The club has spent most of its history fluctuating between thesecond andthird divisions, with disappointment striking in the early 2000s when Augsburg were relegated to the fourth division for two seasons. However, the club experienced a surge following this setback, and was eventually promoted to the Bundesliga for the first time in 2011, where it has remained ever since. Augsburg have consolidated their Bundesliga status in the 2010s, finishing a record high fifth in the 2014–15 season before several mid-table finishes, and made their European debut in the2015–16 UEFA Europa League, with the club reaching the Round of 32 before being knocked out byLiverpool 1–0 on aggregate.
Since 2009, FC Augsburg's stadium has been the 30,660 capacityWWK ARENA, located south of Augsburg city centre and easily accessible via tram. The club, known as the Fuggerstädter or simply as FCA, receive strong home support with an average attendance of 29,301 in the2023–24 Bundesliga season (95.6% of stadium capacity). It is a single tier stadium with a standing terrace behind one of the goals, known as the Ulrich-Biesinger-Tribüne, and three seated stands with a standing section in the opposite corner to the Ulrich-Biesinger-Tribüne for away fans.
Augsburg maintains fierce local rivalries withIngolstadt andTSV 1860 Munich. Matches between these clubs typically attract large crowds, and a match in 1973 at 1860 Munich set the all-time spectator record for theOlympic Stadium. FCA regularly sell out their local Bavarian derby againstBayern Munich.
The club's colours are red, green and white which can be found across the club's kits while the club badge is similar to the Augsburg city emblem. The club's training facilities are situated next to the stadium while a club shop is located nearAugsburg Hauptbahnhof in the city centre.
A merger of Augsburg's two most successful clubs,TSV Schwaben andBC Augsburg, was discussed[by whom?] as early as the late 1940s, but distrust between the two sides and a fear that the other club would dominate the merger caused each side to hesitate, despite the financial trouble both clubs were in. A first serious meeting between the two sides was held in 1964, both clubs having dropped out oftier-one football by then. The leadership of the multi-sports club Schwaben was completely behind a merger, but the club's football department was not, and once more the process of forming FCA was stalled.[2] Traditionally, BCA saw itself as a working-class club, based in the north of Augsburg, while Schwaben was the club of the more affluent and based south of the city, with the riverWertach forming something of a boundary between the two clubs territories.[3]
In 1968, with BCA struggling in the third division after relegation from professional football the year before and Schwaben soon to follow, another effort was made. In April 1969, a high-level meeting between the two club bosses brought the decision to merge the clubs and name the new side FC Augsburg. FCA was to be a football club only, with no other sports department. The then-mayor of Augsburg, Hans Breuer, was one of the driving forces behind the move.[2]
The merger came at a time of on-the-field decline for both sides, Schwaben had just been relegated from the tier-twoRegionalliga Süd and decided that an attempt to regain their status was financially impossible, while BCA narrowly missed out on promotion to the league that season. In June, 256 of 265 of BCA's members present voted for the merger while,[2] shortly after, 75 percent of Schwaben's members also approved the motion.[4]
Schwaben, however, opted for the "small solution"—the club was to remain independent with only its football department merging into the new club.[4] But even this move was not universally popular within the club, with some former members forming a new football club, Eintracht Augsburg, and restarting from the lowest level of the pyramid. For this reason, FCA is generally not considered[by whom?] to carry on the traditions of TSV Schwaben, only those of BC Augsburg. A year later, the footballers of Eintracht rejoined Schwaben but, since then, have always remained an amateur club. It took the new football department until 1981 to regain its third-division status, where they were to meet FCA for the first time in league football and renewed the Augsburg derby.[5]
The new FCA played its first game on 30 July 1969, when it met1. FC Nürnberg in Augsburg in front of 13,000, losing 0–3 in extra time.[4]
After the formation of the club in 1969, the side was to spend most of its time in tier-two and three leagues, theBayernliga, Regionalliga Süd and the2. Bundesliga. The new side, despite now concentrating Augsburg's football forces, was no instant success. A fourth-place finish in the league and dwindling supporter numbers proved that the new merger side had not yet been accepted in the city. The following season, FCA finished one place better in the league but, with an average support of 300 spectators per game, the club found it difficult to retain its top players. The 1971–72 season saw further decline, an eighth-place finish, but from there the team improved, winning the league the following year and returning professional football to the town.[4] By then, the club had found acceptance in the town and, in the final game of the season, 15,000 spectators had turned up to celebrate the Bayernliga championship.[6]
The 1973–74 season saw the return of one of Augsburg's greatest football talents[according to whom?] to the city, and the FCA—former German internationalHelmut Haller had returned to the club after 11 years in Italy playing forBologna andJuventus. FCA paid DM 44,000 for the transfer of Haller.[7]
FCA became an instant success in the Regionalliga, drawing an average crowd of over 22,000 for its home matches. When the club traveled to Munich to meet1860 Munich in the then-newOlympic Stadium, 80,000 flocked[tone] to the game, starting what remains today as afierce rivalry between the two clubs. FCA dominated the season, eventually winning the league title as a freshly promoted team. The mood in Augsburg was one of excitement,[according to whom?] and the newspapers spoke of the atmosphere in the stadium as of "Augsburg, theNapoli of Germany."[8]
Augsburg qualified for the promotion round for the Bundesliga through its league title, where it met four other teams to determine the one available spot in the first division. FCA gave away easy points at home,[vague] drawing three times in four games. Away, the team lost only once, againstRot-Weiß Oberhausen, but nevertheless came only second, one point behindTennis Borussia Berlin, who earned promotion. Nevertheless, FCA had qualified for thesouthern division of the new2. Bundesliga through its league title.[6][9]
The success of 1973–74 was quickly replaced with relegation trouble in the new 2. Bundesliga. The next five seasons saw lower table finishes, the temporary departure of Helmut Haller and frequent replacements of managers. By 1978–79, the club was unable to avoid relegation, despite Haller, at the age of 40, once more taking to the field for FCA for a last time. The club, after six seasons in the second division, returned to the Bayernliga.[10]
FCA was able to break the fall[tone] and win the Bavarian league title to gain promotion back to the 2. Bundesliga straight away in 1979–80. On top of this, the team qualified for theGerman amateur football championship, where it advanced to the final before losing toVfB Stuttgart's reserve side. But the club's promotion back to the second level faced a major obstacle. The 2. Bundesliga, after 1981, was to operate in a single division and with half as many clubs as before, meaning the club had to fulfill the qualifying norm, not an easy task for a freshly promoted side.[according to whom?] FCA finished 18th in 1980–81, not enough to hold the league in a normal season and definitely not enough in 1981.[why?][10]
The club once more won the Bavarian league on its first attempt, defeating Schwaben in the first two Augsburg league derbies since 1968, but now had to enter a promotion round to determine the two teams that would go up out of the four Southern German league champions.[11] FCA came second behindFSV Frankfurt and returned to the 2. Bundesliga once more, despite some of the gate receipts already being processed during the game againstFC 08 Homburg by the tax department due to outstanding debts.[12] However, the side was again not strong enough for this level and was relegated on a slightly worse goal average then 16th-placedUnion Solingen, lacking three goals to salvation. It was to be Augsburg's last season in the second tier for almost a quarter of a century.[13]
FCA was to spend the next 11 seasons once more in Bavaria's highest league, the Bayernliga, at the time still the third tier of league football in the state. With the gradual reduction of the number of second divisions from five in 1974 to one in 1981, a number of Bavarian clubs that had once played at higher level had now dropped down to this level, and competition in the league was much stronger than in the past: 1860 Munich,SpVgg Bayreuth,SpVgg Fürth,Jahn Regensburg,MTV Ingolstadt,FC Schweinfurt 05 andBayern Hof had all played with Augsburg in the 2. Bundesliga in recent years.[14]
While the club was one of the top sides in the league, another title did not seem to materialise;[vague] a second-place finish in 1985 being the best result, one point behind champions SpVgg Bayreuth.[15] Again, the club changed managers frequently but had settled into the Bayernliga for good, it seemed.[according to whom?] It was only whenArmin Veh took over the team in 1991 that fortunes for the team seemed to improve,[13] not harmed by the fact[tone] 1860 Munich made its "escape" from the league and returned to professional football that year.[16]
In 1994, the club had another try at promotion in the last year of promotion play-offs to the 2. Bundesliga. However, this time the Bavarian champion was not grouped with the other Southern German clubs as in previous years, and thus had to face stronger clubs in the northern group that includedEintracht Braunschweig andFortuna Düsseldorf. Despite being overmatched and unable to advance, they still received strong support in the region with crowds of over 20,000 turning up at the games. While the performance was not enough to gain entry to the 2. Bundesliga, FCA did qualify for the newRegionalliga Süd, which was slotted between the second division and the Bayernliga as the new third tier.[13]
Augsburg spent the first four years in the new league as a mid-table side, never getting anywhere near the promotion ranks. The fifth season then saw a decline, with the team only finishing 14th and only two points clear of a relegation spot.
The following year was once more a qualifying season, with the number of Regionalligas being reduced in numbers from four to two. FCA fulfilled the on-the-field requirement, finishing eighth, its best Regionalliga result to that date. Financially, however, the club was in dire straits,[tone] with a real possibility of the club folding. While the latter threat was averted, FCA was refused a Regionalliga licence when a potential investor backed out and theGerman Football Association (DFB) relegated it to the Bayernliga, now the fourth tier. Main sponsor Infomatec, which had promised to provide a DM 3 million security for the club with the DFB, was unable to do so and, faced with debts of DM 1.8 million, the club was not in the financial position to obtain a Regionalliga licence.[13][18]
Financial rescue came in the form of Walther Seinsch, a local entrepreneur, who took over as chairman and introduced sound financial management to the club. The club was able to field a competitive team in the Bayernliga once more and achieved promotion back to the Regionalliga in its second season, in 2002.[18]
The club returned as a force[tone] in the third division, earning top-four finishes in all of the next four seasons there. FCA came achingly close[tone] to advancing to 2. Bundesliga in 2005, but missed their opportunity after giving up two goals to Jahn Regensburg in the last four minutes of their final game of the season. The club dominated the Regionalliga Süd the next year, winning the league and clinching[tone] a berth in the 2. Bundesliga for the 2006–07 season.[18]
This marked their first appearance in the 2. Bundesliga in 23 years. They finished the campaign in seventh place on 52 points, only eight points away from promotion to the top-flight. Once again, the game at 1860 Munich was the highlight, with a 3–0 victory for Augsburg in front of 69,000 in the Allianz Arena.Ralf Loose replaced Rainer Hörgl as head coach in October 2007 when the club found itself in the relegation zone. Loose's contract was terminated on 16 April 2008 after a string of[quantify] bad results.[19] He was replaced withHolger Fach two days later.[citation needed] The club avoided relegation on goal average, being on equal points with relegated sideKickers Offenbach at the end of the season.
Under Dutch managerJos Luhukay, Augsburg enjoyed[tone] a successful season in 2009–10, when the club reached the semi-finals of the DFB-Pokal as well as finishing third in the 2. Bundesliga, which allowed it to play 1. FC Nürnberg for Bundesliga promotion. In two games there, theFranconians kept the upper hand[tone] and FCA was condemned[tone] to wait another year. However, at the end of the 2010–11 season, FC Augsburg finished second in the league and was promoted to the Bundesliga for the first time in its history.
Bundesliga and Europa League qualification (2011–present)
FC Augsburg againstBorussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga in November 2012
On 15 October 2011, FCA won its first-ever game in the first division, defeatingMainz 05 1–0.[citation needed] On 28 April 2012, FCA retained their status as a Bundesliga club for a second year with a game to spare.[citation needed] Only a week later, Luhukay resigned from the FCA job, citing doubts with regards to the club's prospects as the reason.[citation needed] On 17 May 2012, the club appointedMarkus Weinzierl as its new manager.
In its second Bundesliga season, FCA struggled even more than in its first year, accumulating only nine points in the first half of the season. However, FCA secured its top-flight survival in the last match of the season against Greuther Fürth with a 3–1 victory.[20]
In2013–14, FCA finished eighth in the league and competed, unsuccessfully, for anUEFA Europa League place, rather than struggling[tone] against relegation.
FCA qualified for the2015–16 Europa League after finishing fifth in the2014–15 Bundesliga, their best ever finish. After a last-gasp[tone] 3–1 away win in the last group match atPartizan, FCA advanced to the knockout stage of the competition for the first time,[21] being drawn againstLiverpool in the round of 32. After a goalless first leg at theWWK ARENA, Augsburg fell to a narrow 1–0 defeat to the eventual Europa League runners-up atAnfield.
On 2 June 2016, Markus Weinzierl left FC Augsburg to become manager atSchalke 04, followed by the immediate signing ofDirk Schuster (then-outgoing manager atDarmstadt 98) as his successor. He was subsequently followed byManuel Baum on 14 December 2016.[22] In2017–18, he led FCA to the most successful start in theBundesliga history of Augsburg. In 2021, American investorDavid Blitzer purchased a 45% stake in the club from Klaus Hofmann.[23] Hofmann stepped down and was replaced as president by Markus Krapf in September 2022.[24][25]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
The historically indifferent performance of the senior side was offset by the success of the club's youth team, which captured[tone] a national championship in the Under 18's in 1993, being the last non-Bundesliga club to do so. They also took four Cup titles in the early 1990s, all under the guidance of coachHeiner Schuhmann.[38] With Schuhmann's departure for Bayern Munich, the golden age[tone] of FCA youth football ended and the club could not quite achieve[tone] so highly again. With the formation of theUnder 19 Bundesliga (2004) andUnder 17 Bundesliga (2007), the club's youth teams slipped[tone] to second division status but recovered and, in 2013–14, the youth teams played in the Under 19 Bundesliga and Under 17 Bundesliga, the first tier of youth football in Germany at their respective age levels.
The club's reserve side had its greatest success[according to whom?] before the merger, playing, as BC Augsburg Amateure, for a season in the southern division of theAmateurliga Bayern in 1962–63.[39] A sixth place there allowed the side to qualify for the unified Bavarian league the following year, but, along with the decline of the senior team, the reserve side got relegated too, finishing 17th.[40]
The team disappeared into the lower amateur leagues after that, but returned to theLandesliga Bayern-Süd in 1976, finishing runners-up in the league in its first season, now as FC Augsburg Amateure. By 1978 however, the side was relegated again, not to return to this level for a quarter of a decade.[vague] It did, however, take out[vague] theSchwaben Cup in 1977, and qualified for the first round of the1977–78DFB-Pokal. After away victories over second division sideArminia Hannover and fellow amateur side1. FC Normannia Gmünd in the first two rounds, the team reached the third round, where it lost 0–4 toHertha BSC.[41]
After becoming a founding member of theBezirksoberliga Schwaben in 1988, the team was withdrawn at the end of the season, disbanded altogether and not reformed for more than a decade.
Since 2004, the side once more played in the Landesliga Bayern-Süd, generally achieving good results[according to whom?] and eventually being promoted toRegionalliga Bayern at the end of the 2011–12 season.
