125 years of FSV Frankfurt

FSV Frankfurt celebrates its 125th anniversary on 20 August 2024!

On 20 August 1899, 16 Frankfurt boys founded the ‘Fußball-Sportverein Frankfurt’ after the usual Sunday kickabout on Glauburgplatz. The brothers Strauß, Eberhard Kuchler, Friedel Gerbig, Philipp Stamm, Karl Spießhofer, Karl Münich, Joseph Fleckenstein, Jaques Kropf, Ludwig Meier, L. Japke, Herrmann Decher and Karl Heiderich were among the well-known founders of the club.

In 1905, FSV celebrated the first title in the club’s history in Hanau after a 4:2 victory in extra time in the final of the Frankfurter Assoziations Bund against Victoria Frankfurt. From 1908, thanks to the support of future honorary chairman Jean Jehn, the black-and-blues played on the ‘Bornheim sports ground’ between Seckbacher Landstraße and Berger Straße.

In the years leading up to the First World War, Bornheim became by far the largest club in the northern district. In addition to the first team, FSV 1910 sent six, and two years later even nine, other teams into the competition, all of which were successful. Among others, the second team won several titles in its class. And there was no end to the successes: between 1925 and 1933, FSV Frankfurt won the Main Championship six times, in 1925 the Black & Blues were German runners-up, and in 1933 they became South German champions in front of 15,000 spectators against TSV 1860 Munich. The renowned Frankfurt lung specialist Dr David Rothschild was elected FSV chairman shortly after the narrowly lost final for the German football championship in 1925 and remained so until 1928. He modernised and professionalised the structure of FSV in the long term. The US-born Frankfurt entrepreneur Alfred J. Meyers was elected Rothschild’s successor in 1928. Despite the global economic crisis, the successful manager achieved the ‘miracle of the Bornheimer Hang’: just three years after taking office, FSV moved into its new stadium on the Bornheimer Hang, which remains the club’s home to this day. At the time, the new 18,000-seater stadium was considered one of the most beautiful and modern football stadiums in Germany until it was destroyed in the bombing raids of 1944. The sporting highlight of Meyer’s FSV era was winning the Southern German championship in April 1933. FSV Frankfurt was now one of the ten best clubs in the Weimar Republic, and the club also enjoyed a high reputation abroad.

After the National Socialists seized power, the league system was forcibly reformed and the Gauligen were created. From then on, the Bornheim players competed in the Gauliga Südwest. In the 1933/1934 season, 5,000 spectators watched FSV’s first home game, and in the following years, the Frankfurt team established itself in the upper third of the table. A highlight was reaching the cup final in January 1939, in which the now 40-year-old club lost 3:1 to Rapid Vienna.

After the end of the Second World War, FSV, like many other sports clubs, re-established itself, started in the Oberliga Süd and played in this division until its relegation in 1962. During the founding of the Bundesliga, the Bornheim team was relegated to the second division. After 30 years, the Black & Blues celebrated first place in the 2nd division south and were promoted to the national regional league. The next five years after the triumph were more bad than good: After bad purchases, a board resignation, near insolvencies and a ground ban, FSV was relegated to the Hessenliga in 1968. In addition, there was a debt burden of 350,000 marks.

Between 1968 and 1983, FSV developed into a lift team; between these years, the South Hessians were promoted four times and relegated four times. One notable achievement was winning the German Amateur Championship in 1972 after the Bornheim team beat TSV Marl-Hüls 2:1 in the final. The eighties and nineties were a turbulent time for FSV. The then president Gerhard Emmerich had to file for bankruptcy in 1996 after the club was in the red, salaries could no longer be paid and power struggles broke out.

The new man on the Bornheimer Hang, Bernd Reisig, succeeded in averting insolvency. Bit by bit, FSV was reorganised and a strong team was put together. Until the 2006/2007 season, the Black & Blues competed in the Oberliga, after which the Frankfurt club was promoted to the Regionalliga, winning 16 out of 17 games. And it was to get even better: Under coach Tomas Oral, the club from the south of Hesse made the breakthrough and were promoted to the second Bundesliga in 2007/2008. In 2009/2010, FSV returned to the Frankfurter Volksbank Stadium after a year and a half of rebuilding. The Black & Blues had their best season in the recent second division era in 2012/2013 under head coach Benno Möhlmann, finishing four points off third place at the end of the season. In the 2015/2016 season, the Second Bundesliga chapter finally came to an end with relegation on the final matchday at home to 1860 Munich. In the following season, FSV slipped completely down the table in the third division and ended the season in last place. On 13 May 2017, relegation to the Regionalliga Südwest was confirmed, and the football GmbH also went bankrupt.

Bornheim have been playing in the fourth tier since 2017/2018 and once again battled against relegation in the opening season. In the following season, FSV only managed to avoid relegation two match days before the end. Despite the plagued coronavirus pandemic, which even forced the cancellation of the 2019/2020 season, Bornheim managed to play a good season in the following season and gain a foothold in the upper third of the table. Due to the rising number of infections, the season was cancelled again. In the 2022/2023 season, FSV came back stronger than it had been for a long time after a bumpy first half of the season: eight unbeaten league games in a row and the Hesse Cup victory against TSV Steinbach Haiger after a penalty shoot-out brought euphoria back to the Bornheimer Hang.

We look back on a 125-year history rich in tradition with highs and lows.