History

125 years of vibrant and exciting club history

Dear friends of FSV Frankfurt, click through and explore 125 years of vibrant and exciting club history. Travel through a timeline of titles, relegations, insolvency filings, and great teams that always contended for promotion.

Epochs

1899 – The Founding

On August 20, 1899, following the usual Sunday kickabout on Glauburgplatz, the Fußball-Sportverein Frankfurt was founded by 16 boys from Frankfurt. Already a year earlier, in the summer of 1898, they had begun playing football together under the name FC Nordend. Most of them were still schoolboys or had just passed school age. But together, they were all idealists.

The names of all the founders are no longer known. Among them were the Strauß brothers, Eberhard Kuchler, Friedel Gerbig, Philipp Stamm, Karl Spießhofer, Karl Münich, Joseph Fleckenstein, Jaques Kropf, Ludwig Meier, L. Japke, Herrmann Decher, and Karl Heiderich. The founders mostly came from the lower middle class and did not possess great financial means.

Football was still in its infancy in Germany, but the enthusiasm for this new “combat sport” had spilled over from England to the continent and was increasingly popular, especially among the youth. However, the rough game with the ball was frowned upon in society. Playing football was considered improper, and older people often scolded the players as “ball hooligans,” suggesting they should play a respectable sport with their hands instead. But the 16 Frankfurt boys were undeterred. The fascination football held for them was simply too great.

1900 – FSV enters official competition play

The club had been officially founded, but the newcomer now wanted to enter official competition play. The “pioneers of the first hour” still had to wait a few more months before gaining police recognition in 1900. How the group managed to obtain the necessary permits is no longer clear. It’s possible that a few older members helped navigate the formalities.

FSV’s first playing field was the city-owned sports meadow at Prüfling. A match was arranged against the three-month older club “Frankofurtia,” which the Bornheim team clearly won 5–1. This made their first public appearance a complete success.

Slowly but surely, the Bornheimers began to break into the ranks of Frankfurt’s top clubs. As early as the 1902/03 season, “die Bernemer” took part for the first time in the South German Championship. After defeating Wiesbadener FC in the preliminary round, they faced the venerable FC Hanau 93 in the intermediate round. After a hard-fought battle, FSV lost to the heavy favorite by “only” 6–3.

At that time, the team wore all-black kits, which earned them the nickname “Black Devils.” However, many other Frankfurt teams also played in black, so the club eventually settled on its own colors: from then on, FSV played in black and blue horizontal stripes, with white shorts and green socks.

But football wasn’t the only activity on FSV’s schedule. During the summer months, when the ball rested, the focus shifted to track and field athletics.

1905 – The First Title in Club History

On June 25, 1905, FSV celebrated the first title in its history in Hanau. In the final round of the Frankfurt Association League, the Bornheim team defeated Victoria Frankfurt 4–2 after extra time. Drunk with joy, the players returned to Frankfurt, where the victory was celebrated extensively.

In 1908, the club was informed that the playing field at Prüfling would be developed. With the help of future honorary chairman Jean Jehn, they managed to lease a continuous plot of land situated in open fields between Seckbacher Landstraße and Berger Straße. The “Sportplatz Bornheim,” as it was officially named—affectionately known within the club as “s’ Plätzi”—was officially inaugurated on September 6, 1908. The grandstand with changing rooms and a refreshment area, which would be built later, was still in the planning stages. In the opening match, the proud new ground owners were defeated 7–2 by Karlsruher FC Phönix.

In 1909, FSV was entered into the club register at the Royal District Court in Frankfurt—one of the first official acts of the newly elected board under President Willi Jeßler.

In 1911, the club was gifted a banner in black and blue by its supporters, bearing the motto “Aus eigner Kraft” (“By our own strength”). A banner consecration was a major social event at the time, and congratulations poured in from all over the German Empire. Today, this banner still hangs in the club facilities at Bornheimer Hang.

In the years leading up to World War I, FSV developed into by far the largest club in the northern district. In 1910, it had 331 members—a number that doubled within just two years. Alongside the first team, FSV was already fielding six additional squads in 1910, and by 1912 that number had grown to nine. All of them were successful, and especially the second team won numerous titles in its division.

1925 – 1933 The golden years

The years from 1925 to 1933 became the most successful period in the club’s history. Six Main championships, the South German Championship title in 1933, and the runner-up finish in the 1925 German Championship were part of an impressive record. But it didn’t stop there: FSV had become a true top-tier club, earned great respect abroad, and was ranked among the ten best clubs of the Weimar Republic.

The pinnacle of the club’s history came right in time for its 25th anniversary. FSV secured third place in the South German Championship, which qualified them for the final round of the German Championship—something no other Frankfurt team had achieved before. The team’s rise seemed unstoppable. In the final of the German Championship, played before more than 40,000 spectators at Frankfurt’s Waldstadion, FSV faced 1. FC Nürnberg in a dramatic match. After 120 gripping minutes, FSV narrowly missed the title, finishing as runners-up. Despite the loss, the Bornheimers secured a lasting place in the annals of the German Football Association (DFB).

The following year, the club celebrated another Main championship, although their journey in the German Championship ended in the quarterfinals with a loss to Hertha BSC. In 1927, FSV narrowly missed qualification for the national championship after a 1–3 defeat against TSV 1860 München.

However, toward the end of the 1920s, the successful squad largely fell apart. The low point came with a fifth-place finish in the Main District League, which didn’t even qualify them for the South German consolation round. Nevertheless, FSV remained a regular participant in the German Championship tournaments during this period.

After playing at “Im Prüfling” and later at “Seckbacher Landstraße,” FSV moved into the newly built stadium at Bornheimer Hang. The construction of the stadium was largely thanks to then-club president Alfred J. Meyers. Even then, the stadium—with its grandstand and standing terraces—had a capacity of 18,000 and was considered one of the most beautiful and modern stadiums in southern Germany. FSV won the opening match on October 11, 1931, 3–0 against Germania 94.

FSV’s greatest triumph, however, came at Frankfurt’s Waldstadion. In the final of the South German Championship in 1933, FSV defeated TSV 1860 München 1–0 in front of 15,000 spectators. German international Georg Knöpfle scored the winning goal from a free kick shortly before the final whistle. In the subsequent national championship round, the Bornheimers were narrowly defeated 0–1 by FC Schalke 04.

1933 – 1945 The Gauliga Era

After the so-called “Machtergreifung” (seizure of power) by the National Socialists, the swift Gleichschaltung (alignment) of all aspects of German society, including football, took place. The league system was forcibly restructured, leading to the creation of the Gauligen (regional leagues). From then on, FSV played in the Gauliga Südwest, a new league formed by the Nazi regime, and discontent began to spread among other teams as well.

Despite the new structure, attendance at games remained strong. For example, in the 1933/34 season, FSV’s first home match saw an audience of 5,000 spectators. However, the team underperformed, which was partly due to the departure of key playmaker Georg Knöpfle. Over the following years, the team recovered and regularly finished in the upper third of the league table. A highlight came in January 1939, when FSV reached the final of the German Cup. According to a witness, FSV was cheated out of the title. The opponent, Rapid Vienna, came from the “Führer’s homeland” and was supposed to bring the cup to annexed Austria.

Although FSV managed to take the lead against the clear favorites, they ultimately failed to achieve an upset victory. It was widely reported that the referee favored the Viennese team while disrupting Frankfurt’s play wherever possible. After the final whistle—when Rapid had won 3–0—the approximately 3,000 traveling FSV fans expressed their displeasure by storming the pitch in anger.

During the war, football continued to be played in the Reich, but parts of the team were conscripted to the front. This had an impact on the team’s performance: by 1941, FSV had become a mere shadow of its former self. However, other clubs were hit even harder by conscription, as demonstrated by FSV’s 23–3 victory over a makeshift team from SpVgg Neu-Isenburg in the 1943/44 season. While many men were being sent abroad and sacrificed, FSV kept its head above water by fielding youth players. However, the ongoing air raids made it nearly impossible to continue regular matches, and forced breaks became routine.

Until shortly before the end of the war, the Nazis used football for their own propaganda purposes, attempting to showcase the strength and resilience of the “Volksgemeinschaft” (people’s community) through the continuation of matches. However, once the regime lost the war and the Allies entered Germany, FSV was dissolved in 1945 as a club, as it had been a member of the NS-Reichsbund für Leibesübungen (National Socialist League for Physical Education).

1945 – 1962 The Oberliga Süd Era

Frankfurt was heavily damaged by bombing raids during World War II. Nonetheless, both fans and club officials shared a strong desire to return to football. FSV, one of 43 sports organizations to be reestablished, was initially supposed to play under a new, untainted name. However, the club successfully opposed this idea. In doing so, FSV achieved the remarkable feat of never having changed its name throughout its history, making it one of the few high-level clubs to avoid such a transformation. FSV started in the newly established Oberliga Süd and played there until their relegation in 1962.

First, the club had to find a playing venue, as the Americans were using the Bornheimer Hang stadium as a military parking lot. The team played, as they had during the war, at Eschersheimer Landstraße and began with a 1–1 draw against SV Waldhof. A particularly noteworthy moment came with a spectacular derby victory against Eintracht Frankfurt, winning 6–0. This also marked FSV’s first ever victory in the Oberliga Süd. In March 1946, FSV was able to return to their familiar stadium: the Bornheimer Hang was partially repaired, and an impressive crowd of 12,000 spectators attended the first home game after the war.

The 1947/48 season brought several positive changes. The club planned to expand the stadium to 25,000 seats, introduced a number of strong new players (the Frankfurter Rundschau at the time remarked that the ball “just zipped from foot to foot”), went undefeated for ten games, and finished the season in 7th place, becoming the best Hessen team in the Oberliga. This success created a huge buzz around training sessions, with around 350 spectators regularly showing up. As a result, qualification for the German Championship became the club’s clear goal for the following years.

However, a negative record that plagued the team for years was their inability to win at Bieberer Berg from 1950 to 1996.

In August 1953, the Bornheimer Hang stadium was fully expanded and officially reopened. Over time, the stadium was extended westward so that other departments of the club no longer had to play on foreign grounds. There were also developments to the east: the team traveled to East Germany in 1954, and in 1957, FSV became the first club in the Federal Republic to be invited to the Soviet Union. That same year, the club also inaugurated a floodlight system, one of the most modern in Europe. The youth development program of FSV was also progressive, as by the late 1950s, the Bornheimers had the largest youth department in Germany.

Despite these advancements, the era was also marked by a slow decline. The crisis deepened in 1957 with the affair surrounding coach Bogdan Cuvaj, and ultimately culminated in the club’s relegation in 1962. FSV switched leagues just one year before the formation of the Bundesliga, to which they theoretically could have qualified if they had won the South German Championship in the following season. Instead, FSV evolved into a yo-yo team, experiencing promotion and relegation until the 1980s.

1962 – 1983 In the Elevator Between Second and Third Division

As the Bundesliga was on the verge of its formation, FSV Frankfurt was headed in the opposite direction, descending into the second tier of German football. Despite the challenging circumstances, a year that began with a sense of impending doom ended on a high note for the Schwarz-Blauen. The club secured its first championship in 30 years, clinching first place in the 2nd Liga Süd and thus earning promotion to the nationwide Regionalliga. The entire district of Bornheim celebrated, and many believed that the club had made it to the elite level of German football. However, the competition was fierce, and FSV only narrowly managed to retain its place in the Regionalliga.

The following five years were marked by mediocrity on the pitch, with poor player signings, a resignation from the board, near insolvency, and even a stadium ban due to crowd disturbances. In the summer of 1968, things took a turn for the worse: FSV was relegated for the first time in its history to the Hessenliga. On top of this, the club was burdened with a staggering debt of 350,000 Deutsche Marks. The once-prominent team had now become a local entity, far removed from its previous nationwide status.

FSV Frankfurt had become what is commonly referred to as a yo-yo club. Between 1968 and 1983, the team was promoted four times and relegated just as often. The highlight of this period was six consecutive seasons in the 2nd Bundesliga (South), during which a 7th-place finish was considered a success. While the team’s sporting performance didn’t shine, amusing anecdotes were not uncommon. For example, in an away game in 1972 against TSV Mark-Hüls, the referee insisted that FSV wear white shorts. However, the shorts were back in Frankfurt, so a pair had to be sourced from a local sports store before the game could proceed.

However, the financial situation and the lack of a clear sporting perspective were far from humorous. By 1982, the club’s debt had grown to 900,000 Deutsche Marks. After another promotion, FSV found itself facing a challenging season in the now unified 2. Bundesliga. The team finished in second-to-last place and, after another relegation, spent the next eleven years in the lower depths of the Oberliga Hessen.

1983 – 1996 The Long Drought and the Near Catastrophe

The years between 1983 and 1996 were marked by almost constant turmoil and misfortune for FSV Frankfurt. The beginning of this era was dominated by months of intrigue and infighting within the club’s leadership, which only worsened the financial situation. The club’s debts had even surpassed the million mark. The newly elected board tried to negotiate with the city of Frankfurt to pay off the debts, but instead of good news, the club was plagued by anonymous accusations of under-the-table money, injuries, and an ever-turning carousel of staff changes. It wasn’t until the appointment of coach Dragoslav Stepanovic that the situation started to improve. On the pitch, things also began to stabilize, and until 1988, the club remained in the safe mid-table positions of the Oberliga Hessen.

However, this improvement did not translate into better attendance numbers. The traditional club had clearly reached the point of sporting irrelevance. While in the past FSV had attracted large crowds for big games, now only a few hundred spectators turned up to watch the team. A symbolic moment of this decline came in the form of a friendly match against the great FC Bayern Munich. The club had expected 10,000 visitors, but only 2,000 people showed up.

Despite the challenges, there were two bright spots during this time: In 1988, the club officially became debt-free, and in the 1993/94 season, FSV achieved the long-awaited promotion to the 2. Bundesliga. However, the Bornheimers quickly realized their limitations in the higher league. In the first home game, they suffered a humiliating 0-5 defeat, and by the end of the season, the club had conceded over 100 goals. The inevitable fall from grace came swiftly, as relegation to the Regionalliga was followed just a year later by another drop into the Oberliga Hessen.

By the end of the 1995/96 season, there were serious doubts about whether the club could even continue its operations in the Oberliga Hessen. Once again, FSV was drowning in red ink, salaries were unpaid, and power struggles within the club’s leadership intensified. In short, the situation had become a full-blown disaster. President Gerhard Emmerich, who soon after resigned, saw no other option but to file for bankruptcy.

1996 – 2010 Risen from the Ruins

A new strong man in the club was Bernd Reisig. Together with his allies, he achieved the impossible: bankruptcy was averted. Step by step, the FSV was restructured, and a competitive team was assembled. The promotion back to the Regionalliga Süd in just the second year in the Oberliga was the reward for all the efforts.

However, the millennium season brought a severe setback. The FSV had once again managed to pull itself out of danger with a victory on the final matchday. Or so it seemed. A procedural error in the match against the VfB Stuttgart amateurs – Elton da Costa was not listed on the match report – cost the Bornheimers the seemingly secure survival in the league. With heads lowered, they embarked on the journey to the Oberliga. There, the team always played for promotion, including tearful second-place finishes, until 2006/07 when the champagne corks could finally pop: They were back in the Regionalliga. And what a way to return! The first half of that season is unforgettable: the FSV won 16 out of 17 matches, and by the end of the season, they only suffered one defeat. A record-breaking achievement.

Hard to believe, but it got even better for the sports club. As a promoted team from the Oberliga Hessen, they made a spectacular leap to the Second Bundesliga in 2007/08. A masterpiece by coach Tomas Oral and his men! After twelve years, the traditional club was finally back in familiar waters. In 2009/10, after a year and a half of renovations, they returned to the Frankfurt Volksbank Stadion. This season also included one of the strangest moments in recent Bundesliga history: Opponents Duisburg scored a goal that simply wasn’t one. The ball, bouncing off the crossbar, clearly landed well before the goal line – all of German football saw it, except for the referee crew. The incident made the Bornheimers the talk of the town, and the FSV was on everyone’s lips.

However, the club also paid its dues in professional football. In the two seasons in the second division, they barely managed to stay up. But over the years, the club has steadily improved. Today, FSV Frankfurt has arrived in the Second Bundesliga and is well on its way to establishing itself there.

1899 to 2011. A lot of living history for the football club Frankfurt.

2011 – 2020 Rise and Fall

For the 2011/12 season, FSV Frankfurt faced off against Eintracht Frankfurt in the first Frankfurt derby in almost 50 years. Due to the high demand for tickets, the game was moved to the Commerzbank-Arena, where 50,000 spectators gathered. Although FSV was unable to achieve much in either derby (0-4 and 1-6), the team, under new coach Benno Möhlmann, comfortably secured survival in the league and finished the season in 13th place after 34 matchdays.

The 2012/13 season was the most successful second-division season in the history of FSV Frankfurt. Unlike in previous years, the team was never involved in the relegation battle and consistently remained in the upper third of the table. FSV remained unbeaten in the first seven games. In the DFB-Pokal, they reached the second round, where they were eliminated by VfL Wolfsburg. After the first half of the season, they were in 8th place, and it initially looked like a season in the middle of the table. However, after a mixed start, the Bornheimers played a surprisingly consistent second half of the season. Until matchday 31, the relegation playoff spot was still within reach. In a direct confrontation against third-placed 1. FC Kaiserslautern, however, they were defeated and ended the season in 4th place.

Before the 2013/14 season, three key players left the club: John Verhoek (FC St. Pauli), Marcel Gaus (1. FC Kaiserslautern), and Yannick Stark (1860 Munich). After a turbulent season, FSV managed to secure their league status before the final matchday with a win over Energie Cottbus and a draw against Arminia Bielefeld. A further victory over the title-bound 1. FC Köln on the final day at the sold-out Frankfurt Volksbank Stadion ensured a 13th-place finish.

The 2014/15 season was turbulent for FSV. It wasn’t until the final matchday, with a 3-2 win over Fortuna Düsseldorf, that they celebrated survival. However, in the following season, 2015/2016, FSV Frankfurt could not prevent relegation to the 3rd Liga.

The same fate awaited FSV a league lower and one year later: On April 11, 2017, the football GmbH filed for insolvency. On matchday 26, the team slipped into a relegation spot and could not improve to a non-relegation place. On May 13, 2017, relegation to the Regionalliga Südwest was mathematically confirmed.

In the 2017/18 Regionalliga season, FSV Frankfurt finished in 14th place, narrowly avoiding relegation with just a two-point cushion above the relegation spots. In the 2018/19 season, FSV secured their league status on matchday 32 with a 5-1 victory against SC Hessen Dreieich. Prior to that, sporting director Thomas Brendel took over as head coach and still holds both positions to this day.

The 2019/2020 season became one of the most memorable in FSV Frankfurt’s long history. After a mixed first half of the season without notable highlights, FSV was in 14th place after 17 matchdays. However, only six more league games were played in the second half due to the global COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent suspension of the Regionalliga Südwest season. 1. FC Saarbrücken was promoted to the 3rd Liga. No teams were relegated in the 2019/2020 season, but four teams – TSV Schott Mainz, Eintracht Stadtallendorf, Hessen Kassel, and VfB Stuttgart II – were relegated.

In the 2020/2021 season, Regionalliga Südwest participants faced a league with 42 matchdays.

FSV Frankfurt’s start to the 2020/2021 season was promising. After 12 matchdays, the team had 20 points and was in 6th place. The gap to the table leaders, Freiburg II, was six points. On November 4, the Regionalliga Südwest GbR announced a suspension of league operations due to the rising number of COVID-19 infections. No league matches would take place until November 30, 2020.

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