1.
Mike Frantz
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Mike Frantz is a German footballer who plays as a midfielder for SC Freiburg in the 2. In July 2008, he moved from 1, on 13 June 2014, Frantz joined SC Freiburg. Official website Mike Frantz at 1, FC Nürnberg Mike Frantz at Fussballdaten
2.
Merseburg
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Merseburg is a town in the south of the German state of Saxony-Anhalt on the river Saale, approx. It is the capital of the Saalekreis district and it had a diocese founded by Archbishop Adalbert of Magdeburg. The University of Merseburg is located within the town, czech, Merseburk, Meziboř French, Mersebourg German, Merseburg Latin, Merseburga Polish, Międzybórz Sorbian, Mjezybor Venenien was annexed into Merseburg on 1 January 1949. The parish Kötzschen followed on 1 July 1950, since 30 May 1994, Meuschau is part of Merseburg. Beuna was annexed on 1 January 2009, geusa is a part of Merseburg since 1 January 2010. Merseburg was first mentioned in 850, king Henry the Fowler built a royal palace at Merseburg, in the 933 Battle of Riade, he gained his great victory over the Hungarians in the vicinity. Thietmar of Merseburg, appointed in 973, became the first bishop of the newly created bishopric of Prague in Bohemia, Prague had been part of the archbishopric of Mainz for a hundred years before that. Fifteen diets were held here during the Middle Ages, during which time its fairs enjoyed the importance which was transferred to those of Leipzig. Merseburg was the site of an assassination attempt on Polish ruler Bolesław I Chrobry in 1002. The town suffered severely during the German Peasants War and also during the Thirty Years War, from 1657 to 1738 Merseburg was the residence of the Dukes of Saxe-Merseburg, after which it fell to the Electorate of Saxony. In 1815 following the Napoleonic Wars, the became part of the Prussian Province of Saxony. Merseburg is where the Merseburg Incantations were rediscovered in 1841, written down in Old High German, they are hitherto the only preserved German documents with a heathen theme. One of them is a charm to release warriors caught during battle, enterprises, too, blazed a trail in the course of the transformational process. Ultimately, a chemical park emerged at nearby Leuna which is one of the most modern sites of its kind in Europe with high ecological standards, Merseburg was badly damaged in World War II. In 23 air raids 6,200 dwellings were completely or partly destroyed, the historic town centre was almost completely destroyed. Briefly part of Saxony-Anhalt after the war, it was administered within the Bezirk Halle in East Germany. It became part of Saxony-Anhalt again after reunification of Germany, like many towns in the former East Germany, Merseburg has had a general decline in population since German Reunification despite annexing and merging with a number of smaller nearby villages. The cathedral-and-palace ensemble also features a palace garden, other attractions include the Merseburg House of Trades with a cultural stage and the German Museum of Chemistry, Merseburg
3.
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
4.
Defender (association football)
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In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to prevent the opposing team from scoring goals. There are four types of defenders, centre-back, sweeper, full-back, the centre-back and full-back positions are essential in most modern formations. The sweeper and wing-back roles are more specialised for certain formations, a centre-back defends in the area directly in front of the goal, and tries to prevent opposing players, particularly centre-forwards, from scoring. Centre-backs accomplish this by blocking shots, tackling, intercepting passes, contesting headers, with the ball, centre-backs are generally expected to make long and pinpoint passes to their teammates, or to kick unaimed long balls down the field. For example, a clearance is a long unaimed kick intended to move the ball as far as possible from the defenders goal, during normal play, centre-backs are unlikely to score goals. In this case, other defenders or midfielders will temporarily move into the centre-back positions, in the modern game, most teams employ two or three centre-backs in front of the goalkeeper. The 4–2–3–1, 4–3–3, and 4–4–2 formations all use two centre-backs, the sweeper is a more versatile centre-back who sweeps up the ball if an opponent manages to breach the defensive line. This position is more fluid than that of other defenders who man-mark their designated opponents. Because of this, it is referred to as libero. For example, the system of play, used in Italian football in the 1960s. The more modern libero possesses the qualities of the typical libero while being able to expose the opposition during counterattacks. The Fundell-libero has become popular in recent time with the sweeper transitioning to the most advanced forward in an attack. This variation on the position requires great pace and fitness, while rarely seen in professional football, the position has been extensively used in lower leagues. Modern libero sit behind centre-backs as a sweeper before charging through the team to join in the attack, some sweepers move forward and distribute the ball up-field, while others intercept passes and get the ball off the opposition without needing to hurl themselves into tackles. If the sweeper does move up the field to distribute the ball, they will need to make a speedy recovery, in modern football, its usage has been fairly restricted, with few clubs in the biggest leagues using the position. Though it is used in modern football, it remains a highly respected. A recent and successful use of the sweeper was made by Otto Rehhagel, Greeces manager, Rehhagel utilized Traianos Dellas as Greeces sweeper to great success, as Greece surprisingly became European champions. The full-backs take up the wide positions and traditionally stayed in defence at all times
5.
VfB Germania Halberstadt
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VfB Germania Halberstadt is a German football club from Halberstadt in Saxony-Anhalt. The club was founded on 26 October 1949 as Betriebssportgemeinschaft Reichsbahn Halberstadt before being renamed BSG Lokomotive Halberstadt in 1950, through the 1970s the team played in the East German third division DDR-Bezirksliga. The club became VfB Halberstadt that year while the footballers went their own way in 1994 as Fußball Club Germania Halberstadt, VfB Germania Halberstadt was formed when the two clubs were reunited in 1997. They went on to win the Oberliga in 2011 and advance to the Regionalliga Nord and that league saw Germania and other northeastern clubs move to the Regionalliga Nordost on its refoundation in 2012 where it played for the next four seasons until relegation in 2016. The clubs honours, NOFV-Oberliga Süd Champions, 2010–11 Verbandsliga Sachsen-Anhalt Champions, 2002–03 Saxony-Anhalt Cup Runners-up, 2009–10, 2012–13 Official website Abseits Guide to German Soccer
6.
1. FC Magdeburg
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FC Magdeburg is a German association football club based in the city of Magdeburg. The club was founded in 1965 and spent all but one season in East Germanys top flight and it is the only East German club to have won a European title, winning the European Cup Winners Cup in 1974. It is the only East German club who won the double, winning the league, after German reunification, the club fell on hard times and only entered professional football in 2015 when the side was promoted to the 3. Football has been played in Magdeburg since the end of the 19th century, on 15 June 1896 SV Victoria 96 Magdeburg was founded, a club that had its best days before World War II, when it participated in the German championship finals on several occasions. Later the club participated in the Gauliga Mitte, after World War II, all sports clubs in the Soviet Occupation Zone were dissolved and a number of smaller clubs were created, which at first competed at a local and regional level. In 1945 players from the disbanded clubs Magdeburger SC Prussia 1899 and this club and SG Lemsdorf came together as the sports club BSG Eintracht Sudenburg, which in turn merged with SAG Krupp Gruson in 1950. The next year the club was renamed BSG Stahl Magdeburg, and then in 1952, in 1957 the football department of Motor Mitte was moved to SC Aufbau Magdeburg, a political decision with the goal of achieving higher standards of performance. In 1965, the department was again broken out of SC Aufbau. This was part of a general – again politically motivated – movement in East Germany towards football-only clubs with the goal of achieving higher standards, FC Magdeburg is the oldest of the football clubs created in this period. SC Aufbau were promoted to the first tier of East German football in 1959, at the beginning of the 1960s, the club usually played in the lower midtable of the DDR-Oberliga, but in 1964 the club had its first major success with a surprise win of the FDGB-Pokal. In the final at Dessau, Magdeburg came back from being 0–2 down to beat SC Leipzig 3–2. The cup win meant the first international appearance of a Magdeburg club, legend reports that the coin first stuck upright in the muddy ground, and only the second toss brought about a decision. SC Aufbau finished mid-table again in the 1964–65 season and managed to defend their cup title as the first team in East German football ever, however, the 1965–66 season, when SC Aufbaus footballers became 1. FC Magdeburg, ended in disaster, The club finished last in the table and was relegated to the second-tier DDR-Liga, with their new manager Heinz Krügel, Magdeburg were immediately repromoted and finished third in 1968 and 1969. With their third win of the FDGB-Pokal in 1969 the club had established itself among the top teams of East German football. During the 1970s, the DDR-Oberliga was mostly dominated by two teams,1, FC Magdeburg and SG Dynamo Dresden. One of the figures behind the success at Magdeburg was Heinz Krügel, under his reign, Magdeburg produced 9 East German internationals between 1969 and 1974 alone, four of which were part of the East German team competing at the 1974 FIFA World Cup. The golden age of Magdeburg football began in 1972, when the won the East German championship with the youngest squad in history
7.
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
8.
Karlsruher SC
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Karlsruher SC is a German association football club, based in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg. KSC rose out of the consolidation of a number of predecessor clubs and they have played in the Bundesliga, but were relegated to the 2. Bundesliga in 1998 and in 2009, in 2012, they were relegated to the 3. Liga through play-offs, and in 2013, they were promoted back to the 2, the most successful of these ancestral clubs was Karlsruher Fussball Club Phönix, formed on 6 June 1894 by dissatisfied members of the gymnastics club Karlsruher Turngemeinde. In 1912, Phönix merged with KFC Alemannia, established in 1897 and it was as Phönix Karlsruhe that the club joined the Gauliga Baden, one of 16 top-flight divisions created in the re-organization of German football under the Third Reich. They slipped from the first division for a season in 1936. In the 1943–44 season, Karlsruhe played with Germania Durlach as the wartime side named KSG Phönix/Germania Karlsruhe. After World War II in 1946, Phönix re-emerged to compete in the newly formed first division Oberliga Süd, the club was relegated the following season. Two other threads in the evolution of KSC were the formation of FC Mühlburg in 1905 out of 1, FV Sport Mühlburg and Viktoria Mühlburg, and the merger of FC Germania and FC Weststadt to form VfB Karlsruhe in 1911. FC Mühlburg and VfB Karlsruhe would in turn merge to form VfB Mühlburg in 1933, the group of clubs which came together to form VfB Mühlburg were an undistinguished lot, sharing just one season of upper-league play between them. The new side, however, started to compete in the first-division Gauliga Baden immediately after the league was established in 1933, a lower-table side through the 1930s, VfBs performance improved considerably in the following decade. The Gauliga Baden collapsed in 1944–45 after playing a reduced schedule in which many teams. After the war the club slipped from top-flight competition until earning promotion to the Oberliga Süd in 1947. KFC Phoenix and VfB Mühlburg united to form the Karlsruher Sport-Club Mühlburg-Phönix e. V. on 16 October 1952, in 1955, they beat Schalke 04 3–2 to win the DFB-Pokal, and repeated the success next year with a 3–1 win over Hamburger SV. That season, they made an appearance in the national final. KSC was Oberliga Süd champion in 1956,1958 and 1960, as well as runner-up in the DFB-Pkal in 1960 and their record earned them admission as one of sixteen founding clubs into Germanys new professional football league, the Bundesliga, when it began play in 1963. Karlsruhe struggled in the top flight, never managing better than a 13th-place finish over five seasons before finally being demoted to the second-division Regionalliga Süd. Over the next three seasons, the team earned a first-place finish as well as two second-place finishes there, but were unable to advance in the promotion rounds, after the 1974 formation of the 2
9.
Eintracht Frankfurt
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The club was founded in 1899 and have won one German championship, four DFB-Pokals and one UEFA Cup. Since 1925, their stadium has been the Waldstadion, which since 1 July 2005, has been called Commerzbank-Arena for sponsorship reasons, both clubs were founding members of the new Nordkreis-Liga in 1909. In turn, Frankfurter FV joined the gymnastics club Frankfurter Turngemeinde von 1861 to form TuS Eintracht Frankfurt von 1861 in 1920. Through the late 1920s and into the 1930s, Eintracht won a handful of local and regional championships, first in the Kreisliga Nordmain, then in the Bezirksliga Main and Bezirksliga Main-Hessen. Eintracht picked up where left off after World War II, playing as a solid side in the first division Oberliga Süd. Eintracht lost 3–7 to Real Madrid in a final that was widely regarded as one of the best football matches ever played. The side continued to play football and earned themselves a place as one of the original 16 teams selected to play in the Bundesliga, Germanys new professional football league. Eintracht played Bundesliga football for 33 seasons, finishing in the top half of the table for the majority of them and their best Bundesliga performances were five third-place finishes, they ended just two points back of champion VfB Stuttgart in 1991–92. The team also avoided relegation on several occasions. In 1984, they defeated MSV Duisburg 6–1 on aggregate, FC Saarbrücken 4–1 on aggregate, in two-game playoffs. Eintracht finally slipped and were relegated to 2, at the time that they were sent down alongside 1. FC Kaiserslautern, these teams were two of four sides that had been in the Bundesliga since the leagues inaugural season. It looked as though they would be out again in 1998–99, FC Nürnberg unexpectedly lost at home to give Eintracht the break they needed to stay up. The club was plagued by financial difficulties again in 2004 before once more being relegated, between 1997 and 2005, Eintracht has bounced between the top two divisions. The 2010–11 season ended with the clubs fourth Bundesliga relegation, after setting a new record for most points in the first half of the season, the club struggled after the winter break. After seven games without scoring a goal, coach Michael Skibbe was doubted, the change, however, did little to change Eintrachts fortunes, as the club achieved only three draws out of the last seven games and were subsequently relegated on the 34th matchday. One year later, Eintracht defeated Alemannia Aachen 3–0 on the 32nd match day of the 2011–12 season, in 2015–16, Eintracht had the 19th-highest attendance in Europe, ahead of such prominent clubs as Atlético Madrid, Celtic and Paris Saint-Germain. The club has enjoyed success in competition outside the Bundesliga
10.
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
