Eintracht Frankfurt
| Full name | Eintracht Frankfurt Fußball e.V. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Nickname(s) | Die Adler (Eagles), SGE (Sportgemeinde Eintracht), Launische Diva (moody diva) |
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| Founded | 1899 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | Commerzbank-Arena, Frankfurt (former Waldstadion) (Capacity: 52,300) |
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| Chairman |  Heribert Bruchhagen |
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| Manager | Friedhelm Funkel |
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| League | Bundesliga | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2007/08 | Bundesliga, 9th | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Eintracht Frankfurt is a German sports club, based in Frankfurt, Hesse that is best known for its football team.
History
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, first in the Bezirksliga Main, then the Bezirksliga Main-Hessen, 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 Nuremberg 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.
Between 1997 and 2005, 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.[1]
In 2007-08 Eintracht had the 17th highest attendance in Europe, ahead of such prominent clubs as SSC Napoli, Liverpool and Atlético Madrid.
Success outside the Bundesliga
The club has enjoyed considerable success in competition outside the Bundesliga. Eintracht famously lost the European Cup final to Real Madrid on May 18 1960 at Hampden Park 7-3 in front of 127,621 spectators. It is one of the most talked about European matches of all time, with Di Stéfano scoring 3 and Puskás scoring the other 4 for Real.
In 1967 they won the Intertoto Cup beating Inter Bratislava in the final.
They won the German Cup in 1974, 1975, 1981, and 1988, and took the UEFA Cup over another German team – Borussia Mönchengladbach – in 1980. More recently, Eintracht were the losing finalists in the 2006 German Cup. Their opponents in the final, Bayern Munich, Bundesliga champions that year, qualified to participate in the Champions League. As a result Eintracht received the Cup winner's place in the UEFA Cup where they advanced to the group stage.
Colours, crest and nicknames
The club crest derives from the coat of arms of Frankfurt am Main which is in turn is a reference to the one-headed imperial eagle of the 13th century.
The crest has evolved slowly over time, showing little significant change until 1980 when a stylized eagle in black and white was chosen to represent the team. In the centennial year 1999 the club board decided to re-adopt a more traditional eagle crest.
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| Centennial kit in 1999-2000 | |||||||||
The official club colours of red, black, and white have their origins in the colours of the founding clubs Frankfurter FC Viktoria and Frankfurter FC Kickers, which sported red and white and black and white respectively. Red and white are the colours of the city coat of arms, and black and white the colours of Prussia. When the clubs merged, officials decided to adopt the colours of both sides. Since local rival Kickers Offenbach sport the colours red and white, Eintracht avoids playing in such a kit, preferring to play in black and red, or in black and white.
The club is nicknamed Die Adler (The Eagles), which obviously derives from their crest. A nickname still popular among supporters is SGE, taken from the club's old official name Sportgemeinde Eintracht (Frankfurt), roughly translated meaning Sports community Harmony.
The nickname Launische Diva (Moody Diva) was heard most often in the early 1990s when the club would easily defeat top teams only to surprisingly lose to lesser clubs. This nickname was also held to refer to the what was regarded as the dubious work of some club chairmen, including for example, the failure to record the transfer fee of Hungarian star player Lajos Détári on club books. The current reign of Heribert Bruchhagen appears to have left these practises to the past.
The players themselves have been referred to as the Schlappekicker - "Slipper Kickers" in the local slang - because, in the days before big-monied professionalism, many of them were employed at a local slipper factory.
Honours
International
- UEFA Cup
- Winners : 1980
- UEFA Intertoto Cup
- Winners : 1967
- European Cup
- Runners-up: 1960
- Coppa delle Alpi
- Winners : 1967
| Preceded by Borussia Mönchengladbach |
UEFA Cup Winner 1980 Runner up: Borussia Mönchengladbach |
Succeeded by Ipswich Town |
National
- German Championship (pre-Bundesliga)
- Champions: 1958-59
- Runners-up: 1931-32
- DFB-Pokal
- Winners : 1974, 1975, 1981, 1988
- Runners-up: 1964, 2006
- 2nd Bundesliga
- Winners: 1997-98
- Fuji-Cup
- Winners: 1992
- Runners-up: 1994
Regional
- Southern German championship
- Champions: 1929-30, 1931-32, 1952-53, 1958-59
- Runners-up: 1912-13+, 1913-14+, 1930-31, 1953-54, 1960-61, 1961-62
(+ as Frankfurter FV)
- Bezirksliga Main-Hessen:
- Winners: 1927-28, 1928-29, 1929-30, 1930-31, 1931-32
- Runners-up: 1932-33
- Gauliga Südwest/Mainhessen:
- Winners: 1937-38
- Runners-up: 1936-37
Youth
- German Under 19 championship
- Champions: 1982, 1983, 1985
- Runners-up: 1987
- German Under 17 championship
- Champions: 1977, 1980, 1991
- Runners-up: 1981, 1982
League results
Recent seasons
All time
Green denotes the highest level of football in Germany; yellow the second highest.
Players
Current squad
As of 30th October, 2008.
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On loan
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For more details see: Eintracht Frankfurt season 2008-09.
For recent transfers, see List of German football transfers summer 2008.
Famous players
The players in bold typeface are still active in football.
¹ - Player is currently playing for the club.
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Greatest ever team
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STEIN
NEUBERGER
GRABOWSKI
KÖRBEL
PEZZEY
HUBERTS
NACHTWEIH
MÖLLER
NICKEL
HÖLZENBEIN
YEBOAH
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| Greatest ever Eintracht Frankfurt team |
The following team was voted the greatest ever Eintracht Frankfurt team by supporters.
- Uli Stein
Bruno Pezzey- Willi Neuberger
- Karl-Heinz Körbel
- Jürgen Grabowski
- Andreas Möller
- Norbert Nachtweih
- Wilhelm Huberts
- Bernd Nickel
- Bernd Hölzenbein
Anthony Yeboah
World Cup Winners while signed at Frankfurt
- Alfred Pfaff
- Jürgen Grabowski
- Bernd Hölzenbein
- Uwe Bein
Current club staff
| Manager | Friedhelm Funkel |
| Assistant manager | Armin Reutershahn |
| Reserve team manager | Frank Leicht |
| Goalkeeping coach | Andreas Menger |
| Physiotherapist | Stefan Braunsdorf Thomas Kühn |
| Custodian | Michael Fabacher |
| Equipment manager |  Franco Lionti |
| Team doctor | Dr Christoph Seeger |
| Academy manager | Karl-Heinz Körbel |
| Chief Scouts | Bernd Hölzenbein Ralf Weber |
Club Presidents
Managers/Head Coaches
Records
Recent top scorers
Stadium information
The inside of the stadium
The ground was inaugurated as Waldstadion (Forest Stadium) in 1925 with the German championship final match between FSV Frankfurt vs. Nuremberg. The facility was renovated for the FIFA World Cup 2006 in Germany. For Bundesliga fixtures the maximum capacity is 51,500 as on the East Stand next to the visitor's terrace some spaces are held free for security purposes. Among supporters the new name Commerzbank-Arena is very unpopular and though the media usually refer to the ground as the official name, the Eintracht faithful stick with the name Waldstadion. Shirt Sponsors
Notable fans
Team trivia
Aero Flight A320 in colours of Eintracht Frankfurt
See also
Other sections within the club
Indoor court of Eintracht's tennis section in Seckbach
The sports club Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. is made up of sixteen sections:
Betty Heidler while being honoured in Ōsaka
The most famous athlete of Eintracht Frankfurt is Betty Heidler, the hammer thrower world champion of 2007. Other Eintracht athletes include the 2008 olympians Andrea Bunjes, Ariane Friedrich, Kamghe Gaba and Kathrin Klaas.[1] Within the football section, the sports club directly manages only the youth system and the reserve team. The professional footballers are managed as a separate limited corporation, Eintracht Frankfurt Fußball-AG, which is a subsidiary of the parent club. UEFA rankingCurrent Club Ranking
Current National League ranking (Previous year rank in italics)
ReferencesExternal links
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