Fortuna Düsseldorf
Fortuna Düsseldorf is a football (soccer) club from Germany.
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Fortuna Düsseldorf is a Germany football (soccer) List of football clubs in Germany based in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia.
History
Foundation to World War II
The earliest roots of the association go back to the establishment of the gymnastics club
Turnverein Flingern on 5 May 1895 in the village of Flingern, today the northeastern quarter of Düsseldorf. Two other sides figure in Fortuna Düsseldorf's early history:
Düsseldorfer Fußballklub Spielverein founded in 1908 and
FK Alemania 1911, which was founded in 1911 and became
Fortuna 1911 the following year. In mid-1913, these two clubs merged to form
Düsseldorfer Fußball-Club Fortuna 1911, which played its debut season in the Westdeutschen Spielverband in 1913–14.
Fortuna won its first honours as city champions in World War I A-Klasse competition in 1917–18.
TV Flingern joined
Fortuna to create
Düsseldorfer Turn- und Sportverein Fortuna on 15 November 1919.
In the late 20s,
Fortuna won its first honours; they captured a district level Bezirksliga title in 1927, sent their first representative to the nation side in 1928, and took a second Bezirksliga title in 1929. The
Düsseldorfer Rugby-Club became part of
Fortuna in 1931. The team continued to perform well into the 30s winning their third district title on their way to a West German regional championship in 1931 and their greatest success, a German championship in 1933 against
Schalke 04, who were on the verge of becoming the era's dominant side. That win made
Fortuna the first team from the industrial Rhine-Ruhr area to win a national title.
The following season Fortuna Düsseldorf began play in Gauliga Niederrhein, one of sixteen top-flight divisions formed in the re-organization of German football under the Third Reich.
Düsseldorf dominated the division through the 30s and made losing appearances in the national final in 1936 (1:2 to
1. FC Nuremberg) and the final of the Tschammerpokal, predecessor of today's DFB-Pokal (German Cup), in 1937. Fortuna Düsseldorf was relegated in 1942 but made a prompt return to the top flight the following season. In 1944-45 they began play as the combined wartime side
Kriegsspielgemeinschaft TSV Fortuna/SC 99 Düsseldorf with partner
Düsseldorfer Sport Club 1899, but took part in only two matches as Nazi Germany fell before the advance of Allied armies.
Post War era
After World War II, Allied occupation authorities ordered the dissolution of all sports organizations in Germany.
Fortuna was re-formed in 1945 and then played most of their football in the Oberliga West (I) in the years between 1947 and the creation of the Bundesliga (football), Germany's professional football league, in 1963. They played as a lower-to-mid table side but did earn three appearances in the German Cup final in – 1957, 1958 and 1962 – but were not able to take the prize, losing each of those matches.
1960s and 1970s
The club's performance was not good enough to earn them a place among the original sixteen teams chosen for the new league, but they did manage to play their way into the premier division three years later for a cameo appearance in the 1966-67 season. They were immediately relegated, but returned in 1971–72 for a stay that lasted sixteen seasons and that included two third place league finishes.
Fortuna enjoyed better luck in German Cup play, making another three appearances: after losing in their fifth appearance in the final in 1978 they finally broke through and came away as cupholders in 1979 and then repeated in 1980. In this period they established a record for consecutive German Cup match victories (18 straight victories between 1978 and 1981).
Fortuna is among a group of four teams which have made frequent appearances in the German Cup final only to come away empty handed. Like
1. FC Kaiserslautern they have just two wins against fives losses.
1. FC Köln has four wins and six losses in the Cup final, while
FC Schalke has been frustrated most often with four wins and seven losses. Four of the Düsseldorfer's losses were by a single goal and two of those were in extra time.
The club's best turn in European competition was in the Cupwinners Cup Final in 1979 where they finished as runners up to
FC Barcelona, dropping a 3:4 decision in extra time.
1980s to present
Since relegation in 1987,
Fortuna has bounced back forth between leagues, spending five more seasons in the Bundesliga in 1989-92 and 1995-97 and slipping as low as Oberliga Nordrhein (IV) in 2002-04. In 2001 they escaped relegation to tier IV only because two other clubs were denied licenses to play in tier III for financial reasons.
Fortuna had their own money problems at the time, but have since managed to put their house more or less back into order.
In 2008-09
Fortuna competed in the new 3rd Liga, and finished 2nd, gaining automatic promotion to 2. Fußball-Bundesliga.
Between 2001 and 2003 Fortuna Düsseldorf was sponsored by the German punk rock band Die Toten Hosen.
Recent seasons
For recent transfers, see List of German football transfers summer 2009 and List of German football transfers winter 2008-09.
Honours
- German champions: 1933
- Western German football championship: 1931
- German vice-champions: 1936
- Gauliga Niederrhein champions: 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940
- Berzirksliga Berg-Mark (I) champions: 1927, 1929, 1931, 1933, 1947
- Regionalliga West (1963-74) (II) champions: 1966
- 2. Bundesliga champions: 1989
- DFB-Pokal (German Cup) winners: 1979, 1980
- DFB-Pokal (German Cup) finalists: 1937, 1957, 1958, 1962, 1978
- European Cup Winners' Cup finalists: 1979
- Intertoto Cup group winners: 1967, 1984, 1986
- Ciutat de Palma winners: 1989
- Amateuroberliga Nordrhein (III) champions: 1994
- Wintercup Winners: 2008
- Westdeutscher Pokal (West German Cup) champions: 1956, 1957, 1958
Reserve team
- German amateur champions: 1977
Notable players
25
Fortuna players have made appearances with the Germany national football team earning 240 caps between them.
- Otto Rehhagel, famous coach, with Düsseldorf 1978-1980
- Jan Tauer, defender who currently plays for Swedish side Djurgårdens IF Fotboll.
- Jörg Albertz, 150 Bundesliga games
- Klaus Allofs, European and World Cup vice-championship side
- Thomas Allofs, younger brother of Klaus Allofs
- Rudolf Bommer, national team
- Jupp Derwall, famous coach
- Holger Fach, national team
- Paul Janes, Germany's most capped player of the 1930s (71 caps), member of the
Breslau Eleven- Erich Juskowiak, national team
- Stanislaus Kobierski, earned 26 caps and scored Germany's first ever World Cup goal
- Georg Koch, 102 games
- Gerd Zewe, 440 games
- Matthias Mauritz, 323 games (49 goals)
- Michael Preetz, national team
- Toni Turek, goal keeper for Germany's 1954 World Cup Final side at the 1954 FIFA World Cup
Stadiums
- Lichtplatz (1908–19)
- Vennhauser Straße (1919-30)
- Paul-Janes-Stadion (1930-72, 1975, 2002-2005 and 2005-2007 (Evasive))
- Rheinstadion (1972-2002)
- Esprit Arena (2005-present)
Related pages
1.FC Dynamo Dresden, 1.FC Union Berlin, Carl Zeiss Jena, Eintracht Braunschweig, Erzgebirge Aue, FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt, Fortuna Düsseldorf, Kickers Emden, Kickers Offenbach, SC Paderborn 07, SV Werder Bremen II, Wuppertaler SV