Wikipedia

FC Hansa Rostock

FC Hansa Rostock (German: [ʔɛf ˈt͡seː ˈhanza ˈʁɔstɔk]) is a German association football club based in the city of Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The club is also called as "the cog" because of its club crest. They have emerged as one of the most successful clubs from the former East Germany after German reunification and have made several appearances in the top-flight Bundesliga. With 21,416 club members, the club is one of the largest sports clubs in Germany.

Hansa Rostock
Full nameFußballclub Hansa Rostock e. V.
Nickname(s)Hansa, Hanseaten, Kogge,
Hansa-Kogge, Ostseestädter
Founded28 December 1965; 58 years ago (1965-12-28)
GroundOstseestadion, Rostock
Capacity29,000[contradictory][citation needed]
ChairmanRobert Marien[citation needed]
ManagerSimon Pesch / Marcus Rabenhorst (interim)
League3. Liga
2023–242. Bundesliga, 17th of 18 (relegated)
Websitewww.fc-hansa.de/
Current season

After being in the Bundesliga for ten years, from 1995 to 2005, Rostock went into a steady decline. In 2012, the club was relegated to the 3. Liga for the second time, regaining its place in the 2. Bundesliga in 2021. They returned to the 3. Liga after three seasons following relegation in 2023–24.

History

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Historical chart of Hansa league performance

The club was originally founded on 1 November 1954 as the multi-sport sports club SC Empor Rostock. The football squad, however, could not be recruited from local enterprise sports communities (German: Betriebssportgemeinschaft, BSG) like the squad of the handball section, so a transfer of BSG Empor Lauter's squad from Lauter to Rostock was considered.[by whom?] The area around Lauter, near the Czech border, was well represented in East German football by competitive sides, including Wismut Aue, Fortschritt Meerane and Motor Zwickau, so the footballers of BSG Empor Lauter were delegated to Rostock, over the futile[tone] protests of the team's local supporters. Then SED First Secretary in Bezirk Rostock Karl Mewis and SED functionary Harry Tisch were instrumental in the relocation of BSG Empor Lauter to Rostock.[1][2] Karl Lewis was allegedly the initiator of the relocation.[3] This was not an uncommon occurrence in the 1950s of East German football, where clubs were regularly renamed, re-structured, dismantled or shuffled from city to city at the direction of well-placed communist officials. The new club would be sponsored by the fishing combine VEB Fischkombinat Rostock.

The wholesale transfer of the Lauterers to Rostock part way through the 1954–55 season led to the disappearance of that association from play. A new club was formed in 1956 as BSG Motor Lauter and on 1 August 1990, it took up the tradition of the original side to play as Lauterer Sportverein Viktoria 1913.

Play in Rostock

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A match between SC Empor Rostock and SC Dynamo Berlin at the Ostseestadion in 1957.

Newly formed SC Empor Rostock took the place of the former Lauter-based club in first division play in November 1954. They finished second the next season, but in 1956 plunged[tone] to 14th place and were relegated. They quickly bounced back,[tone] rejoining the DDR-Oberliga in 1958, before going on to become a very competitive side[according to whom?] with a series of three vice-championships to their credit from 1962 to 1964, as well as several appearances in the final of the FDGB Pokal. The re-organization of East German sports in 1965 led to the association's football department becoming independent as Fußball Club Hansa Rostock, which was designated as one of the country's 10 dedicated football club intended to groom talent for the development of a strong East Germany national team. The new club's name acknowledged Rostock's history as one of the major trading centres of northern Europe's Hanseatic League. FC Hansa Rostock would be sponsored by the maritime combine VEB Kombinat Seeverkehr und Hafenwirtschaft.[4] And the club would be patronaged by the SED First Secretary of Bezirk Rostock, as well as future Free German Trade Union Federation chairman and Politburo member Harry Tisch.[5][6]

By the 1970s, the club was consistently finishing in the lower half of the league table and was relegated to the second division DDR-Liga for a single season on three occasions late in the decade. They returned to form[tone] in the 1980s, and, as the football leagues of West Germany and East Germany were merged in 1990 after the re-unification of the country, Rostock won its first national championship in the final season of East German football, played out in the transitional NOFV-Oberliga. This is their only top flight title to date in play in East Germany or the unified Germany.

They also captured[tone] the last East German Cup with a 1–0 win over FC Stahl Eisenhüttenstadt.[7]

United Germany and the Bundesliga

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The January 1990 squad

The club's timely success[according to whom?] earned them a place in the Bundesliga alongside Dynamo Dresden when the top-flight Bundesliga was briefly expanded from 18 to 20 teams for the 1991–92 season to accommodate two former East German teams. Hansa, however, was unable to stay up and was relegated after falling just a single point shy of SG Wattenscheid 09. Three seasons of tempering[vague] in the 2. Bundesliga would return the club to the top flight for the 1995–96 season. In ten years spent in the Bundesliga, the team's best results were a pair of sixth-place finishes. In spite of frequent placings in the bottom-half of the league table, they would persist as the only former East German side able to consistently challenge the well-heeled[tone] clubs of the west. On 1 December 2002, Rostock became the first club to field six foreigners from the same country in a Bundesliga match (Rade Prica, Marcus Lantz, Peter Wibrån, Andreas Jakobsson, Magnus Arvidsson and Joakim Persson – all Swedes).

Hansa had a very poor[according to whom?] first half in the 2004–05 season, earning only 1 win and 5 draws in 17 matches. They were unable to recover despite the late arrival of Finnish striker Jari Litmanen and at season's end were relegated, leaving the former GDR without a club in the top flight for the first time since re-unification. Like other East German teams, they were the victims of a harsh economic reality[tone] as the wealthier, well-established western sides bought up the most talented[tone] eastern footballers as their clubs struggled to survive financially: Rostock's Stefan Beinlich, Oliver Neuville and Victor Agali were just three players sent west in exchange for cash.[citation needed] After two years in the 2. Bundesliga, the club returned to the top-flight for the 2007–08 season, but was again relegated.

The club's poor form continued in 2009–10 and they finished third-last. With this season, a new promotion/relegation format accompanied the introduction of the 3. Liga and Rostock faced a playoff versus the third place third division club FC Ingolstadt. Hansa lost both legs of the contest and was sent down to the 3. Liga, while Ingolstadt won promotion to the 2. Bundesliga alongside the top two third-tier teams which advanced automatically by virtue of their finishes. Their stay was a short one as they were sent back down after finishing bottom table in 2011–12.

Hansa Rostock drew an average home attendance of 11,433[8] in the 2016–17 3. Liga, the third-highest in the league.

Recent seasons

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Season Division Tier Position
1984–85 DDR-Oberliga I 10th
1985–86 13th↓
1986–87 DDR-Liga II 1st↑
1987–88 DDR-Oberliga I 9th
1988–89 4th
1989–90 6th
1990–91 NOFV-Oberliga 1st
1991–92 Bundesliga 18th↓
1992–93 2. Bundesliga Ii 11th
1993–94 8th
1994–95 1st↑
1995–96 Bundesliga I 6th
1996–97 15th
1997–98 6th
1998–99 14th
1999–2000 6th
2000–01 15th
2001–02 14th
2002–03 13th
2003–04 9th
2004–05 17th↓
2005–06 2. Bundesliga II 10th
2006–07 2nd↑
2007–08 Bundesliga I 17th↓
2008–09 2. Bundesliga II 13th
2009–10 16th↓
2010–11 3. Liga III 2nd↑
2011–12 2. Bundesliga II 18th↓
2012–13 3. Liga III 12th
2013–14 13th
2014–15 17th
2015–16 10th
2016–17 15th
2017–18 6th
2018–19 6th
2019–20 6th
2020–21 2nd↑
2021–22 2. Bundesliga II 13th
2022–23 13th
2023–24 17th↓
2024–25 3. Liga III

Honours

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After German reunification, the last regular DDR-Oberliga season was played in NOFV-Oberliga. During 1990–91 NOFV-Oberliga season, Hansa Rostock became the last East Germany champion.

Domestic

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Regional

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Youth

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Other

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Double

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DDR-Oberliga and FDGB-Pokal:

Players

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Current squad

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As of 2 September 2024[9]

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 Benjamin Uphoff
3 DF   GER Dominik Lanius
4 DF   GER Damian Roßbach
5 MF   GER Marco Schuster
6 MF   GER Jonas Dirkner
7 DF   GER Nico Neidhart
8 MF   GER Cedric Harenbrock
9 FW   KOS Albin Berisha
10 MF   SWE Nils Fröling
11 FW   GER Antonio Jonjić
13 FW   GER Kevin Schumacher
14 FW   FRA Adrien Lebeau
15 DF   GER Ahmet Gürleyen
No. Pos. Nation Player
18 FW   NOR Sigurd Hauso Haugen (on loan from AGF)
19 DF   CZE Jan Mejdr
20 FW   GER Ryan Naderi
21 DF   GER Alexander Rossipal
22 MF   GER King Manu (on loan from Fortuna Düsseldorf)
23 MF   GER Franz Pfanne (captain)
24 DF   GER Dario Gebuhr
25 GK   GER Philipp Klewin
27 MF   GER Christian Kinsombi
29 DF   GER Felix Ruschke
30 GK   GER Max Hagemoser
37 MF   GER Louis Köster
38 GK   GER Elias Höftmann

Out on loan

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
— DF   GER Jannis Lang (at SV Babelsberg 03 until 30 June 2025)
No. Pos. Nation Player
— MF   POL Miłosz Brzozowski (at Wisła Płock until 30 June 2025)

Hansa Rostock II

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As of 2 April 2024[10]

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 Noah-Juel Hoffmann
2 DF   GER Nils Schulz
4 DF   KOS Arbnor Aliu
5 DF   GER Till Kozelnik
7 FW   POR Luca Barata
8 MF   GER Louis Köster
9 FW   GER Randy Dei
10 MF   GER Alessandro Schulz
11 FW   GER Thomas Rothfuß
13 DF   CMR Salomon Patrick Amougou Nkoa
16 FW   AUT Lukas Hinterseer
17 FW   GER Tim Krohn
18 MF   GER Lucas Sperner
No. Pos. Nation Player
19 FW   GER Luca Wollschläger (on loan from Hertha BSC II)
23 DF   GER Felix Ruschke
24 DF   GER Raul Celotto
27 MF   GER Sascha Schünemann
28 MF   GER Jeremy Postelt
29 MF   GER Benno Dietze
30 GK   GER Max Hagemoser
31 DF   GER Marcel Kohn
33 FW   GER Mike Bachmann
35 MF   GER Joshua Krüger
36 FW   GER Milosz Brzozowski
38 GK   GER Elias Höftmann
39 MF   GER Julian Albrecht

Coaching staff

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As of 1 July 2024
Position Name
Manager   Simon Pesch
  Marcus Rabenhorst
Assistant manager
Goalkeeper coach   Dirk Orlishausen
Fitness coach   Tomislav Stepic

Managers

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Fans

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A study published in 2007 by Sportfive reported Hansa's fanbase to be the seventh largest in Germany, involving up to two million supporters.[11] According to another study published in 2008 by Allensbach Institute, Hansa is the most popular German football club in the New Länder and the most popular club of the former GDR in reunited Germany.[12] Hansa Rostock's official anthem is "FC Hansa, wir lieben Dich total" ("Hansa FC, We Totally Love You"), recorded in 1995 by East German band Puhdys.

Hansa struggles with hooliganism, estimating up to 500 supporters to be leaning towards violence.[13] The club itself, as well as some fans' associations, are anxious to curtail these in several ways.[vague][14] In 2005, the club successfully sued three streakers who disrupted their 2003 match against Hertha BSC to recoup the €20,000 they were fined by the German Football Association (DFB) for failing to maintain adequate security at their ground.[vague]

Stadium

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The original Ostseestadion was built in 1954, with the participation of several hundred citizens of Rostock who helped for free.[citation needed] The first international match in the Ostseestadion of East Germany was on 26 September 1956.[citation needed] In 2001, the stadium was refurbished and modified to accommodate 30,000[contradictory] spectators.

Reserve team

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The club's reserve team, FC Hansa Rostock II, has played as high as Regionalliga level, last playing in the Regionalliga Nord in 2009–10. The team currently[when?] plays in the tier five NOFV-Oberliga Nord. It first reached Oberliga level in 1992 and has won three league championships at this level, in 2000, 2005 and 2012.[15][16]

In 1998, 2005 and 2006, it also won the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Cup, the local cup competition in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and qualified for the first round of the DFB-Pokal through this, but never advanced past its first round.

Further reading

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  • Pönig, Uwe: FC Hansa. Berichte, Statistiken 1966–1966. (German) Ostsee-Druck, Rostock 1969.
  • Pönig/Liebenthron: FC Hansa. Alles über den Rostocker Fußballklub in Wort und Bild. (German) Ostsee-Druck, Rostock 1972.
  • Baingo, Andreas: FC Hansa Rostock. Wir lieben Dich total! (German) Sportverlag, Berlin 1995, ISBN 3-328-00692-3.
  • Rosentreter, Robert: FC Hansa Rostock. Fußball an der Ostsee; im Zeichen der roten Kogge. (German) Suum Cuique, Reutlingen 1995, ISBN 3-927292-55-9.
  • Dalk, Wolfgang: Das Fan-Buch Hansa. (German) Weymann Bauer, Rostock 1997, ISBN 3-929395-29-0.
  • Krüger, Uwe: Hansa Rostock. Daten, Fakten, Bilder. (German) Agon Sportverlag, Kassel 1998, ISBN 3-89609-127-1.
  • Hesselmann/Rosentritt: Hansa Rostock. Der Osten lebt. (German) Die Werkstatt, Göttingen 1999, ISBN 3-89533-258-5.
  • Rosentreter/Simon: Immer hart am Wind. 40 Jahre F.C. Hansa Rostock. (German) Die Werkstatt, Göttingen 2005, ISBN 3-89533-504-5.
  • Schmidtke, Holger: Stadt- und Regionalentwicklung in strukturschwachem Raum: Welche Bedeutung nimmt der Fußballbundesligist FC Hansa Rostock e.V. ein? (German) AV Akademikerverlag, Saarbrücken 2012, ISBN 3-63942-330-5.
  • Achenbach, Björn: Hansa ist mein Leben: 50 Jahre F.C.Hansa Rostock. (German) Hinstorff, Rostock 2014, ISBN 978-3-356-01867-7.
  • Neubert, Heiko: Fankogge: Mit Hansa durch die DDR-Oberliga. (German) nofb-shop.de, Berlin 2014, ISBN 978-3-00-044931-4.
  • Brown, Kieran: 111 Gründe, Hansa Rostock zu lieben. (German) Schwarzkopf Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2014, ISBN 978-3-86265-416-1.
  • Schwinkendorf, Andreas: Fußball und Gewalt. Die Sicht von Zuschauern und Akteuren am Beispiel des F. C. Hansa Rostock. (German) Verlag für Polizeiwissenschaft, Rostock/Bochum 2014, ISBN 978-3-86676-377-7.
  • Bertram, Marco: F.C. Hansa Rostock. Fußballfibel. (German) CULTURCON medien, Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-944068-50-3.
  • Neubert, Heiko: Fankogge 2: Allein gegen den Westen. (German) Eigenverlag, Rostock 2018, ISBN 978-1-72898-984-6.
  • Bertram, Marco (editor): Kaperfahrten: Mit der Kogge durch stürmische See. (German) nofb-shop.de, Berlin 2020, ISBN 978-3-00-066536-3.
  • Czoch, Peter: Alles für den FCH! Die legendärsten Hansa-Spiele. (German) Die Werkstatt, Göttingen 2021, ISBN 978-3-7307-0536-0.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Hesse-Lichtenberger, Ulrich (2003). Tor!: The Story of German Football (3rd ed.). London: WSC Books Ltd. pp. 225–226. ISBN 095401345X.
  2. ^ Mike, Dennis; Grix, Jonathan (2012). Sport under Communism – Behind the East German 'Miracle' (1st ed.). Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan (Macmillan Publishers Limited). p. 138. ISBN 978-0-230-22784-2.
  3. ^ Ehlers, Matthias (18 June 2009). "Die Retortenschlacht". 11 Freunde (in German). Berlin: 11FREUNDE Verlag GmbH & Co. KG. Archived from the original on 16 September 2020. Retrieved 16 September 2020.
  4. ^ Oelmaier, Tobias (28 December 2015). "Jubiläum – Hansa Rostock wird 50". deutschlandfunkkultur.de (in German). Cologne: Deutschlandradio. Archived from the original on 13 February 2022. Retrieved 13 February 2022.
  5. ^ Mike, Dennis; Grix, Jonathan (2012). Sport under Communism – Behind the East German 'Miracle' (1st ed.). Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan (Macmillan Publishers Limited). p. 138. ISBN 978-0-230-22784-2.
  6. ^ MacDougall, Alan (2014). The People's Game: Football, State and Society in East Germany (1st ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 70. ISBN 978-1-107-05203-1.
  7. ^ Hesse, Uli (3 June 2016). "The last days of football in East Germany". Deutsche Welle. Archived from the original on 3 June 2016. Retrieved 3 June 2016.
  8. ^ "3. Liga 2016/2017 – Attendance". 10 March 2023. Archived from the original on 18 August 2017. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
  9. ^ "F.C. Hansa Rostock – Profi Mannschaft Spieler Übersicht" (in German). F.C. Hansa Rostock. Archived from the original on 13 July 2018. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  10. ^ "Kader". Kicker.de. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
  11. ^ 11Freunde.com. "Marktstudie: Köln mischt die Bundesliga auf". Archived from the original on 7 July 2011. Retrieved 23 June 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  12. ^ FC-Hansa.de. "Hansa bleibt beliebtester Fußballverein in Ostdeutschland". Archived from the original on 13 January 2009. Retrieved 23 June 2009.
  13. ^ "Kampf um die Nummer eins". Der Tagesspiegel. Archived from the original on 4 December 2007. Retrieved 23 June 2009.
  14. ^ Glindmeier, Mike (22 June 2007). "Rostock, wir haben ein Problem". Der Spiegel. Archived from the original on 3 September 2009. Retrieved 20 June 2009.
  15. ^ Das deutsche Fußball-Archiv Archived 5 September 2019 at the Wayback Machine (in German) Historical German domestic league tables
  16. ^ F.C. Hansa Rostock II at Fussball.de Archived 26 February 2015 at the Wayback Machine (in German) Tables and results of all German football leagues
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