Karlsruher SC

Football club infobox
clubname = Karlsruher SC


fullname = Karlsruher Sport-Club
Mühlburg-Phönix e. V.
nickname = KSC
founded = 6 June 1894
ground = Wildparkstadion
capacity = 32,306
chairman = flagicon|Germany Hubert H. Raase
manager = flagicon|Germany Edmund Becker
shirtsupplier=Jako
shirtsponsors=EnBW
league = Bundesliga
season = 2007/08
position = Bundesliga, 11th
pattern_la1=|pattern_b1=_greyblue_sleeve_seams|pattern_ra1=
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pattern_la2=|pattern_b2=_thinwhitesides|pattern_ra2=
leftarm2=0000FF|body2=0000FF|rightarm2=0000FF|shorts2=0000FF|socks2=0000FF

Karlsruher SC is a German football club, based in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg. "KSC" rose out of the consolidation of a number of predecessor clubs. They currently play in the Bundesliga, having been promoted from the 2. Fußball-Bundesliga in 2007.

History

A succession of mergers

The most successful of these ancestral clubs was "Karlsruher Fussball Club Phönix", formed on June 6, 1894 by dissatisfied members of the gymnastics club "Karlsruher Turngemeinde". They quickly became a strong regional side and captured the national title in 1909, defeating defending champions "Viktoria 89 Berlin" 4-2 in the championship final that season. In 1912, "Phönix" merged with "KFC Alemannia", established in 1897, to create "KFC Phönix (Phönix Alemannia)".

in 1946, "Phönix" re-emerged to compete in the newly formed first division Oberliga Süd, finishing 15th in their first season there. The club was relegated the following season.

Two other threads in the evolution of "KSC" were the formation of "FC Mühlburg" in 1905 out of "1. FV Sport Mühlburg" (founded in 1890) and "Viktoria Mühlburg" (founded in 1892), and the merger of "FC Germania" (founded in 1898) and "FC Weststadt" (founded in 1902) to form "VfB Karlsruhe" in 1911. "FC Mühlburg" and "VfB Karlsruhe" would in turn merge to form "VfB Mühlburg" in 1933. The group of clubs which came together to form "VfB Mühlburg" were an undistinguished lot, sharing just one season of upper-league play between them. The new side, however, started to compete in the first-division Gauliga Baden immediately after the league was established in 1933.

A lower-table side through the 30s "VfB"'s performance improved considerably in the following decade. As war overtook the country, the Gauliga Baden was sub-divided at various times into a number of more local city-based circuits and the team was able to earn three second place finishes in divisional play. The Gauliga Baden collapsed in 1944-45 after playing a significantly reduced schedule in which many teams, including "Mühlburg" were unable to compete. After the war the club slipped from top-flight competition until earning promotion to the Oberliga Süd in 1947. They generally competed as a mid-table side here with the exception of a strong performance in 1951 when they narrowly missed an advance to the national championship rounds after earning a third place result just a single point behind "SpVgg Fürth".

The formation of Karlsruher SC

"KFC Phoenix" and "VfB Mühlburg" united to form the current club, "Karlsruher Sport-Club Mühlburg-Phönix e. V.", on October 16, 1952 and the new team earned good results throughout the remainder of the decade. In 1955, they beat "FC Schalke 04" 3-2 to win the German Cup, and repeated the success next year with a 3-1 win over "Hamburger SV". That season, they also made an appearance in the national final, where they lost 2-4 to "Borussia Dortmund". "KSC" was Oberliga Süd champion in 1956, 1958 and 1960, as well as runner-up in the German Cup in 1960, when they lost the final match 2-3 to "Borussia Mönchengladbach". Their record earned them admission as one of sixteen founding clubs into Germany's new professional football league, the Bundesliga, when it began play in 1963.

"Karlsruhe" struggled in the top flight, never managing better than a 13th-place finish over five seasons before finally being demoted to the second-division Regionalliga Süd. Over the next three seasons, the team earned a first-place finish as well as two second-place finishes there, but were unable to advance in the promotion rounds. After the 1974 formation of the Second Bundesliga, which consisted of two divisions at the time, "KSC" finished first in the 2nd Bundesliga Süd and returned to the top flight for the 1975-76 season, but were able to stay up for only two years. They next returned to the first division in 1980 where they spent four seasons before being sent down again. After a two-year absence they fought their way back to the Bundesliga in 1987 to begin an extended stay.

The Schäfer era

Under the guidance of new coach Winfried Schäfer, "KSC"'s return to the top flight was marked with some success as for the first time the team managed to work its way out of the bottom half of the league table. In the 1993-94 season, the club had a successful run in the UEFA Cup, going out in the semi-finals on away goals to "Austria Salzburg" after beating, in turn, "PSV Eindhoven", "Valencia CF", "Girondins Bordeaux" and "Boavista Porto". Their stunning 7-0 second-round victory over "Valencia", a top team in the Spanish La Liga at the time and in historical terms as well, might be considered the high point of the club's history in its centennial year. Between 1992 and 1997, the club was ranked in the single digits in six consecutive Bundesliga seasons and also participated in two more UEFA Cups, reaching the third round both in the 1996-97 and 1997-98 seasons, being eliminated from the competition after losing their second-leg matches to "Brøndby IF" and "Spartak Moscow" respectively. In 1995, "KSC" won the DFB-Hallenpokal, an indoor football tournament that was traditionally held during winter breaks of the Bundesliga seasons. They also played in the final of the German Cup in 1996, but lost 0-1 to "1. FC Kaiserslautern".

As the millennium drew to a close, "Karlsruhe" faded. The club started the 1997-98 Bundesliga season well, with two wins and a draw in their opening three matches, but their downfall began with a 1-6 defeat to "Bayer Leverkusen" on Day 4. At the league winter break the club sat outside the relegation ranks, but a series of negative results pushed them down to 15th place until the second-last matchday of the season. Schäfer was fired in March 1998, but this did not keep the club from slipping to the Second Bundesliga after a 16th-place finish. The club needed an away draw against "Hansa Rostock" on the final day of the season to avoid relagation, but lost the match 2-4 while "Borussia Mönchengladbach" beat "VfL Wolfsburg" 2-0 to overtake "KSC" and finish 15th on goal difference.

After relegation from the Bundesliga in 1998

"KSC" finished fifth in their first season in the 2nd Bundesliga after relegation, only two points behind third-place "SSV Ulm 1846" which was promoted to the Bundesliga. However, a last place finish in a terrible 1999-2000 season played under dire financial circumstances dropped them down to the Regionalliga Süd (III). The club rebounded and on the strength of a first place result in the Regionalliga made a prompt return to second division play. After four seasons of mediocre play that saw "KSC" narrowly avoid being sent further down, the team turned in a much-improved performance and earned a sixth place result in 2005-06.

Current

"KSC" secured the 2007 2. Bundesliga title with a 1-0 victory over SpVgg Unterhaching on April 29, combining with a Hansa Rostock draw on April 30. [http://www.bundesliga.de/de/liga2/matches/2006/index.php?omi=46560&reiter=b&tag=31&fla=1] KSC maintained a measure of dominance for the entire season. They played fourteen matches (9 wins, 5 draws) before suffering their first loss of the season at the hands of Erzgebirge Aue, and led the league at the mid-season break ahead of "FC Hansa Rostock". They are the first team in the history of the one-tier 2nd Bundesliga to occupy one of the top spots throughout the whole season.

In their return season to the Bundesliga in 2007/08 they finished 11th, fading in the second half of the season after a strong start had seen them feature in the European places.

Honours

* German champions: 1909 (as Phoenix Karlsruhe)
* German vice-champions: 1956
* German Cup winners: 1955, 1956
* German Cup finalists: 1960, 1996
* Bezirksliga Baden (I) champions: 1933
* 2. Bundesliga champions: 1984, 2007
* Southern German championship: 1909, 1958, 1960, 1975
* Regionalliga Süd champions: 1969, 2001
* UEFA Cup: 1993-94 (semifinals), 1996-97 (third round), 1997-98 (third round)
* UEFA Intertoto Cup: 1996

League results

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from:01/07/1989 till:01/07/1990 shift:(0,-4) text:10 from:01/07/1990 till:01/07/1991 shift:(0,-4) text:13 from:01/07/1991 till:01/07/1992 shift:(0,-4) text:8 from:01/07/1992 till:01/07/1993 shift:(0,-4) text:6 from:01/07/1993 till:01/07/1994 shift:(0,-4) text:6 from:01/07/1994 till:01/07/1995 shift:(0,-4) text:8 from:01/07/1995 till:01/07/1996 shift:(0,-4) text:7 from:01/07/1996 till:01/07/1997 shift:(0,-4) text:6 from:01/07/1997 till:01/07/1998 shift:(0,-4) text:16 from:01/07/1998 till:01/07/1999 shift:(0,-4) text:5 from:01/07/1999 till:01/07/2000 shift:(0,-4) text:18 from:01/07/2000 till:01/07/2001 shift:(0,-4) text:1 from:01/07/2001 till:01/07/2002 shift:(0,-4) text:13 from:01/07/2002 till:01/07/2003 shift:(0,-4) text:13 from:01/07/2003 till:01/07/2004 shift:(0,-4) text:14 from:01/07/2004 till:01/07/2005 shift:(0,-4) text:11 from:01/07/2005 till:01/07/2006 shift:(0,-4) text:6 from:01/07/2006 till:01/07/2007 shift:(0,-4) text:1 from:01/07/2007 till:01/07/2008 shift:(0,-4) text:11

from:01/07/1989 till:01/07/1998 color:bl1 shift:(0,13) text: "1. Bundesliga" from:01/07/1998 till:01/07/2000 color:bl2 shift:(0,13) text: "2. Bundesl." from:01/07/2000 till:01/07/2001 color:rs shift:(0,13) text: "RLS" from:01/07/2001 till:01/07/2007 color:bl2 shift:(0,13) text: "2. Bundesliga" from:01/07/2007 till:01/07/2008 color:bl1 shift:(0,13) text: "1. BL"

Reserve team

The "Karlsruher SC II", historically also referred to as "Karslruher SC Amateure", is a successful side in its own right, playing as high up as the "Regionalliga Süd", where it is currently, as of 2008-09, based.

Recent seasons

Honors

* Oberliga Baden-Württemberg (III-IV) champions: 1990, 1996, 2005
* Verbandsliga Nordbaden (IV-V) champions: 1983, 1989, 1994
* Amateurliga Nordbaden (III) champions: 1965

Players

Current squad

"For recent transfers, see List of German football transfers summer 2008."

Notable players

*Serhat Akın
*Slaven Bilic
*Guido Buchwald
*Sean Dundee
*Mario Eggimann
*Marco Engelhardt
*Giovanni Federico
*Thorsten Fink
*Clemens Fritz
*Emanuel Guenther
*Thomas Häßler
*Michael Harforth
*Oliver Kahn
*Adrian Knup
*Oliver Kreuzer
*Sergei Kiriakov
*Jens Nowotny
*Ivan Saenko
*Mehmet Scholl
*Edgar Schmitt
*Rainer Schuetterle
*Michael Tarnat
*Rudi Wimmer
*Walter Baureis
*Conor Casey
*David Regis

Coaches

External links

* [http://www.ksc.de Official team site]
* [http://www.abseits-soccer.com/clubs/ksc.html Abseits Guide to German Soccer]
* [http://www.eufo.de/ eufo.de] European football club profiles
* [http://www.ka-fans.de KSC Fans]