1.
Holstein-Stadion
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The Holstein-Stadion is a stadium in the port city of Kiel in Northern Germany. It is the home of football club Holstein Kiel, who play in Germanys 3. Liga, and of the GFLs Kiel Baltic Hurricanes, failure to make the required upgrades would rule the club ineligible to play in the 2. Bundesliga or potentially result in the DFB revoking Holstein Kiels license entirely, city government and team officials subsequently developed a plan to provide 1.6 million Euros towards the renovation of the 50-year-old stadium. The most significant changes included the removal of the concrete steps that formerly encircled the playing field which were in danger of collapsing. In their place, two new covered grandstands were constructed along the backstretch and behind the west goal. The Nordtribüne, measuring 119 meters long, now has 954 seats, the 81 meter long Westtribüne replaced the former fan curve and provides standing room for an additional 3,380 spectators. In an attempt to improve sightlines and provide for a better fan experience, additional upgrades include separated entrances for players, referees and other officials, new kiosks and concession stands, improved restroom facilities, and an on-site police trailer. The new stadium has a capacity of 12,000. The majority of the work was completed just hours before it opened on August 9,2006 to a 5,0 Holstein Kiel victory over 1
2.
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
3.
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
4.
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
5.
Third jersey
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Alternate jerseys are also a means for professional sports organizations to generate revenue, by sales to fans. Of North American sports leagues, the NFL generates $1.2 billion annually in jersey sales, another use of the alternate uniform is for identifying with causes, like the Central Coast Mariners wear an alternate pink kit on pink ribbon day. Extra alternate uniforms or fourth/fifth kits are not commonly used, but are required when teams other uniforms cause color clashes. In cases where teams have more than three kits in the same season, the extra kits were usually recycled from previous seasons. Third-choice jerseys or uniforms are used in all four North American major professional sports leagues, Third kits are commonplace in professional European association football and in some professional European rugby union clubs. Alternate guernseys or jerseys are common in Australias two biggest domestic leagues, the Australian Football League and National Rugby League, for home and away jerseys in North America, historical convention has often dictated the colors used by teams in a given league. Teams generally have one jersey which is primarily in a team color, white at home is the convention in baseball, basketball, minor league professional hockey, and college hockey. White while away is the convention in football, major professional hockey. Association football does not have a white at home or a white while away convention, the NBA and NHL both enforce the color/white rule strictly, any NHL team seeking to wear white at home must get express permission from the league office to do so. In American sports, throwback jerseys are generally used for special team games. In American football a third jersey may be a uniform based on designs the team used in the past. In association football, meanwhile, it is commonly a radically different design. Initially, the NFL rule stated that a team may wear their third only once a year. There are currently no rules on wearing alternate pants, teams are also permitted to wear alternate jerseys as often as desired in playoff games, the only team to do so was the 2008 San Diego Chargers. Some teams will use one of their third jersey allotments against a particular division opponent each year. The New York Giants were known to wear their red jerseys at home against the Dallas Cowboys until the red jerseys were retired in 2009. The Washington Redskins wear their uniform on home games to commemorate their annual homecoming game once a year since 2012. When wearing their jerseys, especially if the team is wearing a throwback uniform
6.
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
7.
Kiel
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Kiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 240,832. Kiel lies approximately 90 kilometres north of Hamburg, for instance, the city is known for a variety of international sailing events, including the annual Kiel Week, which is the biggest sailing event in the world. The Olympic sailing competitions of the 1936 and the 1972 Summer Olympics were held in Kiel, Kiel has also been one of the traditional homes of the German Navys Baltic fleet, and continues to be a major high-tech shipbuilding centre. Located in Kiel is the GEOMAR - Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel at the University of Kiel, Kiel is an important sea transport hub, thanks to its location on the Kiel Fjord and the busiest artificial waterway in the world, Kiel Canal. A number of ferries to Sweden, Norway, Russia. Moreover, today Kiel harbour is an important port of call for cruise ships touring the Baltic Sea, Kiel was one of the founding cities of original European Green Capital Award in 2006. In 2005 Kiels GDP per capita was €35,618, which is well above Germanys national average, within Germany and parts of Europe, the city is known for its leading handball team, THW Kiel. The city is home to the University of Kiel, Kiel Fjord was probably first settled by Normans or Vikings who wanted to colonize the land which they had raided, and for many years they settled in German villages. This is evidenced by the geography and architecture of the fjord, the city of Kiel was founded in 1233 as Holstenstadt tom Kyle by Count Adolf IV of Holstein, and granted Lübeck city rights in 1242 by Adolfs eldest son, John I of Schauenburg. Being a part of Holstein, Kiel belonged to the Holy Roman Empire and was situated only a few south of the Danish border. Kiel, the capital of the county of Holstein, was a member of the Hanseatic League from 1284 until it was expelled in 1518 for harbouring pirates, the University of Kiel was founded on 29 September 1665, by Christian Albert, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp. A number of important scholars, including Theodor Mommsen, Felix Jacoby, Hans Geiger and Max Planck, from 1773 to 1864, the town belonged to the King of Denmark. However, because the king ruled Holstein as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire only through a personal union, thus Kiel belonged to Germany, but it was ruled by the Danish king. Even though the Empire was abolished in 1806, the Danish king continued to rule Kiel only through his position as Duke of Holstein, when Schleswig and Holstein rebelled against Denmark in 1848, Kiel became the capital of Schleswig-Holstein until the Danish victory in 1850. On 24 March 1865 King William I based Prussias Baltic Sea fleet in Kiel instead of Danzig, the Imperial shipyard Kiel was established in 1867 in the town. When William I of Prussia became Emperor William I of the German Empire in 1871, he designated Kiel, the prestigious Kiel Yacht Club was established in 1887 with Prince Henry of Prussia as its patron. Emperor Wilhelm II became its commodore in 1891, because of its new role as Germanys main naval base, Kiel very quickly increased in size in the following years, from 18,770 in 1864 to about 200,000 in 1910. Much of the old centre and other surroundings were levelled and redeveloped to provide for the growing city
8.
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
9.
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
10.
BFC Viktoria 1889
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This article is about a now-defunct German football club. For the successor club, see FC Viktoria 1889 Berlin, Berliner Fußball-Club Viktoria 1889 was a German sports club based in the Tempelhof district of Berlin. Football, rugby, and cricket came to continental Europe in the late 19th century, Viktoria was the oldest club in Germany that had both teams playing football and cricket. It was one of the members of the German Football Association in 1900. One of Berlins earliest sides, the club was established on 6 June 1889 as Berliner Thorball- und Fußballclub Viktoria von 1889 and they enjoyed almost immediate success, claiming the city championship in five consecutive seasons from 1893 to 1897. Viktoria then went on to become a presence on the stage appearing in the countrys championship final three years in a row from 1907 to 1909, and laying claim to the German title in 1908. The side captured a national title in 1911 and continued to enjoy success in city league play until the end of World War I. They earned uneven results in early 1920s before settling firmly into to the Oberliga Berlin-Brandenburg, the team captured the division title that year and advanced to the national playoffs, going out 1,2 to 1. Like most other organizations in Germany, including sports and football clubs, the club was re-established in late 1945 as SG Tempelhof and re-claimed the name BFC Viktoria 89 Berlin on 12 July 1947. They played from the late 40s, through the 50s, and into the early 60s in the Oberliga Berlin, Viktoria claimed the division championship in 1955 and 1956, but were unable to advance in the national playoff rounds in either year. The Oberliga Berlin was relatively weak and generally performed poorly against top-flight teams from other divisions in western Germany. When the Bundesliga, Germanys new professional league, was formed in 1963, Viktoria survived and later played in the fifth tier NOFV-Oberliga Nord. In 2013 the club merged with Lichterfelder FC to form a new club, Viktoria had a long cricket tradition and had been prominent in the growth and development of the game both in Germany and Europe. The club won its last city title in 2003 and advanced as far as the round of the national championship in 2005. Viktorias cricketers played in the Cricket Bundesliga while a second side played in the 2, the club also fielded a team in the Womens Cricket Bundesliga. Thorball or Torball was a German word in use in the 1890s, several early clubs playing the new English games of football, rugby, and cricket incorporated it into their name. The term never caught on and did not enter common usage. Today torball may be used to refer to a form of football played by the blind or vision-impaired, in 1894, the Deutscher Fußball- und Cricketbund, a predecessor of the German Football Association, organized a national final
11.
Hertha BSC
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Hertha, Berliner Sport-Club e. V. commonly known as Hertha BSC, Hertha Berlin or simply Hertha, is a German association football club based in the Charlottenburg locality of Berlin. Hertha BSC play in the Bundesliga, the division of German football. Bundesliga table at the end of the 2012–13 season, Hertha BSC was founded in 1892, and was a founding member of the German Football Association in Leipzig in 1900. The team won the German championship in 1930 and 1931, since 1963, Herthas stadium has been the Olympiastadion. The club is known as Die Alte Dame in German, which translates to The Old Lady, in 2002, the sports activities of the professional, amateur, and under-19 teams were separated into Hertha BSC GmbH & Co. The name Hertha is a variation on Nerthus referring to fertility goddess from Germanic mythology, Hertha performed consistently well on the field, including a win in the first Berlin championship final in 1905. In May 1910, Hertha won a match against Southend United. However, their success was not matched financially and in 1920 the staunchly working-class Hertha merged with the well-heeled club Berliner Sport-Club to form Hertha Berliner Sport-Club. The new team continued to enjoy success in the Oberliga Berlin-Brandenburg. Notwithstanding, Hertha emerged as the Germanys second most successful team during the inter-war years, German football was re-organized under the Third Reich in 1933 into 16 top-flight divisions, which saw Hertha playing in the Gauliga Berlin-Brandenburg. The club continued to enjoy success within their division, regularly finishing in the half of the table. It faded from prominence, however, unable to advance out of the rounds of the national championship rounds. Politically, the club was overhauled under Hitler, with Hans Pfeifer, after World War II, occupying Allied authorities banned most organizations in Germany, including sports and football clubs. Hertha was re-formed late in 1945 as SG Gesundbrunnen and resumed play in the Oberliga Berlin – Gruppe C, by the end of 1949, it had re-claimed their identity as Hertha BSC and earned a return to the top-flight. Tensions between the western Allies and the Soviets occupying various sectors of the city, and the developing Cold War, led to chaotic conditions for football in the capital. Hertha was banned from playing against East German teams in the 1949–50 season after taking on several players, a number of sides from the eastern half of the city were forced from the Oberliga Berlin to the newly established DDR-Liga beginning with the 1950–51 season. Through the 1950s, a rivalry developed with Tennis Borussia Berlin. A proposal for a merger between the two clubs in 1958 was resoundingly rejected, with three of the 266 members voting in favour
12.
TSV 1860 Munich
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Turn- und Sportverein München von 1860, commonly known as TSV1860 München or 1860 Munich, is a German sports club based in Munich. The clubs football team plays in the 2, Bundesliga, after relegation from the Bundesliga following the 2003–04 season. 1860 Munich was one of the members of the Bundesliga in 1963, becoming West German champions in 1966. Since 2005,1860 Munichs stadium has been the Allianz Arena,1860 Munich has a rivalry with Bayern Munich. The roots of the TSVs founding as a fitness and gymnastics association go back to a meeting held 15 July 1848 in a local pub. It was a time of revolutionary ferment due to the 1848 Revolutions, the club was formally reestablished on 17 May 1860 and after mergers with a number of other local associations in 1862 was known as Turnverein München. A football department was created on 6 March 1899 and played its first matches against other squads three years later, in 1911, the team adopted the familiar lion to their crest and in 1919 was renamed TSV München 1860. By the mid-1920s, they were playing football in the countrys upper leagues, like the Bezirksliga Bayern. Die Löwen challenged for the championship in 1931 but dropped a 2–3 decision to Hertha BSC, two years later, they made another semi-final appearance which they lost to Schalke 04 who were on their way to becoming the dominant side in German football through the 1930s and 1940s. In 1933, German football was re-organized under the Third Reich into 16 top-flight divisions known as Gauligen, TSV joined the Gauliga Bayern where they earned second-place finishes in 1934,1938 and 1939 before finally capturing a division championship in 1941. Their subsequent play-off appearance saw them second in their pool to finalist Rapid Wien. TSV returned to the national again in 1943, progressing to the quarter-finals. After World War II,1860 played in the top flight Oberliga Süd as a mid-table side and those performances were followed by poor showings in three consecutive seasons leading to relegation in 1970 to the Regionalliga Süd. It took 1860 seven years to make their way back to the first division, through a three-game play-off contest with Arminia Bielefeld, the clubs exile from the Bundesliga would last a dozen years. They were promoted to the top flight in 1994, but found themselves in danger being sent back down again. Stars like Abedi Pele, Thomas Häßler and Davor Šuker played for 1860 as their careers were winding down, becoming crowd favourites and making important contributions. Under the heavy-handed, dictatorial leadership of Wildmoser and Lorant, the combination of proven veterans and young talent helped the club avoid relegation,1860 earned a fourth-place Bundesliga finish in 2000 and were entered into the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round, where they faced Leeds United. A 3–1 aggregate defeat, however, saw them play in the UEFA Cup that season, the club, however, was unable to build on this success and after some mediocre performances by the team, manager Lorant was fired
13.
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
14.
Gauliga Nordmark
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From 1942, the Gauliga Nordmark was split into three separate leagues, the Gauliga Hamburg, Gauliga Mecklenburg and the Gauliga Schleswig-Holstein. The German word Nordmark can be translated as Northern Marches, referring to the fact that the covered the northernmost part of the country. The league was introduced by the Nazi Sports Office in 1933 and it replaced the Oberliga Lübeck/Mecklenburg, Oberliga Schleswig-Holstein, Oberliga Nordhannover and Oberliga Hamburg as the highest level of play of the regional football competitions. In its first season, the league had ten clubs, playing each other once at home, the league champion then qualified for the German championship. The bottom two teams were relegated, however, due to Viktoria Wilhelmsburg moving to the Gauliga Niedersachsen, the league retained its modus until 1937, when two clubs, the Borussia Harburg and FV Wilhelmsburg 09 transferred across from the Gauliga Niedersachsen. The league was upsized to twelve clubs with three relegated teams for the 1937-38 season. It was reduced to eleven clubs for the season after, due to the outbreak of World War II in 1939, the league was split into two regional groups, one of six and one of seven clubs. The two group champions played a home-and-away final for the Gauliga championship. The league returned to a twelve-team, single-division format for the 1940-41 season and downsized to ten club for its last season, no clubs from Denmark took part in the league therefore. The league started with ten clubs in a division in 1942. It remained at this strength for the duration of its existence, unlike all other leagues in the country, the Gauliga Hamburg managed to complete its program in its last season, 1944–45 before the collapse of Nazi Germany finished all competition. This was mainly due to the league being city-based and therefore much less affected by the restrictions on transport in the war year. Of the clubs from the region Nordmark, only the Luftwaffen-SV Hamburg archived any form of success during the Gauliga years. The club of the German air force reached the cup final in 1943, the territory of the new Gauliga Mecklenburg was made up of the area of the Gau of the same name. The league started out with seven clubs in a single division and its last season, 1944–45, probably did not get underway at all due to the effects of the war in the region. The league started out with ten clubs in a single division and it remained at this strength in its second season, 1943-44. The third edition, 1944–45 got barely underway when the effects of the war forced it to be cancelled, play continued on local level in Kiel and Lübeck, but no Gauliga champion was determined. With the end of the Nazi era, the Gauligas ceased to exist, Mecklenburg however, was part of the Soviet zone and became later part of East Germany
15.
Hamburger SV
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Hamburger Sport-Verein e. V. commonly known as Hamburger SV, Hamburg or HSV, is a German sport club based in Hamburg, its largest branch being its football department. HSVs football team has the distinction of having played continuously in the top tier of the German football league system since the end of World War I. It is the team that has played in every season of the Bundesliga since its foundation in 1963. HSV has won the German national championship six times, the DFB-Pokal three times and the League Cup twice. The teams most successful period was from the mid-1970s until the mid-1980s when, in addition to several domestic honours, they won the 1976–77 European Cup Winners Cup and their outstanding player was German national star Felix Magath. To date, HSVs last major trophy was the 1986–87 DFB-Pokal, HSV play their home games at the Volksparkstadion in Bahrenfeld, a western district of Hamburg. The club colours are blue, white and black but the home kit of the team is white jerseys. The teams most common nickname is die Rothosen, as it is one of Germanys oldest clubs, it is also known as der Dinosaurier. HSV have rivalries with Werder Bremen, with whom they contest the Nordderby, and Hamburg-based FC St. Pauli, HSV is notable in football as a grassroots organisation with youth development a strong theme. The club had a team in the Womens Bundesliga from 2003 to 2012, other club departments include badminton, baseball, basketball, bowling, boxing, cricket, darts, hockey, golf, gymnastics, handball and cardiopulmonary rehabilitation exercises. These departments represent about 10% of the club membership, HSV is one of the biggest sports clubs in Germany with over 70,000 members in all its departments and stated by Forbes to be among the 20-largest football clubs in the world. This was the first of three clubs merged on 2 June 1919 to create HSV in its present form. HSV in its club statute recognises the founding of SC Germania as its own date of origin, the other two clubs in the June 1919 merger were Hamburger FC founded in 1888 and FC Falke Eppendorf dating back to 1906. The merger came about because the three clubs had been weakened by the impact of the First World War on manpower and finance. SC Germania was formed originally as a club and did not begin to play football until 1891. SC Germania had its first success in 1896, winning the Hamburg-Altona championship for the first of five times, Hamburger SC1888 was founded by students on 1 June 1888. It later had links with a team called FC Viktoria 95 and. SC Germania and Hamburger SC1888 were among 86 clubs who founded the Deutscher Fußball-Bund in Leipzig on 28 January 1900, FC Falke was founded by students in Eppendorf on 5 March 1906 but it was never a successful team and played in lower leagues
16.
Dresdner SC
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Dresdner SC is a German multisport club playing in Dresden, Saxony. Founded on 30 April 1898, the club was a member of the German Football Association in 1900. On 30 April 1898, former members of the Dresden English Football Club, until sports historian Andreas Wittner uncovered the earlier history of the DFC, it was thought to have been founded only in 1890. Early on, DSC made regular appearances in finals and captured several titles. They were a dominant side in the Mitteldeutschen Verbandsliga, from 1925 to 1930 they lost only two of the ninety games they played and they captured the Tschammerpokal – the predecessor of todays German Cup in 1940 and 1941, and followed up with national titles in 1943 and 1944. The club won all 23 games they played during the 1942/43 season, scoring 152 goals, after World War II, all existing sports clubs and other organizations were banned by the Allied occupation authorities in an attempt to create a disconnect from the recent Nazi past. In early 1946, the club was re-constituted as SG Friedrichstadt and that match, against Soviet-sponsored Horch Zwickau, would be the end of the side which was regarded as being too bourgeois by the communist authorities. Zwickau played a physical game and, abetted by the referee who refused the homeside substitutions and eventually reduced Friedrichstadt to an 8-man squad. Unhappy Dresdner/Friedrichstadt fans invaded the field several times, and at games end, mounted police were called in to restore order. Within weeks, orders came to dismantle the club and send the players to BSG Tabak Dresden, most of the players instead fled to the west to play for Hertha BSC. What happened to Dresdner/Friedrichstadt would become commonplace in East Germany as highly placed politicians or bureaucrats manipulated clubs for their own purposes, the team was assembled using seventeen players plucked from eleven other clubs, the bulk of that number coming from SG Mickten. By the 1952–53 season the club was known as Dynamo Dresden, unfortunately, they ran-afoul of Stasi-sponsored Berliner FC Dynamo. While they had limited opportunity to challenge on fair terms for the national championship. The club struggled after German re-unification in 1990, but recovered sufficiently to earn a place in 2. Bundesliga where they temporalily played as SG Dynamo Dresden. The side was re-formed as SG Striesen after the war in 1945, the side then became Tabak, where the players of Dresdner/Friedrichstadt were officially directed after the farce of the 1950 final against Zwickau. The club SG Dresden Striesen emerged from it all in June 1991, another thread of the current incarnation of Dresdner SC can be traced back to the Gauliga side Dresdner Sportfreunde, itself built out of the forced pre-war merger of a number of local sides. After World War II, that club was re-formed as SG Pieschen and then went through its own confusing series of unions with other clubs during the 50s, in 1966, the football side of the club emerged as FSV Lokomotiv Dresden. The new Dresdner SC was formed at the time of German re-unification and they reached the third-tier Regionalliga in 1998, and finished second in the 1999–2000, and supplanting Dynamo Dresden as the top team in the city
17.
First Vienna FC
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First Vienna FC is an Austrian association football club based in the Döbling district of Vienna. Established on 22 August 1894, it is the countrys oldest team and has played a role in the history of the game there. It is familiarly known to Austrians by the English name Vienna, in the early 1890s English and Austrian gardeners working for Nathaniel Anselm von Rothschild began to play football on his estates. To avoid further damage to his flowers Nathaniel ceded them a nearby and also granted the teams blue-yellow kits. The Manx player William Beale designed the logo, also in the Rothschild colours blue and yellow. The city of Vienna quickly became the centre of Austrian football and by the end of 1896 there were seven clubs playing there, cricket won the first cup competition in 1897, but First Vienna followed with consecutive cup titles in 1899 and 1900. The club also made a appearance in the 1907 final of the Wiener Cup which emerged when the Challenge Cup competition fell into disarray between 1903 and 1905. That same year the team won the Mitropa Cup, one of Europes first international club competitions. The cup title was unique in the history of the competition as they swept their opposition, Vienna captured a second national title in 1933 with a third Austrian Cup following in 1937. They later successfully played the countrys first match under floodlights on 3 November 1956, after Austria was united with Germany in the Anschluss in 1938 the football competitions of the two countries were also merged. First division Austrian teams played in the newly formed Gauliga Ostmark as part of the structure established under the Third Reich in the re-organization of German football in 1933. This led to the appearance of Austrian sides in the finals of Germany and in competition for the Tschammerpokal. Vienna repeated as champions the following season, but this time advanced only as far as the semi-finals before being put out 1,2 by FV Saarbrücken. A third Gauliga title in 1944 again put the club into Germanys national playoffs where this time went out 2,3 in the quarterfinals to eventual champions Dresdner SC. As World War II drew to a close and Allied armies advanced into Germany league play collapsed with Vienna still in a race again looking to repeat as division champions. Occupied by Allied forces after the end of the war, Austria was once again independent of Germany, in league play in the 1946 season Vienna earned only a fifth-place finish but did go on to capture the Liberation Cup donated by the Soviets. Through the late 40s and on into the early 50s the clubs performance was uneven as they earned only mid-table results. Goal difference was not yet implemented, a 1,0 was better than a 10,1 win, the lower the quotient the better, the ideal one being zero
18.
Oberliga Nord
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The Oberliga Nord was the fourth tier of the German football league system in the north of Germany. It covered the states of Niedersachsen, Bremen, Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein, with the introduction of the 3rd Liga, the league ceased to exist from 2008. The original league of this name existed from 1947 to 1963 and was then the first tier of German football, the league was formed in 1974 as a continuation of the Regionalliga Nord, the then second tier of German football. With the introduction of the 2nd Bundesliga Nord in that year, below the Oberliga were originally four leagues, one for each of the four states of the region. The Amateurliga of Niedersachsen changed its name to Landesliga from 1974, the leagues in Bremen and Hamburg changed their name to Verbandsliga straight away in 1974. Schleswig-Holstein changed from Landesliga to Verbandsliga in 1978, in 1994, Niedersachsen, the largest of the four states, split its league into an eastern and a western group, a system already in place until 1964. Due to the difference in playing strength of the Verbandsligas, champions were not directly promoted but had to go through a play-off system. In 1975 and 1976, the two first placed teams of the Oberliga took part in the promotion play-off to determine the teams to the 2nd Bundesliga Nord. In 1977 and 1978, the top four teams from the Oberliga Nord went to this competition, with the reduction of the number of Oberligas in 1978, the winner and runners-up of the Oberliga Nord were directly promoted in 1979 and 1980. No promotion was available in 1981 because the 2nd Bundesliga was reduced to one league only, from 1982, the top two teams in the league had to play-off for promotion again. The Oberliga Nord was disbanded in 1994, with the re-introduction of the Regionalliga Nord, fourteen of its sixteen clubs went to the new Regionalliga, the bottom two teams were relegated to the two new Oberligas of Hamburg/Schleswig-Holstein and Niedersachsen/Bremen. In 2004, after ten seasons, the Oberliga Nord was reformed, as the league below the Regionalliga Nord, the two Oberligas that replaced it in 1994 were disbanded. With the introduction of the 3rd Liga and of a third Regionalliga in 2008, the northern region therefore became the only region in Germany without an Oberliga after 2008. In future, the five Verbandsliga champions will have to play-off for two spots to the Regionalliga Nord. 1 In 2007 Holstein Kiel II was relegated due to the relegation of its first team,2 In 2007 VfR Neumünster was refused a licence and relegated. The 6th placed team, TuS Heeslingen, was not granted a Regionalliga licence, the Bremen champion, FC Bremerhaven, was also not granted a licence and the best place club from Bremen in the Oberliga, the FC Oberneuland, qualified instead
19.
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
20.
Regionalliga Nord
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The Regionalliga Nord is the fourth tier of the German football league system in the states of Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, Bremen and Hamburg. It is one of five leagues at level, together with the Regionalliga Bayern, Regionalliga Nordost, Regionalliga Südwest. Until the introduction of the 3, Liga in 2008 it was the third tier. From 1963 to 1974, a Regionalliga Nord existed as the tier of the German football league system. Previous to the introduction of the four Regionalligas, the leagues below the second division were the Oberligas and those ten Oberliga champions had to go through a promotion play-off rather than being directly promoted. The champions of the Regionalligas Nord and Nordost however 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 and West/Südwest for another spot in the second division. The Regionalliga Nord was direct continuation of the Oberliga Nord, which was disbanded in 1994 in favour of the Regionalliga, fourteen out of sixteen Oberliga Nord clubs qualified for the new league, only the bottom two teams were relegated to the two new Oberligas. To replace the Oberliga Nord below the Regionalliga, two new leagues were formed, those being the Oberligas Niedersachsen/Bremen and Hamburg/Schleswig-Holstein and this two leagues were in turn disbanded in 2004 when the Oberliga Nord was reformed. FC Union Berlin of this became only the second Regionalliga side to reach a German Cup final. With the league changes in Germany in 2008, the Oberliga Nord was again disbanded and this required a promotion play-off for this league winners as there were not five promotion spots available for their region. No changes were made in the NOFV region were the two Oberligas Nord and Süd will remain, unlike the old Regionalliga, the new one allowed reserve teams to compete in it. After six seasons, in 2000, the number of Regionalligas was reduced from four to two, only the Regionalligas Süd and Nord survived. The clubs of the two were spread according to their geographical location. Only the teams placed two to six were permitted to remain in the league, the league champion, VfL Osnabrück, was promoted to the 2nd Bundesliga and all clubs from place seven to eighteen were relegated to the Verbandsligas. The league was expanded to nineteen teams and fourteen clubs from the 2nd Bundesliga, Regionalliga West/Südwest, with the introduction of the 3rd Liga in 2008 and of a third Regionalliga, the Regionalliga West, the league became the fourth tier of German football. The clubs from North Rhine-Westphalia left the league again and joined the new Regionalliga West, the sixth placed team played-off with the five Verbandsliga winners from this region for one more place in the Regionalliga. The three best teams from the NOFV-Oberliga Nord and Süd each and a winner of the two fourth placed teams. The following 18 teams fulfilled the various criteria and were granted a license for play in the new Regionalliga Nord for the 2008-09 season
21.
Oberliga Hamburg/Schleswig-Holstein
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The Oberliga Hamburg/Schleswig-Holstein was the fourth tier of the German football league system in the north of Germany, existing from 1994 to 2004. It covered the states of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein, with the re-formation of the Oberliga Nord in 2004, the league was disbanded. The Oberliga Hamburg/Schleswig-Holstein started out in 1994 as a replacement for the Oberliga Nord, along with this league, the Oberliga Niedersachsen/Bremen was formed to cover the other two of the four states the Oberliga Nord previously had served. The league was formed from sixteen clubs, with eight of them coming from the Verbandsliga Schleswig-Holstein, seven from the Verbandsliga Hamburg and one from the Oberliga Nord. For the duration of the existence, it was fed by the two Verbandsligas of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein with the winners of these leagues gaining direct promotion to the Oberliga. The winner of the Oberliga was directly promoted to the Regionalliga from 1995 to 1999, in 2000, no promotion was available due to changes in the league system. From 2001 to 2004, the champion had to play-off for promotion with the winner of the Oberliga Niedersachsen/Bremen. The first three years, the winner of this league won this contest, only in 2004 gained the Oberliga Niedersachsen/Bremen champion the upper hand. In 2000, with the reduction of the number of Regionalligas to two, eight clubs were relegated from league to the Oberligas and the league expanded to eighteen teams. The Regionalliga Nord now covered the northern half of Germany. On these grounds it was decided in 2004 to reform a united Oberliga Nord which allowed direct promotion to its champion to the Regionalliga, the Oberliga Hamburg/Schleswig-Holstein was therefore disbanded. The clubs placed first to eighth were admitted to the new Oberliga, the other ten clubs in the league were relegated to the Verbandsligas. In 2008, with the introduction of the new 3, liga, the Oberliga Nord was disbanded again. The Oberligas Niedersachsen/Bremen and Hamburg/Schleswig-Holstein however were not reformed, the league champions, The FC St. Pauli II was ineligible for promotion in 2003 as their first team was relegated to the Regionalliga. VfR Neumünster, the runners-up, was promoted instead, the complete list of clubs in the league and their final placings,1 FC Altona 93 withdrew its team to the Verbandsliga in 1997. 2 VfL93 Hamburg withdrew its team to the Verbandsliga in 1998,3 TSV Pansdorf withdrew its team from the league in 2000. 4 TuS Hoisdorf and TuS Felde withdrew their teams from the league in 2001, SC Norderstedt, Eichholzer SV and TSV Lägersdorf withdrew their teams from the league in 2002. 6 TSV Altenholz withdrew its team from the league in 2003, the league was formed from sixteen clubs from two states in 1994, those being, The league was disbanded in 2004 and replaced by the Oberliga Nord
22.
3. Liga
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Liga, is the third division of football in Germany. The league started with the beginning of the 2008–09 season, when it replaced the Regionalliga as the third football league in Germany. In the German football league system, it is positioned between the 2, Bundesliga and the semi-professional Regionalliga, which became the fourth division and initially consisted of three groups of 18 clubs playing separately. Liga is the highest division that a football clubs reserve team can play in, on 8 September 2006, the German Football Association, the DFB, announced the formation of the 3. It was originally anticipated that the name would be 3. Bundesliga, but the DFB chose 3, Liga instead, reflecting the fact that the league will be directly administered by the DFB, not by the German Football League DFL who runs both Bundesliga and 2. The first match of the 3, Liga was played on 25 July 2008 between FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt and Dynamo Dresden at the Steigerwaldstadion in Erfurt. Dynamo Dresden won the match 1–0, with Halil Savran scoring the goal in the closing stages of the first half. From its foundation in 2008 to 2013 the league had been operating on a financial loss, the 2013–14 season saw the league make a profit for the first time, being €4.9 million in the plus. This makes it the third-most economically successful professional league in all German sports, the teams which are not reserve teams of Bundesliga teams among the 20 teams in the league compete for promotion to the 2. Bundesliga, while the three teams are relegated to one of the five Regionalligen, Regionalliga Nord, Regionalliga Nordost, Regionalliga West, Regionalliga Südwest. If, however, a team is playing in the 3. Liga and the respective first team is relegated to the 3, Liga, the reserve team will be relegated to the Regionalliga regardless of its league position. At the end of the 2007–08 season, the two best non-reserve teams from each of the two divisions of the Regionalliga were promoted to the 2, the teams ranked third to tenth in both Regionalliga entered the new 3. Liga, joining the four teams relegated from the 2, Bundesliga to form the new 20-team league. Teams finishing 11th or lower in their Regionalliga remained where they were, on 18 May 2008, at the end of the 2007–082. Bundesliga season, four clubs were relegated from the 2, Bundesliga and became charter members of the 3. Liga, Kickers Offenbach, FC Erzgebirge Aue, SC Paderborn 07, on 31 May 2008, at the end of the 2007–08 Regionalliga seasons, clubs placing third through tenth in the Regionalliga Nord and the Regionalliga Süd also qualified for the new 3
23.
FC Energie Cottbus
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FC Energie Cottbus is a German football club based in Cottbus, Brandenburg. It was founded in 1963 as SC Cottbus in what was East Germany, after the reunification of Germany, Energie played six seasons in the third tier of the German football league system before floating between the 2. Bundesliga and Bundesliga for 17 years between 1997 and 2014, from 2014 to 2016, the club played in the third tier,3. In the 2016–17 season, Energie Cottbus will play in the Regionalliga Nordost after being relegated, Energie Cottbus can trace its roots back to a predecessor side of FSV Glückauf Brieske-Senftenberg, a club founded by coal miners in 1919, in what was then called the town of Marga. FV Grube Marga, as the club was called, was active until 1924 when the miners left to form a new team called SV Sturm Grube Marga which was banned by the Nazi Party in 1933. The club re-emerged after World War II in 1949 as BSG Franz Mehring Grube, the players of this side formed SC Energie Cottbus in 1963, whilst the reserve team merged back to BSG Aktivist Brieske-Ost to form BSG Aktivist Senftenberg. The club still exists as FSV Glückauf Brieske-Senftenberg today, East German authorities had a penchant for tagging sports teams with the names of socialist heroes, Franz Mehring was a German socialist politician and journalist. In the mid-1960s, a program by the regime led to the separation of football sides from sports clubs. The football club went by name only briefly and was quickly renamed BSG Energie in early 1966. The team took on the name FC Energie in 1990 at the time of German reunification, after years as a II division or lower-table I division side in East Germany, Energie has emerged as one of the few former DDR sides to enjoy relative prosperity in a united Germany. After six seasons playing tier III football, the club earned promotion to the 2, Bundesliga in 1997, winning the Regionalliga Nordost, and then played its way into the Bundesliga in 2000, where it managed a three-year stay. A key player in the Bundesliga run was Vasile Miriuță, an imaginative midfield player who played a part in the teams promotion. After being relegated, Energie narrowly missed a return to the top tier. During season the manager and the chairman were replaced, next season was a much more successful one – the club returned to play in the First Division Bundesliga after winning promotion. The 2006–07 Bundesliga season resulted in a 13th-place finish and a record in Bundesliga season points earned. Energie Cottbus was the club from the former East Germany playing in the Bundesliga until 1. FC Nürnberg relegated the team on 1 June 2009, Bundesliga for another five seasons until 2014, when an 18th-place finish meant relegation to the 3. Liga, ending a 17-season stint in the Bundesliga and 2, after a 19th-place finish in the 3
24.
MSV Duisburg
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Meidericher Spielverein 02 e. V. Duisburg, commonly known as simply MSV Duisburg, is a German association football club based in Duisburg, North Rhine-Westphalia. Nicknamed Die Zebras for their traditional striped jerseys, the club was one of the members of the Bundesliga when it was formed in 1963. The club was founded in 1902 as Meidericher Spielverein, representing the city of Meiderich, in 1905, they absorbed the club Sport Club Viktoria Meiderich. In 1967, they took on their current name, acknowledging their role as the citys most popular, while Duisburg has always been a competitive side, real success has so far eluded them. Early in their history, they captured a number of local championships, in 1929, they won the first Niederrhein championship and qualified for the first time for the national championship rounds, repeating the feat in 1931. However, the then went into a tailspin from which they did not really recover until the 1950s. During World War II, the club close to folding. In 1951, Duisburg earned promotion to the top-flight Oberliga West with their finish in the 2. The clubs play was enough to earn a place as one of the original 16 teams in Germanys new professional league. That first season was their most successful as they finished second, behind only champions 1, the Zebras spent nearly 20 years in the upper league before slipping to the 2. Bundesliga in 1982–83 and then becoming one of German footballs elevator teams, named for their frequent up, even so, they managed another eight seasons in the Bundesliga over two-and-half decades. MSV Duisburg won promotion to the Bundesliga for the 2007–08 season by way of a finish in the 2. Bundesliga, behind Karlsruher SC and Hansa Rostock, Duisburg defeated Rot-Weiss Essen in a dramatic contest on the last day of the season 3–0, which secured their promotion for the fifth time in the last two decades while relegating Essen. However, the club fared poorly in top flight play and was relegated after an 18th-place result. During the next season, they focused on the promotion again, on 2 November 2009, Milan Šašić was presented as new coach. The Croat became the third coach in the club history. They finished the season like the one, sixth in the league table. In 2010–11, MSV Duisburg reached surprisingly their fourth DFB-Pokal Final—after 1966,1975, the game was lopsided, with MSV Duisburg conceding early on, and the game ultimately finishing 5–0 in favour of Schalke
25.
1. FSV Mainz 05
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Fußball- und Sportverein Mainz 05 e. V. usually shortened to 1. FSV Mainz 05, Mainz 05 or simply Mainz, is a German association football club, founded in 1905 and based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. FSV Mainz 05 have played in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German football league system, for seven consecutive years, the clubs main local rivals are Eintracht Frankfurt and 1. In addition to the division,1. FSV Mainz 05 have handball and table tennis departments, a failed attempt to start a soccer team in the city in 1903 was followed up two years later by the successful creation of 1. After a number of years of play in the Süddeutschen Fußballverband, Mainzer Fussballverein Hassia 05, which dropped Hassia from its name in August 1912. Another merger after World War I, in 1919, with Sportverein 1908 Mainz, in the late 1920s and early 1930s the club earned decent results in the Bezirksliga Main-Hessen – Gruppe Hessen, including first-place finishes in 1932 and 1933. This merited the team a place in the Gauliga Südwest, one of sixteen new first division formed in the re-organization of German football under the Third Reich. Unfortunately, they managed a single season at that level before being relegated. Karl Scherm scored in 23 out of 44 games with Mainz during his last season, in 1938, they were forced into a merger with Reichsbahn SV Mainz and played as Reichsbahn SV Mainz 05 until the end of World War II. After the war the team joined the upper ranks of league play in Germanys Oberliga Südwest. They played in the top flight until the founding of the new professional league and they withdrew for a time – from the late 1970s into the late 1980s – to the Amateur Oberliga Südwest, as the result of a series of financial problems. Mainz earned honours as the German amateur champions in 1982, the club returned to professional play with promotion to the 2. Bundesliga for a single season in 1988–89 with Bodo Hertlein as president, before finally returning for an extended run in 1990–91. Initially, they were perennial relegation candidates, struggling hard each season to avoid being sent down, Mainz failed in three attempts to make it to the top flight in 1996–97, 2001–02, and 2002–03, with close fourth-place finishes just out of the promotion zone. The last failed attempt stung as they were denied promotion in the 93rd minute of the last game, a year earlier, they became the best non-promoted team of all time in the Second Bundesliga with 64 points. But their persistence paid dividends with an ascent into the Bundesliga in 2003–04 under the leadership of coach Jürgen Klopp, the team played three seasons in the top flight, but were relegated at the end of the 2006–07 season. Mainz then secured promotion back to the top flight just two later, after the 2008–09 season. Due to the Bruchweg stadiums limited capacity, the games in UEFA cup were played in Frankfurts Commerzbank-Arena
26.
Borussia Dortmund
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Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund, BVB, or simply Dortmund, is a German sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. The football team is part of a large membership-based sports club more than 145,000 members. Dortmund plays in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German football league system, Dortmund is one of the most successful clubs in German football history. Borussia Dortmund was founded in 1909 by eighteen football players from Dortmund, Borussia Dortmund have won eight German championships, three DFB-Pokals, five DFL-Supercups, one UEFA Champions League, one UEFA Cup Winners Cup, and one Intercontinental Cup. Their Cup Winners Cup win in 1966 made them the first German club to win a European title, since 1974, Dortmund have played their home games at Westfalenstadion, named after its home region of Westphalia. The stadium is the largest in Germany and Dortmund has the highest average attendance of any football club in the world. Borussia Dortmunds colours are black and yellow, giving the club its nickname die Schwarzgelben, Dortmund holds a long-standing rivalry with Ruhr neighbours Schalke 04, known as the Revierderby. In terms of Deloittes annual Football Money League, Dortmund is the second biggest sports club in Germany, father Dewald was blocked at the door when he tried to break up the organizing meeting being held in a room of the local pub, Zum Wildschütz. The name Borussia is Latin for Prussia but was taken from Borussia beer from the nearby Borussia brewery in Dortmund, the team began playing in blue and white striped shirts with a red sash, and black shorts. In 1913, they donned the black and yellow stripes so familiar today, over the next decades the club enjoyed only modest success playing in local leagues. They had a brush with bankruptcy in 1929 when an attempt to boost the clubs fortunes by signing some paid professional footballers failed miserably and they survived only through the generosity of a local supporter who covered the teams shortfall out of his own pocket. The 1930s saw the rise of the Third Reich, which restructured sports, the club did have greater success in the newly established Gauliga Westfalen, but would have to wait until after World War II to make a breakthrough. It was during this time that Borussia developed its intense rivalry with Schalke 04 of suburban Gelsenkirchen, like every other organisation in Germany, Borussia was dissolved by the Allied occupation authorities after the war in an attempt to distance the countrys institutions from its so-recent Nazi past. Between 1946 and 1963, Borussia featured in the Oberliga West, in 1949, Borussia reached the final in Stuttgart against VfR Mannheim, which they lost 2–3 after extra time. The club claimed its first national title in 1956 with a 4–2 win against Karlsruher SC, one year later, Borussia defeated Hamburger SV 4–1 to win their second national title. After this coup, the three Alfredos were legends in Dortmund, in 1963, Borussia won the last edition of the German Football Championship to secure their third national title. In 1962, the DFB met in Dortmund and voted to establish a professional football league in Germany. Borussia Dortmund earned its place among the first sixteen clubs to play in the new league by winning the last pre-Bundesliga national championship, FC Köln also earned an automatic berth
27.
VfL Wolfsburg
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Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V. commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg or Wolfsburg, is a German sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a club for Volkswagen workers in the city of Wolfsburg. It is best known for its department, but other departments include badminton, handball. The mens professional football play in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German football league system. Wolfsburg have won the Bundesliga once in their history, in the 2008–09 season, the DFB-Pokal in 2015, professional football is run by the spin-off organization VfL Wolfsburg-Fußball GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group. Since 2002, Wolfsburgs stadium is the Volkswagen Arena, the city of Wolfsburg was founded in 1938 as Stadt des KdF-Wagen to house autoworkers building the car that would later become famous as the Volkswagen Beetle. The first football club affiliated with the autoworks was known as BSG Volkswagenwerk Stadt des KdF-Wagen and this team played in the first division Gauliga Osthannover in the 1943–44 and 1944–45 seasons. On 12 September 1945, in the aftermath of World War II, on 15 December 1945, the club went through a crisis that almost ended its existence when all but one of its players left to join 1. The only player remaining, Josef Meyer, worked with Willi Hilbert to rebuild the side by signing new players, the new group adopted the moniker VfL Wolfsburg, VfL standing for Verein für Leibesübungen. This can be translated as club for gymnastics or club for exercises, within a year they captured the local Gifhorn title. The club made slow but steady progress in the following seasons, Wolfsburg, however, struggled in the top flight, narrowly missing relegation each season until finally being sent down in 1959. Wolfsburg remained a second division fixture over the dozen years with their best performance being a second-place finish in 1970. That finish earned the entry to the promotion round playoffs for the Bundesliga. From the mid-1970s through to the early 1990s, Die Wölfe played as a third side in the Amateur Oberliga Nord. Consecutive first-place finishes in 1991 and 1992, followed by success in the promotion playoffs, Wolfsburg continued to enjoy some success through the 1990s. Early predictions were that the club would immediately be sent back down, but instead, losing 6–1 away to MSV Duisburg in the final fixture, the Wolves finished in sixth place with 55 points and qualified for next seasons UEFA Cup. They also qualified for the Intertoto Cup in 2000,2001,2003,2004 and 2005 and this was followed by a couple of seasons of little success for the club, just narrowly avoiding relegation with two 15th-place finishes in the 2005–06 and 2006–07 seasons. This also enabled the Wolves to qualify for the UEFA Cup for only the time in their history
28.
Northern German football championship
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The regional associations, including the NFV, were dissolved in 1933 and the competition was not held again until 1946. German football was, from its beginnings, divided into regional associations and these often pre-dated the national German championship. With the inception of the latter in 1903, the former became qualifying tournaments, regional championships still held a high value for the local clubs. At the end of the Second World War, some resumed, in the North, a championship had been started in the summer of 1946 but it had to be stopped during the quarter-finals when the British Military Government intervened. Subsequently, the Oberliga Nord was established in 1947, others, such as the Baltic championship, completely disappeared because the territories they were held in were no longer part of Germany. With the South West German football championship, a new regional competition also appeared in 1945 in the French Zone, ultimately, with the formation of the Fußball-Bundesliga, regional championships ceased altogether. For the two Prussian provinces, this meant that the Kingdom was replaced with the Free State of Prussia. The very first federation in the North, inaugurated in 1894, incorporated clubs from Hamburg as well as Altona, the Northern German football championship was first contested in 1906 and won by Victoria Hamburg. Six clubs had qualified and the stages were held as a knock-out competition with a one-off final at the end. The winner of this first competition took part in the fourth edition of the national German championship. Northern German clubs had taken part in each of the previous three national championships. To qualify for the Northern German championship, a club had to take out the title in its local or district competition or league, the second edition was played out in the same modus but now with eight clubs, a system that remained in place for the following seasons. The northern champions experienced some first national success in 1910, when Holstein Kiel reached the German final, in 1912, the Holstein returned to the national final once more and became the first northern club to win it, this time beating Karlsruher FV 1-0. In its last pre-First World War season,1914, the became a regional league. In 1914-15, football in Germany had come to an almost complete halt, as it became clear, that the war would last longer than anticipated, local competitions restarted in 1915. In most regions of Germany, like the South, the championships were restarted from 1915 onwards but in the North, a northern championship was played in 1916 again, but only for selections, not clubs. In 1917, a championship was played once more but in 1918. The Northern German championship resumed in 1919, as a competition, with eleven clubs
29.
Schleswig-Holstein Cup
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The Schleswig-Holstein Cup is one of the 21 regional cup competitions of German football. It is a competition for the German Cup, with the winner of the competition being automatically qualified for the first round of the German Cup in the following season. For sponsorship reasons, the name of the competition is SHFV-LOTTO-Pokal. The competition was first held in 1953-54, with TSV Brunsbüttelkoog being the first winner and it has since been held annually, with Holstein Kiel and VfB Lübeck being most successful teams. The 2011 final was held on 3 June between those two sides, with Holstein winning the game 3-0, the winners of the competition, ‡ Won by reserve team
30.
German amateur football championship
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The German amateur football championship was a national football competition in Germany organized by the German Football Association and in existence from 1950 to 1998. The championship was established in 1950 as a counterpart to the German football championship, to qualify for the German amateur championship, a club had to play in the highest amateur league of its regional football federation. The majority of leagues were tier-three leagues. Only in Niedersachsen, Bremen, Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein and Berlin were these leagues set at the second level, from 1963, with the introduction of the Fußball-Bundesliga, all these leagues became tier-three leagues too. To qualify for the championship, a club either had to win its highest local amateur league. A club could also decline to take part in the promotion round, also, league winners who were reserve teams of professional clubs were ineligible for promotion to the professional level and had to play in the amateur championship instead. Mostly however, the playing in the championship were the runners-up of their leagues. In the first five editions of the competition, the modus remained unchanged from season to season, fifteen clubs competed in a knock-out system, whereby one club had a bye for the first round. Clubs paired against each other would play one game to determine the winner of the tie. The competition only included teams from West Germany and West Berlin, also, clubs from the Saarland did not take part either at this stage. This four winners then went on to the semi-finals, the modus was altered in 1955, when, from then on, the five regions each determined their own champion. The five regional winners then qualified for the German amateur championship, two semi-final games The final This system remained in place until the end of the 1963–64 season. From the 1964–65 season, the sixteen regional champions, now with the Saarland, were qualified for the competition. In a knock-out system, now with home-and-away games, the winner was determined, only the final was played as an on-off match on neutral ground. Only in 1976–77 and 1977–78 was the final played as a home-and-away contest. Otherwise, the modus remained unchanged until 1978, when the Amateur Oberligas were formed, a league reform in 1978 reduced the number of tier-three leagues from sixteen to eight. Also, the leagues were renamed to Amateur Oberliga, from 1979 to 1980, the final was again played as a single game, but now as a home game for one of the two teams involved, to improve attendance figures. The amateur championship was played out by the league runners-up from then on
31.
Schleswig-Holstein-Liga
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It is one of fourteen Oberligas in German football. On 30 August 1947, the Schleswig-Holstein FA was formed, from the start, the league was a feeder league to the Oberliga Nord which its champion had the option of promotion to. Promotion had to be archived through a play-off with teams from the Amateurligen of Niedersachsen, Bremen, as such, the league was now the second tier of the northern German league system. The league was renamed Landesliga Schleswig-Holstein in 1948 and united in one division of twelve teams, in 1951, the league was expanded to sixteen teams. The number of clubs in the league fluctuated to eighteen and seventeen in 1954-55 and 1955–56, from 1954, the league was renamed Amateurliga Schleswig-Holstein. The champion of Schleswig-Holstein continued to have to play-off for promotion, from 1968, the Amateurliga reverted to the name Landesliga Schleswig-Holstein. Below the Landesliga, the number of leagues was reduced from four to two, the new Verbandsligen of Schleswig-Holstein-Nord and -Süd, after the 1973-74 season, the Regionalliga Nord was disbanded in favor of the 2nd Bundesliga Nord. The new Oberliga Nord was now introduced in northern Germany, as the tier of the league system. This meant for the Landesliga a slip to tier four, the top two team of the league was however promoted to the new Oberliga. The system for promotion from the Landesliga remained mostly unchanged, in 1978, the league was finally renamed Verbandsliga Schleswig-Holstein, the name it carried until 2008. It took ten seasons for a club of the league under the new name to gain promotion again, below the Verbandsliga the two leagues were now renamed Landesligen instead. In 1994, the Regionalliga Nord was re-established, now as the tier of the league system. The Oberliga Nord was in turn replaced by two parallel Oberligas, Niedersachsen/Bremen and Hamburg/Schleswig-Holstein, in 1994, the league saw its top eight clubs elevated to the new Oberliga. From 1999, the number of leagues below the Verbandsliga was extended from two to four and the leagues renamed Bezirksoberliga, the 1999-2000 season saw another league system change with the reduction of numbers of Regionalligen, this however had no effect on the Verbandsliga. In 2004, it was decided to restore the Oberliga Nord in favor of the two separate Oberligen, the league was expanded, for the first time, to eighteen teams, for the next three seasons. In 2007-08, the number increased to nineteen, the 2006-07 league winner, TSV Kropp, did not apply for an Oberliga licence and was not promoted. Fifth placed FC Kilia Kiel applied but was refused a licence, at the end of the 2007–08 season, the new 3. Liga was established and the Oberliga Nord disbanded, again, the four northern German states were then be the only region without an Oberliga and the five Verbandsligen sit right below the Regionalliga Nord, parallel to the two NOFV-Oberligas
32.
German football league system
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The top three professional levels contain one division each. Below this, the semi-professional and amateur levels have progressively more parallel divisions, teams that finish at the top of their division at the end of each season can rise higher in the pyramid, whilst those that finish at the bottom find themselves sinking further down. In theory it is possible for even the lowest local amateur club to rise to the top of the system, on top of the system sit the level 1 Bundesliga and the level two 2. Bundesliga, both organized by the professional German Football League, the two top flights then are followed by the level three 3. Liga, the lowest full professional division in Germany, held by the German Football Association itself, for Bavaria, the Bavarian Football Association, a member state association of the Southern German Football Association, runs their top division under their own jurisdiction. Starting at level five, the various fully amateur divisions are usually governed by the 21 state associations, after each season, the winners of the Bundesliga are crowned German football champions. The bottom two Bundesliga teams are relegated to 2, Bundesliga, whereas the best two teams of the second level promote to the top flight. Additionally, the third-last ranked team of Bundesliga and the third-best ranked team of 2, Bundesliga play a promotion/relegation playoff for the final spot in the next Bundesliga edition. Bundesliga teams are relegated to 3, liga, whereas the best two teams of the third level promote to the second flight. Additionally, the third-last ranked team of 2, Bundesliga and the third-best ranked team of 3. Liga play a playoff for the final spot in the next 2. The bottom three teams of 3, the two regional bodies Southwestern Regional Football Association and Southern German Football Association share the jurisdiction on the Regionalliga Südwest. As an exception to the promotion rules within the German league system. Instead the five division winners along with the runner-up of the Regionalliga Südwest enter a playoff for three promotion spots to the 3. The champions enter a promotion playoff along with the winners of the four other Regionalliga divisions, the champions enter a promotion playoff along with the winners of the four other Regionalliga divisions and the Regionalliga Südwest runner-up for three promotions to the 3. The champions enter a promotion playoff along with the winners of the four other Regionalliga divisions, the champions and the runner-up enter a promotion playoff along with the winners of the four other Regionalliga divisions for three promotions to the 3. By rule, the champions and the runner-up will not face each other in the promotion playoffs, mostly in line with the geographical borders of the 16 German states, amateur football is organised by 21 state football associations. Three states are subdivided into more than one state football association, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia is subdivided into three state associations, these being Middle Rhine, Lower Rhine and Westphalia
Ernst Möller, capped nine times for Germany (1911–13) and scored the lone goal in 1912's championship match.
Sophus Nielsen
Francisco Copado
