SC Preußen Münster

Football club infobox
clubname = Preußen Münster


fullname = Sportclub Preußen 1906 e.V. Münster
nickname = Die Adler (the Eagles)
founded = 30 April, 1906
ground = Preussenstadion
capacity = 15,050
chairman = Dr. Marco de Angelis
manager = Roger Schmidt
league = Regionalliga West (IV)
season = 2007-08
position = Oberliga Westfalen (IV), 1st
pattern_la1=_whiteshoulders|pattern_b1=|pattern_ra1=_whiteshoulders
leftarm1=008000|body1=008000|rightarm1=008000|shorts1=008000|socks1=008000
pattern_la2=|pattern_b2=|pattern_ra2=
leftarm2=FFFFFF|body2=FFFFFF|rightarm2=FFFFFF|shorts2=FFFFFF|socks2=FFFFFF

Preußen Münster is a German football club based in Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia.

History

The club was founded as "FC Preussen" in 1906 and has its roots in a group formed at the Johann-Conrad-Schlaun High School. In 1921 the team took on its current name and progressed to second division competition in 1928.

In 1933, "Preussen" advanced to the Gauliga Westfalen, one of sixteen top-flight leagues established through the re-organization of German football under the Third Reich. They earned only middling results there and were twice relegated. Their second demotion in 1941 left them out of first division football until after World War II.

The team played three seasons in the Landesliga Westfalen Gr. 2 (II) before returning to the top-flight in the Oberliga West in the 1948-49 season. That arrival was accompanied by some notoriety as "Preussen Münster" became the first German football club to build a team by buying players, something previously unheard of in a country committed to the ideal of amateurism. Siegfried Rachuba, Adolf Preissler, Rudolf Schulz, Felix Gerritzen, and Josef Lammers formed a front five dubbed by the press as the "Hundred-Thousand-Mark Line", even though that much money never did change hands.

The investment paid dividends as the club merited an appearance in the 1951 national final in front of 107,000 spectators at Berlin's Olympic Stadium against "1. FC Kaiserslautern" where they went down to defeat by a score of 1:2.

Founding member of the Bundesliga

Their results as a mid-table side in the tough Oberliga West in the ten years prior to the formation of the Bundesliga in 1963 were good enough to earn them admission as one of the five teams from that league to earn a place in Germany's new sixteen-team professional circuit. The club made only a cameo appearance in the Bundesliga, being relegated after a next-to-last 15th place finish.

Post Bundesliga play

"Preussen Münster" played out the 60s and 70s as a second division side in the Regionalliga West and 2. Bundesliga Nord. They slipped to the Amateur Oberliga Westfalen (III) in the 1981-82 season, and except for a short adventure in the 2. Bundesliga in the 1990 and 1991 seasons, have since played third tier football in the Regionalliga West/Sudwest (1993-2000) and Regionalliga Nord (2000-2006). During this period, they captured the German Amateur Championship in 1994 with a 1:0 win over "Kickers Offenbach".

In 2006, the club once slipped to the Oberliga Westfalen, now a fourth tier circuit. Management invested significant monies into a high-profile team of experienced second- and third-tier players in pursuit of immediate re-promotion. The attempt ended in failure and the club re-built itself with young players in place of expensive veterans and also put in place young and relatively unknown coach, Roger Schmidt. The re-worked side finished first place in the 2007 / 2008 season, and so qualified for the new Regionalliga West (IV).

Honours

*German vice-champions: 1951
*German amateur champions: 1994
*Amateur Oberliga Westfalen (III) champions: 1988, 1989, 1992, 1993

tadium

The club plays in the Preußenstadion, built in 1923, which has a capacity of 15,050 spectators (~1,560 seats). The construction of a new facility was considered in the 80's, but the idea was abandoned in December 2000.

Team trivia

* Football made its debut on German radio in November 1925 with the broadcast of part of the game between "Münster" and "Arminia Bielefeld".

* On the first ever day of Bundesliga play on August 24, 1963, "Preussen Münster"'s game against "Hamburg" was the only complete sell out. The team earned another broadcasting first as this was also the first recorded Bundesliga match. The contest ended in a 1:1 draw.

Current Team

"As of 3 September, 2007.

Coach

Roger Schmidt

Assistent-Coach
Tobias Stock

Goalkeeper coach
Jörg Jüttner

External links

* [http://www.scpreussen-muenster.de/ Official team page]
* [http://www.abseits-soccer.com/clubs/muenster.html The Abseits Guide to German Soccer]