by the Hungarian Royal Court Chancellery in Vienna. The Hungarian government and Hungarian parliament were suspended after the Hungarian revolution of 1848, despite Austria and Hungary sharing a common currency, they were fiscally sovereign and independent entities. Since the beginnings of the union, the government of the Kingdom of Hungary could preserve its separated. After the revolution of 1848–1849, the Hungarian budget was amalgamated with the Austrian, from 1527 to 1851, the Kingdom of Hungary maintained its own customs controls, which separated her from the other parts of the Habsburg-ruled territories
16.
Hamburg
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Hamburg, officially Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg, is the second largest city in Germany and the eighth largest city in the European Union. It is the second smallest German state by area and its population is over 1.7 million people, and the wider Hamburg Metropolitan Region covers more than 5.1 million inhabitants. The city is situated on the river Elbe, the official long name reflects Hamburgs history as a member of the medieval Hanseatic League, a free imperial city of the Holy Roman Empire, a city-state, and one of the 16 states of Germany. Before the 1871 Unification of Germany, it was a sovereign state. Prior to the changes in 1919, the civic republic was ruled by a class of hereditary grand burghers or Hanseaten. Though repeatedly destroyed by the Great Fire of Hamburg, the floods and military conflicts including WW2 bombing raids, the city managed to recover and emerge wealthier after each catastrophe. On the river Elbe, Hamburg is a port and a global service, media, logistics and industrial hub, with headquarters and facilities of Airbus, Blohm + Voss, Aurubis, Beiersdorf. The radio and television broadcaster NDR, Europes largest printing and publishing firm Gruner + Jahr, Hamburg has been an important financial centre for centuries, and is the seat of Germanys oldest stock exchange and the worlds second oldest bank, Berenberg Bank. The city is a fast expanding tourist destination for domestic and international visitors. It ranked 16th in the world for livability in 2015, the ensemble Speicherstadt and Kontorhausviertel was declared a World Heritage Site by the UNESCO in 2015. Hamburg is a major European science, research and education hub with several universities and institutes and its creative industries and major cultural venues include the renowned Elbphilharmonie and Laeisz concert halls, various art venues, music producers and artists. It is regarded as a haven for artists, gave birth to movements like Hamburger Schule. Hamburg is also known for theatres and a variety of musical shows. St. Paulis Reeperbahn is among the best known European entertainment districts, Hamburg is on the southern point of the Jutland Peninsula, between Continental Europe to the south and Scandinavia to the north, with the North Sea to the west and the Baltic Sea to the north-east. It is on the River Elbe at its confluence with the Alster, the city centre is around the Binnenalster and Außenalster, both formed by damming the River Alster to create lakes. The island of Neuwerk and two neighbouring islands Scharhörn and Nigehörn, in the Hamburg Wadden Sea National Park, are also part of Hamburg. The neighbourhoods of Neuenfelde, Cranz, Francop and Finkenwerder are part of the Altes Land region, neugraben-Fischbek has Hamburgs highest elevation, the Hasselbrack at 116.2 metres AMSL. Hamburg has a climate, influenced by its proximity to the coast
17.
Altonaer FC von 1893
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Altonaer FC von 1893 is a German association football club based in the Altona district of the city of Hamburg. The football team is a department of a sports club which also offers handball, karate, table tennis. This club was founded on 29 July 1893 as Altonaer Cricketclub by a group of students who demonstrated an early interest in football. In 1894, the club was renamed Altonaer Fussball und Cricket Club, in 1903 at their home ground, they hosted the first-ever German national championship final played between VfB Leipzig and DFC Prague. The match was refereed by AFC player Franz Behr, who served as the vice-chairman of the newly formed DFB until 1904. The club rescued the match by providing a new ball when the original one proved to be unsuitable for play, in 1919, the club merged with Altonaer TS1880 in a union that lasted until 1922, during which time they were known as VfL Altona. After the break-up the team played as Altonaer FC1893 VfL, another merger in 1938 with Borussia 03 Bahrenfeld created Altonaer FC93 Borussia. Between the end of World War I and the end of World War II the team played continuously in the countrys top-flight leagues, under the Third Reich German football was re-organized into sixteen Gauliga and AFC played first in the Gauliga Nordmark, and later in the Gauliga Hamburg. After the war the club picked up play in the Stadtliga Hamburg before earning promotion to the first tier Oberliga Nord and their best results were a pair of third-place finishes in 1954 and 1958, and semi-final appearances in the DFB-Pokal in 1955 and 1964. After the formation of the Bundesliga – Germanys new professional league – in 1963, between 1969 and 1981 Altona played third and fourth division ball before slipping to Landesliga Hamburg-Hammonia. They returned to using their old name, Altona FC, in 1979, the club has moved up and down between the third and fifth tiers since the mid-1980s. In 1997, they found they were unable to sustain themselves financially in the Regionalliga Nord, the club is currently playing in the Oberliga Hamburg. Altona despite their current low division have a large local following, having the 3rd largest fan-base in Hamburg. Recently Altona fans developed a friendship with English club Dulwich Hamlet F. C. which was founded in 1893. Note, Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules, players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality. Jäger was killed trying to defuse an Allied bomb in Altona while working as a volunteer in a bomb squad, the facility has a capacity of 8,000 spectators. Germanys first national championship was played at the original grounds, Exerzierweide. The stadium was featured as a stop during the German leg of The Amazing Race 16, official team site The Abseits Guide to German Soccer
18.
Karlsruher FV
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Karlsruher FV is a German association football club that plays in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg. Established on 17 November 1891, KFV was a member of the German Football Association in 1900. The team went on to capture the championship in 1910 with a 1–0 victory over Holstein Kiel. Folding in 2004, the club reformed in 2007, KFV co-founder Walther Bensemann established Internationalen FC Karlsruhe, the first football team in south Germany, in 1889. This club became part of KFV in 1894 and he also had a hand in founding the Frankfurter Kickers a predecessor side to Eintracht Frankfurt. As well, Bensemann established kicker, Germanys first football magazine, KFV was one of Germanys most successful sides in the years before the First World War. The club captured the South German title eight times from 1901 to 1912, leading to national final appearances in 1905,1910, KFVs championship was earned under the direction of English coach William Townley, a prominent figure in the early history of the game in Germany. KFV figures in the story of Germanys first national championship in 1903 which was won by VfB Leipzig in a 7,2 victory over DFC Prague. Prag was awarded a win by forfeit when their opponents failed to show and it has never been discovered who sent the telegram and people from Karlsruhe still search to this day to find who was responsible. Denied a place in the final, Karlsruhe did manage to arrange to challenge Leipzig the following year in a match representing the contest that might have been. KFV also played a key role in the national final of 1904. Beaten 1,6 by Britannia Berlin in a match played in Berlin. Ultimately, the DFB cancelled the final and the Viktoria trophy was not awarded that year, from 1908, the club played in the new Südkreis-Liga, which it won in 1910,1911 and 1912. In 1909, Phönix Karlsruhe, known today as Karlsruher SC, KFVs win the following year makes Karlsruhe one of only three cities in Germany that have been home to two or more national football champions. The others are Munich and Berlin, while playing for the national team in 1912, KFVs Gottfried Fuchs scored 10 goals in a contest against Russia to set a German international match record that still stands. KFV made its re-appearance after the First World War, first in the Kreisliga Südwest and then in the Bezirksliga Württemberg-Baden, Gruppe Baden with the capture of the league championship in 1926. While they went on to dominate their division, the team was not able to make its way out of the South German league playoffs and back onto the national stage. From 1925 to 1931 Jimmy Lawrence, the record holding former Newcastle United goal keeper, in 1933, Karlsruher FV took up play in the Gauliga Baden, one of the sixteen first division leagues established in the re-organization of German football under the Third Reich
19.
Berliner SV 1892
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Berliner SV1892 is a German association football club from the district of Wilmersdorf, Berlin. BSV1892 is one of the countrys oldest clubs and was a member of the DFB in 1900. The club was managed in 1914 by the Hall of Famer Steve Bloomer, the club also operates a rugby union department, Berliner SV92 Rugby, which, in 1948, reached the German rugby union championship final. The team first appeared in the top flight competition in 1899. In July 1914, after retiring as a player, England national football team, however within three weeks of arriving the First World War broke out and Bloomer found himself interned at Ruhleben, a civilian detention camp in the Spandau district of Berlin. BTuFC Britannia was scheduled to appear in the 1904 national final against VfB Leipzig, however, the match was never played. Britannia had earlier defeated Karlsruher FV6,1 in a game played in Berlin, KFV protested the result because the match had not been played at a neutral venue as required under league rules. The DFB cancelled the match which was to be held in Kassel. After World War I the club merged with BFC Fortuna and dropped its name association with wartime foe Britain to become Berliner Sport Verein 92, the team played as a mid-table side in the Verbandsliga Berlin-Brandenburg/Oberliga Berlin-Brandenburg throughout the 20s and into the early 30s. After the re-organization of German football into sixteen top flight divisions under the Third Reich in 1933, during the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, their field, BSV92 Field, hosted some of the handball games while the stadium itself hosted the track cycling events. They won divisional titles in 1936 and 1938, and won the Danzig Pokal in 1939, in each case the club was unable to advance beyond the preliminary round of the national playoffs. BSV was re-formed as SG Wilmersdorf and resumed playing in the Berlin league in 1945 and they won Gruppe A and then took the league title in a four-team playoff. The Berlin league became the Oberliga Berlin the next season and Wilmersdorf earned two consecutive second-place finishes. The club took on its old name for the 1948–49 season, the team did not seriously challenge again through the late 1950s and early 1960s. When the Bundesliga, Germanys new professional league, was formed in 1963. 1974 brought the beginning of a slide that would see the team descend through the Amateurliga Berlin to the Landesliga Berlin by the end of the decade, by the turn of the millennium BSV was playing seventh division football in the Bezirksliga Berlin. Today the team plays in the Kreisliga Berlin A, Staffel 2, thorball or torball was a German word in use in the 1890s and early 1900s for the sport of cricket. Several early clubs playing the new English games of football, rugby, the term never caught on and did not enter into common usage, soon being abandoned by sports clubs
20.
Nazi Germany
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Nazi Germany is the common English name for the period in German history from 1933 to 1945, when Germany was governed by a dictatorship under the control of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Under Hitlers rule, Germany was transformed into a fascist state in which the Nazi Party took totalitarian control over all aspects of life. The official name of the state was Deutsches Reich from 1933 to 1943, the period is also known under the names the Third Reich and the National Socialist Period. The Nazi regime came to an end after the Allied Powers defeated Germany in May 1945, Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany by the President of the Weimar Republic Paul von Hindenburg on 30 January 1933. The Nazi Party then began to eliminate all opposition and consolidate its power. Hindenburg died on 2 August 1934, and Hitler became dictator of Germany by merging the powers and offices of the Chancellery, a national referendum held 19 August 1934 confirmed Hitler as sole Führer of Germany. All power was centralised in Hitlers person, and his word became above all laws, the government was not a coordinated, co-operating body, but a collection of factions struggling for power and Hitlers favour. In the midst of the Great Depression, the Nazis restored economic stability and ended mass unemployment using heavy military spending, extensive public works were undertaken, including the construction of Autobahnen. The return to economic stability boosted the regimes popularity, racism, especially antisemitism, was a central feature of the regime. The Germanic peoples were considered by the Nazis to be the purest branch of the Aryan race, millions of Jews and other peoples deemed undesirable by the state were murdered in the Holocaust. Opposition to Hitlers rule was ruthlessly suppressed, members of the liberal, socialist, and communist opposition were killed, imprisoned, or exiled. The Christian churches were also oppressed, with many leaders imprisoned, education focused on racial biology, population policy, and fitness for military service. Career and educational opportunities for women were curtailed, recreation and tourism were organised via the Strength Through Joy program, and the 1936 Summer Olympics showcased the Third Reich on the international stage. Propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels made effective use of film, mass rallies, the government controlled artistic expression, promoting specific art forms and banning or discouraging others. Beginning in the late 1930s, Nazi Germany made increasingly aggressive territorial demands and it seized Austria and Czechoslovakia in 1938 and 1939. Hitler made a pact with Joseph Stalin and invaded Poland in September 1939. In alliance with Italy and smaller Axis powers, Germany conquered most of Europe by 1940, reichskommissariats took control of conquered areas, and a German administration was established in what was left of Poland. Jews and others deemed undesirable were imprisoned, murdered in Nazi concentration camps and extermination camps, following the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, the tide gradually turned against the Nazis, who suffered major military defeats in 1943
21.
Gauliga Sachsen
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The Gauliga Saxony was the highest football league in the German state of Saxony from 1933 to 1945. Shortly after the formation of the league, the Nazis reorganised the administrative regions in Germany, the league was introduced by the Nazi Sports Office in 1933, after the Nazi takeover of power in Germany. It replaced the Bezirksligas and Oberligas as the highest level of play in German football competitions, in its first season, the league had eleven clubs, playing each other once at home and once away. The league champion qualified for the German championship. The bottom three teams were relegated, the season after, the league was reduced to ten teams. It operated on the same modus until the outbreak of World War II in 1939, due to the effects of the war, the 1939-40 season was played in two regional groups of six teams each with a home-and-away final between the two group winners. During the war years, the Dresdner SC became a force in German football. The VfB Leipzig was the team from the league with a national title. Those successes made the Gauliga Sachsen one of the strongest competitions in the country, in the 1940-41 season, the Gauliga Sachsen returned to a single division format, now with twelve clubs. This number was reduced to ten for the season and remained at this strength until 1944. The imminent collapse of Nazi Germany in 1945 gravely affected all Gauligas, however, none of them played more than a few games before the arrival of the Red Army, and the end of the war terminated all competitions. With the end of the Nazi era, the Gauligas ceased to exist, the DDR-Oberliga was formed in the following years as the highest level of play in the new country of East Germany and the region became part of the East German football league system. Virtually all football clubs in the region were dissolved and replaced with clubs controlled by the new communist government, of those, some readopted the pre-1945 names after the German reunification in 1990. com
22.
DFB-Pokal
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The DFB-Pokal or German Cup is a German knockout football cup competition held annually. Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and it is considered the second-most important club title in German football after the Bundesliga championship. The DFB-Pokal is run by the German Football Association, and runs from August until June, the winner qualifies for the DFL-Supercup and the UEFA Europa League unless the winner already qualifies for the UEFA Champions League in the Bundesliga. The competition was founded in 1935, then called the Tschammer-Pokal, in 1937, Schalke 04 were the first team to win the double. The Tschammer-Pokal was suspended in 1944 due to World War II, in 1952–53, the cup was reinstated as the DFB-Pokal, named after the DFB, and was won by Rot-Weiss Essen. Bayern Munich have won the most titles with 18 wins, also being the incumbent title holders, fortuna Düsseldorf hold the record for most consecutive tournament game wins between 1978 and 1981, winning the cup in 1979 and 1980. The competition format has varied considerably since the inception of the Tschammer-Pokal in 1935, the DFB-Pokal begins with a round of 64 teams. The 36 teams of the Bundesliga and 2, Bundesliga, along with the top four finishers of the 3. Liga are automatically qualified for the tournament, of the remaining slots 21 are given to the cup winners of the regional football associations, the Verbandspokale. The three remaining slots are given to the three regional associations with the most mens teams and they may assign the slot as they see fit but usually give it to the runner-up in the association cup. Reserve teams like Borussia Dortmund II are not permitted to enter, the pairings for the DFB Cup are not entirely random as the teams are split into two pots of 32 teams each. One pot contains all the amateur teams including teams from the 3, liga and the teams just being promoted to the 2. The other pot contains the teams from the Bundesliga and the teams of the 2, Bundesliga who has not just been promoted. Therefore, in the first round of the cup each professional team plays an amateur team, since 1982, the amateur generally plays at home when facing a professional team. For the second round, the teams are divided into two pots according to the same principles. This time, the dont have to be of equal size, though. Amateur teams get paired with professional teams until one pot is empty, the remaining teams are then drawn from the nonempty pot with the team first drawn playing at home. For the remaining other than the final the teams are drawn from one pot
23.
FC Schalke 04
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The 04 in the clubs name derives from its formation in 1904. Schalke play in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German football league system, as of December 2015, the club has 140,000 members, making it the second-largest sports club in Germany and the sixth-largest sports club in the world in terms of membership. Other activities offered by the club include athletics, basketball, handball, table tennis, winter sports, founded in 1904, Schalke has won seven German championships, five DFB-Pokals, one DFL-Supercup and one UEFA Cup. Since 2001, Schalkes stadium is the Veltins-Arena, Schalke was ranked as the seventh-best football team in Europe by UEFAs 2015 UEFA club rankings. In terms of operating income, Schalke possesses the seventh-highest operating income of any club at $64.4 million or £38.2 million. Schalke also generates the 14th-highest revenue of any club, at $265.6 million or £157.8 million. In May 2014, Schalke 04 were ranked by Forbes magazine as the 14th-most valuable football club, at £355 million or $599 million, the club was founded on 4 May 1904 as Westfalia Schalke by a group of high school students and first wore the colours red and yellow. The team was unable to gain admittance to the Westdeutscher Spielverband, in 1912, after years of failed attempts to join the official league, they merged with the gymnastic club Schalker Turnverein 1877 in order to facilitate their entry. This arrangement held up until 1915 when SV Westfalia Schalke was re-established as an independent club, the separation proved short-lived and the two came together again in 1919 as Turn- und Sportverein Schalke 1877. The new club won its first honours in 1923 as champions of the Schalke Kreisliga, in 1924, the football team parted ways with the gymnasts again, this time taking the club chairman along with them. They took the name FC Schalke 04 and adopted the now familiar blue, the following year, the club became the dominant local side, based on a style of play that used short, sharp, man-to-man passing to move the ball. This system would become famous as the Schalker Kreisel. In 1927, it carried them into the top-flight Gauliga Ruhr, onto the league championship, the popular club built a new stadium, the Glückauf-Kampfbahn, in 1928, and acknowledged the citys support by renaming themselves FC Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04. However, the ban had little impact on the popularity, in their first game after the ban against Fortuna Düsseldorf, in June 1931. The clubs fortunes begun to rise from 1931 and they made a appearance in the 1932 German championship. The year after, the club went all the way to the final and this league saw Schalkes most successful decade in their history, from 1933 to 1942, the club would appear in 14 of 18 national finals and win their league in every one of its eleven seasons. Schalkes first national title came in 1934 with a 2–1 victory over favourites 1, the next year, they successfully defended their title against VfB Stuttgart with a 6–4 win. The club missed the 1936 final, but would make appearances in the match in each of the next six years
24.
East Germany
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East Germany, formally the German Democratic Republic, was an Eastern Bloc state during the Cold War period. The Soviet zone surrounded West Berlin, but did not include it, as a result, the German Democratic Republic was established in the Soviet Zone, while the Federal Republic was established in the three western zones. East Germany, which lies culturally in Central Germany, was a state of the Soviet Union. Soviet occupation authorities began transferring administrative responsibility to German communist leaders in 1948, Soviet forces, however, remained in the country throughout the Cold War. Until 1989, the GDR was governed by the Socialist Unity Party, though other parties participated in its alliance organisation. The economy was centrally planned, and increasingly state-owned, prices of basic goods and services were set by central government planners, rather than rising and falling through supply and demand. Although the GDR had to pay war reparations to the USSR. Nonetheless it did not match the growth of West Germany. Emigration to the West was a significant problem—as many of the emigrants were well-educated young people, the government fortified its western borders and, in 1961, built the Berlin Wall. Many people attempting to flee were killed by guards or booby traps. In 1989, numerous social and political forces in the GDR and abroad led to the fall of the Berlin Wall, the following year open elections were held, and international negotiations led to the signing of the Final Settlement treaty on the status and borders of Germany. The GDR was dissolved and Germany was unified on 3 October 1990, internally, the GDR also bordered the Soviet sector of Allied-occupied Berlin known as East Berlin which was also administered as the states de facto capital. It also bordered the three sectors occupied by the United States, United Kingdom and France known collectively as West Berlin. The three sectors occupied by the Western nations were sealed off from the rest of the GDR by the Berlin Wall from its construction in 1961 until it was brought down in 1989, the official name was Deutsche Demokratische Republik, usually abbreviated to DDR. West Germans, the media and statesmen purposely avoided the official name and its abbreviation, instead using terms like Ostzone, Sowjetische Besatzungszone. The centre of power in East Berlin was referred to as Pankow. Over time, however, the abbreviation DDR was also used colloquially by West Germans. However, this use was not always consistent, for example, before World War II, Ostdeutschland was used to describe all the territories east of the Elbe, as reflected in the works of sociologist Max Weber and political theorist Carl Schmitt
25.
FC Sachsen Leipzig
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FC Sachsen Leipzig was a German football club from the Leutzsch district of Leipzig, Saxony. The club continued the traditions of BSG Chemie Leipzig, although several short-lived successor sides were created, only one has survived, the BSG Chemie established in 1997 after financial troubles. The club officially dissolved in 2011, the prewar identity of the club is rooted in the establishment of Britannia Leipzig in 1899 and its successor TuRa Leipzig. The reunification of East and West Germany saw significant change in football in the half of the country. At the end of May 1990, the club was renamed FC Grün-Weiß Leipzig and quickly merged with SV Chemie Böhlen to create FC Sachsen in August of that year and they took part in qualification play for the 2. Bundesliga at the end of 1990-91, but failed in their attempt to advance, Sachsen captured the Oberliga title in 1992-93, but were denied an opportunity to again take part in the promotion round because of financial problems. After another season at the Oberliga level, they slipped to the Regionalliga Nordost where they remained through 2001 before again collapsing into bankruptcy. In 2006, Red Bull tried to purchase FC Sachsen Leipzig, Sachsen continued to struggle and, in March 2009, the club had to declare bankruptcy for the second time in its history before folding on 30 June 2011. Two new sides soon appeared, both claiming to be the heirs of the tradition of FC Sachsen. Founded on 21 May 2011, SG Leipzig Leutzsch took the place of Sachsen in the league, in mid-2013 the club re-adopted the name SG Sachsen Leipzig, but their financial difficulties continued and in May 2014 the association was again bankrupt. However, the name Sachsen Leipzig was soon taken up again by a new club, LFV Sachsen Leipzig played the 2015-16 season in the 3. The team secured promotion to the 2016-172, a new BSG Chemie Leipzig was founded in 1997 and the team began play in the lowest tier city competition,3. That club won successive promotions and quickly advanced to 6th tier play and their progress stalled in 2013 when they slipped to Bezirkliga play for a single season. They also hope to preserve and build on the tradition represented by Chemie. In May 2014 it was announced that clubs would cooperate in the future at the junior level, as SG Sachsen is insolvent. The ultimate goal is the survival of the Association, so that at least the teams of SG Sachsen are secured. SG Sachsen Leipzig sees itself, similar to BSG Chemie Leipzig, SG Sachsen Leipzig played in the Saxony League. At the end of 2013 liquidity difficulties were encountered, the SG had Sachsen Leipzig on 5 May 2014 to file for bankruptcy, SG Leipzig Leutzsch / SG Sachsen Leipzig LFV Sachsen Leipzig BSG Chemie Leipzig Past players who are the subjects of Wikipedia articles can be found here
26.
Sports associations (East Germany)
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The term Sports Associations in East Germany meant a sports agency for certain economic branches of the whole society, which were members of the East German Sports Association. Members of biggest social employers had their own sports clubs or the Sportvereinigung. One of the biggest problems is that you can not find almanacs of these today, all of them were recycled or sold to private persons. So you can not start an article about each trade sports association, the rest are data banks of history sections from the sport club sites with the certain name or in addition, pennants, medals, flags, and other related objects. Nevertheless, you can still an lot of sports societies in the former GDR which use the old names. In 1966, the sections were separated and they used the name Fußballclub. They had to conform to the rules of the East German Sports Association, the sections of the associations were called Sports Clubs for only the professional athletes. The best were the Sportvereinigung Dynamo and the Sportvereinigung Vorwärts, while the worst were the SV Traktor and this directive only allowed the establishment of sports organizations on a local level. In consequence, sport competitions were only permitted on a level with loosely organized Sportgemeinschaften in cities. Only in the fall of 1946 were football resumed on Land level, the competition was organized by the youth organization Free German Youth. After the first football championship in the Soviet occupation zone had been held in the summer of 1948, on an initiative of the Freier Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund and FDJ, the Deutscher Sportausschuß was created as an umbrella organization for sports in the Soviet zone. Among its first tasks was the re-structuring of the organizations that was tackled with the credo rearrangement based on production. With participation of the FDGB the existing Sportgemeinschaften were replaced by newly created Betriebssportgemeinschaft in production, the so-called Trägerbetriebe would take over tasks of financing and logistics for their respective BSGs, with the union chapter responsible for the day-to-day management. The BSG would be tasked with organizing a large spectrum of sports activities, each BSG had its own administrative board with a chairman and heads for the different sports sections. Financial means were provided by the Trägerbetrieb. and often the infrastructure would be built by the companies as well, to further optimize the system, the DS reorganized the BSGs again in April 1950. Central sports associations were created according to the structure and all BSGs within such a central association were given a standard name. These central associations were tasked with promoting the BSGs in their field and this was done by organizing internal competitions within the central associations and through influencing athletes who move between individual BSGs. Among the largest and most powerful BSGs was Wismut Aue, Stahl Riesa, Chemie Leipzig, Chemie Leipzig were the only BSG to win the East German football championship after the creation of the sports clubs in 1957
27.
FDGB-Pokal
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The FDGB-Pokal was an elimination football tournament held annually in the former East Germany. It was the second most important national title in East German football after the DDR-Oberliga championship, the founder of the competition was East Germanys major trade union. The inaugural FDGB Pokal was contested in 1949, four years before the initial DFB-Pokal was played in the half of the country. The first national cup competition had been the Tschammerpokal introduced in 1935, each football club which participated in the East German football league system was entitled to enter the tournament. Clubs from the lower leagues played in qualification rounds, with the winners joining the teams of the DDR-Oberliga and DDR-Liga in the main round of the tournament of the following year. Each elimination was determined by a game held on the ground of one of the two participating teams. Until the mid-80s the field of competition was made up of as many as sixty teams playing in five rounds due to the number of eligible clubs in the country. Beginning in 1975 the final was held each year in the Berliner Stadion der Weltjugend and drew anywhere from 30,000 to 55,000 spectators. The last cup final, played in 1991 after the fall of the Berlin Wall, was a 1–0 victory by Hansa Rostock over Stahl Eisenhüttenstadt, the most successful side in 42 years of competition was 1. FC Magdeburg which celebrated seven FDGB Cup wins, one of those wins ultimately led to victory in the UEFA Cup Winners Cup 1973-74, the only winners of the competition to reach the final of the DFB-Pokal since the re-unification of the country are 1. FC Union Berlin, who appeared in the 2001 German Cup final, to date the only other former East German club to appear in the German Cup final is Energie Cottbus. The performance of clubs is shown in the following table, Notes,1 Also known as SC Rotation Leipzig. 2 Also known as Motor Jena,3 Also known as SG Planitz, Horch Zwickau, Motor Zwickau and Sachsenring Zwickau. 4 In 1953, the club was picked up from Leipzig and moved to East Berlin to play as ZSK Vorwärts Berlin, later ASK Vorwärts Berlin, in 1971, the club was picked up and moved again, this time from the capital to Frankfurt, Brandenburg. The team was known as FC Vorwärts Frankfurt,5 Also known as FC Sachsen Leipzig and SC Lokomotive Leipzig. 6 Also known as SG Freiimfelde Halle and Hallescher FC Chemie,7 Also known as Empor Rostock. 8 Also known as SG Aue, BSG Pneumatik Aue, Zentra Wismut Aue, in 1954 the team moved from Aue to Chemnitz. After German reunification in 1990, the club was renamed FC Wismut Aue before taking on its current name,9 Also known as BSG KWU Erfurt, Fortuna Erfurt, Turbine Erfurt
28.
UEFA Intertoto Cup
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The competition was discontinued after the 2008 tournament. Teams who originally would have entered the Intertoto Cup now directly enter the qualifying stages of the UEFA Europa League from this point, the tournament was founded in 1961–62, but was only taken over by UEFA in 1995. Any club who wished to participate had to apply for entry, the cup billed itself as providing both an opportunity for clubs who otherwise would not get the chance to enter the UEFA Cup and as an opportunity for sports lotteries to continue during the summer. This reflects its background, which was as a tournament solely for football pools, in 1995, the tournament came under official UEFA sanctioning and UEFA Cup qualification places were granted. Initially, two were provided, this was increased to three after one year, but in 2006, it was increased to the final total of 11. The Intertoto Cup was the idea of Malmö FF chairman Eric Persson, thommen, and the Austrian coach Karl Rappan, who coached the Swiss national team at the 1938 FIFA World Cup and at the 1954 World Cup. The Cup for the Cupless was also promoted by the Swiss newspaper Sport. It derived its name from Toto, the German term for football pool, thommen, who had set up football betting pools in Switzerland in 1932, had a major interest in having purposeful matches played in the summer break. UEFA were initially disinclined to support the tournament, finding its betting background distasteful, nevertheless they permitted the new tournament, clubs which qualified for one of the official continental competitions, such as the European Champions Cups and Cup Winners Cup, were not allowed to participate. The first tournament was held in 1961 as the International Football Cup, initially the Cup had a group stage, which led to knock-out matches culminating in a final. By 1967, it had become difficult to organize the games, and so the knock-out rounds, instead, group winners received prizes of CHF10, 000-15,000. By 1995, UEFA had reconsidered its opinion, took control of the tournament. Initially, two winners were given a place in the UEFA Cup, the success of one of the first winners, Bordeaux, in reaching the final of the 1995–96 UEFA Cup encouraged UEFA to add a third UEFA Cup place in 1996. Many clubs disliked the competition and saw it as disruptive in the preparation for the new season, as a consequence, they did not nominate themselves for participation even if entitled. Following the threat of bans of English teams from all UEFA competitions, in following years, UEFA made it possible for nations to forfeit Intertoto places. Other clubs have built upon their success in the UI Cup, furthermore, UEFA rejected this assertion that the tournament is disruptive. In December 2007, following the election of new UEFA president Michel Platini and this was a part of a range of changes that were to be made to the UEFA Cup/Champions League System. Instead of teams qualifying for the Intertoto Cup, they now qualify directly for the qualifying stages of the UEFA Europa League
29.
1987 European Cup Winners' Cup Final
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The 1987 European Cup Winners Cup Final was a football match contested between Ajax of Netherlands and Lokomotive Leipzig of East Germany. It was the match of the 1986–87 European Cup Winners Cup. The final was held at Olympic Stadium in Athens, Greece, Ajax won the match 1–0 with a 20th-minute header from Marco van Basten. 1986–87 European Cup Winners Cup 1987 European Cup Final 1987 UEFA Cup Final UEFA Cup Winners Cup results at Rec. Sport. Soccer Statistics Foundation
30.
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
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The UEFA Cup Winners Cup was a football club competition contested annually by the most recent winners of all European domestic cup competitions. The cup is one of the many inter-European club competitions that have been organised by UEFA, the first competition was held in the 1960–61 season — but not recognised by the governing body of European football until two years later. The final tournament was held in 1998–99, after which it was absorbed into the UEFA Cup, in the 1985–86 season, English clubs were banned from European competition. Consequently, Manchester United, Everton, Coventry City, Wimbledon, from 1972 onwards, the winner of the tournament progressed to play the winner of the European Cup in the UEFA Super Cup. Since the abolition of the UEFA Cup Winners Cup, the UEFA Super Cup place previously reserved for the Cup Winners Cup winner has been taken by the winner of the UEFA Cup, now UEFA Europa League. The competitions official name was originally the European Cup Winners Cup, in common with other UEFA club tournaments, the away goal applied when aggregate scores was parity. Following the influx of new UEFA member nations during the 1990s, however, if this team also qualified for the European Champions Cup then they would default on their place in the Cup Winners Cup and no other team would replace them. In 1998–99, the final year, Heerenveen of the Netherlands entered the Cup Winners Cup despite only reaching the semi-final of the previous seasons Dutch Cup. This was due to both Dutch Cup finalists Ajax and PSV Eindhoven qualifying for the recently expanded Champions League. The European Cup had proven to be a success and the Fairs Cup had also proven popular – as a result. One proposal was for a tournament based upon the format of the European Cup, but with national cup winners rather than league champions taking part, the inaugural Cup Winners Cup was held in the 1960–61 season and was basically a semi-official pilot tournament. It was essentially only in England, Scotland and to a lesser extent Germany, for the tournaments second season in 1961–62, UEFA took over the running of all aspects of the competition and this time all the clubs eligible to enter accepted the opportunity. By 1968, all UEFA member nations had set up domestic cup competitions due to the success of the Cup Winners Cup, UEFA regarded it as the second most prestigious competition, behind the European Cup and ahead of the Fairs Cup. Nevertheless, many commentators and fans regarded the Cup Winners Cup as weaker than the UEFA Cup, no club managed to retain the Cup Winners Cup, although eight times a winning side followed up their victories with a losing appearance in the following seasons final. After the establishment of the UEFA Champions League in the early 1990s, with the expansion of the Champions League in 1997 to allow more than one team from the highest-ranked member associations to enter, the Cup Winners Cup began to look noticeably inferior. Since then, domestic cup winners who do not otherwise qualify for the Champions League are given a place in the Europa League, the Cup Winners Cup trophy itself is a property of UEFA and it is not assigned to any club. Sport. Soccer Statistics Foundation UEFA website
31.
Johan Cruyff
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Hendrik Johannes Johan Cruijff OON was a Dutch professional football player and coach. As a player, he won the Ballon dOr three times, in 1971,1973, and 1974. Cruyff was the most famous exponent of the philosophy known as Total Football explored by Rinus Michels. In the 1970s, Dutch football rose from obscurity to become a powerhouse in the sport. Cruyff led the Netherlands to the final of the 1974 FIFA World Cup, at the 1974 finals he executed a feint that subsequently was named after him, the Cruyff Turn, a move widely replicated in the modern game. At club level, Cruyff started his career at Ajax, where he won eight Eredivisie titles, in 1973, he moved to Barcelona for a world record transfer fee, winning La Liga in his first season and was named European Footballer of the Year. After retiring from playing in 1984, Cruyff became highly successful as manager of Ajax and later Barcelona and his son Jordi also played football professionally. He came third in a vote organised by the French magazine France Football consulting their former Ballon dOr winners to elect their Football Player of the Century. He was chosen on the World Team of the 20th Century in 1998, the FIFA World Cup Dream Team in 2002, Ajax and Barcelona are among the clubs that have developed youth academies based on Cruyffs coaching methods. His coaching philosophy helped lay the foundations for the revival of Ajaxs international successes in the 1990s, Spanish footballs successes at both club and international level during the years 2008 to 2012 have been cited by many as evidence of Cruyffs impact on contemporary football. In 2017, Cruyff was named among the 10 greatest coaches since the foundation of UEFA in 1954, hendrik Johannes Johan Cruijff was born on 25 April 1947 in Amsterdam, on a street five minutes away from Ajaxs stadium, his first football club. Johan was the son of Hermanus Cornelis Cruijff and Petronella Bernarda Draaijer, from a humble. In 1959, Cruyffs father died from a heart attack and his fathers death had a major impact on his mentality. As Cruyff recalled, in celebration of his 50th birthday, “My father died when I was just 12 and he was 45. From that day the feeling crept stronger over me that I would die at the age and. Only medical science, which was not available to help my father, kept me alive. ”Viewing a potential career as a way of paying tribute to his father, the death inspired the strong-willed Cruyff. His mother soon met her husband, Henk Angel, a field hand at Ajax who proved a key influence in Cruyffs life. Cruyff joined the Ajax youth system on his tenth birthday and he showed talent both on the pitchers mound and behind the plate, as a catcher, before having to leave the clubs baseball section at age 15 to focus on football
32.
AFC Ajax
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Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax, also AFC Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam or simply Ajax, is a Dutch professional football club based in Amsterdam. Historically, Ajax is the most successful club in the Netherlands, Ajax is historically one of the most successful clubs in the world, according to the IFFHS, Ajax were the seventh-most successful European club of the 20th century. The club is one of the five teams that has earned the right to keep the European Cup and to wear a multiple-winner badge, in 1972, they completed the continental treble by winning the Eredivisie, KNVB Cup, and the European Cup. It also won the first organized UEFA Super Cup in 1972 against Glasgow Rangers, Ajax is also one of three teams to win the continental treble and the Intercontinental Cup in the same season/calendar year, This was achieved in the 1971–72 season. Ajax, Juventus, Bayern Munich, and Chelsea are the four clubs to have won all three major UEFA club competitions. They have also won the Intercontinental Cup twice, the 1991–92 UEFA Cup, as well as the Karl Rappan Cup, Ajax plays at the Amsterdam Arena, which opened in 1996. They previously played at De Meer Stadion and the Amsterdam Olympic Stadium, Ajax was founded in Amsterdam on 18 March 1900. The club achieved promotion to the highest level of Dutch football in 1911 and had its first major success in 1917, winning the KNVB Beker, the following season, Ajax became national champion for the first time. The club defended its title in 1918–19, becoming the team to achieve an unbeaten season in the Netherlands Football League Championship. Throughout the 1920s, Ajax was a regional power, winning the Eerste Klasse West division in 1921,1927 and 1928. This changed in the 1930s, with the winning five national championships. In 1956, the first season of the Netherlands new professional league, the team were again Eredivisie champions in 1960 and won a third KNVB Cup in 1961. A year earlier, Johan Cruyff, who would go on to become the greatest Dutch footballer of all time, between them, Michels and Cruyff led Ajax through the most successful period in its history, winning seven Eredivisie titles, four KNVB Cups and three European Cups. Ajax won the Dutch championship in 1966,1967, and 1968, during the 1966–67 season, Ajax scored a record 122 goals in an Eredivisie season and also won the KNVB Cup to achieve its first league and cup double. In 1969–70, Ajax won a fourth Dutch league championship and second league and cup double in five seasons, winning 27 out of 34 league games, after this success, Michels departed to become manager of Barcelona and was replaced by the Romanian Ștefan Kovács. In Kovács first season, Ajax completed a treble of the European Cup, the Eredivisie, in 1973, Michels Barcelona broke the world transfer record to bring Cruyff to Catalonia. Kovács also departed to become manager of the France national team, in 1976–77, Ajax won its first domestic championship in four seasons and recorded a double of the Eredivisie and KNVB Cup two years later. The early 1980s saw the return of Johan Cruyff to the club, as well as the emergence of young players Marco van Basten, the team won back-to-back Eredivisie titles in 1982 and 1983, with all three playing a significant role in the latter
33.
Marco van Basten
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Marcel Marco van Basten is a Dutch football manager and former football player, who played for Ajax and Milan, as well as the Netherlands national team, in the 1980s and early 90s as a forward. He was later the coach of Ajax and the Netherlands national team. Playing for the Netherlands, Van Basten won, and was named player of the tournament, at UEFA Euro 1988, at the club level, he won three Eredivisie titles and the Cup Winners Cup with Ajax, and three Serie A titles and two European Cups with Milan. He was also voted eighth in a poll organised by the French magazine France Football, in 2004, he was named by Pelé in the FIFA100 list of the worlds greatest living players. In 2004, a poll for the 100 greatest Dutch people was held in the Netherlands, Van Basten ranked number 25, in 2007, Sky Sports ranked Van Basten first on its list of great athletes who had their careers cut short. Marco van Basten was born on 31 October 1964 in Utrecht and he began playing for a local team, EDO, when he was six years old. A year later, he moved to UVV Utrecht, after nine years there, he briefly played for another club from Utrecht, Elinkwijk. Ajax signed Van Basten for the 1981–82 season and he played his first game for Ajax in April 1982, scoring a debut goal in the 5–0 victory over NEC. In the 1982–83 season, he competed with the European top scorer Wim Kieft for the position of centre forward, after Kieft left for Serie A club Pisa the next season, Van Basten solidified his position as the teams main attacker. He became a top scorer in the league for four seasons from 1983–84 to 1986–87, in the 1985–86 season, he scored 37 goals in 26 league matches, including six goals against Sparta Rotterdam and five against Heracles Almelo, and won the European Golden Boot. He also scored the goal in the UEFA Cup Winners Cup final against Lokomotive Leipzig in 1987. He had scored 128 goals in 133 league games for Ajax, on November 1986 he scored his most famous goal in an Ajax jersey, a spectacular overhead kick against FC Den Bosch. In 1987, Silvio Berlusconi signed Van Basten for Milan, with fellow countrymen Ruud Gullit, in his first season, Milan won their first Scudetto in eight years, but Van Basten played only 11 games and was constantly troubled by an ankle injury. In 1988–89, Van Basten won the Ballon dOr as Europes top footballer and he scored 19 goals in Serie A and scored two goals in the final of the European Cup as Milan triumphed against Steaua Bucureşti. In 1989–90, he became Capocannoniere, Serie As leading goal scorer, Milan struggled in the 1990–91 season, as Sampdoria won the Scudetto. After Van Basten fell out with Arrigo Sacchi, Berlusconi sacked the manager, fabio Capello took over the following season, and Milan went undefeated in the league to win another Scudetto. Van Basten scored 25 league goals, and became Capocannoniere again, in November 1992, he became the first player to score four goals in a Champions League match, against IFK Göteborg, including a picture perfect bicycle kick. In December 1992, Van Basten was named FIFA World Player of the Year, Milan stretched their unbeaten run into the 1992–93 season, going 58 matches over two seasons before they lost a game
34.
German reunification
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The end of the unification process is officially referred to as German unity, celebrated on 3 October. Following German reunification, Berlin was once designated as the capital of united Germany. The East German regime started to falter in May 1989, when the removal of Hungarys border fence with Austria opened a hole in the Iron Curtain and it caused an exodus of thousands of East Germans fleeing to West Germany and Austria via Hungary. The united Germany is the continuation of the Federal Republic. For political and diplomatic reasons, West German politicians carefully avoided the term reunification during the run-up to what Germans frequently refer to as die Wende, after 1990, the term die Wende became more common. The term generally refers to the events led up to the actual reunification, in its usual context. When referring to the events surrounding unification, however, it carries the connotation of the time. However, anti-communist activists from Eastern Germany rejected the term Wende as it was introduced by SEDs Secretary General Egon Krenz, the capital city of Berlin was divided into four occupied sectors of control, under the Soviet Union, the United States, the United Kingdom and France. Germans lived under such imposed divisions throughout the ensuing Cold War, into the 1980s, the Soviet Union experienced a period of economic and political stagnation, and they correspondingly decreased intervention in Eastern Bloc politics. In 1987, US President Ronald Reagan gave a speech at Brandenburg Gate challenging Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down this wall that had separated Berlin. The wall had stood as an icon for the political and economic division between East and West, a division that Churchill had referred to as the Iron Curtain. In early 1989, under a new era of Soviet policies of glasnost, perestroika and taken to more progressive levels by Gorbachev. Further inspired by images of brave defiance, a wave of revolutions swept throughout the Eastern Bloc that year. In May 1989, Hungary removed their border fence and thousands of East Germans escaped to the West, however, events rapidly came to a head in early 1990. First, in March, the Party of Democratic Socialism—the former Socialist Unity Party of Germany—was heavily defeated in East Germanys first free elections. A grand coalition was formed under Lothar de Maizière, leader of the East German wing of Kohls Christian Democratic Union, on a platform of speedy reunification, second, East Germanys economy and infrastructure underwent a swift and near-total collapse. While East Germany had long been reckoned as having the most robust economy in the Soviet bloc, the East German mark had been practically worthless outside East Germany for some time before the events of 1989–90 further magnified the problem. Discussions immediately began for a merger of the German economies
35.
2. Bundesliga
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Bundesliga is the second division of professional football in Germany. Bundesliga is ranked below the Bundesliga and above the 3, liga in the German football league system. Bundesliga clubs qualify for the DFB-Pokal, the annual German Cup competition, a total of 125 clubs have competed in the 2. The decision to establish the league as the level of football in West Germany was taken in May 1973. The league started operating in August 1974, then two divisions of 20 clubs. It was reduced to a division in 1981. From the 1991–92 season onwards clubs from former East Germany started participating in the league and it returned to a single division format again at the end of that season and has had 18 clubs as its strength since 1994. Bundesliga are directly promoted to the Bundesliga, while a third promoted club has been determined through play-offs from 1974 to 1991, between 1991 and 2008 the third-placed club in the league was directly promoted. The bottom clubs in the league are relegated to the division which has been, from 1974 to 1994 the Oberliga, from 1994 to 2008 the Regionalliga. The number of relegated clubs has fluctuated over the years, since 2008 two clubs are directly relegated while the third-last team has the opportunity to defend its league place in play-offs against the third placed team of the 3. FC Nürnberg holds the number of championships in the league with four. The club also holds the record for number of promotions from the 2, for the 2015–16 season, an average of 19,176 spectators watched 2. Bundesliga the worlds most-watched secondary football league, the decision to establish the 2. Bundesliga as a professional league below the Bundesliga was made at the annual convention of the German Football Association. The league replaced the five Regionalligas that were at this level from 1963 to 1974, the qualified teams were established through a ranking that took the last five seasons of the Regionalliga into account. Bundesliga was split into a northern and a division with 20 clubs each. Each division had its champion directly promoted to the Bundesliga while the two runners-up would contest a two-leg play-off to determine the promoted team. The first-ever game of the league was played on Friday,2 August 1974 between 1, FC Saarbrücken and SV Darmstadt 98 and ended in a 1–0 win for Saarbrücken, with Nikolaus Semlitsch scoring the first-ever goal of the new league
36.
Bundesliga
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The Bundesliga, is a professional association football league in Germany and the football league with the highest average stadium attendance worldwide. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germanys primary football competition, the Bundesliga is contested by 18 teams and operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the 2. Seasons run from August to May, most games are played on Saturdays and Sundays, with a few games played on weekdays. All of the Bundesliga clubs qualify for the DFB-Pokal, the winner of the Bundesliga qualifies for the DFL-Supercup. A total of 54 clubs have competed in the Bundesliga since its founding, FC Bayern Munich has won the Bundesliga the most, winning the title 25 times. However, the Bundesliga has seen other champions with Borussia Dortmund, Hamburger SV, Werder Bremen, Borussia Mönchengladbach, the Bundesliga is broadcast on television in over 200 countries. The Bundesliga was founded in 1962 in Dortmund and the first season started in 1963, the structure and organisation of the Bundesliga along with Germanys other football leagues have undergone frequent changes right up to the present day. The Bundesliga was founded by the Deutscher Fußball-Bund, but is now operated by the Deutsche Fußball Liga, the Bundesliga is composed of two divisions, the 1. Bundesliga, and, below that, the 2, Bundesliga, which has been the second tier of German football since 1974. Below the level of the 3, Liga, leagues are generally subdivided on a regional basis. For example, the Regionalligen are currently made up of Nord, Nordost, Süd, below this are thirteen parallel divisions, most of which are called Oberligen which represent federal states or large urban and geographical areas. The levels below the Oberligen differ between the local areas, the league structure has changed frequently and typically reflects the degree of participation in the sport in various parts of the country. In the early 1990s, changes were driven by the reunification of Germany, every team in the two Bundesligen must have a licence to play in the league, or else they are relegated into the regional leagues. To obtain a licence, teams must be healthy and meet certain standards of conduct as organisations. As in other leagues, there are significant benefits to being in the top division. Bundesliga teams draw significantly greater levels of fan support, average attendance in the first league is 42,673 per game — more than twice the average of the 2. Greater exposure through television and higher attendance levels helps 1, Bundesliga teams attract the most lucrative sponsorships. Bundesliga teams develop substantial financial muscle through the combination of television and gate revenues, sponsorships and this allows them to attract and retain skilled players from domestic and international sources and to construct first-class stadium facilities
37.
Red Bull Arena (Leipzig)
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The Red Bull Arena, located in Leipzig, Saxony, Germany, is a football facility in the former East Germany. It is the largest football stadium in the former East Germany and has hosted music concerts as well as football. In 1956, the first Zentralstadion opened, at the time it was one of the biggest stadiums in Europe being able to hold 100,000 spectators, however, over the years it fell into disuse and was costing the city too much to maintain. In 1997, the city of Leipzig decided to build a new stadium within the old stadium, the new stadium was built from December 2000 till March 2004. The Zentralstadion was the stadium in the former East Germany to host games in the 2006 FIFA World Cup. It hosted four matches and a round of 16 game in the tournament. A year earlier, it was one of the venues for the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup. From 2005 to 2007, the Zentralstadion was host of the German League Cup final, in July 2009, energy drink manufacturer Red Bull took over the license of SSV Markranstädt and renamed the team RasenBallsport Leipzig, in short RB Leipzig. From the outset, the new team outlined their wish to move into the tenant-less Zentralstadion, the naming rights were granted on 25 March 2010 and the stadium will be named so for a minimum period of 10 years as of 1 July 2010. The cost for renting the stadium will rise in accordance with the level of football RasenBallsport Leipzig are at, the team has pledged to upgrade the seating, install video advertising boards and make changes to the boxes and the VIP area. In the 2010–11 season, Hallescher FC played between three and five games at the Zentralstadion due to their own Kurt-Wabbel Stadion being renovated, in 2014, the stadium was ranked 17th in the country based on attendance, safety, and number of events. There are bridges built over the old stadium to connect with the new stadium, the roof has an integrated floodlight design and is designed to provide superior acoustics. The grass area is 120 x 80 m, the playing field is 105 x 68 m. It has been integrated into the surrounding the stadium by large amounts of trees. The following games were played at the stadium during the 2006 World Cup, facts and photos about the old and new Zentralstadion at Erlebnis-stadion. de Homepage Zentralstadion
38.
FC Erzgebirge Aue
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Fußball Club Erzgebirge Aue e. V. commonly known as simply FC Erzgebirge Aue or Erzgebirge Aue, is a German football club based in Aue, Saxony. The former East German side was a member of the 3. Liga in 2008–09, after being relegated from the 2, the city of Aue has a population of about 18,000, making it one of the smallest cities to ever host a club playing at the second highest level of German football. However, the team supporters from a larger urban area that includes Chemnitz and Zwickau. The club was founded as SG Aue in 1945, and on 1 November 1948 became BSG Pneumatik Aue under the sponsorship of the construction tool works. Changes in sponsorship led to a change in name to Zentra Wismut Aue in 1949, the club performed well, advancing through third and second tier play to the DDR-Oberliga in 1951. BSG finished as national vice-champions in 1953 losing in a final to Dynamo Dresden by a score of 2–3 and it was during this time that the club became dominant in East German football. It captured the 1955 East German Cup and followed this up with four titles in 1955,1956,1957 and 1959. It also played for the 1959 East German Cup, but lost 2–3 in a rematch versus Dynamo Berlin after the clubs had drawn 0–0 in the first game and those successes led to Aues participation in the European Champion Clubs Cup in 1958,1959 and 1961. In 1963, Karl-Marx-Stadt got its own team and Aues squad recovered its identity as BSG Wismut Aue, Aue sits 4th on the all-time DDR-Oberliga list and over the course of thirty-eight years played more games than any other East German side. Just behind them, 6th place Rot-Weiß Erfurt played 1,001 matches, after German reunification in 1990, the club was renamed FC Wismut Aue before taking on its current name, FC Erzgebirge Aue in 1993. The name Erzgebirge, Ore Mountains in English, recognizes that the home is located in the western part of these mountains. Aue was relegated to the DDR-Liga Staffel B in the 1989–90 season, so it was admitted to the NOFV-Oberliga Süd, in the combined football leagues of the newly united Germany, Aue began play in the NOFV-Oberliga Süd. With the establishment of the Regionalliga Nordost in 1994, the qualified for the new league. The club was moved to the Regionalliga Nord in 2000, and after a league title there in 2003. Bundesliga where it delivered mid-table performances in its first three seasons, but suffered relegation back to the tier in 2008. Aue became part of the new 3 and it finished runner-up in the league in its second season there, earning promotion back to the 2. After a fifth-place finish in its first season back, the club has struggled against relegation, Aue made its first appearance in the DFB-Pokal, the German Cup, in 1992 and since 2001 has been a regular participant there
39.
Dynamo Dresden
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Sportgemeinschaft Dynamo Dresden e. V. commonly known as SG Dynamo Dresden or Dynamo Dresden, is a German association football club, based in Dresden, Saxony. It was founded on 12 April 1953, as an affiliated with the East German police. After the reunification of Germany, Dynamo played four seasons in the top division Bundesliga, the club will begin the 2016–17 season in the 2. The city of Dresden had played a significant part in German football before, after the war the occupying Allied authorities dissolved organizations across the country, including sports and football clubs like SC, as part of the process of denazification. DSC was reestablished in 1946 as SG Friedrichstadt, but with the part of the country, including Dresden, under Soviet control. After a riot at the final of the 1950 East German championship, the city needed a new, ideologically safe representative, and a new football club as founded, as part of SG Deutsche Volkspolizei Dresden. A team was assembled with players delegated from 11 other police-affiliated clubs, in April 1953, the central sports society SV Dynamo was founded, to which VP Dresden were affiliated, taking the name of SG Dynamo Dresden. Shortly after this the club claimed its first East German title and this success, though, proved to be the clubs undoing. Erich Mielke, head of the Stasi, of which Dynamo were now part, was unhappy that Dresden was enjoying footballing success, while the capital, East Berlin, in 1954, Dynamos team were moved to Berlin, to form Dynamo Berlin. Dynamo Dresden were left with a composed of youth and reserve players. They began to climb the leagues, though, and by 1962 they were back in the DDR-Oberliga and they recovered equally well from another relegation in 1968, and remained in the Oberliga from 1969 until its dissolution in 1991. Dynamo Dresden were one of these, although retained the title of Sportgemeinschaft. During the 1970s, Dynamo established themselves as one of the top teams in East Germany and they won five league titles, and two cups. FC Magdeburg for domination of the league, and became the most popular the side in the country, regularly drawing crowds of 25,000, around three times what other clubs were attracting. During this time Dynamo came up against West German opposition for the first time, on three occasions they were eliminated by English side Liverpool, twice in the UEFA Cup and once in the European Cup, and each time Liverpool went on to win the competition. In 1973, Hans-Jürgen Kreische was the first Dynamo Dresden player to be named East German Footballer of the Year, Kreische was the leagues leading goalscorer on four occasions, and was named in East Germanys squad for the 1974 World Cup, along with team-mate Siegmar Wätzlich. History was to repeat itself, though, at the end of the 1970s, East German football had generally been set up in favour of the Fußballclubs, who were usually delegated the best players, but the authorities had usually kept out of on-pitch matters. This changed in the late-1970s and 80s though, as players, BFC won ten consecutive titles, from 1979 to 1988
