Arminia Bielefeld

Arminia won the West German championship in 1922. Originally, they were level on points with Kölner BC 01, but Köln fielded an ineligible player in one match. Arminia played for the first time in the German Championships but were eliminated in the quarter-finals after losing 0–5 to FC Wacker München. In 1923, Arminia won their second West German championship in a dramatic way. They trailed TuRU Düsseldorf 1–3 at half time of the final, but came from behind to win 4–3 after extra time. Arminia faced Union Oberschöneweide in the quarter-finals of the German championships. The match ended goalless, so a replay was held. Arminia led 1–0 and suffered the equalizer in injury time. The Berlin side won the match after extra time.[7] Walter Claus-Oehler became Arminia's first player to win a cap in the German national team. Arminia won further Westphalian titles from 1924 to 1927 but were unable to repeat their success in the West German Championships. A match between SC Preußen Münster and Arminia in November 1925 was the first football match to be broadcast on German Radio.[8] On 30 January 1926, the club took its current name Deutscher Sportclub Arminia Bielefeld. Their next piece of silverware was won in 1932 with a triumph in the Westphalian cup.

In 1933, Arminia qualified for the Gauliga Westfalen,[9] from which they were relegated after the inaugural season. Three attempts of gaining promotion failed before their return to the top flight was won in 1938. Their best performance in the Gauliga was the 1939–40 campaign, where Arminia finished second. Two years later, Arminia was one of only two teams to win a match at Schalke 04. On 25 July 1943 Arminia merged with local rivals VfB 03 Bielefeld. The merger finished the 1943–44 season in last place.

Historical chart of Arminia Bielefeld league performance

After World War II, a new league with all teams who competed in the Gauliga Westfalen was formed. Arminia were relegated and failed to win re-promotion. In 1947–48, Arminia were a third division side for the first time in their history. After a dominating season in the Bezirksklasse, Arminia was docked 14 points because they fielded an ineligible player.[10] The next season was already under way when the Landesliga (II) was expanded by two teams. Arminia took their chance, won the league and gained promotion to the Oberliga West.[11]

The dream lasted for only a year. Arminia beat Schalke 04 4–2 at home but finished only second from the bottom.[12] In 1954, Arminia were even relegated to the third tier, the "Landesliga Westfalen, Gruppe Ostwestfalen", a league only covering the north-eastern part of Westphalia. In 1956, Arminia qualified for a new third tier, the "Verbandsliga Westfalen, Gruppe Ostwestfalen", which encompassed a slightly larger area. Only in 1962, Arminia became a second division side again (then: 2. Liga West, covering the whole of North Rhine-Westphalia). In 1962–63, they struggled to finish in seventh place to secure a spot in the newly formed Regionalliga West, which was situated directly below the new Bundesliga.[13]

Arminia finished their first seasons in mid-table, but became one of the better Regionalliga teams later on. In 1966, Arminia beat Alemannia Aachen to claim the West German Cup for the first time. A year later, forward Ernst Kuster joined the team and went on to become the club's all-time leading goal scorer (more than half a century later, Fabian Klos would beat his record). A 0–1 loss to Wuppertaler SV on the last day of the 1966–67 season stopped Arminia entering the Bundesliga promotion play-offs.[14] Arminia were runners-up in the 1969–70 season and won their first promotion to the Bundesliga after a 2–0 win at Tennis Borussia Berlin in the play-offs.

The team had a poor start in their first Bundesliga season, but results improved and they eventually finished 14th. However, near the end of the season it was discovered that Arminia had engaged in match-fixing; three of the ten Bundesliga games which were proven to have been manipulated through bribery directly involved Arminia. Two players at the club were banned from football for life (Waldemar Slomiany and Jürgen Neumann). Arminia was allowed to play the 1971–72 season in the Bundesliga, but were automatically relegated to the Regionalliga as a penalty. Arminia struggled in the following seasons, but were good enough to be appointed to the newly formed 2. Bundesliga in 1974.

After two seasons in mid-table, Arminia had good chances of returning to the Bundesliga in 1976–77 but they finished only as runner-up behind FC St. Pauli. They faced TSV 1860 München in a two-legged play-off whose winner would win promotion to the top flight. Arminia won the first match at home 4–0, but lost the second leg in Munich 0–4. A third match had to be played in Frankfurt which Munich won 2–0.[15]

The team was shocked but bounced back to win promotion in 1977–78. Arminia started well and on 10 March 1979, they won 4–0 at Bayern Munich.[16] However, Arminia were hit by a slump and were relegated again. The club managed to keep the team together and bounced back after a record-breaking 1979–80 season. They won 30 of 38 matches, scored 120 goals, had a 28 match unbeaten streak and set a league record by beating Arminia Hannover 11–0.[17]

Arminia struggled to avoid relegation and managed to stay in the Bundesliga for five years, including two finishes in eighth place in 1982–83 and 1983–84 seasons. Furthermore, Arminia took part in the UEFA Intertoto Cup three times. An ugly event shocked Germany when Werder Bremen defender Norbert Siegmann slashed Ewald Lienen's right thigh during a match.[18] The success on the pitch did not prevent the club from suffering declining attendances which enlarged the financial problems. In 1984–85, Arminia finished third from the bottom and lost the relegation play-offs against 1. FC Saarbrücken.

The team failed to gain promotion and in the fall of 1987, Arminia had debts of 4.5 million Marks. The result was a last place finish in 1987–88. Ernst Middendorp became the new manager and assembled a young team for the new season. Arminia led the way in the Oberliga Westfalen but finished only second in 1988–89. They won the Oberliga a year later, but failed in the promotion play-offs to VfB Oldenburg and TSV Havelse. Four dismal seasons followed in which the team started well but were unable to compete for the championship. In 1991, Arminia won the Westphalian Cup, a cup for Westphalian amateur teams, and beat FSV Mainz 05 in the first round of the DFB-Pokal.

In the spring of 1994, Arminia created a relatively large media buzz by signing veteran Bundesliga players like Thomas von Heesen, Armin Eck and Fritz Walter. Arminia struggled at first but went on to become champions of the newly formed Regionalliga West/Südwest and runners-up in the 1995–96 2. Bundesliga. Arminia signed Stefan Kuntz for the 1996–97 Bundesliga season, their first in 11 years and finished in 14th position.

The club wrote German football history by signing Iranian players Ali Daei and Karim Bagheri along with the SK Brann icon Geirmund Brendesæter, who enjoyed a brief spell with the club in 1997. However, after a poor run after the winter break, Arminia were relegated shortly after Brendesæter had left the club. They bounced back by winning the 1998–99 season. Bruno Labbadia became the league's top scorer with 28 goals. The club suffered from financial problems and entered the 1999–2000 season with a smaller budget. Relegation followed again after the team became the third team in Bundesliga history to lose ten matches in a row.

Arminia struggled against relegation again the next season and avoided to drop into the Regionalliga in close season. Their fortunes turned around and Arminia won their sixth promotion to the Bundesliga in 2001–02 with Artur Wichniarek scoring 18 goals. Arminia were almost saved the next year but a slump with only two points out of the last six matches sealed relegation again.

The team bounced back again in 2003–04 after Ghanaian striker Isaac Boakye scored 14 goals in his debut season to end as the club's top goalscorer and help them go back to the Bundesliga.[19] They were able to stay in the top flight until 2009. In 2004–05, Patrick Owomoyela became Arminia's new record national player. Delron Buckley scored 15 goals in the Bundesliga matches but left after the season, too. In the DFB-Pokal, Arminia reached the semi-finals in 2005 and 2006. In both seasons, Arminia also kept away from the relegation zone virtually the whole time (except the season's beginnings). In those years the image campaign "Aktion 5000 +" let the number of members rise above 10,000. In 2007, many Arminia fans were sad to see the old East Stand being torn down (then the last non-seater stand in the Bundesliga not being placed behind one of the goals)[20] and also further marketing attempts alienated the fans from the Club's Management Board.

Season by season, important players of the 2004–05 and the 2005–06 season left (some of them after a decline in their own performance): Fatmir Vata and Heiko Westermann in 2007, Mathias Hain, Sibusiso Zuma and Petr Gabriel in 2008. From 2007 onwards, managerial sackings became more and more common and avoiding relegation became more and more difficult.

The 2006–07 season was the first one in which Arminia was already close to relegation but after having won four matches from the 30th to the 33rd matchday being coached by Ernst Middendorp, they finished it even better than the two previous ones. In the 2007–08 season, even though it began very well, they gathered only 34 points and avoided relegation merely because 1. FC Nürnberg lost at home during Arminia's draw against VfB Stuttgart on the last matchday.

Ewald Lienen coached the team for most parts of the 2010–11 season.

But Arminia finished the 2008–09 season last and were relegated to the 2. Bundesliga. In the 2009–10 season important players of the former seasons like Rüdiger Kauf, Dennis Eilhoff, Jonas Kamper and Radim Kučera were still part of the squad. On 16 March 2010, Arminia was deducted four points by the DFL for breaches of the licensing regulations.[21] This greatly reduced their chances of promotion. The financial situation worsened, especially because the costs for the new construction of the East Stand had turned out much higher than originally planned in 2007.[22] They finished the season 7th and many important players left the club. The coach, the managing director and the club's president were replaced in the summer break. Nevertheless, the 2010–11 season started very bad, so that in November, the coach Christian Ziege war replaced by club legend Ewald Lienen. However, in spite of signing several new players during the rest of the season they picked up only 16 points and won only four games, so that they ended the season on the last rank and were relegated to the 3. Liga. Even more players left.

Stefan Ortega Moreno in the 2013–14 season

A new team had to be formed with players formerly unknown in Bielefeld who would leave their mark on the following seasons: Patrick Platins, Manuel Hornig, Tom Schütz, Sebastian Hille, Thomas Hübener, Patrick Schönfeld, Johannes Rahn and from the second half of the season onwards especially Fabian Klos who would coin a whole era. Another formative player, Stefan Ortega Moreno, joined from the club's youth. After a poor start, they ended the 2011–12 season in 13th place. They also won the Westphalia Cup in a final against arch rival SC Preußen Münster. By reaching the final, they also qualified for the 2012–13 DFB-Pokal, where they beat SC Paderborn 07, a team playing in the 2. Bundesliga, but lost in the second round in a close match against Bayer 04 Leverkusen, a Europa League participant. On 11 May 2013, Bielefeld beat VfL Osnabrück 1–0 to guarantee a top two finish and promotion back to the 2. Bundesliga for the 2013–14 season.

That season began quite hopeful: Arminia qualified for the second round of the DFB-Pokal again and at the 8th matchday they had even climbed up to the 3rd rank in the league table. But after a disastrous autumn and a mediocre winter Arminia fell down onto the 17th rank and the popular coach Stefan Krämer – the first manager having held office for more than two years since 2004 – had to leave. His successor Norbert Meier at first had only little more success: Arminia finished 16th in the 2. Bundesliga, and lost a playoff against SV Darmstadt 98 on away goals after a 122nd minute (extra time) goal gave Darmstadt the victory. Arminia had to go back into the 3. Liga.

But the next season could wipe out the bitterness of that disaster: In the 2014–15 DFB-Pokal, as a 3. Liga club, Arminia reached the semi-finals by defeating three Bundesliga teams (Hertha BSC, SV Werder Bremen and VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach). They also were the top team in the 3. Liga (after a bad beginning with only four points from the first four matches) for most part of the season. After the loss against VfL Wolfsburg in the semi-final of the DFB-Pokal, Arminia seemed to have lost their ability to win their matches in the 3. Liga as well. Even the qualification for the 2. Bundesliga seemed to become doubtful, but was secured after a 2–2 draw against SSV Jahn Regensburg, the last team in the league table, at the 37th matchday. Liberated from the pressure of a possible non-qualification, they also won the 3. Liga with a final 1–0 victory at the last matchday.

A stable season with a defeat in the first round of the DFB-Pokal, a lot of draws in the league (especially in the beginning: eight out of ten matches; in the end Arminia reached a record of 18) and only very few goals scored at home (only eight until the 30th matchday) followed so that the 4–2 over Greuther Fürth at the 31st matchday which secured Arminia's staying up was only Arminia's third win at home. That season's highlights probably were the draws against all three top teams away. In the league table Arminia never went deeper than rank 14 and finished 12th.

After the season, the coach Norbert Meier was bought by SV Darmstadt 98. A difficult 2016–17 season with two manager sackings followed. Arminia found themselves among the lowest four teams in the league table from the fourth matchday onwards, mostly on the 16th or 17th rank. On the other hand, Arminia reached the quarter-final in the DFB-Pokal. They avoided relegation as they finished in 15th after a 6–0 win over promotion candidate Eintracht Braunschweig and a 1–1 against Dynamo Dresden at the last two matchdays.

The 2017–18 season turned out easier. Having gathered 10 points out of the first four matches, Arminia hardly ever left the upper half of the league table (only at the 19th matchday: rank 10) and finished on the 4th rank – though in that season's very close league table this never meant much. In that season, Arminia also made a big step in lowering its debts through an alliance of sponsors[23] and Fabian Klos replaced Ernst Kuster as the club's all-time top scorer.[24]

In November 2018, Arminia were practically free of debt but had to sell its stadium.[25] The team faced a more difficult situation when December started: Having gained less than one point per match on average, only the weakness of the competing relegation candidates kept them up and they were already out of the DFB-Pokal after a 0–3 defeat at home against MSV Duisburg – another relegation candidate – in the second round. Thus, the popular coach Jeff Saibene was replaced by Uwe Neuhaus who managed to bring back Arminia back into mid table within four matchdays and into 7th place by the last matchday.

Uwe Neuhaus brought Arminia back into the Bundesliga.

The 2019–20 season would turn out even better. When Arminia had climbed on the 3rd rank of the league table after a 2–0 victory away against Hannover 96 – who were originally regarded as a promotion candidate – at the 6th matchday, hardly anyone guessed they would stay in the promotion area of the league table for the rest of the season. They had just reached the second rank of the league table when they met FC Schalke 04 in the 2nd round of the DFB-Pokal on 29 October. In spite of Schalke clearly dominating the match in the first 70 minutes, Arminia thrilled the supporters in the last 20 minutes by scoring two goals and only closely missing extra time.[26] They finished the 15th matchday on 1 December on the first rank of the league table where they would stay for the rest of the season in spite of competing with Hamburger SV and VfB Stuttgart who were originally estimated as main promotion candidates. After Arminia's 1–1 draw in Stuttgart on 9 March 2020 (25th matchday) the season was interrupted because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Even this interruption didn't affect them: they finished the season with 68 points – 10 points more than VfB Stuttgart who finished 2nd.[27]

In the 2020–21 season, they were the team with the lowest budget in the Bundesliga. After a defeat in the first round of the DFB-Pokal they had a quite promising start in the Bundesliga season, but from the 4th matchday onwards they could be found among the last five teams in the league table, from the 6th matchday onwards amongst the last four teams. In March, the popular manager Uwe Neuhaus was replaced by Frank Kramer.[28][29][30] A 2–0 win over VfB Stuttgart on the final matchday secured their spot in the 2021–22 Bundesliga.

That season turned out even more difficult. At the end of October they were in danger of losing touch to the 16th rank. They started November with 1–0 win away over VfB Stuttgart, their first win in the whole Bundesliga season. That match appeared to have stabilised Arminia's performance. In February they climbed up to 14th after a 1–0 win over 1. FC Union Berlin. However, this would be their last win of the season. They ended in 17th place and were relegated to the 2. Bundesliga.

As of 31 August 2023[35]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  GER Jonas Kersken (on loan from Mönchengladbach) 4 DF  GER Louis Oppie 5 DF  GER Semi Belkahia 6 DF  GER Can Özkan 7 MF  GER Nicklas Shipnoski 8 MF  GER Sam Schreck 9 FW  GER Fabian Klos (captain) 10 MF  MAR Nassim Boujellab 11 FW  GER Aygün Yıldırım 17 MF  GER Merveille Biankadi 19 MF  GER Maximilian Großer 20 MF  GER Tom Geerkens 21 MF  RUS Vladislav Cherny

No. Pos. Nation Player 22 GK  GER Leo Oppermann (on loan from Hamburg) 23 DF  GER Leon Schneider 24 DF  GER Christopher Lannert 25 MF  JPN Kaito Mizuta 27 DF  GER Gerrit Gohlke 28 MF  GER Lucas Kiewitt 29 FW  GER Henrik Koch 30 MF  GER Henry Obermeyer 34 MF  GER Leandro Putaro (on loan from VfL Osnabrück) 37 FW  GER Noah Sarenren Bazee 38 MF  GER Marius Wörl (on loan from Hannover 96) 39 FW  GER Manuel Wintzheimer (on loan from Nürnberg) 40 GK  GER Jonah Busse

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — FW  GER Christopher Schepp (at SV Meppen until 30 June 2024)

• 2. Bundesliga: (II)
  • Champions: 1998–99, 2019–20
• 2,Bundesliga Nord: (II)
  • Champions: 1977–78, 1979–80
• 3. Liga: (III)
  • Champions: 2014–15
• Regionalliga West/Südwest: (III)
  • Champions: 1994–95
• Oberliga Westfalen: (III)
  • Champions: 1989–90

• Western German football championship
  • Winners: 1922, 1923

• West German cup winner:
  • Winners: 1966, 1974
• Westphalian cup winner:
  • Winners: 1908, 1932, 1991, 2012, 2013