Arminia Bielefeld
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| DSC Arminia Bielefeld | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Deutscher Sport-Club Arminia Bielefeld | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Nickname(s) | Die Arminen, Die Blauen | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Founded | 1905 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | Schüco Arena (old name: "Alm"), Bielefeld (Capacity 28,008) |
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| Chairman | Hans-Hermann Schwick | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Manager |  Michael Frontzeck |
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| League | Bundesliga | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2007-08 | Bundesliga, 15th | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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DSC Arminia Bielefeld is a German football club that plays in Bielefeld, a city in North Rhine-Westphalia.
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[edit] History
[edit] Founding to World War II
The side was founded 3 May 1905 as 1. Bielefelder Fußball-Club Arminia. The name Arminia is a feminized version of Arminius or Hermann, the legendary hero of the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest which halted the march of Rome into northern Germany.
1. FC was joined in 1907 by Fußball Club Siegfried Bielefeld and on 7 July 1919 merged with Bielefelder Turngemeinde 1848 to become Turngemeinde Arminia Bielefeld. This merger failed on 20 November 1922, but former members of Arminia quickly reorganized themselves (6 November) under the club's original name. On 30 January 1926 the association took on its current name, Deutscher Sport-Club Arminia Bielefeld.
Through its first two decades the team made several appearances in the final round of the regional Westdeutschland league. They captured divisional titles in 1922 and 1923 and advanced into the national playoffs where they were both times eliminated in the quarterfinals. It was during this time that football made its debut on German radio with the November 1925 broadcast of part of the game between Arminia and Preußen Münster.
In the latter half of the 20s and into the early 30s the club had fewer successes, but still performed well enough to earn a place in the Gauliga Westfalen, one of sixteen new top-flight divisions formed in the 1933 reorganization of German football under the Third Reich. DSC was immediately relegated, but returned to first division play in 1938, and remained there until the end of World War II. From June 1943 on DCS played with VfB Bielefeld as part of the wartime side KSG Bielefeld.
[edit] Postwar play
After the war DSC was re-established as a separate side and slipped to lower level local competition. An Amateurliga Westfalen (II) title in 1949 saw the team promoted to the first division Oberliga West for a single season turn. Through the first half of the 50s they were part of the 2. Liga-West (II) before again slipping out of sight into local play. Following the formation of the Bundesliga in 1963, DSC re-emerged into second division play in the new Regionalliga West where they fielded solid sides throughout the 60s.
Arminia made its first appearance in DFB-Pokal (German Cup) play in 1936 when the cup was known as the Tschammerpokal. After two more wartime appearances the club was absent from cup competition until 1966. Over the next four decades Bielefeld has taken part in the tournamnet on a regular basis, but has always been put out in the early going.
[edit] Breakthrough to the Bundesliga and scandal
A second place finish in the Regionalliga West in 1970 and success in the subsequent promotion playoff advanced Bielefeld to the Bundesliga for the first time. In its second season in the top flight, the club found itself at the centre of a scandal when it was involved in a scheme to bribe players from other teams, including Kickers Offenbach, Hertha BSC Berlin, Schalke 04, and 1. FC Köln, in an attempt to keep its place in the Bundesliga. As a result, Arminia was stripped of all its points and demoted to the Regionalliga West (II). A number of players from various sides were also suspended.
Within five years Bielefeld had recovered sufficiently to contest a place in the Bundesliga again in 1977. After exchanging 4:0 home wins with TSV München 1860 they lost the deciding match staged in neutral Frankfurt by a score of 0:2. The following season the team won promotion outright on the strength of a 2. Bundesliga-Nord title, but spent only a single season in the top flight. Another second division title in 1980 returned Arminia to the Bundesliga for a five season turn. They were relegated in 1985 after losing a qualification series to 1. FC Saarbrücken.
The team disasterously crashed out of second division play in 1990 and spent the next seven campaigns in the Amateur Oberliga Westfalen (III) and Regionalliga West/Südwest (III). A Regionalliga title in 1995, followed immediately by a 2. Bundesliga title once again advanced Bielefeld to the Bundesliga. Over the next ten years the team moved frequently up and down between first and second division play. They were often referred to as "the elevator crew" as the record holder for most promotions to the Bundesliga (7 times) and (until recently) the corresponding mark for the most demotions (6 times; a record broken by 1. FC Nuremberg's 7th demotion in May 2008).
They are currently playing in the Bundesliga after their most recent promotion for the 2004-05 season. Their longest turn in the premier league was their five year run from 1980-81 to 1984-85, when they also managed to earn their best finishes (8th in 1982-83 and 1983-84). This record will be shared by the present run (2004-2009 or longer) after their 4th continued relegation in the Bundesliga was achieved on 17 May 2008.
[edit] Honours
as TG Arminia
- Westdeutschland champions: 1922
as FC Arminia
- Westdeutschland champions: 1923
[edit] Team trivia
- In 1998, Arminia became the first German team to recruit players from Iran, namely Ali Daei and Karim Bagheri.
- Together with Tasmania 1900 Berlin, Arminia holds the dubious record of 10 consecutive Bundesliga losses.[citation needed]
- In 1999, Arminia Bielefeld recruited a player named Josef Ivanovic directly from the Kreisliga, the lowest amateur division in Germany, and he went on to become a fairly successful player in the Second Bundesliga.
[edit] Squad 2007/08
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For recent transfers, see List of German football transfers Summer 2008.
[edit] Current Squad B 2007/08
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