Main sponsor from 2001 to 2003: hardly any band name could better capture the financial and sporting state around Fortuna Düsseldorf than Die Toten Hosen. After relegation from the Bundesliga in 1992, Fortuna drifted into financial trouble. In 1992/93 they finished 21st in the second division, then tumbled into the Oberliga.
It was a danse macabre in the World Cup and European Championship stadium of 1974 and 1988. In the 1992/93 second-division season, average crowds at the Rheinstadion fell to just 5,726. By 2000/01, the Flingerans seemed close to final financial collapse in the Regionalliga Nord. Their celebrity fans from Die Toten Hosen stepped in. After already helping finance Anthony Baffoe’s move in 1988, they now helped keep their Fortuna alive as main sponsors from 2001 to 2003.