FK Pirmasens

FK Pirmasens

Full name	Fußballklub 03 Pirmasens e.V.
Nickname(s)	Die Macht vom Horeb
Founded	1903
Ground	Sportpark Husterhöhe
Capacity	10,000
Chairman	Emil Schweitzer
Manager	Steven Dooley
League	Oberliga Rheinland-Pfalz/Saar (V)
2022–23	3rd
Home colours Away colours

FK Pirmasens is a German association football club in Pirmasens, Rhineland-Palatinate. The team was formed as the football section of the gymnastics and sports club TV Pirminia Pirmasens in 1903 and became independent in 1914. They took on their current name in 1925. FK is one of the few teams that uses the German Klub in their name as opposed to the commonly affected English-style term Club.

History

Historical chart of FK Pirmasens league performance

The club developed into a strong amateur side in southwestern Germany. In post-First World War play, the club was grouped in the tier-one Kreisliga Saar in 1919 but then moved to the Kreisliga Pfalz in 1920. From 1930 to 1933 the team made three consecutive appearances in the final of the Southern German championship, on the strength of four Bezirksliga Rhein-Saar titles, and between 1934 and 1936 were three times vice-champions of the Gauliga Südwest, one of sixteen top flight divisions formed in the re-organization of German football under the Third Reich. World War II was hard on the club: following a 0–26 beating at the hands of 1. FC Kaiserslautern in 1942 they withdrew from competition until after the conflict. After the war the club played in the Oberliga Südwest and captured league titles there in 1958, 1959 and 1960 while finishing as vice champions in 1954 and 1962. The club was so popular at the time that they often had to abandon their home ground in favour of the stadium in nearby Ludwigshafen in order to accommodate crowds of up to 65,000 spectators.

After the formation of the Bundesliga, Germany's new professional league, in 1963 Pirmasens found themselves in the second division Regionalliga Südwest where they consistently finished in the upper half of the league table over the course of the next decade. While they had several opportunities to advance to the Bundesliga through the promotion rounds they were unsuccessful. By the mid-1970s the club was faltering. They narrowly missed relegation in 1977, only staying up because rival SV Völklingen was denied a license. However, by 1980 they found themselves in the Amateur Oberliga Südwest (III), slipped to the Verbandsliga Südwest by 1993, and just two seasons later were playing in the Landesliga Südwest (VI). The club has recovered nicely and climbed as high as the third division Regionalliga Süd in 2006–07.

In 2006, the club stunned German football when they defeated Werder Bremen in the first round of the DFB-Pokal in a penalty shootout.

Since 2007 the club played in the Oberliga Südwest where the team has achieved good results, coming second in 2010 and 2011. From 2012 to 2013 the Oberliga Südwest was renamed Oberliga Rheinland-Pfalz/Saar, with FKP continuing in this league. The club won the championship in 2014 and earned promotion to the Regionalliga Südwest.

Reserve team

The club's reserve team, FK Pirmasens II, achieved its greatest success in 2014–15 when it won promotion to the Oberliga Rheinland-Pfalz/Saar.

Current squad

As of 23 September 2021

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 Benjamin Reitz 2 DF   GER Jonas Vogt 4 DF   GER Kevin Frisorger 5 MF   GER Daniel Bohl 6 MF   GER Yannick Griess 7 MF   GER Benno Mohr 8 FW   ANG Jabez Makanda 9 MF   GER David Becker 10 MF   GER Luca Eichhorn 11 FW   GER Philipp Herrmann 12 MF   GER Luka Dimitrijevic 14 DF   GER Kevin Klein 15 MF   GER Tim Hecker

No. Pos. Nation Player 16 MF   GER Sascha Hammann 17 DF   GER Manuel Grünnagel 18 GK   GER Ramon Büsken 19 DF   GER Moritz Zimmer 20 FW   GER Dennis Krob 21 MF   GER Arman Ardestani 23 MF   GER Salif Cissé 24 DF   GER Bastian Skorski 26 MF   GER Leon Ampadu Wiafe 27 GK   GER Jan Schulz 29 MF   GER Mike Scharwath 32 FW   GRE Konstantinos Neofytos

Honours

The club's honours:

League Oberliga Südwest (I) Champions: 1958, 1959, 1960 Runners-up: 1954, 1962 Bezirksliga Rhein-Saar (Saar division) (I) Champions: 1930, 1931, 1932, 1933 Regionalliga Südwest (II) Champions: 1966 2nd Bundesliga Süd (II) Runners-up: 1975 Oberliga Südwest (IV) Champions: 1999, 2006 Oberliga Rheinland-Pfalz/Saar (V) Champions: 2014 Verbandsliga Südwest (V) Champions: 1997, 2015‡

Cup South West Cup Winners: 1999, 2006

• ^‡ Denotes won by reserve team.

Recent seasons

The recent season-by-season performance of the club: ^{[1] [2]}

Season	Division	Tier	Position
1999–2000	Regionalliga West/Südwest	III	17th ↓
2000–01	Oberliga Südwest	IV	8th
2001–02	Oberliga Südwest		7th
2002–03	Oberliga Südwest		13th
2003–04	Oberliga Südwest		12th
2004–05	Oberliga Südwest		10th
2005–06	Oberliga Südwest		1st ↑
2006–07	Regionalliga Süd	III	17th ↓
2007–08	Oberliga Südwest	IV	10th
2008–09	Oberliga Südwest	V	3rd
2009–10	Oberliga Südwest		2nd
2010–11	Oberliga Südwest		2nd
2011–12	Oberliga Südwest		3rd
2012–13	Oberliga Rheinland-Pfalz/Saar		8th
2013–14	Oberliga Rheinland-Pfalz/Saar		1st ↑
2014–15	Regionalliga Südwest	IV	14th
2015–16	Regionalliga Südwest		13th
2016–17	Regionalliga Südwest		14th ↓
2017–18	Oberliga Rheinland-Pfalz/Saar	V	2nd ↑
2018–19	Regionalliga Südwest	IV	9th
2019–20	Regionalliga Südwest		16th

• With the introduction of the Regionalligas in 1994 and the 3. Liga in 2008 as the new third tier, below the 2. Bundesliga, all leagues below dropped one tier.

Key

↑ Promoted

↓ Relegated

Famous players

Heinz Kubsch, played for West Germany's 1954 World Cup winning Miracle of Bern side.

References

1. Das deutsche Fußball-Archiv (in German) Historical German domestic league tables
2. Fussball.de – Ergebnisse Archived 18 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine (in German) Tables and results of all German football leagues

External links

• Official website (in German)
• The Abseits Guide to German Soccer
• FK Pirmasens at Weltfussball.de
• Das deutsche Fußball-Archiv historical German domestic league tables (in German)