FC Carl Zeiss Jena is a German women's football club from

Jena Jena (; ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 in ...

Thuringia Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area. Er ...

. The club currently plays in the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

, the highest level of women's football in Germany. Carl Zeiss Jena played regional women's football since 2016–17 but became more prominent, when it merged with FF USV Jena in 2020.

History

HSG Uni Jena, USV Jena, FF USV Jena

After becoming the last East German women's football champion in 1991, Uni Jena was admitted to the

after the

reunification of Germany German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the German Democratic Republic and the integration of i ...

. They were relegated after one season and have remained in the second tier league (then Regionalliga, later 2. Bundesliga) since then. In 2003 Jena became champions of the northeastern Regionalliga but failed to achieve promotion to the Bundesliga. The decisive match was lost at home against

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), or HSV (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its Association football, football department. Though the current HSV was founde ...

. A year later they qualified for the newly founded 2. Bundesliga and were grouped into the southern division. In 2004 a new women's club was founded, so the USV Jena became the FF USV Jena (FF for Frauenfußball, women's football) In 2005 and 2006 they came in third, in 2007 even in second place. In the 2007–08 season, Jena finished first in the 2. Bundesliga Süd and got promoted to the Bundesliga. In 2008–09 the managed a 9th place and improved to an 8th place the next season. The team's biggest success was reaching the final of the 2009–10 Frauen DFB-Pokal, where they lost 1–0 to

FCR 2001 Duisburg FCR 2001 Duisburg (full name: ''Fußballclub Rumeln 2001 Duisburg'') was a German women's football club from Duisburg. The first team played in the Bundesliga (women), Bundesliga. They originate from a women's team formed in 1977 under the umbrel ...

. From 1 July 2020 on, the club will play under a new name, after agreeing to a merger with the men's football club Carl Zeiss Jena.

Carl Zeiss's women's section

Carl Zeiss entered a women's team in the Thüringenliga, the 4th level, for the first time in the 2017–18 season. It remained in that league for three years, finishing first eventually. The team was created by transferring over USV Jena III. USV Jena kept their first two teams.

Merger with Carl Zeiss

After the 2019/20 season FF USV Jena, transferred all their teams to Carl Zeiss Jena, in order to combine forces and benefit of the larger club with its image.

Current squad

Staff

* Head coach: Florian Kästner * Assistant coach: Matthias Buszkowiak * Goalkeeper coach: Luis Urbig * Fitness coach: Mikkeline Braun

Former notable players

* Anna Blässe * Carolin Schiewe * Ivonne Hartmann * Sabrina Schmutzler * Carol Carioca * Genoveva Añonman * Adjoa Bayor * Abby Erceg * Fata Salkunič * Lara Keller * Hannah Keane

References

External links

* * Women's football clubs in Germany Football clubs in Thuringia Sport in Jena University of Jena Association football clubs established in 2004 2004 establishments in Germany Frauen-Bundesliga clubs {{Germany-footyclub-stub