Lokomotive Leipzig

Football club infobox
clubname = 1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig e.V.


fullname = 1. Fußballclub Lokomotive Leipzig
nickname = "Loksche"
founded = 1893
ground = Bruno-Plache-Stadion
Zentralstadion
capacity = 15,600
44.345
chairman = Steffen Kubald
manager = Rainer Lisiewicz
mgrtitle = Coach
league = NOFV-Oberliga Süd (V)
season = 2007-08
position = Landesliga Sachsen (V), (2nd)
pattern_la1=|pattern_b1=|pattern_ra1=
leftarm1=4C66FF|body1=FFEC43|rightarm1=4C66FF|shorts1=4C66FF|socks1=4C66FF
pattern_la2=|pattern_b2=|pattern_ra2=
leftarm2=4C66FF|body2=4C66FF|rightarm2=4C66FF|shorts2=4C66FF|socks2=4C66FF

1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig is a German football club based in the city of Leipzig, Saxony and may be more familiar to many of the country's football fans as the historic side "VfB Leipzig", the first national champions of Germany. They currently play in the 5th tier of the German football league system.

Early history

The club was formed on May 26 1896 out of the football department of gymnastics club "Allgemeine Turnverein 1845 Leipzig". However, they lay claim to an earlier date of origin by reaching back to a club that was incorporated into "VfB" in 1898 – "Sport Club Sportbrüder Leipzig" – which was one of four football clubs formed in Leipzig in 1893. The union lasted until May 2, 1900 when the two sides went their separate ways again.

"VfB Leipzig" was one of the original eighty-six teams that came together in the city in 1900 to form the DFB (Deutscher Fussball Bund or German Football Association). They were immediately successful at their chosen sport and made their way to the first German national championship final held in 1903. Their opponents were "DFC Prag", an ethnically German side out of what is today Prague in Czech Republic, but which was then part of the Austria-Hungary. The DFB had invited "German" clubs of this sort from other countries in order to boost numbers in their new national association.

"Prag" had made their way to the final under circumstances that had allowed them to avoid playing a single playoff game, while "Leipzig" had come through some hard fought matches. Arriving in Hamburg for the match, the heavily favoured Pragers took themselves off on an ill-advised pub crawl the night before the contest and so arrived to the pitch in less than ideal game-shape. The contest against "VfB Leipzig" was delayed half an hour as officials scrambled to find a football that was in good enough condition to play the match. The host "Altona" club provided a new ball and eleven minutes in "Prag" scored the first goal. At the end of the first half the score stood at (1:1), but "Leipzig" then pulled away to emerge as the first winners of the Viktoria Meisterschaftstrophaee (Victoria Championship Trophy), representative of German football supremacy, on the strength of a decisive 7:2 victory.

"Leipzig" played themselves into another final appearance in 1904, but the match was never contested. A protest by "FV Karlsruhe" over their disputed semi-final with "Britannia Berlin" was never resolved and the DFB called off the final only hours before its scheduled start. There would be no champion that year. The following season "Leipzig" found themselves unable to cover the expense of travelling to participate in their scheduled first round playoff match and so were eliminated from that year's competition. They did, however, go on to raise the Viktoria again in 1906 and 1913 and also played in the 1911 and 1914 finals.

In the period leading up to World War II, "VfB" was unable to repeat their early success. After the re-organization of German football leagues under the Third Reich in 1933, the club found itself in Gauliga Sachsen, one of sixteen upper tier divisions. While they earned good results within their own division, they were unable to advance in the playoff rounds. In 1937, they captured the Tschammerpokal, known today as the German Cup, in a match against "FC Schalke 04", the dominant side of the era.

GDR era

In the aftermath of the war the club was dissolved by the occupying Allied authorities, like most other organizations in Germany, including sports and football clubs. Club members reconstituted the team in 1946 as "SG Probstheida" under the auspices of the occupying Soviets. After playing as "BSG Erich Zeigner Probstheida" and then "BSG Einheit Ost", the club merged with "SC Rotation Leipzig" in 1954 and played in the DDR-Oberliga, East Germany's top flight league, but earned only mediocre results. In 1963 Leipzig's two most important clubs – "SC Rotation" and "SC Lokomotive Leipzig" – were put together resulting in two new sides being founded - "SC Leipzig" and "BSG Chemie Leipzig". East German football went through a general re-organization in 1965, creating football clubs as centres of high-level football, during which "SC Leipzig" was transformed into "1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig", while rivals "Chemie Leipzig" continued as a Betriebssportgemeinschaft (BSG), or a company team. Playing as "Lokomotive", the club's fortunes improved somewhat as they almost always finished well up the league table, but they were unable to capture the top honour in the DDR (German: Deutsche Demokratische Republik or German Democratic Republic) with losing final appearances in 1967, 1986, and 1988.

"Lok" earned a clutch of East German Cups with victories in 1976, 1981, 1986 and 1987 against failed appearances in the Cup final in 1970, 1973 and 1977. They also won the UEFA Intertoto Cup in 1966 and made an appearance in the 1987 final of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup falling 0:1 to Ajax Amsterdam.

German reunification

Re-unification in 1990 was followed by the merger of the football leagues of the two Germanys. A poor season led to a seventh place finish in the transitional league, but an unexpectedly strong playoff propelled the club into the 2. Bundesliga.

"1. FC Lokomotive" made a grasp at their former glory by re-claiming the name "VfB Leipzig". A third place finish in 1993 advanced the team to the top flight Bundesliga where they finished dead-last in the 1994 season. The new "VfB" began a steady slide down through the 2. Bundesliga into the Regionalliga Nordost (III) by 1998 and then further still to the Oberliga Nordost/Süd (IV) by 2001. They were bankrupted in 2004, their results were annulled and the club was dissolved.

In 2004, the club was re-established by a group of fans as "1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig". The renewed side had to start in the lowest league eleventh-tier 3. Kreisklasse, Staffel 2 in 2004-5. Even so, they continued to receive soldidly enthusiastic fan support: their game against "Eintracht Großdeuben"'s second team in the Leipzig Zentralstadion on 9 October, 2004 broke the world record for lower-league attendance with an astounding 12,421 spectators in the stands. Thanks to a merger with "SSV Torgau", the club could play in the seventh-tier Bezirksklasse Leipzig, Staffel 2 in 2005/2006. Finishing this league as champion, the team qualified for the sixth-tier Bezirksliga. In 2006 Lok Leipzig also played a friendly match vs. FC United of Manchester (4:4) and qualified for the Landespokal 06/07 by winning the Bezirkspokal. Lokomotive Leipzig finished as champions of their group and promoted to fifth-tier Landesliga Sachsen Group for 2007-2008 season. The club finished 2nd to FC Erzgebirge Aue II and missed out on direct promotion to NOFV-Oberliga Süd by 2 points in 2007-2008 season. It still had the chance to regain Oberliga status through a relegation play-off with FC Schönberg 95, winning game one 2-1 at Schönberg. In the return leg, in front of almost 10,000 spectators, the club lost 0-1 but still gained Oberliga promotion on the away-goal rule [ [http://www.lok-leipzig.com/index2.html Lok Leipzig home page: Rückspiel Aufstiegs-Relegation zur Oberliga Saison 2007/2008] (in German) statistics to the second play-off game, accessed: 23 June 2008] .

Lokomotive Leipzig in European competitions

Honours

*German champions: 1903, finalist in the uncontested 1904 championship match, 1906, 1913
*German Cup: 1936
*East German vice-champions: 1967, 1986, 1988
*East German Cup: 1957, 1976, 1981, 1986, 1987
*UEFA Intertoto Cup Champion: 1966
*UEFA Cup semi-finalist: 1974
*Cup Winner's Cup finalist: 1987
* Sachsenpokal: 1996 (by the reserve team)

Team trivia

*In the immediate aftermath of World War II, East German authorities showed a penchant for tagging sports teams with the names of socialist heroes: Erich Zeigner was German lawyer and socialist politician who served as the mayor of Leipzig under Soviet occupation from July 1945 until his death in April 1949. The former village of Probstheida is today the south-eastern quarter of the city of Leipzig.

Records (since re-establishment on 10 December 2003)

*Record Victory: 20-0 v Paunsdorf Devils (19 September 2004), v SV Althen 90 II (23 April 2005)
*Record Defeat: 1-15 v Hertha BSC Berlin, friendly (23 May 2005)
*Most Goals scored in a Match: 8 Ronny Richter v Paunsdorf Devils (19 September 2004)
*Most Goals scored in a Season: 81 René Heusel (2004/05)
*Record Attendance: Bruno-Plache-Stadion 13,098 v Hertha BSC Berlin, friendly (23 May 2005)
*Record Attendance (League): Zentralstadion 12,421 v Eintracht Großdeuben II (9 October 2004 - World Record in a lowest league)
*Longest unbeaten Run (League+Cup): 67 (04/05: 26+7, 05/06: 29+5), 5 September 2004 - 26 May 2006

External links

* [http://www.lok-leipzig.com/ Official team site]
* [http://www.abseits-soccer.com/clubs/leipzig.html The Abseits Guide to German Soccer]
* [http://web1.fussball-liveticker.de/weltfussball/teams.php?m_id=244&modus=11 Statistics of all matches]

References