Alemannia Aachen

Alemannia Aachen

Full name	Aachener Turn- und Sportverein Alemannia 1900 e.V.
Nickname(s)	Kartoffelkäfer (Potato beetles) Die Alemannen (The Alemanni)
Founded	16 December 1900; 123 years ago (1900-12-16)
Ground	New Tivoli
Capacity	32,960
Chairman	Martin Fröhlich
Manager	Heiner Backhaus
League	3. Liga
2023–24	Regionalliga West, 1st of 18 (promoted)
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours
Current season

Alemannia Aachen (German pronunciation: [aleˈmani̯aːˈʔaːxn̩] ) or ATSV Alemannia 1900 is a German football club from the western city of Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia. A long term fixture of the country's second division, Alemannia enjoyed a three-year turn in the Bundesliga in the late 1960s and, after a successful 2005–06 campaign, returned to the first division for a single season. The club has since slipped to third division play and in late 2012 entered into bankruptcy. They finished their 2012–13 3. Liga schedule before resuming play in the tier IV Regionalliga West in 2013–14. ^[1]

In the 2023–24 Regionalliga, Alemannia finished 1st in the West Group, which got them immediately promoted to the 2024–25 3. Liga. ^[2]

Alemannia carries the nickname "the potato beetles" (Kartoffelkäfer) because of their striped yellow-black jerseys, which make them look like the particular insects.

History

Foundation to World War II

In the second half of the 19th century, resident English workers and businessmen brought football, in addition to the traditional equestrian sports, into the western Rhineland. The club was founded on 16 December 1900 ^[3] by a group of eighteen high school students. Knowing that another team had already taken the name 1. FC Aachen, the new club was christened FC Alemannia, using the Latin word for Germany (see Alamannia). The First World War devastated the club: the pre-war membership of 200 was reduced to a mere 37 by the conflict. In early 1919 Alemannia merged with local sports club Aachener Turnverein ^[4] 1847 to become TSV Alemannia Aachen 1900. Their new partner's interest was primarily in gymnastics rather than football and as a result the union was short-lived, with the clubs splitting again in 1924.

The city of Aachen is very near the Belgian and Dutch borders and as a result Alemannia has had frequent contact with clubs from those countries. Their first game was against the Belgian side R. Dolhain F.C., one of that country's earliest clubs. There are intensive and friendly contacts with the Dutch professional club Roda JC Kerkrade. Both clubs have the same club colors.

The team played in the Rhineland-Westphalia FA and won its first championship ^[5] there in 1907, before joining the newly formed Westdeutsche Fussball Verband in 1909. The club grew steadily as interest in football increased. They qualified for the Rheingauliga in 1921, built their own stadium in 1928, and earned admittance to the Oberliga the following year.

The club enjoyed some success in the early 1930s by advancing to the final four of the Westdeutsche championship playoffs. In 1933, German football was re-organized under the Third Reich into sixteen top-flight Gauligen. Alemannia played several seasons in the Gauliga Mittelrhein in the late 1930s and early 1940s. They finished top in their division in 1938 and advanced to the national final rounds. This was in spite of a protest by SV Beuel 06 which ultimately saw that club awarded the division championship, but too late to allow Beuel to play in the national playoff in Aachen's stead.

Alemannia is known as one of the few sports clubs of this era to offer any challenge to the Nazi regime's purge of Jews from the country's sports organizations by demanding the release of a jailed Jewish member.

Postwar and entry to the Bundesliga

In 1946, after World War II and the lifting of the ban placed by Allied occupation authorities on most types of organizations in Germany, Alemannia re-constituted itself and began play in second tier Rheinbezirk. They returned to first division play in the Oberliga West the next year, but ran into financial difficulty. They remained a steady, but unspectacular second division side, generally finishing mid-table.

Aachen's first measure of success came with an advance to the DFB-Pokal final in 1953 where they lost a 1–2 decision to Rot-Weiss Essen.

After the formation of the Bundesliga, Germany's new professional football league, in 1963, Alemannia found themselves in Regionalliga West (II). In 1965, they had another good run in German Cup competition, earning another final appearance – but were once again unsuccessful – this time losing 0–2 to Borussia Dortmund.

The club captured their division in 1967 and were promoted to the Bundesliga (I) for the 1967–68 season. They enjoyed their best ever result the next year with a second-place finish behind champion Bayern Munich. However, the following season was a disaster: the team earned only one point in play away from home and toppled to an 18th-place finish. They returned to play in the Regionalliga West (II), and in 1990 fell still further to the third division.

Road to recovery

Former logo of Alemannia Aachen

After several mediocre seasons in the second half of the 1990s, trainer Werner Fuchs rejuvenated the Alemannia squad by playing 4–4–2 without a libero (sweeper), creating a side that played an attractive, fluid offense. In 1999, the team played well and delivered an especially strong second half. They were atop the table, just weeks away from the end of the season, when tragedy struck with the unexpected death of Fuchs. The whole city was in shock, but the club managed to pull through, dedicating their promotion to their late trainer and winning the Regionalliga West/Südwest (III). ^[6] The first years in the 2. Bundesliga were tough for Aachen, both on the field and financially. The club struggled for several seasons and the situation was worsened when financial irregularities were uncovered showing the club was near bankruptcy.

The turnaround came with a new executive board under president Horst Heinrichs, trainer Dieter Hecking and manager Jörg Schmadtke. Through improved financial management, shrewd player signings, and clever game tactics, Aachen became a power once again in the 2003–04 season. They played their way to their third DFB-Pokal final appearance, knocking off TSV 1860 Munich, Bayern Munich, and Borussia Mönchengladbach, before losing 2–3 to Bundesliga champions Werder Bremen. As league champions Bremen already held a place in the UEFA Champions League, thereby making room for Aachen to take part in the UEFA Cup competition. They delivered a decent performance, advancing to the Round of 32 before going out to eventual semi-finalists AZ Alkmaar. The club's participation in the German Cup and UEFA Cup play helped to significantly improve their financial situation.

Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga

On 16 April 2006, Alemannia became the first team to earn promotion to the Bundesliga in 2005–06, ending Aachen's 36-year absence from top-flight football. However, they stayed up only a single season as they took only one point from their last eight matches of the campaign. In the middle of 2007, the club appointed former German international defender and 1990 FIFA World Champion Guido Buchwald as manager trainer, who was fired after only 14 matches. After a short interim with Alemannia's Sportsmanger Jörg Schmadtke as headcoach, he was then replaced by Jürgen Seeberger, hardly known in Germany, in the winter break of the season.

The club suffered a rapid decline after its single Bundesliga season, being relegated from the 2. Bundesliga in 2012 and from the 3. Liga the 2015 season. Alemannia consequently now plays in 3. Liga since 2024. ^[7]

Seasons

^[8]

from 1963 ^[9]

Tier	Liga	Partic.	(details)
1st	Bundesliga	4
2nd	2.Bundesliga	14
3rd	3.Liga	2	(conclude 2024-25)
region	RegionalLiga	11

Seasons (more details)

Historical chart of Alemannia Aachen league performance

Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga

Year	Division	Position	Cup	Europe
1967-68	Bundesliga (I) [10]		?	?
1968-69	Bundesliga (I)		?	?
1969-70	Bundesliga (I)		?	?
1999–2000	2. Bundesliga (II)	8th	First round	Not Qualified
2000–2001		10th	Second round
2001–2002		14th	Second round
2002–2003		6th	First round
2003–2004		6th	Final
2004–2005		6th	Second round	UEFA Cup Round of 32
2005–2006		2nd (promoted)	Second round	Not Qualified
2006–2007	Bundesliga (I)	17th (relegated)	Quarter-finals
2007–2008	2. Bundesliga (II)	7th	Third round
2008–2009		4th	Second round
2009–2010		13th	Second round
2010–2011		10th	Quarter-finals
2011–2012		17th (relegated)	First round

3. Liga and Regionalliga West

Year	Division	Position	Cup	FVM Cup
2012–13	3. Liga (III)	20th (relegated)	First round	Final
2013–14	Regionalliga West (IV)	13th	Not Qualified	First round
2014–15		2nd		Semi-final
2015–16		7th		First round
2016–17		7th		Second round
2017–18		6th		Final
2018–19		6th		Winner
2019–20		6th	First round	Final
2020–21		14th	Not Qualified	Final
2021–22		12th		Semi-final
2022–23		8th		Quarter-final
2023–24		1st (promoted)		Winner
2024-25	3. Liga (III)	?

Players

Current squad

As of 20 September 2024 ^[11]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK   GER Marcel Johnen 2 DF   GER Julius Schell 3 MF   ANG Jabez Makanda 4 DF   GER Felix Meyer 5 DF   GER Saša Strujić 6 MF   GER Frederic Baum 7 FW   GER Sascha Marquet 8 FW   GER Lukas Scepanik 9 MF   GER Bentley Baxter Bahn 10 MF   GER Anas Bakhat 11 FW   GER Kevin Goden 13 DF   GER Jan-Luca Rompf 14 FW   GER Leandro Putaro 15 DF   GER Mika Hanraths(captain) 16 MF   GER Ulrich Bapoh 17 MF   GER Julian Schwermann 18 MF   GER Soufiane El-Faouzi

No. Pos. Nation Player 19 DF   GER Florian Heister 20 DF   GER Aldin Dervisevic 21 FW   GER Anton Heinz 22 GK   GER Luca Schmidt 23 GK   GER Elias Bördner 24 FW   GER Thilo Töpken 25 DF   GER Lamar Yarbrough 26 FW   GER Dustin Willms 30 DF   GER Nils Winter 33 GK   GER Leroy Zeller 35 FW   CUW Charlison Benschop 36 MF   KOS Faton Ademi 37 FW   KOS Leon Rashica 46 MF   GER Gianluca Gaudino 47 MF   MAR Ayman Aourir — DF   GER Lars Oeßwein

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — FW   NED Cas Peters (at FSV Frankfurt until 30 June 2025)

No. Pos. Nation Player — FW   MAR Ismail Harnafi(at Borussia Mönchengladbach II until 30 June 2025)

Honours

• Bundesliga
  • Runners-up: 1968–69
• 2. Bundesliga
  • Runners-up: 2005–06
• Regionalliga West (II–IV)
  • Champions: 1964, 1966–67, 2023–24
• DFB-Pokal
  • Runners-up: 1952–53, 1964–65, 2003–04
• Middle Rhine Cup (Tiers III–V)
  • Winners: 1992–93, 1993–94, 1996–97, 1998–99, 2002, 2006, 2019, 2024
• Western German Cup Winner:
  • 1966–67

Notable players

Past (and present) players who are the subjects of Wikipedia articles can be found here.

Belgium

• Roger Claessen

Bosnia and Herzegovina

• Ivica Grlić
• Denis Pozder

Germany

• Reinhold Münzenberg
• Jupp Derwall
• Reinhold Yabo
• Lewis Holtby
• Marco Stiepermann
• Kai Havertz
• Torsten Frings
• David Odonkor
• Jan Schlaudraff

Netherlands

• Angelo Nijskens

Romania

• Ion Ionescu

Coaching history

Alemannia Aachen coaching history from 1987 to present

Diethelm Ferner  – 1987 Peter Neururer  – 1987–1989 Rolf Grünther  – 1989 Mustafa Denizli  – 1989–1990 Eckhard Krautzun  – 1990 Norbert Wagner  – 1990–1991 Michael Schleiden  – 1991 Wilfried Hannes  – 1991–1994 Helmut Graf  – 1994 Gerd vom Bruch  – 1994–1996 Werner Fuchs  – 1996–1999 André Winkhold  – 1999 Eugen Hach  – 1999–2001 Jörg Berger  – 2001–2004 Dieter Hecking  – 2004–2006 Michael Frontzeck  – 2006–2007 Guido Buchwald  – 2007

Jörg Schmadtke  – 2007 Jürgen Seeberger  – 2008–2009 Willi Kronhardt 2009 Michael Krüger 2009–2010 Peter Hyballa 2010–2011 Friedhelm Funkel 2011–2012 Ralf Außem 2011, 2012 René van Eck 2012–2013 Peter Schubert 2013–2015 Christian Benbennek 2015 Fuat Kılıç 2015–2020 Stefan Vollmerhausen 2020–2021 Kristoffer Andersen 2021 Patrick Helmes 2021 Fuat Kılıç 2021–2022 Helge Hohl 2022–2023 Heiner Backhaus 2023–

Stadium

Main article: New Tivoli

Alemannia Aachen used to play at the Old Tivoli which had a capacity of 21,632 spectators (3,632 seats). One of Germany's better known stadiums, it was built in 1928 and was renovated several times. The club played its 2004 UEFA Cup matches, however, in Cologne's RheinEnergieStadion in order to meet the stadium capacity requirements in place for the competition.

In August 2009 Aachen opened a new stadium, the New Tivoli, which has a capacity of 32,960 spectators (11,681 in standing areas).

Pitch invasion at Aachen's Tivoli after Alemannia Aachen's confirmed promotion to the 3rd football league on April 27th, 2024.

Basketball

Alemania Aachen also had a successful basketball department reaching the German Championship final twice in 1959 and 1962. The team eventually won the title two consecutive seasons (1963 and 1964). The finals are listed below:

• 1959, 09.05.59 Augsburg: USC Heidelberg - Alemannia Aachen 56–42
• 1962, 21.05.62 Wiesbaden USC Heidelberg - Alemannia Aachen 69–65
• 1963, 19.05.63 Frankfurt-Höchst: Alemannia Aachen - Neuköllner SF (Berlin) 59–49
• 1964, 24.05.64 Essen: Alemannia Aachen - SSV Hagen 72–59

Honours

Basketball Bundesliga:

• Champions : 1963, 1964
• Runners-up : 1959, 1962

Logo history

Alemannia's logos can be seen at Alemannia Aachen logo history. ^[12]

References

1. "Alemannia Aachen muss Insolvenz anmelden". Aachener Zeitung. 16 November 2012.^{[ permanent dead link ]}
2. "Alemannias elfjährige Profi-Abstinenz in der Regionalliga". aachener-zeitung-online (in German). 1 May 2024. Retrieved 1 May 2024.
3. "Over 150 years in the spirit of democracy and tolerance". alemannia-freiburg.de. 1960. Retrieved 9 June 2024.
4. Turnverein, Aachener (2008). "Sport Für Alle". atv1847.de. Retrieved 9 June 2024.
5. M. Breuer, Laumen (2010). "Spieldaten". alemannia-aachen.de. Retrieved 9 June 2024.
6. Im memoriam Werner Fuchs (in German)
7. "Κάηκε το Αάχεν για την επιστροφή της Αλεμάνια στις επαγγελματικές κατηγορίες μετά από έντεκα χρόνια!". sport-fm.gr. 27 April 2024. Retrieved 1 July 2024.
8. "History of the TT department". tischtennis-alemannia.de/. Retrieved 17 June 2024.
9. "The history of the Bundesliga explained". www.bundesliga.com. 1 April 2022. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
10. "Bundesliga club-by-club historical guide: Alemannia Aachen". bundesliga.com. 7 October 2023. Retrieved 17 June 2024.
11. "Mannschaft & Trainer – Profis – Alemannia Aachen". alemannia-aachen.de. Retrieved 22 August 2023.
12. "Alemannia Aachen Logo History". footballkitarchive.com. 2003. Retrieved 18 June 2024.

External links

• Official website