The map shows the three clubs to win promotion to the German Bundesliga-1 for the 2009-2010 season.
Bundesliga -2 winners in 08/09 were SC Freiburg, a yo-yo club from the foothills of the Black Forest, in far south-western Germany, in the state of Baden-Würtemburg. Freiburg has spent 10 seasons in the top tier in Germany, their last in 2005-’06.
Second in Bundesliga-2 were FSV Mainz 05, a club from Mainz, which is 32 kilometers (19 miles) west of Frankfurt, in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Mainz had never been in the first division before 2003-’04, and were relegated in ’07. Next season will be only the club’s fourth in Bundesliga-1.
The winner of the promotion/relegation playoff, over Energie Cottbus, was FC Nürnburg, a club with a storied past. Nürnburg won 6 German Titles in the era between the two World Wars; they won another national title in 1948, and they won one in 1961. Nurnburg has won one championship since the Bundesliga began in 1963-’64…in 1968. That is a total 9 German titles. Nürnburg has also won 4 DFB-Pokal [German Cup] Titles, their first two in the 1930′s, one in 1962, and their most recent in 2007. Nürnburg plays in the 47,000-capacity Frankenstadion, which was renovated for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. In their last season in Bundesliga-1 (07/08), Nürnburg drew 43,033 per game. Nürnburg bounces straight back to Bundesliga-1 for the 2009-2010 season, which will be the northern Bavarian club’s 18th season in the German top flight.
In a side note, with Energie Cottbus’ relegation, Bundesliga-1 will be without a club from the former East Germany for only the second season since German re-unification. East and West Germany were united in 1990, and for football clubs, the best two clubs from the 1990-’91 DDR-Oberliga season were accomadated to Bundesliga-1 for 1991-’92 {see this}. These were Hansa Rostock (who have now spent 12 seasons in Bundesliga-1) and Dynamo Dresden (who have now spent 4 seasons in Bundesliga-1). The other season with no former-East German club-representation was in 2005-’06…Hansa Rostock had been relegated in 04/05, and Energie Cottbus would gain promotion in the spring of ’06.
[Note: I didn't use a blank map for the base map on this post, because I found a nice map that showed German cities with their metropolitan areas. Here is a list of the largest cities/ urban areas, from the CityMayors site (they don't list year of population estimate, but it's probably 2003, like the list for France that I linked in my last Promotions map) {click here}.]
Thanks to the Maps of Germany site, for the base map {click here}. Thanks to Subside Sports, for kit photos {click here}. Thanks to FanSport24.d, for kit photos {click here}. Thanks to Jako.co.uk, for a generic white jersey for me to slap togather a rendition of the elusive 08/09 SC Freiburg away jersey {click here}. Thanks to http://www.colours-of-football.co.uk . Thanks to the contributors to the pages at Wikipedia {click here (set at Fussball-Bundesliga, 2009-2010 season)}. Thanks to Bobby McMahon {click here} for pointing out the no-East German clubs-for-the-second-time angle.
