Kickers Offenbach

Kickers Offenbach

Full name	Offenbacher Fußball-Club Kickers 1901 e. V.
Nickname(s)	OFC
Founded	27 May 1901;122 years ago (1901-05-27)
Ground	Bieberer Berg
Capacity	20,500
Chairman	Joachim Wagner
Manager	Christian Neidhart
League	Regionalliga Südwest
2022–23	7th of 18
Home colours Away colours Third colours

Offenbacher Fussball-Club Kickers, commonly known as Kickers Offenbach, is a German association football club in Offenbach am Main, Hesse. The club was founded on 27 May 1901 in the Rheinischer Hof restaurant by footballers who had left established local clubs including Melitia, Teutonia, Viktoria, Germania and Neptun. From 1921 to 1925 they were united with VfB 1900 Offenbach as VfR Kickers Offenbach until resuming their status as a separate side, Offenbacher FC Kickers. ^[1] Since 2012, Kickers Offenbach's stadium has been the Sparda Bank Hessen Stadium.

History

The club became one of the founding members of the Nordkreis-Liga in 1909, where it played until the outbreak of the war. In post-First World War Germany, Kickers played in the Kreisliga Südmain (I), winning this league in 1920, 1922 and 1923.

The club played as a mid-table side in the Bezirksliga Main-Hessen through the late 1920s and early 1930s. German football was re-organized in 1933 under the Third Reich into sixteen first division Gauligen. Kickers joined the Gauliga Südwest, where the team immediately captured the title and entered the national playoffs for the first time. They fared poorly there, but did manage to raise their overall level of play in the following seasons, going on to win five consecutive divisional championships from 1940 to 1944. ^[2]

In the early 1940s, the Gauliga Südwest had been split into the Gauliga Westmark and the Gauliga Hessen-Nassau, where Kickers played. Their best post-season result came in 1942 when the team was able to advance as far as the semi-finals in the national championship rounds before they were decisively put out 0:6 by Schalke 04 , who were on their way to their sixth championship as the era's most dominant side. By 1944, Allied armies were rolling through Germany and the Gauliga Hessen-Nassau did not play the 1944–45 season. In their 1953 Asian Tour, they played twelve matches. ^[3]

Historical chart of Kickers Offenbach league performance

Stadion am Bieberer Berg (1921–2011)

Sparda-Bank-Hessen-Stadion (since 2012)

Entry to the Bundesliga and scandal

The club found itself in the new Regionalliga Süd (II) and play in the Bundesliga would have to wait until 1968. The team was immediately relegated, but returned to the upper league for play in 1970–71. In addition to their return to the Bundesliga, the club would win one of its few honours in 1970 with a 2:1 German Cup victory over 1. FC Köln.

However, the end of the 1971 season would find Kickers Offenbach at the centre of the Bundesliga scandal. The club president, Horst-Gregorio Canellas, went to the German Football Association (Deutsche Fussball Bund or German Football Association) after being approached by a player from another team looking for a cash bonus for that club's effort in beating one of Offenbach's rivals in the fight against relegation. Receiving no help from league officials, Canellas began gathering evidence of how widespread the payoffs were. In the end more than fifty players from seven clubs, two coaches, and six game officials were found guilty of trying to influence the outcome of games through bribes, but Canellas was unable to save his club from relegation. The club central to the scandal – Arminia Bielefeld  – would not be punished until the following season, too late to save Offenbach. ^[4]

The scandal had a negative effect on the young league and contributed to plummeting attendance figures. One outcome of the whole affair was the further evolution of German football; salary restrictions were removed and the 2. Bundesliga also became a professional league. Kickers immediately returned to the top level. The best finish was 7th in the 1972–73 season. They were leaders for 5 rounds and beat Bayern Munich 6–0 in the 1974–75 season but were relegated to the second level in the 1975–76 season.

Decline and recovery

Kickers spent the next seven years in the 2. Bundesliga before making a return to the Bundesliga for just a single season in 1983–84. In 1985, financial problems led to the club being penalized points and driven into the third division amateur Oberliga Hessen. They recovered, only to be denied a licence in 1989, and were sent back down again. By the mid-1990s they again slipped into the Oberliga Hessen (IV). They appeared in the final of the national amateur championship in 1994 where they lost 1–0 to Preußen Münster. Offenbach returned the 2. Bundesliga in 1999 and were immediately relegated after a 17th-place finish. In each of these seasons the team took part in the national amateur championship, winning the title in 1999.

The club next appeared in the 2. Bundesliga in 2005. After two lower table finishes, Kickers were relegated to the 3. Liga on the final day of the 2007–08 season following a 3–0 defeat to fellow strugglers VfL Osnabrück.

On 18 July 2012, the club's new ground, the Sparda Bank Hessen Stadium, was opened with a pre-season friendly against Bayer Leverkusen. The club was refused a 3. Liga licence at the end of the 2012–13 season and was relegated to the Regionalliga, with SV Darmstadt 98 taking its place. The club, €9 million in debt, could have faced insolvency and a restart at the lowest level of the German football league system. ^[5]

The club won the Regionalliga Südwest in 2014–15 and earned the right to take part in the promotion round to the 3. Liga, where they missed out on promotion to Magdeburg. The loss was overshadowed by approximately 40 Offenbach supporters storming the field in the 84th minute and forcing a twenty-minute interruption to the return leg. ^[6]

Recent seasons

The recent season-by-season performance of the team: ^{[7] [8]}

Kickers Offenbach Season Division Tier Position 1968–1969 [9] 1. Bundesliga I 18th ↓ 1970–1971 [10] 1. Bundesliga I 17th ↓ 1972–1973 [11] 1. Bundesliga I 7th 1973–1974 [12] 1. Bundesliga I 10th 1974–1975 [13] 1. Bundesliga I 8th 1975–1976 [14] 1. Bundesliga I 17th ↓ 1983–1984 [15] 1. Bundesliga I 17th ↓ 1994–95 Regionalliga Süd III 15th ↓ 1995–96 Hessenliga IV 3rd 1996–97 Hessenliga 2nd ↑ 1997–98 Regionalliga Süd III 2nd 1998–99 Regionalliga Süd 2nd ↑ 1999–2000 2. Bundesliga II 17th ↓ 2000–01 Regionalliga Süd III 10th 2001–02 Regionalliga Süd 8th 2002–03 Regionalliga Süd 8th 2003–04 Regionalliga Süd 13th 2004–05 Regionalliga Süd 1st ↑ 2005–06 2. Bundesliga II 11th 2006–07 2. Bundesliga 14th 2007–08 2. Bundesliga 15th ↓ 2008–09 3. Liga III 7th 2009–10 3. Liga 7th 2010–11 3. Liga 7th 2011–12 3. Liga 8th 2012–13 3. Liga 15th ↓ 2013–14 Regionalliga Südwest IV 8th 2014–15 Regionalliga Südwest 1st 2015–16 Regionalliga Südwest 4th 2016–17 Regionalliga Südwest 12th 2017–18 Regionalliga Südwest 3rd 2018–19 Regionalliga Südwest 5th

Kickers Offenbach II Season Division Tier Position 1999–2000 Oberliga Hessen IV 15th ↓ 2000–01 Landesliga Hessen-Süd V 3rd 2001–02 Landesliga Hessen-Süd 11th 2002–03 Landesliga Hessen-Süd 3rd 2003–04 Landesliga Hessen-Süd 5th 2004–05 Landesliga Hessen-Süd 3rd 2005–06 Landesliga Hessen-Süd 9th 2006–07 Landesliga Hessen-Süd 3rd 2007–08 Landesliga Hessen-Süd 1st ↑ 2008–09 Hessenliga 4th 2009–10 Hessenliga 5th 2010–11 Hessenliga 5th 2011–12 Hessenliga 12th 2012–13 Hessenliga 13th 2013–14 Hessenliga 18th ↓ 2014–15 Verbandsliga Hessen-Süd VI 13th 2015–16 Verbandsliga Hessen-Süd 17th ↓ 2016–17 Gruppenliga VII ↑ Promoted ↓ Relegated

• 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. Also in 2008, the majority of football leagues in Hesse were renamed, with the Oberliga Hessen becoming the Hessenliga, the Landesliga becoming the Verbandsliga, the Bezirksoberliga becoming the Gruppenliga and the Bezirksliga becoming the Kreisoberliga.

Current squad

As of 29 August 2023 ^[16]

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 Johannes Brinkies 3 DF   GER Maximilian Rossmann 6 MF   GER Leon Müller 7 MF   GER Rafael Garcia 8 MF   GER Maik Vetter 9 MF   GER Mike Feigenspan 10 MF   GER Marcos Álvarez 11 MF   GER Dominik Wanner 13 DF   GER Noel Knothe 14 DF   SVN Kristjan Arh-Česen 17 MF   GER Christian Derflinger 18 GK   GER Lucas Becker 19 FW   CRO Noah Vuko 20 FW   GER Irwin Pfeiffer

No. Pos. Nation Player 21 GK   GER Maximilian Engl 22 GK   GER Marcel Jonetszko 23 DF   GER Sascha Korb 25 MF   GER Björn Jopek 26 MF   BIH Almin Mesanovic 27 DF   GER Jayson Breitenbach 29 FW   GER Keanu Staude 30 MF   GER Roko Mrvelj 31 DF   MOZ Ronny Marcos 32 DF   GER Vincent Moreno Giesel 33 MF   AZE Dimitrij Nazarov 35 MF   GER Damjan Balic 36 FW   GER Jan Urbich 39 MF   GER Julian Albrecht

Coaches

The managers of the club: ^[17]

Name	Period
Franz Nagy	1922
Rudolf Keller	1926
Mac Pherson	1927
Rudolf Keller	1928
Paul Oßwald	1946–1958
Bogdan Cuvaj	1958–1962
Hans Merkle	1962–1964
Radoslav Momirski	1964–1965
Kurt Baluses	1965 – Feb. 1968
Kurt Schreiner	Mar. – Jun. 1968
Paul Oßwald	Jul. 1968 – Nov. 1969
Kurt Schreiner	Dec. 1969
Willi Keim	Dec. 1969
Zlatko Čajkovski	Jan – Jul. 1970
Kurt Schreiner	Aug. 1970
Aki Schmidt	Sep. 1970
Rudi Gutendorf	Sep. 1970 – Feb. 1971
Kuno Klötzer	Feb. 1971 – Jun. 1972
Gyula Lóránt	Jul. 1972 – Mar. 1974
Otto Rehhagel	Apr. 1974 – Dec. 1975
Zlatko Čajkovski	Jan. – Oct. 1976
Udo Klug	Nov. 1976 – Jun. 1978
Horst Heese	Jul. 1978 – Jun. 1980
Franz Brungs	Jul. 1980 – May 1982
Lothar Buchmann	Jun. 1982 – Mar. 1984
Hermann Nuber	Mar. 1984 – Jun. 1984
Fritz Fuchs	Jul – Dec 1984
Horst Heese	Dec 1984 – Jun 1985
Wilfried Kohls	Jul 1985 – Jun 1986
Franz Brungs	Jul 1986 – May 1987
Robert Jung	May 1987 – Jun 1987
Dieter Renner	Jul 1987 – Mar 1989
Nikolaus Semlitsch	Mar 1989 – Dec 1989
Hans-Günter Neues	Dec 1989 – Apr 1990
Kurt Geinzer	Apr 1990 – Jun 1992
Lothar Buchmann	Jul 1992 – Oct 1994
Valentin Herr	Oct 1994 – Apr 1995
Wilfried Kohls	Maz 1995 – Jun 1995
Wolfgang Uschek	Jul 1995 – Dec 1995
Ronny Borchers	Jan 1996 – Apr 1997
Wilfried Kohls/Jörg Hambückers	Apr 1997 – Jun 1997
Hans-Jürgen Boysen	Jul 1997 – Oct 1999
Peter Neururer	Oct 1999 – Aug 2000
Dragoslav Stepanovic	Aug 2000 – Sep 2000
Knut Hahn	Sep 2000 – Oct 2000
Wilfried Kohls	Oct 2000 – Oct 2000
Knut Hahn	Nov 2000 – Nov 2000
Dieter Müller/Oliver Roth	Nov 2000 – Dec 2000
Ramon Berndroth	Dec 2000 – Aug 2003
Lars Schmidt	Aug 2003 – Mar 2004
Hans-Jürgen Boysen	Mar 2004 – Jan 2006
Wolfgang Frank	Jan 2006 – Oct 2007
Jørn Andersen	Nov 2007 – May 2008
Hans-Jürgen Boysen	May 2008 – Oct 2009
Steffen Menze	Oct 2009 – Feb 2010
Wolfgang Wolf	Feb 2010 – Feb 2011
Thomas Gerstner	Feb 2011 – May 2011
Arie van Lent	May 2011 – Feb 2013
Rico Schmitt	Feb 2013 – Jan 2016
Oliver Reck	Jan 2016 – Jun 2018
Daniel Steuernagel	Jul 2018 – Sep 2019
Steven Keßler	Sep 2019 – Dec 2019
Angelo Barletta	Dec 2019 – Dec 2020
Sreto Ristić	Jan 2021 – Jun 2022
Alexander Schmidt	Jul 2022 – Sep 2022
Ersan Parlatan	Oct 2022 – Apr 2023
Christian Neidhart	Jul 2023 –

Source: Book "Kickers Offenbach – die ersten hundert jahre" ("Kickers Offenbach – the first hundred years")

Notable players

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

Walter Bechtold Matthias Becker Uwe Bein Egon Bihn Manfred Binz Fred-Werner Bockholt Horst Buhtz Saša Ćirić Siegfried Gast Horst Gecks Jimmy Hartwig Sigfried Held Valentin Herr Bernd Helmschrot Josef Hickersberger Gerhard Kaufhold Johann Kondert Engelbert Berti Kraus Walter Krause Sebastian Rode André Hahn

Erwin Kremers John Anthony Huffine Helmut Kremers Erwin Kostedde Michael Kutzop Dieter Müller Hermann Nuber Helmut Preisendörfer Oliver Reck Hans Richter Manfred Ritschel Winfried Schäfer Egon Schmitt Nikolaus Semlitsch Moses Sichone Lothar Skala Reinhard Stumpf César Thier Suat Türker Ion Vlădoiu Rudi Völler Olivier Occean

Gernot Rohr Mamadou Diabang Aristide Bancé Niko Bungert

Honours

The club's honours:

League German football championship Runners-up: 1950, 1959 Regionalliga Süd (II) Winners: 1967, 1970, 1972 Runners-up: 1966, 1968 2. Bundesliga Süd (II) Runners-up: 1981 Regionalliga Süd (III) Winners: 2005 Runners-up: 1998, 1999 Regionalliga Südwest (IV) Champions: 2015 Oberliga Hessen (III–IV) Winners: 1986, 1987, 1993 Runners-up: 1994, 1997 Cup DFB-Pokal Winners: 1970 Reserve team Landesliga Hessen-Süd (IV–V) Winners: 1984, 1999, 2008 Runners-up: 1979, 1983 Landesliga Hessen-Mitte Winners: 1971 Regional Kreisliga Südmain Winners: 1920, 1922, 1923 Gauliga Südwest/Mainhessen Winners: 1934, 1940, 1941 Gauliga Hessen-Nassau Winners: 1942, 1943, 1944 Oberliga Süd Winners: 1949, 1955 Runners-up: 1957, 1959, 1960 Hesse Cup (Tiers III–VII) Winners: (12) 1949, 1993, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2022 Runners-up: 1950 Youth German Under 19 championship Runners-up: 1973 German Under 17 championship Runners-up: 1985

Kickers Offenbach II

Main article: Kickers Offenbach II

Kickers second team played in the Amateurliga Hessen (III) from 1971–74 until being disbanded after the 1973–74 season. The reconstituted side reappeared in the Amateuroberliga Hessen (III) in 1984, but were sent down after the relegation of the senior side from the 2. Bundesliga. The amateur's next appearance of note was in the Oberliga Hessen (IV) in 1999 in a campaign that ended in relegation after a 15th-place finish. In 2008–09, it returned to the Hessenliga and finished in fourth place. After six seasons in the league the team finished 18th in the Hessenliga in 2014 and was relegated to the Verbandsliga. ^[18]

Recent managers

Recent managers of the team: ^[19]

Manager	Start	Finish
Steffen Menze	1 July 2005	30 June 2006
Ramon Berndroth	1 July 2006	30 June 2008
Steffen Menze	1 July 2008	30 June 2009
Jürgen Baier	1 July 2009	30 June 2010
Günter Stiebig	1 July 2011	30 June 2013
Alexander Conrad	1 July 2013	Present

References

1. Grüne, Hardy (2001). Vereinslexikon. Kassel: AGON Sportverlag ISBN   3-89784-147-9
2. Grüne, Hardy (1996). Vom Kronprinzen bis zur Bundesliga. Kassel: AGON Sportverlag ISBN   3-928562-85-1
3. Neil Morrison (12 November 2015). "Kickers Offenbach (West Germany) Asian tour 1953". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation . Retrieved 24 June 2021.
4. Ulrich Hesse-Lichtenberger (2002). Tor! The Story of German Football. WSC Books ISBN   0-9540134-5-X
5. Ruhl: "Ein bitterer Tag für den OFC" (in German)kicker.de, published: 3 June 2013, accessed: 4 June 2013
6. 3. Liga: Magdeburg, Würzburg, Bremen II steigen auf (in German) Weltfussball.de, published: 31 May 2015, accessed: 1 June 2015
7. Das deutsche Fußball-Archiv (in German) Historical German domestic league tables
8. Fussball.de – Ergebnisse Archived 18 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine (in German) Tables and results of all German football leagues
9. 30 Jahre Bundesliga, DFB special edition booklet
10. 30 Jahre Bundesliga, DFB special edition booklet
11. 30 Jahre Bundesliga, DFB special edition booklet
12. 30 Jahre Bundesliga, DFB special edition booklet
13. 30 Jahre Bundesliga, DFB special edition booklet
14. 30 Jahre Bundesliga, DFB special edition booklet
15. 30 Jahre Bundesliga, DFB special edition booklet
16. Mannschaft/Offenbacher Kickers
17. Kickers Offenbach .:. Trainer von A-Z (in German) weltfussball.de, accessed: 5 December 2011
18. Kickers Offenbach II at Weltfussball.de (in German) accessed: 5 December 2011
19. Kickers Offenbach II .:. Trainer von A-Z (in German) weltfussball.de, accessed: 5 December 2011

External links

• Official website (in German)
• The Abseits Guide to German Soccer
• Kickers Offenbach at Weltfussball.de (in German)