St. Pauli

St. Pauli is a football (soccer) club from Germany.

Talk St. Pauli

Are you a fan of St. Pauli or want to know more about the club? Then you can discuss St. Pauli with other fans on the messageboard here.

St. Pauli News

Want to know more about St. Pauli? We gather news from various medias about St. Pauli and you find them in the news section

FC St. Pauli is a Germany sports List of football clubs in Germany based in the St. Pauli quarter of Hamburg. The football (soccer) department is part of a larger club that also has rugby football, American football, baseball, bowling, boxing, chess, cycling, Team handball, Skittles (sport), softball and table tennis teams. While the footballers have enjoyed only modest success on the field, St. Pauli is widely recognized for its unique culture and has a large popular following as one of the country's "Kult" clubs.. After dropping down to the Regionalliga (football), the then third football division in Germany, in 2002/2003 and remaining there for four years, in 2007 St. Pauli promoted back to the 2. Bundesliga and managed to stay there for the current 2008/2009 season.

__TOC__

History

Early years

St. Pauli began its existence in 1899 as a loose, informal group of football enthusiasts within the Hamburg-St. Pauli Turn-Verein 1862. This group did not play its first match until 1907 against a similar side assembled out of the local Aegir swimming club. Officially established on May 15, 1910, St. Pauli played as St. Pauli TV in the Kreisliga Groß-Hamburg (Alsterkreis) until 1924 when a separate football side called FC St. Pauli was formed. The team played as an undistinguished lower-to-mid table side until making their first appearance in 1934 in the top-flight Gauliga Nordmark, one of sixteen premier level divisions created in the re-organization of German football that took place under the Third Reich. They were immediately relegated, but returned to the top flight in 1936. Relegated again in 1940, St. Pauli would re-appear in the Gauliga Hamburg in 1942 and play there through to the end of World War II.

Postwar football

After the war, St. Pauli resumed play in the Oberliga Nord in 1947. A second place finish in the 1947-48 season led St. Pauli to its first appearance in the national championship rounds. They advanced as far as the semi-finals where they were put out 2:3 by eventual champions 1.FC Nürnberg. St. Pauli continued to play well through the early '50s, but were unable to overtake rivals Hamburger SV, finishing in second place in five of the next seven seasons and going out in the early rounds in each of their championship round appearances from 1949 to 1951. In the later half of the decade and into the early '60s St. Pauli was overtaken by rivals such as Werder Bremen and VfL Osnabrück and was unable to do better than earn a number of fourth place finishes.

The struggle for promotion to the Bundesliga

In 1963, the Bundesliga (football), West Germany's new top-flight professional league, was formed. Hamburger SV, Werder Bremen, and Eintracht Braunschweig joined the new circuit as the top-finishers from the Oberliga Nord, while St. Pauli found themselves in the second tier Regionalliga Nord.

Nearly a decade and a half of frustration followed. St. Pauli captured their division in 1964, but finished dead last in their group in the promotion playoff round. They took their next Regionalliga Nord title in 1966 and while they performed far better in the playoffs, still failed to advance to the top-flight, losing out to Rot-Weiß Essen on goal difference, having conceded two more goals. Division championships in 1972 and 1973, and second place finishes in 1971 and 1974, were each followed by promotion round playoff failures.

The success of the Bundesliga and the growth of professional football in West Germany led to the formation of the 2nd Bundesliga (football) in 1974. St. Pauli was part of the new second tier pro circuit in the 2.Bundesliga Nord, and in 1977 finally advanced to the top flight on the strength of their first place finish in their division. The team was immediately relegated after just one season of play in the Bundesliga.

The club's return to the 2.Bundesliga Nord was also short-lived. On the verge on bankruptcy in 1979 they were denied a license for the following season and were sent down to the Oberliga (football). Strong performances that set St. Pauli atop that division in 1981 and 1983 were not matched by good financial health. By 1984, St. Pauli was sufficiently recovered to leapfrog back up into the 2.Bundesliga past Werder Bremens amateur side - which had actually finished two points ahead of St. Pauli, but were not eligible for promotion.

St. Pauli and the "Kult" phenomenon
It was in the mid-'80s that St. Paulis transition from a traditional club into a "Kult" club began. St. Pauli was also able to turn the location of its ground in the dock area part of town St. Pauli near Hamburg's famous Reeperbahn - centre of the city's nightlife and its red-light district - to its advantage. An alternative fan scene emerged built around left-leaning politics and the "event" and party atmosphere of St. Pauli's matches. Supporters adopted the jolly roger as their own unofficial emblem. Importantly, St. Pauli became the first team in Germany to officially ban rightwing, nationalist activities and displays in its stadium in an era when fascist inspired football hooliganism threatened the game across Europe. In 1981, St. Pauli was averaging crowds of only 1,600 spectators: by the late '90s they were frequently selling out their entire 20,000 capacity venue.

In the early '90s, the media in Germany started to work on the Kult-image of the club, i.e. by focusing on the punk part of the fan-base in tv broadcasts of the matches. By this time, the media also started to establish nicknames like "Freibeuter der Liga" (Pirates of the League) as well as das Freudenhaus der Liga ("league house of merryment", a double entendre for league brothel"') phrases not used by St. Pauli's followers.

St. Pauli began a roller coaster ride that saw them in and out of the Bundesliga over the course of the next dozen years: The 1984-85 season ended very close but St. Pauli was relegated to Oberliga again. The team won the 1985-86 championship and returned to 2. Bundesliga. Two increasingly strong years followed resulting in promotion and three seasons in 1. Bundesliga 1988-91. Four seasons followed in 2. Bundesliga, and then another two-season-long run in 1. Bundesliga 1995-97, before returning to 2. Bundesliga.

Into the new millennium
Their most recent appearance in the top flight was a single season cameo in 2001-02. Apart from a 2-1 home win against Bayern Munich, the then-World Club Championship winners, which led to the wildly popular Weltpokalsiegerbesieger (World Club Champ beaters) shirts, St. Pauli disappointed and finished last, partly because the management did not trust St. Pauli which surprisingly won the promotion in 2001, but rather spent the additional money from Bundesliga tv contracts and advertisements for expensive but disappointing players. After the relegation to the 2. Bundesliga, only a skeleton of the successful 2001 team had remained, thus the season 2002/2003 ended up in chaos, with St. Pauli fighting, unavailingly, against relegation from the very beginning, various coach demissions and other internal problems in the club.

With St. Pauli almost bankrupt again and the less lucrative Regionalliga (football) looming St. Pauli began its fundraising activities, the so called Retteraktion. They printed t-shirts with St. Pauli's crest surrounded by the word Retter (rescuer/saviour) and more than 140,000 were sold within 6 weeks. They also organized a benefit game against Bayern Munich to try and help rescue the club. Many other activities, like selling the Retter-Shirts in McDonalds restaurants in Hamburg, led to harsh criticism from the fan base.

St. Pauli has also been active in terms of charity and in 2005 the club, St. Pauli and the fans initiated the viva con agua de sankt pauli campaign which collects money for water dispensers for schools in Cuba.

During the 2005-06 season, St. Pauli enjoyed unprecedented success in the German Cup, with wins over Burghausen, VfL Bochum and, significantly, Bundesliga sides Hertha Berlin and, in the quarter-finals on January 25, 2006, Werder Bremen. Their 3-1 victory in front of a sell-out Millerntor crowd and their subsequent place in the DFB Cup semi-final netted St. Pauli approximately €1 million in TV and sponsorship money, going a long way to saving St. Pauli from immediate financial problems.

In the wake of its DFB Cup victories, St. Pauli has also produced a new line of t-shirts with the slogan "Wir sind Pokal" (We Are Cup), after the Bild newspaper's famous 2005 headline "Wir sind Papst" (We Are Pope).

St. Pauli finally went out of the cup to FC Bayern Munich on April 12 going down 3-0 with a goal from Owen Hargreaves and two from Claudio Pizarro. Incidentally, Bayern Munich was also drawn as St. Pauli's opponent in the first round of the following season's cup leading to an early exit as Bayern Munich won 2-1.

However, after success in the 2006/2007 season St. Pauli was promoted to the 2nd Bundesliga.

Recent seasons

Supporters

FC St. Pauli enjoys a certain fame for the left leaning character of its supporters: most of the team's fans regard themselves as anti-racist, anti-fascist and anti-sexist, and this has on occasion brought them into conflict with Neo-Nazism and Hooliganism at away games. The organization has taken up an outspoken stance against racism, fascism, sexism, and homophobia and has embodied this position in its constitution. Team supporters traditionally participate in demonstrations in the Hamburg district of St. Pauli, including those over squatting or low-income housing such as the Hafenstraße and Bambule. The centre of fan activity is the Fanladen St. Pauli.

St. Pauli prides itself on having the largest number of female fans in all of German football. In 2002, advertisements for the men's magazine Maxim (magazine) were removed from the team's stadium in response to fan protests over the sexist depictions of women in the ads.

St. Pauli is also a worldwide symbol for punk rock and related subcultures. The unofficial Totenkopf logo and the team's brown and white football jerseys have often been worn by international artists such as Asian Dub Foundation. Turbonegro recorded a special version of their song "I Got Erection" with re-worked German lyrics for St Pauli. Bad Religion played a charity match against St. Pauli's third team in 2000. KMFDM frontman and Hamburg native Sascha Konietzko is a recognizable St. Pauli fan, even at one point placing a huge picture of a fist smashing a swastika on his band's main page with the caption St. Pauli Fans gegen Rechts! (St. Pauli fans against the right-wing) underneath it. One of the most notable supporters and sponsors is Andrew Eldritch, lead singer of band The Sisters of Mercy. On his latest tour, Sisters Bite The Silver Bullet in 2006, Eldritch wore the famous Totenkopf shirt. German musicians: Fettes Brot, Die Ärzte singer/drummer/songwriter Bela B, Kettcar, Tomte (band) and many other bands, most of them underground.

While St. Pauli played in Germany's third football division home fixtures at the Millerntor-Stadion used to average greater attendance than any other team in that division, and often exceed turnouts for second division teams. St. Pauli can also boast more season ticket holders than many Bundesliga teams. One study recently estimated that St. Pauli has roughly 11 million fans throughout Germany, making St. Pauli one of the most widely recognized German sides. There are about 200 registered fan clubs, many of them outside Germany.

St. Pauli are also known for their close links with many other foreign clubs and enjoy a particularly close friendship with Celtic F.C. with St. Pauli fans attending Celtic F.C. games on the continent when Celtic F.C. play UEFA competitions. St Pauli flags and scarves are frequently seen on display at Celtic Park (The official Celtic stores sell St Pauli merchandise) and every year Celtic supporters arrive in Hamburg for the annual St Pauli - Celtic Festival. The link can also be explained by the fact that the fans of the main rivals of both St Pauli and Celtic ,Hamburg SV and Rangers FC, have links. The link between Rangers FC and Hamburg SV dates back to the early seventies when the Hamburg Rangers Supporters Club was set up by Rangers FC fans who had relocated to the Hamburg area. The links were further strengthened when Rangers FC signed Jörg Albertz but this was not the start of it.

In Israel, St. Pauli is identified with Hapoel Tel Aviv F.C, a first division team that also see itself as anti-racist and anti-Fascist. In the Tel Aviv derby that took place on February 17, 2008, Hapoel Tel-Aviv fans waved a large St. Pauli flag in the stadium.

Club culture

- St. Pauli opens its home matches with AC/DC's Hells' Bells, and after every home goal Song 2 by Blur (band) is played, turning the stadium into a giant mosh pit.

- A rivalry developed between St. Pauli and FC Hansa Rostock in the early 90's because of the number of neo-Nazis among Hansa supporters at that time. As Hansa brought these groups under control and eventually banned them, the rivalry faded. However, after Rostock fans unprovoked attacked St. Pauli supporters at the away match in Rostock 26.09.2008 (Hansa Rostock : St. Pauli 3:0) it became obvious that still some of the neo-Nazi Groups are active and not under control.

- The club's arch enemy is Hamburger SV, the city of Hamburg's largest and most successful football club. Past derby matches have taken place under close police watch to keep the supporters of the two sides separated, as HSV has a really small group of neo-fascist fans. During derbies, HSV supporters have held up banners reading "HASS" (hate), or chanted "Zecke verrecke!" ("Ticks, croak it!"), while St. Pauli fans often answer, in allusion to the Italian leftist Ultra scene, "Amburgo, Amburgo: Vaffanculo!" (Hamburg, Hamburg: go - - - off!). Another chant of some HSV supporters is "Eine U-Bahn bauen wir - von St. Pauli bis nach Auschwitz" ("We'll build a subway - from St. Pauli up to Auschwitz").
As HSVs stadium lies on the outskirts of Hamburg, many St. Pauli fans see their club as the only "true" football club in the city.

- St. Pauli was very proud of having what was probably the last non-electronic scoreboard in the upper leagues. After every goal, a worker manually updated the scoreboard by taking down and then replacing a number placard. With the 2007 opening of the new South Stand, a large electronic scoreboard is installed the Southeast corner of the stadium.

Stadium
The club's home is the Millerntor-Stadion. Work on the stadium began in 1961, but its completion was delayed as there was initially no drainage system in place, making the pitch unplayable when it rained. It originally held 32,000 supporters, but this has been reduced in recent years for safety reasons.

In 1970, the stadium was renamed the Wilhelm Koch stadium, in honour of a former club president, but this was controversial when it was discovered he had been a member of the National Socialist German Workers Party during the war, so the name was changed back to Millerntor in 1999. Currently, a reconstruction effort has begun. The goal, a total renovation of the stadium (expanded seating, new amenities, etc), is expected to be completed in 2013 and cost around 30 million euros.

Team trivia
- The sports club also fields a women's Rugby football team, which has won six national titles, the most recent in 2007.
- St. Pauli president Corny Littmann, long active in German theatre and head of the Schmidt Theater on the Reeperbahn, is openly gay.
- FC St. Pauli have made pre-season appearances at Wacken Open Air, a heavy metal festival, several times.
- St. Pauli hosted the 2006 FIFI Wild Cup, a tournament made up of unrecognized national football teams like Greenland national football team, Tibet national football team and Zanzibar national football team. They participated as the "Republic of St. Pauli."
- The British band Art Brut have a song about this football club, called "St Pauli" which is featured on their album "It's A Bit Complicated".
- In 2008, Nike, Inc. commemorated St. Pauli with two exclusive Dunks. Both released in limited quantities. The High Dunk (featuring a black colorway, and the skull and crossbones symbol) was released to all countries throughout Europe, with only 500 pairs produced. The more limited Low Dunk (featuring a smooth white colorway, and holding the teams logo impregnated in the side panel leather) was only released to shops in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, with only 150 pairs produced.

Players

For recent transfers, see List of German football transfers summer 2009.

Notable players

Notable former or current players of St. Pauli include:

Ivo Knoflíček, Ján Kocian, Ivan Klasnić, Cory Gibbs, Zlatan Bajramović, Yuri Savichev, Thomas Meggle, Klaus Thomforde, Walter Frosch, Volker Ippig, Ronald Karp, Martin Driller, Bernd Hollerbach, Felix Luz, Fabian Boll, Morten Berre, Yang Chen, Deniz Baris, Ian Joy, Christian Rahn, Franz Gerber, Jürgen Gronau, Carsten Pröpper, André Trulsen, Leonardo Manzi, Holger Stanislawski, Paul Caligiuri, Dieter Schlindwein, Heinz Müller and Tore Pedersen.

Manager History

- Otto Westphal (1963-1964)
- Kurt Krause (1964-1965)
- Erwin Türk (1970-1971)
- Edgar Preuß (1971-1972)
- Karl-Heinz Mülhausen (1972-1974)
- Kurt Krause (1974-1976)
- Diethelm Ferner (1976-1978)
- Sepp Piontek (1978-1979)
- Michael Lorkowski (1982-1986)
- Willi Reimann (1986-1987)
- Helmut Schulte (1987-1991)
- Horst Wohlers (1991-1992)
- Josef Eichkorn (1992)
- Michael Lorkowski (1992)
- Josef Eichkorn (1992-1994)
- Uli Maslo (1994-1997)
- Klaus-Peter Nemet (1997)
- Eckhard Krautzun (1997)
- Gerhard Kleppinger (1997-1999)
- Willi Reimann (1999-2000)
- Dietmar Demuth (2000-2002)
- Joachim Philipkowski (2002)
- Franz Gerber (2002-2004)
- Andreas Bergmann (2004-2006)
- Holger Stanislawski (2006-2007)
- André Trulsen (2007-2008)
- Holger Stanislawski (2008-present)

Other sports

Rugby_union

The St Pauli rugby section has several teams, both in the masculine and feminine ligas.
The women have a particularly brilliant history, has they have won the German rugby union championship 8 times (1995, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007 et 2008) and the sevens championship 3 times (2000, 2001, 2002). Several of their players actually play in the national squad.

The mens rugby department has not been as successful, reaching the German final only once, in 1964. In 2008-09, St. Pauli is the only club to have a team in both the rugby and football 2nd Bundesliga. In 2008-09, the mens team finished fourth in the second division.

1.FC Kaiserslautern, 1.FC Nürnberg, Alemannia Aachen, FC Augsburg, FSV Mainz 05, Greuther Fürth, Hansa Rostock, LR Ahlen, MSV Duisburg, Rot-Weiß Oberhausen, SC Freiburg, St. Pauli, SV Wehen, TSV 1860 München, TuS Koblenz, VfL Osnabrück