1. FC Herzogenaurach is a
German association football club from
Herzogenaurach, a suburb of the city of
Nuremberg
Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...
,
Bavaria
Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...
.
The history of the club is strongly intertwined with the local
sports equipment
Sports equipment, also called sporting goods, are the tools, materials, apparel, and gear, which varies in shapes, size, and usage in a particular sport. It includes balls, nets, rackets, protective gears like helmets, goggles, etc. Since th ...
manufacturer
Puma, then just a local company and sponsor of the ''FC'' and its rivalry to
ASV Herzogenaurach, which was sponsored by another local company,
Adidas
Adidas AG (; stylized in all lowercase since 1949) is a German athletic apparel and footwear corporation headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, Germany. It is the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe, and the second largest in the ...
.
History
Early years
Formed in 1916, the club did not begin to play competitive football till 1919 due to the difficult circumstances of the
First World War
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. Between the two world wars, the club played on local
Middle Franconia
Middle Franconia (, ) is one of the three administrative regions of Franconia, Germany, in the west of Bavaria bordering the state of Baden-Württemberg. The administrative seat is Ansbach; the most populous and largest city is Nuremberg.
Subdi ...
n level, at times as high as the ''Bezirksliga'', the local third division.
With the rise of the
Nazis
Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
, the club profited from the disbanding of the local workers club ''Freie Union'', a predecessor to the ASV Herzogenaurach. ''FC'' gained a considerable number of players from this in 1933.
After the Second World War, the club played in the local ''A-Klasse'', later the ''Bezirksliga Mittelfranken-Nord''. With a championship in the later in 1965–66, the ''FC's'' rise to the higher Bavarian amateur leagues begun.
Rise
In the ''
Landesliga Bayern-Mitte'' for the first time for the 1966–67 season, the club finished in a respectable eleventh spot and repeated this result the season after. In November 1967, it was offered a sponsorship by the Puma AG, which it accepted, a fact which earned it its later nickname ''The Pumas''. Puma offered a similar sponsorship to the other club in town, ASV Herzogenaurach, but was beaten to this by Adidas, its long-term rival. The rivalry between Puma and Adidas, which is in truth the rivalry of the two brothers who owned the companies then,
Rudolf Dassler and
Adolf Dassler
Adolf "Adi" Dassler (3 November 1900 – 6 September 1978) was a German Shoemaking, cobbler, inventor and businessman who founded sportswear giant Adidas. He was also the younger brother of Rudolf Dassler, founder of Puma (brand), Puma.
Dassler ...
, actually predates the rivalry of the two football clubs, stretching back to 1948.
In the ''Landesliga'' in 1968–69, the club met its local rival once more, the ''ASV'' having earned promotion to the league in 1968. The first season there together, ''ASV'' finished fourth while the ''FC'' came third, the clubs being separated by one point. The season after, the ''FC'' won the league and earned promotion to the ''
Amateurliga Bayern'' (III) while the ''ASV'' came third. The ''ASV'' had to wait another two seasons to do the same and win the league and promotion in 1972.
''Bayernliga'' years
While the ''FC'' enjoyed two good first seasons in the highest league in the state, it did not so well when the ''ASV'' joined it there and with a third place in 1972–73, the Adidas-club finished above the Puma-team for the first time in years while ''FC'' went into decline for a time.
The 1973–74 season became even more upsetting for the club as the ''ASV'' won the ''Amateurliga Bayern'' title while FC Herzogenaurach found itself relegated from the league, finishing 17th.
Spending the next three seasons in the ''Landesliga'', ''FC'' worked hard on a return to the ''Amateurliga'', finishing in the top-three each year. ''FC'' earned its return to the ''Amateurliga Bayern'' through another league championship in 1977, the year ''ASV'' found itself relegated from the ''Bayernliga''.
The club managed to survive in the league for only one season before being handed down once more. Back in the ''Landesliga'' for 1978–79, it finished top of the league once more, beating ''ASV'' by a point to it.
Upon return to what was now the ''Amateur Oberliga Bayern'', the ''FC'' earned a respectabel seventh place before suffering relegation from the league the season after in 1981.
The late 1970s also saw the rise of two promising young footballers in Herzogenaurach who went to school together.
Günter Güttler, who played for the ''ASV'' and later joined FC Bayern Munich and
Lothar Matthäus
Lothar Herbert Matthäus (; born 21 March 1961) is a German association football, football pundit and former professional player and manager. He captained Germany national football team, West Germany to victory in the 1990 FIFA World Cup and was ...
, who played for the ''FC'' and became Germany's most capped footballer. Matthäus could not play for the ''ASV'' even though it had at that time the better under-19's side, because his father worked for Puma.
Decline
Back in the ''Landesliga Bayern-Mitte'', the ''FC's'' started to fluctuate between ''Landesliga'' and ''Bezirksliga''. ''FC'' suffered three relegations from the ''Landesliga'' in the 1980s, in 1983, 1985 and finally in 1989, on which instance both Herzogenaurach clubs left the ''Landesliga'' for good. In the ''
Bezirksoberliga Mittelfranken
The Bezirksoberliga Mittelfranken was the seventh tier of the German football league system in the Bavarian ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Middle Franconia (). Until the introduction of the 3. Liga in 2008 it was the sixth tier of the league system, u ...
'' in 1989–90, a last-place finish meant a further drop, now to the ''Bezirksliga Mittelfranken-Nord''. There, the club managed to halt its decline for the time, spending four seasons in the league. In 1994, it dropped further, now to the ''Kreisliga''. In 1998, another relegation took the team down to the ''Kreisklasse'' level. Since then, it has fluctuated between the two.
Current
The club played in the ''Kreisliga Erlangen/Pegnitzgrund'' (IX) in 2008–09, the second-lowest league in the region. Its old rival, the ASV Herzogenaurach had fallen down even deeper in the league system, playing two levels below in the ''A-Klasse Erlangen/Pegnitzgrund'' (X)
In 2010, the club suffered another relegation, down to the Kreisklasse, where it met ASV in 2010–11. While the FC successfully played for the league championship and promotion that season, ASV came a distant last.
The old rivalry between the two clubs may have lost some of its punch, as has the local rivalry between the two sports brands. The town of Herzogenaurach is certainly not as divided any more as it once was. In March 2007, a merger of the three local clubs was even discussed, the ''ASV'' and ''FC'' together with the ''SC Nord'' should form one club which would then be capable to reach ''Regionalliga'' level.
The rivalry of the two companies, and with it to some extent the local football club issue, gained some international attention during the
2006 FIFA World Cup
The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to FIFA World Cup hosts ...
in Germany, when a number of international news organizations picked up on it.
In 2014 the club won the local Kreisklasse championship and earned promotion to the tier seven Bezirksliga but lasted for only one season before being relegated again. ''FCH'' won another Kreisliga championship in 2015–16 and returned to the Bezirksliga.
Honours
League
*
Landesliga Bayern-Mitte (IV)
** Champions: (3) 1970, 1977, 1979
** Runners-up: 1975
*
Bezirksliga Mittelfranken-Nord
The Bezirksliga Mittelfranken 1 (), formerly the Bezirksliga Mittelfranken Nord, is currently the seventh tier of the German football league system in the northern part of the Bavarian ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Middle Franconia (). Until the disband ...
(V)
** Champions: 1966, 1987
** Runners-up: 1986
* Kreisliga Erlangen/Pegnitzgrund (VIII)
** Champions: 2014, 2016
* Kreisklasse Erlangen/Pegnitzgrund (X)
** Champions: 2011
Cup
*
Bavarian Cup
** Winners: 1954
*
Mittelfranken Cup
** Winners: 1975
Recent seasons
The recent season-by-season performance of the club:
Fussball.de – Ergebnisse
Tables and results of all German football leagues
*With the introduction of the Bezirksoberligas in 1988 as the new fifth tier, below the Landesligas, all leagues below dropped one tier. With the introduction of the Regionalliga
A (, plural ) is a regional league in numerous Sports governing body, sports governing bodies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, usually located in the upper or middle tiers of the sports leagues.
The term is often associated with the Germa ...
s in 1994 and the 3. Liga
The 3. Liga is a professional association football league and the third division in Germany. In the German football league system, it is positioned between the 2. Bundesliga and the fourth-tier Regionalliga.
The modern 3. Liga was formed for t ...
in 2008 as the new third tier, below the 2. Bundesliga, all leagues below dropped one tier. With the establishment of the Regionalliga Bayern
The Regionalliga Bayern () is the highest association football league in the state of Bavaria () and the Bavarian football league system. It is one of five Regionalligas in German football, the fourth tier of the German football league system, b ...
as the new fourth tier in Bavaria in 2012 the Bayernliga was split into a northern and a southern division, the number of Landesligas expanded from three to five and the Bezirksoberligas abolished. All leagues from the Bezirksligas onwards were elevated one tier.
''ASV'' versus ''FC''
The Herzogenaurach derby in the ''Bayernliga'' and ''Landesliga'':
* Source
Manfreds Fussball Archiv
Tables and results of the Bavarian amateur leagues
Former players
* Lothar Matthäus
Lothar Herbert Matthäus (; born 21 March 1961) is a German association football, football pundit and former professional player and manager. He captained Germany national football team, West Germany to victory in the 1990 FIFA World Cup and was ...
, Germany's most-capped player started and ended his career with the club.
DFB Cup appearances
The club has qualified for the first round of the German Cup
The DFB-Pokal (), also known as the German Cup in English, is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundes ...
just once:
References
External links
Official team site
FC Herzogenaurach profile on Weltfussball.de
Das deutsche Fußball-Archiv
historical German domestic league tables
ASV Herzogenaurach website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Herzogenaurach, FC
Football clubs in Germany
Football clubs in Bavaria
Association football clubs established in 1916
FC
Football in Middle Franconia
1916 establishments in Germany
Works association football clubs in Germany
Puma (brand)