SAMSTAG 15:30

Founded: Dec 10, 2003
Club Members: 2,861
Nickname: Loksche
Coach: TBA
Captain: Djamal Ziane

Regionalliga Nordost: 1
Landespokal Sachsen Winner: 2

Website: www.lok-leipzig.com

Despite the focus given to clubs in Munich, Dortmund, Frankfurt, Hamburg etc; the city of Leipzig can with some justification claim to be the home of German football. Not only was the DFB (German FA) founded here in 1900, but the city's very own VfB Leipzig (1.FC Lokomotive Leipzig's forefathers) were crowned Germany's first ever league champions in 1902-03.

VfB themselves were formed in 1896 and were perennial title challengers during the early years of the 20th century, lifting the title on three occasions before football, and by proxy the club, was brought to a shuddering halt by the advent of war in 1914. Half of VfB's club members served in the armed forces and tragically four of their 1913 title-winning side lost their lives. As Germany began to rebuild itself after the conflict, VfB moved into the Probstheidaer Stadium which was the largest stadium in the country and symbolic of the club's place in the nation's football hierarchy at the time - but restoring past glories and reconstructing a team ripped apart by war has proved difficult.

Until the Bundesliga was formed in 1963, the German football landscape had been very fragmented and VfB Leipzig, along with other clubs from the federal states of Saxony, Saxony-Anholt and Thuringa; competed in the Mitteldeutsche Fußball Meisterschaft (Central German Football Championship) - becoming its most successful team by lifting the title on eleven occasions. After the Nazi rise to power, football was restructured in Germany with the creation of the Gauliga in 1933 which funnelled clubs into 16 (later to become 18) regional divisions. VfB played as a largely uncompetitive side throughout the period although in a throwback to more successful times, the club reached the final of the German Cup (then called the Tschammerpokal) in 1936 where they faced the dominant side of the era - Schalke 04. In one of the great cup upsets of the time, David overcame the Goliath of the Köningsblau  with VfB securing an unlikely 2-1 triumph to take the trophy back to Leipzig. The Gauliga system only lasted for 11 years however before the Second World War, the fall of the Nazi regime and the subsequent Soviet occupation led to all sports clubs being forced to dissolve - and the pre-World War Two VfB Leipzig were no more. 

With no team to support, the city were on the look-out for an 'ideologically safe' representative - one that didn't have any links to the Nazis as the Soviets intensified their efforts to stamp out fascism. Thanks to players of the now defunct VfB Leipzig, a new club called SG Leipzig-Probstheida rose from the ashes and applied for election to the country's football pyramid. Over the course of the next few years, the club's name changed to 'BSG Erich Zeigner' (named after a former prime minister and prominent anti-Nazi voice) and then to 'BSG Einheit Leipzig Ost' under which the club secured promotion to the top flight DDR-Oberliga. Shortly afterwards however, Leipzig's football clubs were dissolved once again and the city's footballers filtered into two new ones - SC Rotation Leipzig and SC Lokomotive Leipzig.

Now that Leipzig had become a two-club city, both teams enjoyed moderate success in terms of league position but it was Lokomotive who first lifted silverware by winning the FDGR-Pokal with a 2-1 extra-time victory over Empor Rostock (now Hansa Rostock) in 1957. Despite the fact that Leipzig's football identity was by now in a state of near-constant flux with dissolutions, formations and name changes; fans in the city had embraced their new clubs and over 100,000 of them descended on Leipzig's vast and deep-set Zentralstadion to watch a derby between Lokomotive and Rotation in 1956 - still a German attendance record. However, just as the fanbases were being established, the state - who had total control of everyday life including football - decided that performances on the field hadn't been good enough in the 'Saxon Metropolis' and that the fix to the 'problem' would be the formation of yet another club - SC Leipzig. The new club were supposed to be a combination of Lokomotive and Rotation. However, in a move bearing all the hallmarks that had become de rigeur in state socialist East Germany, the reality turned out to be slightly different as SC Leipzig were allowed to cherry-pick the best players from each side for themselves. Those that remained were left to fend for themselves and went on to form BSG Chemie Leipzig.

Not for the first time, football fans in Leipzig once again had to pledge their football allegiances and form new rivalries - although these probably had a little extra spice to them this time given the sense of injustice BSG Chemie fans could be forgiven for having. Nevertheless, although SC Leipzig reached the cup final in their first year, it was the 'best of the rest' at Chemie who went on to finish the 1963-64 season as East German champions. Before the dust could settle on another cross-town rivalry though, the trigger-happy state authorities introduced more reforms in a politically-charged move intended to increase the standards of football in the east, leading to yet another case of out with the 'not-so-old' and in with ... a new club. By 1966, SC Leipzig were no more and in their place came 1.FC Lokomotive Leipzig - formed a year earlier and named, like their predecessor SC Lokomotive, after the German state railway and in recognition of Leipzig being a major rail hub and Lokomotive's players technically becoming railway employees.
 
Adopting a philosophy of developing young talent (many of whom would go on to represent East Germany on the international scene) and playing fast, attacking football; 1.FC Lokomotive (also known as FC Lok) made their first foray into European competition in 1966. They won the UEFA Intertoto Cup that summer becoming the first East German club to grab the ears of a European trophy, and despite falling short in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup later the same year, turned heads by knocking Eusebio's SL Benfica out over two legs earlier in the competition. Lok spent the next couple of decades establishing themselves in the DDR-Oberliga and earning a reputation as a strong cup team - reaching eight finals between 1970 and 1987 and winning half of them. This ability to turn on the style in one-off matches took them all the way to the 1987 European Cup Winners Cup final in Athens where they came up against an Ajax side managed by Johan Cruyff and featuring the talents of Marco Van Basten, Frank Rijkaard, Arnold Mühren and Dennis Bergkamp. Although they were overwhelming underdogs, Lok gave a good account of themselves and only went down to a first-half Van Basten header.

Once again however, the winds of change were blowing across Europe as socio-political events superseded sport and as the Berlin Wall fell and a demographic exodus headed west, football across the unified Germany was re-organised. Apart from Hansa Rostock and Dynamo Dresden who joined the Bundesliga, the rest of the DDR-Oberliga clubs were given places in Bundesliga.2 which was increased to 24 teams to accommodate the newcomers. In an attempt to revive memories of former glories, Lok also made the decision to revert back to the name 'VfB Leipzig' and it seemed to have the desired effect as the club won promotion to the Bundesliga in 1993. It wasn't long however before relegation saw them back in Bundesliga.2 where they bobbed about for a few seasons before beginning a slide into the lower tiers. Players and managers came and went as VfB desperately tried to regain their football composure and like many former East German clubs post-reunification, the ever-increasing gap between profit and loss as a result of dwindling attendances and an inability to compete with the riches of clubs in 'the west' became unsustainable. The club entered administration in 2000 and, in 2004, just over a century after being becoming Germany's first ever league champions, VfB Leipzig ceased to exist.

As the previous century had proved however, Leipzig is a fertile breeding ground for football clubs and it wasn't long before green shoots began to emerge. This time a small group of fans had took it upon themselves to resurrect 1.FC Lokomotive Leipzig in 2003 and, under the stewardship of former Lok player Rainer Lisiewicz, began life in the 11th tier 3. Kreisklasse - the lowest rung of the German footballing ladder. Despite their lowly status, Lok were still able to call the Probstheidaer Stadium (by now renamed the Bruno Plache Stadion) home, and as natural heirs to the historic VfB Leipzig they also had the fanbase to fill it. The size of the club playing so far down the pyramid also attracted worldwide media attention which further enhanced its image as a cult club and drew parallels with fellow fan-owned club FC United of Manchester who Lok welcomed to the 'Bruno' for a friendly match in 2006.

Today, Lok have risen to the fourth tier Regionalliga Nordost although the journey hasn't been without its challenges. The association with far-right groups who have used the club as a platform to express their views about Germany's broader social issues has been a particularly difficult one to shake off. The emergence of RB Leipzig across town has also meant a constant battle to win over hearts and minds in order to keep the turnstiles turning and prevent a repeat of previous financial struggles. For many fans from the Probstheida neighbourhood however, Lokomotive represent the real heart and soul of Leipzig football - and given its complex history and the fact that its legacy has survived the dissolution of a club, a league and a country; it's a miracle that they exist at all.