Eintracht Frankfurt - last updated on 28 February 2008
(Courtesy of Johnny Beaufays)
Club name: Eintracht Frankfurt Fußball A.G.
Foundation: March 8th 1999
City: Frankfurt
Colours: Red and black
Website: www.eintracht.de
Honours:
UEFA Cup - 1 (1980)
UEFA Intertoto Cup - 1 (1967)
1. Bundesliga - 1 (1931-32)
2. Bundesliga - 1 (1997-98)
DFB-Pokal - 4 (1974, 1975, 1981, 1988)
Coppa delle Alpi - 1 (1967)
Fuji-Cup - 1 (1992)
A bit of history:
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.
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.
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.
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.
In 2006-07 Eintracht had the 16th highest attendance in Europe, ahead of such prominent clubs as AC Milan, Liverpool and Atlético Madrid.
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.
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.
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.
Club crests: (roll on the crest to get more informations)
Eintracht Frankfurt
