SAMSTAG 15:30

Founded: Jun 2, 1900
Club Members: 37,200
Nickname: Die Roten Teufel 
Coach: Torsten Lieberknecht
Captain: Marlon Ritter

German Champions / Bundesliga: 4
DFB-Pokal: 2
German Super Cup Winner: 1
Intertoto Cup: 2
Bundesliga.2 Champions: 2
Landespokal Südwest Winner: 2

Website: www.fck.de
 

One of Germany's most traditional and iconic clubs, 1.FC Kaiserslautern emerged in its current form in 1933 after a series of mergers brought together various other clubs in the area, and their pre-war record was largely unremarkable with much of it spent bouncing between regional leagues after the re-organisation of German football under the Third Reich. Following the war however legendary player Friedrich 'Fritz' Walter returned to the club from a POW camp in Romania and, along with his younger brother Ottmar, formed part of the Kaiserslautern team that rallied around the red flag and dominated German football for the next decade. German champions in 1951 and 1953, along with runner-up finishes on three other occasions, the team also formed the backbone of the national team that united a country still struggling to come to terms with the effects of Hitler's tyrannical reign when they won the 1954 World Cup final against Ferenc Puskas' all-conquering Hungarians - still referred to this day as "Das Wunder von Bern" (The Miracle of Bern).

FCK's performances had begun to tail off but, given their overall influence on the German game, the German FA (DFB) invited them to form part of the new Bundesliga in 1963 - although the wait for honours would continue with losing DFB-Pokal final appearances in 1972, 1976 and 1981 being the closest they got to further domestic success. On the continental front, they enjoyed a fine march to the UEFA Cup semi-final in 1982, handing out Real Madrid's joint heaviest defeat in European competition (5-0) in the quarter-finals, before losing out to eventual winners IFK Gothenburg.

In 1990, the glow of reunification became even brighter when the imperious West German Mannschaft enjoyed a mighty last hurrah at Italia '90, and  FCK shared in the feelgood factor sweeping across the country by lifting the DFB-Pokal that year with a 3-2 win over Werder Bremen in the final. With a team built around the likes of Stefan Kuntz, Bruno Labbadia, Bjarne Goldbaek and Thomas Dooley, they carried the momentum into the following season and became surprise Bundesliga champions for the first time before adding another DFB-Pokal to the honours board in 1996 - although that triumph was marred as the club suffered relegation from the Bundesliga for the first time in their history at the end of the season.

The relegation hurt. 1.FC Kaiserslautern wasn't just any club - they were a traditional powerhouse with a passionate fanbase, a proud history and a stadium named after one of the country's favourite sons. To drop into the second division felt like a betrayal of that legacy although no one at the time could have predicted that the setback merely set the scene for one of the most memorable comebacks in football history. 

Having been unceremoniously fired as Bayern München boss just four days before the 1996 UEFA Cup final, maverick coach Otto Rehhagel arrived in the Rhineland-Palatinate that summer and, in the first of two major career turn-ups, delivered a masterclass in how to marshal limited resources as Die Roten Teufel' (The Red Devils) outpaced VfL Wolfsburg and Hertha BSC to the Bundesliga.2 title in 1997 before achieving the impossible by becoming the only side to win the Bundesliga after being promoted the previous season. 

For Rehhagel, it was apt that the opening weekend of that historic 1997-98 season saw his newly promoted side travel to face champions Bayern München and foreshadowing what was come, they came away from the Olympisastadion with a 1-0 win courtesy of Danish defender Michael Schjønberg's solitary strike. Despite picking up 33 points out of the next 42 available and sitting top of the tree by December, they'd gone largely under the radar and many people ignored talk of an unlikely title win despite Bayern and Dortmund having rocky starts to their campaigns. A key aspect of Kaiserslautern's success was Rehhagel's use of 33 year old Czech international Miroslav Kadlec as a Libero (sweeper) - a hallmark of German football inspired by the likes of Franz Beckenbauer, Klaus Augenthaler, Lothar Matthäus and Matthias Sammer; and with Kadlec playing behind the likes of Harry Koch and Axel Roos, Swiss international Ciriaco Sforza pulling the strings in midfield alongside a young Michael Ballack and Olaf Marschall as the main man in attack, Kaiserslautern were suddenly much greater than the sum of their parts. After the winter break, they drew more than they won but after beating Bayern again in March they didn't look back and Kaiserslautern's unlikely heroes wrapped up the title on the penultimate day of the season with a 4-0 home win over VfL Wolfsburg while Bayern could only draw 0-0 in Duisburg. While Ballack's status rose after 1998, the other names in this side are still unfamiliar to most outside Germany. There were no superstars, and the team spirit instilled by Rehhagel overshadowed the need for any names to be put in lights.

The 'Miracle of Kaiserslautern' turned German football on its head and gave Otto Rehhagel revenge on his former employers, but ironically it also set Kaiserslautern on the slippery slope to a long and steady decline. While Bayern have gone from strength-to-strength since; mistake after mistake, mismanagement and misfortune would eventually leave a club with a special place in football history well and truly on the brink.

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Kadlec left the club in the summer, along with Pavel Kuka and World Cup winning left-back Andreas Brehme through retirement. Rehhagel failed to replace the departures like-for-like, and though a respectable fifth-place finish was achieved in 1998-99 along with a Champions League quarter-final appearance, the seeds of disharmony behind the scenes were already planted. The club allowed Ballack to leave for Bayer 04 Leverkusen, much to the dismay of supporters; before Sforza, now captain, publicly criticised Rehhagel and his tactics. He was dropped and club CEO Jurgen Freidrich was called in to mediate as members of the squad supported their captain. Sforza was eventually brought back into the fold but with coach and captain no longer on speaking terms, the team spirit that had carried them to the Bundesliga title began to crumble and by October 2000, King Otto's reign was over, resigning after what he saw as a smear campaign against him.

Whilst Rehhagel would go on to top his achievements at Kaiserslautern by coaching a plucky Greek side to Euro 2004 glory, dark clouds were gathering over the Betze and shortly after coming close to making a UEFA Cup Final appearance in 2001, overextension and mismanagement had brought FCK to the brink of bankruptcy. Star signing Mario Basler, who is remembered as much for his smoking and drinking as for his undeniable footballing talent, provoked one of the first of a steady stream of questions about the club’s finances when it was revealed he was paid a secretive DM 5 million signing-on fee that Kaiserslautern tried to hide on their books as a loan. A reformist club boss, René Jaeggi, promised to get to the bottom of the issue by bringing in auditors, who duly uncovered widespread tax evasion. It transpired players had been paid via foreign bank accounts, and a €9m fine from the German tax office was added to the club’s debts, which had mounted to around €50m by 2003. 

The existing club management were forced out and the Fritz Walter Stadion was sold to the city authorities for €58 million in a bid to save the club from financial disaster. Even things that were supposed to lift the mood of the club like bringing the World Cup to Kaiserslautern in 2006 ended up turning against them as the city council increased the club's annual rent to €3.2 million following the expansion of the Fritz Walter Stadion which ran significantly over its initial budget ahead of the tournament.

This was easily affordable ... as long as FCK remained in the Bundesliga. However, after slowly stumbling down the table for the next few seasons, relegation in 2006 was hardly a surprise, and neither was the four-year stint in Bundesliga.2 that followed with the club needing the riches of top-flight football to be able to pay their rent ... but at the same time needing to invest in the playing squad to get there. The catch-22 situation eventually caught up with the club and by 2016 they couldn't afford to put together a squad capable of winning promotion and, as mediocrity set in, the inevitable drop to the 3.Liga came in 2018.

'Lautern were easily the biggest club in the third tier, and their attendances remained the best in the league at over 21,000 on average. But even with such loyal support behind them, things were about to get worse before they got better; and in 2020, Kaiserslautern finally paid the price for two decades of turmoil on the pitch, near constant backroom conflict and a lack of secure financial footing when the club was officially declared bankrupt.

That could have been the end of one of German football’s institutions, but Kaiserslautern showed resolve reminiscent of their 1998 Bundesliga triumph. CEO Soeren Oliver Voight successfully filed for bankruptcy protection arguing that the COVID-19 pandemic had hampered talks with would-be investors and a financial restructuring plan was put in place to walk the club back from the cliff edge, including a salary cut for all staff. With the club's financial future secured, there was optimism that The Red Devils could make a push for promotion back to Bundesliga.2 and, despite a late season collapse which saw Marco Antwerpen replaced by ex-Augsburg and Erzgebirge Aue coach Dirk Schuster, they regained their place in Bundesliga.2 in 2022 after a 2-0 play-off victory over SG Dynamo Dresden. They even reached the DFB-Pokal final in 2023-24 before losing out to Bayern 04 Leverkusen - although former player Friedhelm Funkel had been brought in earlier in the season to steer them away from the drop zone.

Several backroom supremos with seemingly honourable intentions to turn the club’s fortunes around have come and gone over fruitless decades. None have succeeded and glory on the pitch has remained elusive. But there remain reasons for hope. FC Union Berlin and Paderborn have shown in recent years that it is possible to get to the Bundesliga on a modest budget and the club remain optimistic that they are close to finding the mix of young ambitious players with the experience needed to mount a promotion challenge. And if the next generation of players need any inspiration, then they don't have to look any further than the club’s past with Kaiserslautern having already shown itself to be a place where football miracles can happen.