Chemnitzer FC

Chemnitzer FC

Full name	Chemnitzer Fußballclub e.V.
Nickname(s)	Die Himmelblauen (Sky Blues)
Founded	15 January 1966; 45 years ago (1966-01-15)
Ground	Stadion an der Gellertstraße (Capacity: 16,061)
Chairman	Mathias Hänel
Head Coach	Gerd Schädlich
League	3rd Liga
2010–11	Regionalliga Nord (IV), 1st (promoted)
Home colours Away colours

Chemnitzer FC is a German association football club based in Chemnitz, Saxony.

The roots of the club go back to its establishment as Chemnitzer BC 1933 in 1933 after the collapse (bankruptcy) of former Chemnitzer BC 1899.

Founding member of the DFB

On 28 January 1900, Chemnitzer SC Britannia was a founding member of the German Football Association (DFB) in Leipzig. During April the same year, the club changed its name to Chemnitzer BC 1899.

History

The club was initially formed by students from Mittweida as Chemnitzer SC Britannia on 2 December 1899.

On 8 August 1903, the club became a founding member of the Verband Chemnitzer Fußball-Vereine (VCFV). This local federation was included into the Verband Mitteldeutscher Fußball-Vereine (VMBV), the great regional federation of Central Germany, two years later.

Until 1933, Chemnitzer BC were a strong side of the VMBV leagues. They took part in the WMBV's final round fifteen times, reaching the final once in 1927. Despite a 0–4 defeat against VfB Leipzig, Chemnitz qualified for the 1927 German football championship as vice-champions, where they lost in the first round against eventual champions 1. FC Nuremberg, 1–5.

In 1933, Chemnitzer BC 1899 came into financial difficulties. Despite a merger with local rivals SC Sachsen 1909 Chemnitz, bankruptcy and liquidation could not be avoided. The side was then immediately re-formed under the name Chemnitzer BC 1933, which assumed the history of the old club. CBC 1933 were part of the Gauliga Saxony until the end of World War II.

In the aftermath of the conflict, most organizations in Germany, including sports and football clubs, were dissolved by the Allied occupation authorities. The side was re-established in 1945 as SG Chemnitz Nord before, as it was common in East German football at the time, undergoing a number of name changes, from BSG Fewa Chemnitz in 1948 to BSG Chemie Chemnitz in 1951. Upon the renaming of the city of Chemnitz to Karl-Marx-Stadt in 1953, the club followed suit and assumed the new city name as well. In 1956, the football club was attached to the larger centralized sports club SC Motor Karl-Marx-Stadt, which was in turn renamed SC Karl-Marx-Stadt in 1963. The football department was then once again separated from the sports club as FC Karl-Marx-Stadt in 1966, under a government plan to establish a number of football clubs as centres throughout the country intended to identify and develop talent in support of a strong national side. When the city re-claimed its original name in 1991, the team followed suit to become Chemnitzer FC.

After joining the DDR-Oberliga for the 1962–63 season, the club generally earned uninspiring results, most often finishing in the lower half of the league table. They managed a surprising East German championship win at the end of the 1966–67 season, and were runners-up in the East German Cup (FDGB Cup) in 1969, 1983 and 1989. The club enjoyed its best international turn in 1989, advancing through two preliminary rounds to the Round of 16 of the 1989–90 UEFA Cup before being knocked out against Juventus. In the same season the team finished as runners-up in the East German championship, second to Dynamo Dresden on goal differential.

After German reunification in 1990, Chemnitzer FC qualified for the 2. Bundesliga at the end of the 1991–92 NOFV-Oberliga. Beginning with the 1992–93 season, Chemnitz spent five years in the second tier of German football until being relegated to the then third-tier Fußball-Regionalliga in 1997, and also advanced to the semifinal of the 1992–93 DFB-Pokal during this time. Since then, the importance of the club has faded. The following four years were evenly split between the Regionalliga and the 2. Bundesliga before eventually being relegated back to the Regionalliga (III) in 2001 and subsequently to the Oberliga Nordost (IV) in 2006. The last couple of years, however, saw the club slowly rising through the German league system once again with promotions to the now fourth-tier Regionalliga in 2008 and the 3rd Liga in 2011.

Honours

• East German champions: 1967
• East German vice-champions: 1990
• East German Cup (FDGB Cup) finalists: 1969, 1983, 1989
• German Cup semi-finalist: 1993
• Saxony Cup: 1997, 1998, 2006, 2008
• Gauliga Sachsen champions: 1935, 1936
• NOFV-Oberliga Süd runner-ups: 2008
• Regionalliga Nord champions: 2011
• Central German vice champions: 1927

Notable players

Antonio Ananiev Michael Ballack Torsten Bittermann Brian Bliss Sergio Bustos Marco Dittgen Mario Fillinger Henri Fuchs Heiko Gerber Torsten Gütschow Sebastian Hähnge Lars Hermel

Steffen Heidrich Ingo Hertzsch Olaf Holetschek Steffen Karl Peer Kluge Rainer Krieg Nebojša Krupniković Thomas Laudeley Hendrik Liebers Ulf Mehlhorn Silvio Meißner

Jens Melzig Karsten Oswald Andrej Panadic Jan Seifert Kujtim Shala Ervin Skela Rico Steinmann Eberhard Vogel Jörg Weißflog Lutz Wienhold Ernest Wilimowski

Current squad

As of 7 November 2011 (2011 -11-07)^[update]

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Philipp Pentke 3 DF Silvio Bankert 4 DF Florian Hörnig 5 DF Toni Wachsmuth 6 MF René Gewelke 7 MF Ronny Garbuschewski 8 MF Carsten Sträßer 10 FW Benjamin Förster 11 MF Selim Aydemir 14 MF Thomas Birk 17 DF Matthias Peßolat 18 FW Bastian Henning

No. Position Player 19 DF Kevin Vietz 20 DF Fabian Stenzel 21 DF Marcel Wilke 23 MF Marcel Schlosser 24 MF Simon Tüting 25 DF Raphael Schaschko 27 DF René Trehkopf 29 MF Tim Hunger 30 GK Stefan Schmidt 31 GK Maik Ebersbach 33 FW Pavel Dobry

Managers

Karl Haueisen – 1952 to 1953 Heinz Hartmann – 1953 to 1955 Rolf Kukowitsch – 1955 Walter Fritzsch – 1956 – 1957 Fritz Wittenbecher – February 1958 to May 1958 Hans Höfer – May 1958 to December 1960 Siegfried Seifert – September 1960 to February 1961 Heinz Werner – 1 March 1961 to 1963 Horst Scherbaum – 1963 to 1968 Bringfried Müller – 1968 to 1970 Heinz Weber – 1970 to 30 June 1971 Gerhard Hofmann – 1 July 1971 to December 1974

Dieter Erler – Dezember 1974 to 1976 Herbert Naumann – 1976 to 31 March 1976 Manfred Kupferschmied – 1 April 1976 to 1980 Manfred Lienemann – 1981 to 1985 Heinz Werner – 1985 to 1988 Hans Meyer – 1988 to 30. June 1993 Reinhard Häfner – 1 July 1993 to 15 May 1996 Christoph Franke – 15 May 1996 to 7 September 2000 Josip Kuze – 7 September 2000 to 29 November 2000 Manfred Lienemann – 29 November 2000 to 10 December 2000 Dirk Karkuth – 11 December 2000 to 24 August 2001 Matthias Schulz – 24 August 2001 to 31 October 2002 Dirk Barsikow – 31 October 2002 to 11 November 2002

Joachim Müller – 11 November 2002 to 18 June 2003 Frank Rohde – 18 June 2003 to 18 September 2004 Dirk Barsikow – 18 September 2004 to 4 March 2005 Dietmar Demuth – 5 March 2005 to 15 December 2005 Joachim Müller – 15. December 2005 to 7 April 2007 Tino Vogel – 10 April 2007 – 21 April 2008 Christoph Franke – 21 April 2008 to 30 June 2008 Gerd Schädlich – since 1 July 2008

Stadium

Chemnitzer FC plays in the club-owned Stadion an der Gellertstraße which has a capacity of 16,061 spectators (~540 seats). Until 1990 the facility was officially known as "Dr. Kurt-Fischer-Stadion", or locally as the "Fischerwiese". During its 2. Bundesliga seasons the club also made use of the larger Chemnitzer Sportforum, which has a capacity of over 19,000.

External links

• Official website
• The Abseits Guide to German Soccer
• CFC Fanpage
• CFC Fans