Akte Fortuna F95

Profile — Facts, Figures and Milestones

Fortuna Düsseldorf, full name: Düsseldorfer Turn- und Sportverein Fortuna 1895 e. V., is a German sports club from the North Rhine-Westphalian state capital of Düsseldorf. Common short names include "Fortuna" or "Die Fortunen" — or, in reference to the club crest, "F95." Due to the club's origins in the former Düsseldorf working-class neighbourhood of Flingern, the nickname "die Flingeraner" is also occasionally used.

In the 2018/19 and 2019/20 seasons, Fortuna — after five years in the second division — belonged to the Bundesliga once again. In the all-time Bundesliga table, Fortuna Düsseldorf sits in 18th place (as of December 2019).

As of August 2019, the club has 27,000 members, making it one of Germany's 20 largest sports clubs and the fifth-largest in North Rhine-Westphalia.

Fortuna Düsseldorf's stadium is the Merkur Spiel-Arena, a multi-purpose venue built in 2004. It holds 54,600 spectators. The average attendance in the 2018/2019 season was 40,648.

The punk band Die Toten Hosen and frontman Campino are fans of Fortuna Düsseldorf. That's practically common knowledge. Less well known is that the band helped finance "A Leg for Tony." This was well before the phase when guitarist "Kuddel" began following a strictly vegan diet in 2011.

A Leg for Tony: Anthony Baffoe's transfer from Fortuna Köln to Fortuna Düsseldorf in 1989 was co-financed by the punk band Die Toten Hosen. The band contributed part of the 100,000-euro fee — and passed the hat around during a tour under the motto "A Leg for Tony Baffoe." Baffoe, the son of a Ghanaian diplomat from Bonn, gave an interview during his time at Fortuna Düsseldorf in the 1989/90 season that made the pampered world of professional football sit up. "If I really think about it, I didn't put in a good performance today," he said, making it all the way into the ZDF Bundesliga review show. "Self-criticism, as rare as it is in..." the presenter noted. Equally cool was his quip to a referee who had just booked him: "Come on, man — us Black guys have to stick together."

Also quite unknown: The first match abandonment in Bundesliga history due to crowd trouble involved Fortuna Düsseldorf. 1. FC Kaiserslautern, November 27, 1976. It was 4:56 p.m. when an incident at the Betzenberg shook all of German football. From the Westkurve, where FCK's most loyal fans stood, small liqueur bottles rained onto the pitch during the match between 1. FC Kaiserslautern and Fortuna Düsseldorf. Referee Rudolf Frickel (Munich) alerted Kaiserslautern captain Josef Pirrung. Pirrung signalled to the stadium announcer and to FCK coach Erich Ribbeck. When more bottles flew onto the pitch, Frickel promptly abandoned the match. It was the first abandonment in Bundesliga history caused by spectator behaviour. Fortuna were leading 1-0 at the time. Weeks later, 1. FCK were held accountable for the irresponsible behaviour of a few fanatics. The consequences: a hefty fine and points deduction. Fortuna were awarded a 2-0 win at the green table — which is why, as of December 2019, only Fortuna's and Werder Bremen's records contain goals without a listed scorer.

First dog bite: Schalke's Friedel Rausch was bitten by a German shepherd in Dortmund — a one-of-a-kind incident! Wrong — a football legend that is simply false. Fortuna Düsseldorf's left winger Dieter Wöske was the first bite victim in a top-flight match on German soil a full ten years earlier, on April 6, 1959. During a home Oberliga West match against 1. FC Köln, Wöske fled from euphoric spectators into the goal and was bitten through the net by a police dog named Ajax. One way to leave your mark…

In German football, Fortuna Düsseldorf has the unflattering reputation of being a "yo-yo club."

Oberliga Nordrhein: Fortuna Düsseldorf's greatest footballing embarrassment came outside the top two divisions. 17th place in the third-tier Regionalliga Nord in 2001/02 meant relegation to the Oberliga Nordrhein.

Four coaches: 20th place, just six wins (a club negative record) and four coaches burned through (Josef Hickersberger, Rolf Schafstall, Horst Köppel, Jürgen Gede) made the mammoth 1991/92 Bundesliga season with 20 teams the absolute low point. From 1999, a full decade of amateur football followed…

Heaviest Bundesliga defeat: Fortuna Düsseldorf's heaviest Bundesliga defeat to date remains the 0-7 (0-2) against VfB Stuttgart in the 1985/86 season. Stuttgart swept through the Düsseldorf Rheinstadion like a tornado on March 15, 1986, with goals from Michael Spies and Karl Allgöwer plus five (!) from Jürgen Klinsmann…

Heaviest away defeat: Fortuna Düsseldorf lost 7-0 at FC Bayern Munich on matchday 21 of the 1981/82 season.

Fortuna Düsseldorf's greatest achievements to date remain the German championship in 1933, reaching the final of the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1979, and back-to-back DFB-Pokal triumphs in 1979 and 1980.

Cup Winners' Cup final: In 1979, the team coached by Hans-Dieter Tippenhauer — featuring Klaus and Thomas Allofs, Dieter Brei, Rudi Bommer, Egon Köhnen and Gerd Zewe among others — reached the final of the European Cup Winners' Cup, having qualified as cup runners-up. They had lost the 1978 DFB-Pokal final to champions 1. FC Köln. In a dramatic final in Basel, Fortuna fell to FC Barcelona 4-3 (2-2, 2-2) after extra time. Sanchez struck in the fifth minute for the Spaniards. Three minutes later, the Allofs brothers equalised — who touched the ball last remains disputed to this day, though it is officially credited to Thomas. In the 12th minute, goalkeeper Jörg Daniel saved a Spanish penalty. Asensi restored Barcelona's lead, and Wolfgang Seel equalised again before half-time. Fortuna dominated the second half but couldn't score. In extra time, Rexach put the Catalans ahead. Düsseldorf pushed for another equaliser but conceded the decisive 4-2 through Hans Krankl. Wolfgang Seel pulled one back — 3-4. That was all they had.

The 7-1 against Bayern: With their best-ever finishes of third in 1972/73 and 1973/74, Düsseldorf only saw the Bundesliga championship trophy from afar. But on December 9, 1978, the Rheinstadion — known as "die Schüssel" (the bowl) — witnessed a match worthy of champions. Fortuna Düsseldorf demolished the mighty Bayern Munich 7-1 — Bayern's heaviest away defeat in Bundesliga history. Two goals each from Klaus Allofs, Wolfgang Seel and Emanuel Günther, plus one from Gerd Zimmermann, made for a match whose scoreboard photo is still used on Fortuna fan t-shirts to this day…

In the end, they made it: Fortuna Düsseldorf humiliated Hertha BSC in the relegation playoff. The Bundesliga witnessed turbulent relegation drama at its finest in May 2012. As third-placed finishers, Düsseldorf had stormed the Berlin Olympiastadion with a 2-1 win, inflicting a painful defeat on the (still-)Bundesliga side Hertha BSC. The Berliners couldn't reverse the result on May 15, 2012 in the cauldron of the Düsseldorf Arena — 2-2. A pitch invasion by Fortuna fans nearly derailed everything. The Berliners protested after the match interruption and got tangled up in dubious legal claims. The DFB rejected Hertha's request for a rematch, and Düsseldorf went up — despite the chaotic scenes near the end.

Back-to-back DFB-Pokal winners: In 1979 and 1980, Fortuna Düsseldorf achieved what their Rhineland rivals 1. FC Köln had last done in 1977 and 1978 — they defended the DFB-Pokal! The 1-0 victory in Hanover in the 1979 final against Hertha BSC, decided by a Wolfgang Seel goal after extra time, was followed in 1980 by perhaps the most prestigious triumph of all. At the Parkstadion in Gelsenkirchen — until 1985, the final was held at a different venue each year — F95 beat 1. FC Köln 2-1. Rüdiger Wenzel (59') and Thomas Allofs (65') overturned Köln's 1-0 half-time lead, scored by World Cup winner Bernd Cullmann (26'), within six minutes, triggering incredible scenes of celebration! Fortuna coach Otto Rehhagel played the trumpet in celebration. It wasn't until January 1981 that Fortuna lost another cup match, and the club can still boast a record run of 18 consecutive DFB-Pokal victories (as of December 2019).

Toni Turek — "I haven't had much luck in life": That's what Toni Turek said at some point towards the end of his life. Understandable, when you look at his post-career years. Until 1973, Turek worked largely out of the public eye in the administration of the Düsseldorf Rheinbahn — then fate struck one Sunday morning in September 1973. Toni Turek couldn't get out of bed: paraplegia, probably caused by a virus. The cause was never determined. Years of suffering followed. Countless operations that made nothing better. In 1977, Turek took early retirement, confined to a wheelchair or crutches. On May 11, 1984, the Hero of Bern died from the consequences of a stroke. He was buried at the Lindenheide cemetery in Mettmann.

Atli Edvaldsson — The Icelander: Born in Reykjavik in 1957, the 6'5" giant arrived in Germany in 1980, initially to score goals for Borussia Dortmund. He netted 11 in 30 appearances. Fortuna brought the striker to the Rhine, where he scored 112 goals in 219 matches. He once finished second (21 goals) in the top-scorer chart behind Rudi Völler (23 goals). On June 5, 1983, Edvaldsson scored five in a 5-1 win against Eintracht Frankfurt. He continued playing until 1994. From 1999 to 2003, he served as Iceland's national coach, then retired from football. He passed away in the autumn of 2019 after a long illness, aged 62.

Sometimes punk, sometimes dead silence: Fortuna Düsseldorf between emotional extremes. The only constant at Fortuna Düsseldorf, or so uber-fan Campino believes — real name Andreas Frege (a name with which a world career was hardly going to happen…), singer of the punk band Die Toten Hosen — is that "the sausages probably taste the same even in the Regionalliga." That's hard to verify. What is certain is that Die Toten Hosen provided the club with financial lifelines during its darkest days. Punx not dead!

Shirt sponsor from 2001 to 2003: Few band names could better capture the financial and sporting chaos surrounding Fortuna Düsseldorf than Die Toten Hosen ("Dead Trousers"). With Bundesliga relegation in 1992, Fortuna's finances went into a tailspin. A 21st-place finish in the 2. Bundesliga (then 24 teams) in 1992/93 meant the plunge into the Oberliga! There was a dance of death in the World Cup and European Championship stadium of 1974 and 1988. In the 1992/93 second-division season, an average of just 5,726 fans rattled around the Rheinstadion. By 2000/01, the Flingeraner appeared on the brink of total financial collapse in the Regionalliga Nord. The celebrity fans from Die Toten Hosen stepped in. Having already co-financed fan favourite Anthony Baffoe's transfer in 1988, they now rescued their Fortuna as shirt sponsors from 2001 to 2003.

Fortuna Düsseldorf and the Rheinstadion — All for Love? When Fortuna's Bundesliga home ground was demolished in two waves in November 2002, a touch of melancholy surfaced at the very last moment. Former stadium announcer Dieter Bierbaum, wearing a hard hat with the Fortuna logo, watched from a safe distance as the 1974 World Cup arena was reduced to rubble in seconds. "It's an insane feeling to see this," Bierbaum said at the time, his voice trembling. "This stadium wrote sporting history — 22 years of Bundesliga with Fortuna Düsseldorf, all gone, just like that." Only the Nordkurve terrace remained standing temporarily, as water pipes running beneath it were essential for the new arena. The ball rolled at the Rheinstadion for the last time on March 3, 2002. In the 1-1 draw against arch-rivals Rot-Weiß Essen, Fortuna's Nigerian player Ganiyu Shittu scored the last-ever goal in the stadium's history. Remarkably, two European cup finals were held at the Rheinstadion in 1979 and 1981. Borussia Mönchengladbach won the UEFA Cup there, and Dynamo Tbilisi beat FC Carl Zeiss Jena — coached by the legendary Hans Meyer — to win the Cup Winners' Cup in 1981. The 4,750 spectators in the enormous concrete bowl for the Jena match remain a record low attendance for a European final to this day.

Toni Turek — a Football God? Not according to Sepp Herberger. "While Toni's play on the goal line deserves the highest praise and recognition, the same cannot be said of his cooperation with the players in front of him. Toni never had his defence under control the way one had to expect of him." Sepp Herberger didn't have only kind words for Toni Turek. Not just Turek's phlegmatic nature irked Herberger, but also his occasional showboating — like catching balls with one hand. "The desire for spectacle was in his blood. He barely took notice of the cautionary criticism from those around him, or simply let it go in one ear and out the other."

Scandal in front of the main stand: "Say goodbye softly with a Servus," goes the classic by Erwin Bolt and his dance band. But that wasn't enough for Wolfgang Kleff. After the end of his time at Gladbach and a brief stint at Hertha BSC, "Otto" Kleff joined Fortuna Düsseldorf in 1982. The 35-year-old veteran goalkeeper quickly became a crowd favourite. Despite solid performances, his contract was not renewed in May 1984. On matchday 33, Kleff was allowed to start in F95's last home match of the season. In the 73rd minute, he'd had enough. He faked an injury and had himself substituted. Kleff, fit as a fiddle, set off on a lap of honour. The fans paid tribute to "Otto" and received in return: "I gave the fans what they wanted: gloves, shirt, boots, the lot," he recalled later. Then came the scandal in front of the main stand. Kleff turned around, bent over and dropped his shorts. He appeared to be mooning the main stand — and above all Fortuna president Bruno Recht, who had refused to extend his contract. "For the fans, I'll give my last shirt — for certain others, only my backside," Kleff explained after the match.

Everyone in Cologne, Mönchengladbach and Leverkusen knows that Fortuna Düsseldorf have never been Bundesliga champions. But here are fun facts about "Tuna" that not everyone knows…

The Emperor of the Rhine: Light-footed, with superb vision and tactical intelligence — in short, just like Franz Beckenbauer — that's how Gerd Zewe played in the Fortuna Düsseldorf shirt. But the club's record appearance-maker never quite stepped out of the Munich original's shadow and earned only four caps. After Beckenbauer's departure from the national team, Zewe was allowed to travel to the 1978 World Cup in Argentina, but was given nothing more than a free seat on the bench or in the stands whenever the defending champions played. Manager Schön preferred Berti Vogts, Manfred Kaltz, Rolf Rüssmann and Bernhard Dietz in defence — including in the decisive match against Austria, which ended in the "Disgrace of Córdoba."

The Karlo Party: One Fortuna Düsseldorf player enjoys absolute cult status. Karl "Karlo" Werner, who made 145 Bundesliga appearances for Düsseldorf. At the local university, a party was named after him: the DKP — Düsseldorfer Karlo-Partei. Whether it ever cleared the 5% threshold at F95 is unknown… and what the humourless communists and GDR sympathisers of the actual DKP (Deutsche Kommunistische Partei) in the old West Germany thought of the Karlo Party is likewise not recorded.

Never longer than three: Since their second relegation in 1987, Fortuna have never managed more than three consecutive seasons in the Bundesliga. From 2002 to 2004, they even had to play in the then fourth-tier Oberliga. In 2008, the club qualified for the newly founded 3. Liga. In 2009, they returned to the 2. Bundesliga. In 2012, the team secured promotion via the relegation playoff. The following season, they were relegated again under dramatic circumstances.

10th place and the "old man": A 10th-place finish in 2018/19 for the team coached by Rhinelander Friedhelm Funkel was a notable achievement. "Fortuna were one of the biggest surprises," said former F95 pro Mike Rietpietsch. "That was only possible because the club finally found some stability." Things weren't quite that calm, though: during the winter break, CEO Robert Schäfer announced the decision to part ways with Funkel at the end of the season, citing a disagreement over contract length. The supervisory board reversed Schäfer's decision after massive fan protests, and by the season's end it was Schäfer who had to go — while Funkel survived until the second half of 2019/20, when he was replaced by Uwe Rösler.