Blog #4 – Frankfurt am Main
and Fussball in Frankfurt
Wed, September 5th – 13:45 German time
As I stepped out of the S Bahn and into the Franfurt am
Main. It was Tuesday night and I was dying for a Bratwurst
with Brotchen and Senf. When were living in Germany in the
late 80’s and early 90’s, we were pretty broke and at that
time we could get a good one for 1 deutsche mark (about 50
cents). Now because of inflation and the value of the US
dollar it was 6 Euro with pommes (French fries) and a drink.
There was not much going on so I wandered around looking for
some sort of action. Someone had told me about a Jazz club
in the Innenstadt that was world famous. I could not locate
it, but did find a street with a wine tasting festival.
There were about 30 outside bars and food vendors. As much
as I wanted to eat a schnitzel or rundfleisch sandwich, I
stayed disciplined (for once) and bought some almonds and
headed back to the train station.
I arrived 20 minutes early and bought the Sport Bild
Champions League addition. This way I was able to study the
Champions League teams, their budget, the players, and much
more information about all the teams.
As I boarded the S-Bahn , I realized that I had forgotten to
buy a return ticket from Frankfurt to Mullheim. I saw some
German S-Bahn Security guys and asked them if I could buy a
ticket on board. They told me I had to get off and buy one
and then wait for 30 more minutes. In the end I played dumb
(like the days we used to get into every Bundesliga match
for a jugend price (youth price) and speak English when they
asked us our age) and he told me not to worry about it.
It is amazing that when I get back to Germany , I can read
and understand most German again, even though I rarely use
it. I am also able to speak fine, except with my new friends
on the train.
Below I hope you will enjoy some information about Frankfurt
and it’s main Men’s and Women’s team.
Until next time,
Andrew
Frankfurt am Main is the largest city in the German state of
Hessen and the fifth-largest city in Germany after Berlin,
Hamburg, Munich and Cologne, with an 2006 population of
661,877. The urban area had an estimated population of
1,468,140 in 2000. The city is at the center of the larger
Frankfurt Rhine Main Area which has a population of 5
million and is Germany's second largest metropolitan area.
Situated on the river Main, Frankfurt is the financial and
transportation centre of Germany. Frankfurt is the place of
residence of the European Central Bank, the Frankfurt Stock
Exchange and is one of the two largest financial centers in
continental Europe (the other one being Paris). Frankfurt
was named Europe's richest city in 2001 as measured by GDP
per capita. It is also listed as one of nine Alpha world
cities.
Among English speakers the city is commonly known simply as
"Frankfurt", though Germans occasionally call it by its full
name when it is necessary to distinguish it from the other
(significantly smaller) Frankfurt in the German state of
Brandenburg, known as Frankfurt (Oder). It was once called
Frankfort-on-the-Main in English, a translation of Frankfurt
am Main.
Population
Frankfurt is a multicultural city. Most immigrants are from
Turkey, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy,
Spain, North-African countries, Iran, Lebanon, and the
United States. The Frankfurt Area is also home to the (now
2nd) largest Korean community in Europe. 180 different
nationalities reside in Frankfurt.
For a long time Frankfurt was a Protestant-dominated city.
However, during the 19th century an increasing number of
Catholics moved to the city. Today a narrow plurality of
citizens are Catholic. Frankfurt has the second largest
Jewish community (after Berlin) in Germany.
Geographic location
The city is located on both sides of the River Main. The
southern part of the city contains the Frankfurt City Forest
(Frankfurter Stadtwald) Germany's largest forest within a
city. The centre of Frankfurt is located on the north of
river.
Fussball in Frankfurt
Eintracht Frankfurt – Bundesliga Club
History of Eintracht Frankfurt
Club origins
The origins of the side go back to a pair of football clubs
founded in 1899: Frankfurter Fußball-Club Viktoria von 1899
– regarded as the "original" football side in the club's
history – and Frankfurter Fußball-Club Kickers von 1899.
These two teams merged in May of 1911 to become Frankfurter
FV (Kickers-Viktoria), which in turn joined the gymnastics
club Frankfurter Turngemeinde von 1861 to form TuS Eintracht
Frankfurt von 1861 in 1920.
Pre-Bundesliga history
At the time, sports in Germany was dominated by
nationalistic gymnastics organizations, and under pressure
from that sport's governing authority, the gymnasts and
footballers went their separate ways again in 1927, as
Turngemeinde Eintracht Frankfurt von 1861 and Sportgemeinde
Eintracht Frankfurt (FFV) von 1899.
Through the late 20's and into the 30's Eintracht won a
handful of local and regional championships, but never made
it very far in the national championship rounds except for
1932 when they became runners-up in the German national
championship (the final was lost 0-2 to Bayern Munich). In
1933, German football was re-organized into sixteen Gauligen
under the Third Reich and the club played first division
football in the Gauliga Südwest, consistently finishing in
the upper half of the table and winning their division in
1938.
They picked up where they left off after World War II
playing as a solid side in the first division Oberliga Süd,
capturing division titles in 1953 and 1959. Their biggest
success came on the heels of that second divisional title as
they went on to a 5:3 victory over Kickers Offenbach to take
the German national title and followed up immediately with
an outstanding run in the European Champions Cup. Eintracht
lost 3:7 to Real Madrid in an exciting final widely regarded
as one of the best football matches ever played.
Founding member of the Bundesliga
The side continued to play good football and earned
themselves a place as one of the original sixteen teams
selected to play in the Bundesliga, Germany's new
professional football league, formed in 1963. Eintracht
played Bundesliga football for thirty-three seasons
finishing in the top half of the table more often than not.
Their best Bundesliga performances were five third-place
finishes: they ended just two points back of champion VfB
Stuttgart in 1991-1992.
They also narrowly avoided relegation on several occasions.
In 1984, they defeated MSV Duisburg 6:1 on aggregate, and in
1989 they beat 1. FC Saarbrücken 4:1 on aggregate, in
two-game playoffs. Eintracht finally slipped and were
relegated to 2.Bundesliga for the 1996-97 season. At the
time that they were sent down along with 1. FC
Kaiserslautern, these teams were two of only four sides that
had been in the Bundesliga since the league's inaugural
season.
It looked as though they would be out again in 1998-1999,
but they pulled through by beating defending champions
Kaiserslautern 5:1 away, while Nürnberg unexpectedly lost at
home, to give Eintracht the break they needed to stay up.
The following year, in another struggle to avoid relegation,
the club was "fined" two points by the DFB (Deutscher
Fussball Bund or German Football Association) for financial
misdeeds, but pulled through with a win by a late goal over
SSV Ulm on the last day of the season. The club was plagued
by financial difficulties again in 2004 before once more
being relegated.
The Eintracht squad for 2007-08
Since 1997, Eintracht has bounced between the top two
divisions and has often kept its fans on edge over whether
or not the side would be demoted, but in the 2005-06 season
supporters learned earlier than is often the case that the
club would stay up, as they finished their Bundesliga season
in 14th place, three points clear of relegation.
In the 2006-07 campaign Eintracht secured the Bundesliga
spot on the 33rd day again.
As of 2007 Eintracht has over 10 million sympathisers in
Germany.
Women’s Fussball Meisters –
1. FFC Frankfurt is a women's football (soccer) club team in
Frankfurt, Germany with current about 430 members. The team
currently plays in the German women's Bundesliga. They won
the UEFA Women's Cup in the 2001/2002 and 2005/2006 seasons.
With so far 14 national and international titels is the 1.
FFC the most successful football (soccer) women team in
Germany.
Honours
Fußball-Bundesliga (women)
Winners (6): 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007
German Cup
Winners (6): 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2007
UEFA Women's Cup
Winners (2): 2002, 2006 |
