Freiburger FC () is a
German association football club based in
Freiburg
Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as o ...
,
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...
. Freiburger FC were one of the
founding clubs of the DFB (
German Football Association
The German Football Association (german: Deutscher Fußball-Bund ; DFB ) is the governing body of Association football, football in Germany. A founding member of both FIFA and UEFA, the DFB has jurisdiction for the German football league system ...
) in 1900.
History
Founded in 1897, for many decades FFC were the dominant club in the city. Their early successes included a South German title in their second season and a national championship in 1907. The club were also semi-finalists of the
Torneo Internazionale Stampa Sportiva, one of the first international football competitions in the world, in 1908. Those wins proved to be the height of their success, and they have not won any significant honours since. In 1916, the club managed to win the
Südkreis-Liga but the competition was heavily affected by the war and very localised.

The club belonged to the tier-one
Kreisliga Südwest and then the
Bezirksliga Baden throughout its existence from 1923 to 1933. They played mid-table in the
Gauliga Baden through the 1930s, and after the Second World War, entered the
2. Oberliga Süd.
With the formation of the
Bundesliga
The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footbal ...
, Germany's professional football league, in 1963, Freiburg found themselves seeded in the tier II
Regionalliga Süd, while
SC Freiburg were playing in the
Amateurliga Südbaden (III). FFC slipped to that level for three seasons in 1974–77 before playing their way back to
2. Bundesliga
The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...
. However the team could not draw support and suffered from poor attendance throughout the following five-year period spent in the 2nd division. When they were relegated to the amateur
Oberliga Baden-Württemberg in 1982, only a saving campaign by fans kept the club out of bankruptcy, while SC Freiburg remained in the 2. Bundesliga on their way to the top flight.
Since 1994, FFC played in the
Verbandsliga Südbaden, interrupted by the 1999–2000 season, when the club dropped to the Landesliga for a year. In 2009, the club's decline continued with a more permanent drop to the Landesliga. After finishing third in its first two attempts at promotion the club came second in the Landesliga in 2011–12 and qualified for the promotion round to the Verbandsliga. After a 2–2 draw at
FC Radolfzell the club achieved promotion by defeating
SC Offenburg 5–1.
Continued financial problems forced Freiburger FC to sell its
Möslestadion and enter into a sharing arrangement with
Blau-Weiß Wiehre. Their former stadium was taken up by SC Freiburg as a youth facility.
After a twenty-year absence, Freiburger FC returned to the Oberliga Baden-Württemberg after winning the Verbandsliga title in 2014 but were relegated again in 2016 season after just two seasons at this level. In the 2018–19 season the club finished second in the
Verbandsliga Südbaden and were again promoted to the Oberliga Baden-Württemberg.
Venues
Freiburger FC has played home matches on the sports ground on Schwarzwaldstrasse on the eastern edge of the Freiburg city since 1898. The first international football match in a Freiburg venue took place on this stadium, which could hold up to 6,000 spectators. The
Germany national team played an international friendly match against
Switzerland on 18 May 1913 and Germany lost by 1–2 in front of 10,000 spectators. In 1922 the FFC moved to the new Möslestadion. In 2000 the club moved to the Schönberg Stadium, and, since 2008, it has been playing in the Freiburg Stadium in Dietenbach.
Honours
League
*
German football championship
** Champions: 1907
*
Southern German championship
** Champions: 1898, 1907
*
Südkreis-Liga (I)
** Champions: 1916
*
Kreisliga Südwest (I)
** Champions: 1920
*
Bezirksliga Baden (I)
** Champions: 1930
*
2. Oberliga Süd (II)
** Champions: 1956
*
Oberliga Baden-Württemberg (III)
** Champions: 1984
*
Verbandsliga Südbaden (IV-VI)
** Champions: 1991, 2014
*
Amateurliga Südbaden (III)
** Champions: 1977
Cup
*
South Baden Cup (Tiers 3–5)
** Winners: 1951, 1991, 1992
Recent managers
Recent managers of the club:
Recent seasons
The recent season-by-season performance of the club:
* With the introduction of the
Regionalligas 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
The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...
, all leagues below dropped one tier.
Partner clubs
The club has strong connections to English football club
Guildford City F.C., with
Guildford
Guildford ()
is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...
being a sister city of Freiburg, and publishes news and results of the later club on its website.
Partner clubs
Guildford City F.C. website, accessed: 23 September 2011
References
External links
Official website
Freiburger FC profile at Weltfussball.de
Das deutsche Fußball-Archiv
historical German domestic league tables
{{DEFAULTSORT:Freiburg, Fc
Football clubs in Germany
Football clubs in Baden-Württemberg
Association football clubs established in 1897
1897 establishments in Germany
Sport in Freiburg im Breisgau
2. Bundesliga clubs