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Only two clubs won promotion to the German Bundesliga in May, because of the result in the Relegation Playoff. The 3rd place finisher in 2. Bundesliga, FC Augsburg (who have never been in the top flight), lost to Nürnberg, 3-0 aggregate.
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Promoted back to the Bundesliga, after a four-season absence from the German top flight, are 1. FC Kaiserslautern, from Kaiserslautern in Rhineland-Palatinate, near to the France and Luxembourg frontiers. Kaiserslautern is a city with a population of only around 99,000 {2006 figure}. The club play in the 48,500-capacity Fritz Walter Stadion, which was one of the venues for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Fritz Walter was the captain of the 1954 World Cup-winning Germany national team, and played his entire club career for Kaiserslautern. (I would have said his entire pro career, but Germany remained amateur until the formation of the Bundesliga.) Walter was part of Kaiserslautern’s first two title-winning teams, in 1951 and 1953.
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Kaiseslautern were one of the 16 original clubs in the first Bundesliga season of 1963-64, and have played in 42 of the 47 Bundesliga seasons. Kaiserslautern have won 4 German titles (2 during the Bundesliga era), their most recent championship being in 1998, when they achieved the pretty rare feat (in modern times, at least) of winning the national title one season after being promoted. This is the only time it has happened since the formation of the Bundesliga. Another distinction FC Kaiseslautern has is that they are the club from the smallest city in Germany to have won a Bundesliga title.
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Below is a chart showing club crests from the history of 1. FC Kaiserslautern, with the history of the club’s mergers and name changes listed, as well as the club’s major titles. There were several mergers early in the club’s history, and Kaiseslautern’s full, present-day name originated in 1932. Also since 1932, the club has maintained the same crimson-disk-with-acronym device as their logo, only the fonts have changed (and now in 2010, the color has changed, to a deep maroon or burgandy; ditto their home kits’ primary color).
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Second place in 2. Bundesliga went to the Hamburg-based FC St. Pauli, who are renowned as probably the most radical-left-wing football club on the planet. FC St. Pauli is a club that definitely flies its freak flag. Since the mid-1980s, the club has used their location near to Hamburg’s famous Reeperbahn to their advantage. The Reeperbahn {see this} is a street in the St. Pauli district that is one of the two centers of nightlife in Hamburg, and home to the city’s red-light district. Home matches became an “event”. A decidedly party-hardy, left-wing/anarchist event. Most importantly, the club… the organization itself, and it’s supporters… have taken a strong stance against racism, fascism, sexism, and homophobia, and are active in the pursuit of social justice in the cause of low-income housing.
FC St. Pauli have recovered from an almost fatal financial deficit, and are now back in the top tier for their eighth season of first division football, their last spell being one season in 2001-02, which preceded back to back relegations to the regionalised 3rd division Oberliga, with 4 seasons in Regionalliga Nord (from 2003 to 2007). St. Pauli are in the process of a total overhaul of their stadium. The plan is to do it one stand at a time, and to have the renovation and expansion finished in 2014, turning the 22,648 capacity stadium into one with a capacity of around 27,000. One stand (the South Stand) is being rebuilt, and next will be the Main Stand.
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Here is an article on FC St. Pauli, from The Offside.com/Bundesliga, which includes an excellent 8 minute documentary about the club, from Trans World Sport…“FC St. Pauli: Non-established since 1910“.
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From Bundesliga.de.en, from 19-07-2010, an interview with veteran MF Timo Schultz, who has been a starter for FC St. Pauli since 2005-06 (when they were in the third division), ‘Our only chance is as a team‘.
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Abseits [aka "offsides"] Guide to German football/Clubs/FC St, Pauli, {here}.
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St. Pauli fans UK [with history of the skull-and-crossbones logo at FC St. Pauli].
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Thanks to the contributors to the pages at en.wikiedia.org and de.wikipedia.org,
2. Football-Bundesliga;
2. Fussball-Bundesliga.
Thanks to Midfield Dynamo site, www.midfielddynamo.com/Cult Clubs.
Thanks to E-F-S site, for attendance figures, Germany attendances, 2009-10, at E-F-S.
Thanks to the official 1.FC Kaiserslautern site, for the old logos, http://www.fck.de .
Thanks to Maps Of Germany.co.uk, www.maps-of-germany.co.uk, for the base map.
