Fußball-Club St Pauli von 1910 e.V., commonly known as simply FC St Pauli (German pronunciation:[ɛfˌtseːzaŋktˈpaʊli]ⓘ), is a German professional football club based in the St. Pauli district of Hamburg, that competes in the 2. Bundesliga.
The men's professional football team dropped down to the Regionalliga in 2003, at that time the third highest football division in Germany and remained there for four years. In 2007, they won promotion back to the 2. Bundesliga and in 2010, they were promoted to the Bundesliga, the highest division. After relegation, since the 2011–12 season they have played in 2. Bundesliga, the second-highest division in Germany.
FC St Pauli has a cross-city rivalry with Hamburger SV; the matches between the two are known as the Hamburger Stadtderby or simply Derby. The club also has a more recent rivalry with Hansa Rostock.[7][8]
Although the footballers have enjoyed[tone] only modest success on the field, the club is widely recognised for its distinctive social culture and has a large popular following as one of the country's "Kult" clubs, which has now[when?] developed beyond Germany.[9][10] FC St Pauli supporters are strongly identified with their support of left-wing politics.[11]
History
Early years
The club began its existence in 1899 as a loose, informal group of football enthusiasts within the Hamburg-St.Pauli Turn-Verein 1862.[citation needed] This group did not play its first match until 1907, when they faced a similar side assembled from the local Aegir swimming club.[citation needed] Officially established on 15 May 1910, the club played as St Pauli TV in the Kreisliga Groß-Hamburg (Alsterkreis) until 1924, when a separate football side called St Pauli was formed.[citation needed] The team played as an undistinguished lower-to-mid table side until making their first appearance in 1934 in the top-flight Gauliga Nordmark, 1 of 16 premier level divisions created in the re-organization of German football that took place under the Third Reich. They were immediately relegated, but returned to the top flight in 1936. Relegated again in 1940, St Pauli re-appeared in the Gauliga Hamburg in 1942, and played there until the end of World War II.
Post-war football
Historical chart of St Pauli league performance
After the war, the club resumed play in the Oberliga Nord in 1947. A second-place finish in the 1947–48 season led St Pauli to its first appearance in the national championship rounds.[citation needed] They advanced as far as the semi-finals, where they were knocked out 2–3 by eventual champions 1. FC Nürnberg.[citation needed] The club continued to play well[according to whom?] throughout the early 1950s, but were unable to overtake rivals Hamburger SV, finishing in second place in five of the next seven seasons, and going out in the early rounds in each of their championship-round appearances from 1949 to 1951.[citation needed] In the late 1950s and into the early 1960s, St Pauli were overtaken by rivals such as Werder Bremen and VfL Osnabrück, but finished fourth a number of[quantify] times.
Promotion to the Bundesliga
In 1963, the Bundesliga – West Germany's new top-flight professional league – was formed. Hamburger SV, Werder Bremen, and Eintracht Braunschweig joined the new circuit as the top-finishers from the Oberliga Nord, while FC St Pauli found themselves in the second-tier Regionalliga Nord.[citation needed] That year, the club signed Guy Acolatse, who became the first Black professional footballer to play in Germany.[12][13]
Nearly a decade-and-a-half of frustration[tone] followed. St Pauli won their division in 1964, but finished bottom of their group in the promotion play-off round.[citation needed] They won their next Regionalliga Nord title in 1966, but, while they performed far better in the play-offs, still could not advance to the top-flight, losing to Rot-Weiss Essen on goal difference, having conceded two more goals.[citation needed] Division championships in 1972 and 1973, and runner-up finishes in 1971 and 1974, were each followed by promotion-round play-off disappointment.
The success of the Bundesliga, and the growth of professional football in West Germany, led to the formation of the 2. Bundesliga in 1974.[citation needed] St Pauli was part of the new second-tier professional circuit in the 2. Bundesliga Nord and, in 1977, they advanced to the top flight as winners of their division. The team survived for one season at the highest level in the Bundesliga.
The club's return to the 2. Bundesliga Nord was also short-lived. On the verge on bankruptcy in 1979,[citation needed] they were denied a license for the following season and were sent down to the Oberliga Nord (III). Strong performances that set the team atop that division in 1981 and 1983 were marred[tone] by poor financial health.[jargon][citation needed] By 1984, the club had recovered sufficiently to return to the 2. Bundesliga, overtaking Werder Bremen's amateur side, who, despite finishing two points ahead of St Pauli, were ineligible for promotion.
"Kult" phenomenon
The Skull and crossbones symbol on a supporter flag
It was in the mid-1980s that St Pauli's transition from a standard traditional club into a "Kult" club began. The club was also able to turn the location of its ground in the dock area part of town, near Hamburg's famous Reeperbahn – centre of the city's night life and its red-light district – to its advantage. An alternative fan scene slowly emerged, built around left-leaning politics, social activism and the event and party atmosphere of the club's matches. Supporters adopted the skull and crossbones as their own unofficial emblem. St Pauli became the first team in Germany to officially ban right-wing nationalist activities and displays in its stadium in an era when fascist-inspired football hooliganism threatened the game[vague] across Europe.[14] In 1981, the team was averaging small crowds of only 1,600 spectators, but by the late 1990s they were frequently selling out their entire 20,000-capacity ground.[15]
The skull and crossbones symbol had always been associated with St Pauli (the city quarter) in one way or another.[vague] Hamburg fostered the most famous[according to whom?] pirate of Germany, Klaus Störtebeker, and the symbol had been used by the 1980s squatters at Hafenstraße. However, the one who should be credited[according to whom?] with finally bringing the symbol to the terraces is probably[vague] Doc Mabuse, the singer of a Hamburg punk band. As the legend tells, he first grabbed the flag from a stall while passing drunk through the Dom on his way to the Millerntor-Stadion.[16]
In the early 1990s, the media in Germany began to recognize the Kult-image of the club, focusing on the punk part of the fan-base in TV broadcasts of the matches.[citation needed] By this time, the media also started to establish nicknames like "Freibeuter der Liga" ("Buccaneers of the League") as well as the satirical "das Freudenhaus der Liga" ("Brothel of the League", literally "House of Joy").[citation needed]
St Pauli moved in and out of the Bundesliga over the course of the next dozen years: the club was narrowly relegated to the Oberliga in the 1984–85 season, but won the 1985–86 championship and returned to 2. Bundesliga.[citation needed] Two increasingly strong years followed, resulting in promotion and three seasons in the Bundesliga, from 1988 to 1991.[citation needed] Four seasons followed in 2. Bundesliga, and then another two in the Bundesliga in 1995 to 1997, before another return to the 2. Bundesliga.
Into the new millennium
The new South Tribune of the Millerntor-Stadion, seen from Budapester Straße in 2009Former logo
Until 2010, the club's most recent appearance in the top-flight had been a single-season cameo in 2001–02. A win against Bayern Munich, the reigning Intercontinental Cup winners, led to the popular "Weltpokalsiegerbesieger" ("World Club Champion beaters") shirts.[17] However, the team finished last in the league, partly because the management did not trust the team which surprisingly[according to whom?] won the promotion in 2001, but rather spent the additional money from Bundesliga TV contracts and advertisements on expensive but disappointing players.[original research?] After the relegation to the 2. Bundesliga, only a skeleton of[tone] the successful 2001 team remained. The 2002–03 season ended up in chaos,[tone] with the team fighting relegation (ultimately in vain) from the very beginning, various coaches departing and other problems internal to the club.[vague]
With the club almost bankrupt again and the less-lucrative Regionaliga Nord (III) looming,[tone] the club began its fund-raising activities, the so-called "Retteraktion".[citation needed] They printed t-shirts with the club's crest surrounded by the word Retter ("rescuer/saviour") and more than 140,000 were sold within six weeks.[citation needed] They also organized a lucrative[vague] benefit game, against Bayern Munich, to raise funds to save the club.
The club has also been active in terms of charity[vague] and in 2005 the club, the team and the fans initiated the Viva con Agua de Sankt Pauli campaign, which collects money for water-dispensers for schools in Cuba, for clean water in Rwanda et cetera.[vague]
During the 2005–06 season, the team enjoyed[tone] unprecedented success in the DFB-Pokal, with wins over Burghausen, VfL Bochum and, significantly,[why?] Bundesliga sides Hertha BSC and, in the quarter-finals on 25 January 2006, Werder Bremen.[citation needed] Their 3–1 victory in front of a sell-out Millerntor crowd, and their subsequent place in the DFB Cup semi-final, netted[tone] the club approximately €1 million in TV and sponsorship money, going a long way[vague] to saving the club from immediate financial ruin.
After success in the 2006–07 season, the team was promoted to the 2. Bundesliga.[citation needed] After defeating SpVgg Greuther Fürth in the 2009–10 season, the team secured promotion back to the Bundesliga for the 2010–11 season.[citation needed] On 16 February 2011, during the 2010–11 season and for the first time since 1977, St Pauli defeated their bitter[tone] cross-city rivals Hamburger SV away at the Volksparkstadion courtesy of a Gerald Asamoah goal.[citation needed] The team, however, finished the domestic season in last place, resulting in their relegation to the 2. Bundesliga for the 2011–12 season.[citation needed] Since then, the club has remained in the 2. Bundesliga, finishing fourth in 2011–12, but declining in results since then.
The colours of FC St Pauli are brown and white, and to a lesser extent red.[citation needed]Black is also common among fans and on third kits.
The club has worn brown and white since 1910, when it joined the Northern German Football Association (Norddeutscher Fußball-Verband).[18] These early uniforms were made up of brown shirts and socks with white shorts.[citation needed] Some time between the 1920s and 30s, the club took on what would become its traditional look, namely a white shirt, brown shorts and brown socks with a white turnover.[citation needed] From early on in the club's history until the 1990s, the club readily wore its brown change shirts at home, even during such games as those against rivals HSV, who also wear white shirts.[vague]
During the 1960s, the club introduced white socks which regularly alternated with plain brown socks.[citation needed] A motif[vague] was used on the club shirt for the first time in 1968, when the club donned stripes, and, in the 1970s, various other motifs[vague] adorned the club's first and second-choice shirts.[citation needed] In the 1976–77 season, St Pauli began wearing Adidas kits, marking the end of a period of often experimental shirts, and this traditional look[vague] continued when the club started wearing Puma kits in the 1980s.[citation needed] For the 1985–86 season, the club sported an all-white Puma kit, which would be worn for four consecutive seasons before some brown details returned to the shirt.[citation needed] However, the Kiezkicker would continue to wear these predominantly white kits until 1993.
At this point, the club would return to a kit based on a white-brown-white scheme, but in a more contemporary style, often incorporating patterns.[citation needed] The Reusch kits of 1994–96 and 1996–97 had hoops and stripes respectively, while Kappa would also produce a striped kit in 2000–01.[citation needed] The Italian brand would provide a set of kits for the 2001–02 and 2002–03 seasons in which the shirt, shorts, and socks were all available in white and brown, meaning that the team would wear a different combination each game, reminiscent of the club's look between the 1960s and 1980s.[citation needed] During the 2001–02 season, the team would frequently make recourse to[vague] the previous year's all-black away kit.
In 2003–04, the club would once again sport a white shirt with brown sleeves, manufactured by Stanno.[citation needed] However this is, as of the 2022–23 season, the last time the club has donned its traditional kit.[citation needed] While the club's uniform for the 2005–06 season would combine a light shirt and brown shorts, St Pauli would wear an all-black kit during the following campaign (marking the first time that neither of the club's colours were present on the home kit).[citation needed] From the 2007–08 season, St Pauli has worn an all-brown home kit on all but three occasions, one of which saw the team return to a striped shirt, while in the two other instances the team wore white shorts.
Between 2019–20 and 2021–22, LGBT details were integrated into the third shirt. In 2020, having sought a kit supplier who would meet their ecological and ethical requirements since 2018, St Pauli founded their own brand, Di!Y ("Do it. Improve Yourself").[19] From the 2021–22 season, St Pauli have worn kits made in-house by Di!Y.[citation needed]
St Pauli enjoys[tone] a certain fame[vague] for the left-leaning character of its supporters: most of the team's fans regard themselves as anti-racist, anti-fascist, anti-homophobic and anti-sexist, and this has, on occasion,[when?] brought them into conflict with neo-Nazis and hooligans at away games. The organization has adopted an outspoken stance against racism, fascism, sexism, and homophobia and has embodied this position in its constitution.[20] Team supporters traditionally participate in demonstrations in the St Pauli district of Hamburg, including those over squatting or low-income housing, such as the Hafenstraße and Bambule.[citation needed] The centre of fan activity is the Fanladen St Pauli.[citation needed] St. Pauli has a supporters group in England, Yorkshire St. Pauli.[citation needed]
The club prides itself[tone] on having[vague] the largest number of female fans in all of German football.[30] In 2002, advertisements for the men's magazine Maxim were removed from the Millerntor-Stadion in response to fans' protests over the adverts' sexist depictions of women.[31] In 2011, the club banned lap dancers from performing during match before guests at a corporate suite, following fans' complaints. The suite belonged to local lap dance club Susies Show Bar.[32]
The ska punk group Kollmarlibre are avowed supporters of FC St. Pauli.
Several bands have also made music directly related to St Pauli: The Norwegian punk rock band Turbonegro recorded a special version of their song "I Got Erection" with re-worked German lyrics for St Pauli.[citation needed] In 2009, Italian ska combat-folk punk band Talco from Marghera, Venice, wrote the song "St Pauli".[citation needed] The team has since used the song as an anthem and Talco has played a number of concerts at Millerntor-Stadion.[citation needed]Glasgow band The Wakes have also played the Millerntor, having written "The Pirates of the League" about the club.[citation needed] Also, British band Art Brut has written a song about the club called "St Pauli" which is featured on their album It's a Bit Complicated.[35] In 2010, FC St Pauli celebrated its 100th anniversary. For the occasion, the fan club 18auf12 recorded the song "Happy Birthday St Pauli, One Hundred Beers for You", with words and music by Henning Knorr and Christoph Brüx.[36]
The Canadian punk rock band The Pagans of Northumberland recorded a song in 2014 called simply "St Pauli" for their first 7-inch detailing their love of the club and its supporters around the world.[citation needed]
In January 2017, FC St Pauli announced an extensive co-operation with Irish-AmericanCeltic punk band Dropkick Murphys. The co-operation includes a strictly limited seven-inch picture disc of the song "You’ll Never Walk Alone" recorded by the band, and new club merchandise labeled "You’ll Never Walk Alone", sporting both the club and the band.[37]
When the team played in Germany's 2nd Bundesliga, their home fixtures at the Millerntor used to average greater attendances than any other team and often exceeded turnouts for second division teams.[citation needed] As of the 2011–12 season, St Pauli was the only team that has close to 100% in average home attendance.
In 2006, St Pauli had more season ticket holders than many[quantify] Bundesliga teams.[38] One study[vague] estimated that the team had roughly 11 million fans throughout Germany,[39] making the club one of the most widely recognised German sides.[vague] The number of official fan clubs in 2011 passed 500, which was an increase of 300 over three years.[40]
In January 2020, the club's famous[tone] skull and crossbones flag was listed by the United Kingdom's counter-terrorism police in a guide sent to public sector workers, to notice potential extremism, prompting a backlash from St Pauli's Welsh defender James Lawrence.[41]
The club hosted the 2006 FIFI Wild Cup, a tournament made up of unrecognised national football teams like Greenland, Tibet and Zanzibar. They participated as the "Republic of St Pauli".[44]
In 2008, Nike commemorated the club with two exclusive Dunk shoes, both released in limited quantities. The High Dunk (featuring a black colorway, and the skull and crossbones symbol) was released to all countries throughout Europe, with only 500 pairs produced. The Low Dunk (featuring a smooth white colorway, and holding the team's logo impregnated in the side panel leather) was released only to shops in Germany, Switzerland and Austria, with only 150 pairs produced.[45]
Fundamental Principles
St Pauli were the first club in Germany[citation needed] to integrate a set of Fundamental Principles (Leitlinien) to dictate how the club is run. The Fundamental Principles were passed by an overwhelming majority at the St Pauli Congress in 2009[citation needed] and they go beyond solely football.
The first five Principles states that:
– "In its totality, consisting of members, staff, fans and honorary officers, St Pauli FC is a part of the society by which it is surrounded and so is affected both directly and indirectly by social changes in the political, cultural and social spheres."
– "St Pauli FC is conscious of the social responsibility this implies, and represents the interests of its members, staff, fans and honorary officers in matters not just restricted to the sphere of sport."
– "St Pauli FC is the club of a particular city district, and it is to this that it owes its identity. This gives it a social and political responsibility in relation to the district and the people who live there."
– "St Pauli FC aims to put across a certain feeling for life and symbolises sporting authenticity. This makes it possible for people to identify with the club independently of any sporting successes it may achieve. Essential features of the club that encourage this sense of identification are to be honoured, promoted and preserved."
– "Tolerance and respect in mutual human relations are important pillars of the St Pauli philosophy."[46]
Stadium
The home venue of the FC St Pauli is the Millerntor-Stadion. Work on the stadium began in 1961, but its completion was delayed until 1963 as there was initially no drainage system in place, making the pitch unplayable after rain.[citation needed] It originally held 32,000 supporters, but the capacity was later reduced for safety reasons.
In 1970, the stadium was renamed the Wilhelm Koch-Stadium in honour of a former club president.[citation needed] However, this name became highly controversial when it was discovered[by whom?] that Wilhelm Koch had been a member of the Nazi Party during the war.[citation needed] After protests by fans, the name was changed back to Millerntor-Stadion in 1999.
A total redevelopment began in 2006. The final phase of the redevelopment work ended with the completion of the new north stand in July 2015. The stadium is since then permitted for a capacity of 29,546 spectators of which 16,940 are standing and 12,606 are seated.[1]
Note: FC St Pauli did not play in the Bundesliga or the 2. Bundesliga until 1974, 1979–1984, 1985–86 and 2003–2007.[citation needed]
Statistics are correct as of 22 June 2022.[citation needed]
The St Pauli rugby section has several teams, both in the men's and women's leagues.
The men's rugby department has not been as successful as its female counterpart, reaching the German final only once, in 1964.[citation needed] In 2008–09, St Pauli was the only club to have a team in both the rugby and football 2nd Bundesliga.[citation needed] In 2008–09, the men's team finished fourth in the second division.
The women's team have won the German rugby union championship eight times (1995, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005–08) and the sevens championship 3 times (2000, 2001 and 2002).[citation needed] Several of their players play in the national squad.
St Pauli has a blind football team which plays in the Blindenfussball Bundesliga.[citation needed]
^McDougall, William (2013). "Kicking from the Left: The Friendship of Celtic and FC St. Pauli supporters". Soccer and Society. 14 (2): 230–245. doi:10.1080/14660970.2013.776470. S2CID144966781.
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