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1. Fussball-Club Kaiserslautern, also known as Kaiserslautern, 1. FCK or simply FCK, is a German football club based in Kaiserslautern, Rhineland-Palatinate. On June 2, 1900, Germania 1896 and FG Kaiserslautern merged to create FC 1900. In 1909, the club went on to join FC Palatia (founded in 1901) and FC Bavaria (founded in 1902) to form FV 1900 Kaiserslautern. In 1929 they merged with SV Phönix to become FV Phönix-Kaiserslautern before finally taking on their current name three years later.

History

Early years to WWII

The team passed largely unremarked through its early years and spent the 30's bouncing up and down between the Bezirksliga and the upper level Gauliga Südwest, one of sixteen top flight divisions formed in the re-organization of German football under the Third Reich.

The club's performance was indifferent in the years leading up to World War II, but improved after 1939. They captured the Gauliga Südwest/Staffel Saarpfalz title, but lost the overall division title to Staffel Mainhessen winners Kickers Offenbach. In the 1941-42 season the Gauliga Südwest was split into the Gauliga Hessen-Nassau and the Gauliga Westmark, and Kaiserslautern took the Westmark title, going on to play for the first time in the national final rounds. They were decisively put out 3:9 by eventual champions FC Schalke 04, the dominant side in this era of German football.

The performance of the team slipped and they finished last in their division in 1944. The following year saw the collapse of league play in this part of Germany as the Reich crumbled under the advance of Allied armies.

Postwar play

After the war, southwestern Germany was part of the occupation zone held by the French. Teams there were organized into northern and southern divisions and played to determine which of them would join the new Oberliga being put together. French authorities were slow to loose their control over play in their zones of occupation – in the Saarland in particular – and teams in those areas were longer in joining the re-established German national league. 1. FC Kaiserslautern resumed play in the Oberliga Südwest in 1945 and finished the season just one point behind 1.FC Saarbrücken. The next season they easily won the Gruppe Nord in 1947 due in large part due to the play of Fritz Walter and his brother Ottmar: the duo scored 46 goals between them – more than any other single team.

Success in the '50s and entry to the Bundesliga

This marked the beginning of the club's dominance of the Oberliga Südwest as they went on to capture the division title eleven times over the next twelve seasons. FCK advanced to Germany's first post-war national final in 1948, but lost 1:2 to 1. FC Nürnberg.

Kaiserslautern became a presence on the national scene through the early 50's, capturing their first German championship in 1951 with a 2:1 victory of their own, this time over Preussen Münster. They won a second title in 1953, followed by two losing final appearances in 1954 and 1955. The club also sent five players to the national side for the 1954 World Cup which West Germany won in what became popularly known as The Miracle of Bern.

Kaiserslautern's performance fell off late in the decade and into the early 60's, highlighted only by an advance to the 1961 German Cup final, where they lost 0:2 to Werder Bremen. The side recovered its form in time to again win their division on the eve of the formation in 1963 of the Bundesliga, Germany's new professional football league. This secured them one of sixteen places in the new top flight circuit. However, the club's next honours would be some time in coming: they made failed German Cup final appearances in 1972, 1976, and 1981 before finally winning in the Cup in 1990. They followed up the next season with their first Bundesliga championship.

Fall from the top flight

1. FCK won a second German Cup in 1996, but that victory was soured since the team was relegated to 2.Bundesliga with a 16th place finish just one week before the Cup Final. At the time, Kaiserslautern was one of only four of the original sixteen teams that had played in each Bundesliga season since the inception of the league, never having been relegated. This group included Kaiserslautern, Eintracht Frankfurt who went down in the same season, 1. FC Köln down in 1998, and "the Dinosaur", unrelegated Hamburger SV.

The Red Devils came storming back in 1998 with an accomplishment unique in Bundesliga history by winning re-promotion to the first division from the 2.Bundesliga and immediately going on to win the national championship under famous coach Otto Rehhagel.

The club found itself in serious trouble soon after. The construction of a new stadium, incompetent management and financial misdeeds resulted in a heavy debt load and the fielding of incapable sides built out of anonymous mercenary players. In 2002, Kaiserslautern found itself on the brink of bankruptcy and at the centre of controversy being played out publicly. The club's management – Jürgen Friedrich, Robert Wieschemann and Gerhard Herzog – were forced out. A new team president, Rene C. Jäggi, sold the debt-ridden Fritz-Walter-Stadion to an entity owned by the Land Rheinland-Pfalz and the city of Kaiserslautern, thus saving the club from financial disaster, while a new coach, Erik Gerets, led a run after the winter break that moved the footballers out of last place and saved them from relegation.

The club started the 2003-04 season under the burden of a three-point penalty imposed by the DFB (Deutscher Fußball-Bund or German Football Association) for its financial misdeeds. After a faltering start to the season, Gerets was fired and replaced by Kurt Jara. Jara was unpopular with the FCK faithful for his defensive soccer philosophy, but with him at the helm, the club had a safe season. However, Jara quit the position before the season ended, citing irreconcilable differences with club management.

Currently

In 2005, Michael Henke, who served as long-time assistant to Germany's most successful coach Ottmar Hitzfeld, became coach. FCK was initially successful, but then suffered a string of reverses and crashed to the bottom of the table. Henke was fired, and FCK alumnus Wolfgang Wolf took up the trainer's role. Wolf brought in many young, home-grown players, but despite winning over fans and experts alike, the 2005-06 season ended in failure as FCK was once again relegated to the 2nd Bundesliga after a nine-year stay at the top flight. They finished the 2006/2007 season in sixth place in the 2. Bundesliga, seven points out of the promotion places.

On May 20, 2007, the club announced the Norwegian manager Kjetil Rekdal, currently with Belgian side Lierse, as their new head coach. Rekdal will take over the reigns on July 1.

Honours

German Champion: 1951, 1953, 1991, 1998
German Cup: 1990,1996
German Cup finalist: 1961, 1972, 1976, 1981, 1990, 1996, 2003
UEFA Cup, Semi-final: 1982, 2001
Champions League, Quarter-final: 1999

Stadium

FCK plays its home fixtures in the Fritz Walter Stadion first built in 1920. The stadium and the adjacent street are named for the player who brought the club to prominence after the war. The facility is built on the Betzenberg, literally the "Betzenmountain", a steep sandstone hill that requires some stamina to scale if you take in an FCK match.

The stadium has a capacity of 48,500 and was a 2006 World Cup venue, hosting four preliminary round and one Group of 16 round matches. The facility underwent a major refurbishment for the tournament with addition of new grandstands and a roof.

2006 FIFA World Cup matches at the Fritz Walter Stadion

Australia 3-1 Japan
Italy 1-1 United States
Paraguay 2-0 Trinidad and Tobago
Saudi Arabia 0-1 Spain
Italy 1-0 Australia

Club culture

Kaiserslautern's Fritz-Walter-Stadion has long been a feared away venue given the rabid ferocity of Kaiserslautern fans: the most faithful of these supporters stand in the stadium's "Westkurve" (Westside, literally "West Curve", since the stands used to be shaped in a semicircle behind the goals). Most famously, Bayern Munich once lost a match here in a charged atmosphere by a score of 7:4 after leading 4:1 at halftime. However, partly due to the team's decline, and the expansion of the stadium, the "Betzenberg" is no longer as daunting a venue as it once was.

The club has friendly ties to TSV 1860 Munich and Werder Bremen and are bitter rivals of Waldhof Mannheim and Bayern Munich. They also have lesser local rivalries with Eintracht Frankfurt and, more recently, with FSV Mainz 05 and Karlsruher SC.

Famous players and contributors

Kaiserslautern has sent more than twenty players to the national side, including five who played on West Germany's 1954 World Cup "Miracle of Bern" side:

1950s stars

Horst Eckel
Werner Kohlmeyer
Werner Liebrich
Fritz Walter
Ottmar Walter

Modern-age stars

Michael Ballack
Mario Basler
Andreas Brehme
Hans-Peter Briegel
Youri Djorkaeff
Miroslav Kadlec
Hany Ramzy
Pavel Kuka
Miroslav Klose
Stefan Kuntz
Olaf Marschall
Wynton Rufer
Mark Schwarzer
Ciriaco Sforza
Klaus Toppmöller
Halil Altıntop
Michael Mifsud

Contributors

Karl-Heinz Feldkamp was the coach who led 1. FCK to the German Cup in 1990 and the German Championship in 1991.
Stefan Kuntz is best known for being jibed at on English TV and in the 1998 football video Three Lions, but was instrumental in England's undoing at Euro 96.
Otto Rehhagel coached the team to its 1998 Bundesliga championship.
Markus Merk is the well known and respected German FIFA referee. He was elected two times as World Referee of the Year.

Notable facts
Among the famous, FCK can count as fans Kurt Beck, the current prime minister of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate and former German chancellor Helmut Kohl.
Kaiserslautern is by far the smallest city (pop. 99,000) to ever have a German Bundesliga championship team (in 1991 and 1998). The next smallest is Braunschweig with 245,000 inhabitants (in 1967).
FVK played in black in white until their 1929 merger with SV Phönix when the newly merged club adopted the city colours of red and white.

Memorable matches

1.FC Kaiserslautern - Bayern Munich 7:4
Date: October 20, 1973

After 56 minutes, Bayern Munich led 4:1. But within 180 seconds, FCK strikers Toppmöller and Pirrung had made the score 3:4, and ten minutes from the end of the game, Pirrung scored the 4:4. The Betzenberg literally exploded when Diehl scored the 5:4 for the Red Devils in the 84th minute, and Laumen added two late goals to make it 7:4. This game is considered to be the finest Betzenberg comeback ever.

1.FC Kaiserslautern - Real Madrid 5:0
Date: March 17, 1982

After losing the first game with 1:3, 1. FCK had to win with 2:0 at least. After 17 minutes already, Friedhelm Funkel had scored two goals. The Spaniards, who also featured German star sweeper Uli Stielike saw San Jose and Cunningham sent off before the 40th minute. Eilenfeldt and Geye made the score 5:0, only interrupted by the third Real player sent off (Pineda).

1.FC Kaiserslautern - FC Barcelona 3:1
Date: November 6, 1991

After surprisingly winning the German Championship, 1. FCK played the European Cup I. Barca convincingly won the first game 2:0. In the first half, 1. FCK striker Demir Hotic scored two goals, and in the 76th minute, the Fritz-Walter-Stadium (as it was called now) erupted, after Bjarne Goldbaek scored the 3:0. But in injury time, a desperation cross by Ronald Koeman found José Maria Bakero. The small striker took a header from nearly outside the box (!) which somehow went in.

Izvor: Wikipedia