MSV Duisburg

MSV Duisburg

Full name	Meidericher Spielverein 02 e. V. Duisburg
Nickname(s)	Zebras
Founded	1902
Ground	Schauinsland-Reisen-Arena, Duisburg, Germany (Capacity: 31,502)
Chairman	Walter Hellmich
Manager	Milan Šašić
League	2. Bundesliga
2009–10	2. Bundesliga, 6th
Home colours Away colours

MSV Duisburg is a German football club based in Duisburg, North Rhine-Westphalia. Nicknamed "the Zebras" for their traditional striped jerseys, the club was one of the original members of the Bundesliga when it was formed in 1963.

History

Early years

The club was founded in 1902 as Meidericher Spielverein representing the city of Meiderich, which became a district of Duisburg in 1905. In 1905 they absorbed the club Sport Club Viktoria Meiderich. In 1967, they took on their current name, acknowledging their role as the city's most popular and successful side.

While Duisburg has always been a competitive side, real success has so far eluded them. Early in their history they captured a number of local championships, and even enjoyed a pair of undefeated seasons (1913–14) when they scored 113 goals while only giving up 12. In 1929 they won the first Niederrhein championship and qualified for the first time for the national championship rounds, repeating the feat in 1931.

However, the club then went into a tailspin from which they didn't really recover until the 1950s when they began once again to field decent sides. During World War II the club came close to folding, but returned to play after the war emerging as city champions in 1946. In 1951, Duisburg earned promotion to the top-flight Oberliga West with their first place finish in the 2. Oberliga West. The Oberliga West was the most competitive division of German football at the time, and except for the 1954–55 season, Duisburg would play first division football there right up to the time of the formation of the Bundesliga.

Entry to the Bundesliga

Historical logos of MSV Duisburg.

The club's play was good enough to earn a place as one of the original sixteen teams in Germany's new professional league, the Bundesliga, in 1963. That first season was their most successful as they went on to a second place finish to champions FC Köln. The "Zebras" spent nearly twenty years in the upper league before slipping to the 2. Bundesliga in 1982–83 and then becoming one of German football's "elevator teams", named for their frequent up and down moves between divisions. Even so, they managed another eight seasons in the Bundesliga over two-and-half decades.

Current

MSV Duisburg won promotion to the Bundesliga for the 2007–2008 season by way of a third place finish in the 2. Fußball-Bundesliga, behind Karlsruher SC and Hansa Rostock. MSV defeated Rot-Weiss Essen in a dramatic contest on the last day of the season by three goals to none, which secured their promotion for the fifth time in the last two decades while relegating Essen. However, the club fared poorly in top flight play and was again relegated after an 18th place result. They remain a second division side after finishing in 6th place in 2008–09.

Recent seasons

Honours

Duisburg's honours are limited to their second-place finish in 1963, a UEFA Cup semi-final appearance in 1978–79, three losing appearances in the German Cup final (1966, 1975 and 1998), and a title as German amateur champions in 1986–87 when they played in the tier III Amateur Oberliga Nordrhein. They are however, the answer to a Bundesliga trivia question: they were the victors in the most lopsided Bundesliga away win ever played when they beat sad-sacks Tasmania 1900 Berlin 0:9 in Berlin in 1966.

The club's youth side has won several national championships.

Titles

• German amateur football championship: 1987
• German Under 19 champions: 1972, 1977, 1978

Current squad

As of 6 August 2010 Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Marcel Herzog 2 DF Julian Koch 5 DF Daniel Reiche 6 MF Benjamin Kern 7 MF Michael Blum 8 MF Mihai Tararache 9 FW Srđan Baljak 10 MF Filip Trojan 11 MF Olcay Şahan 13 MF Adam Bodzek 14 DF Bruno Soares 17 DF Sven Theißen 18 GK David Yelldell

No. Position Player 19 FW Stefan Maierhofer 20 MF Ivica Grlić 21 DF André Hoffmann 22 FW Manuel Schäffler 24 MF Kevin Grund 25 DF Branimir Bajić 26 MF Tanju Öztürk 27 FW Maurice Exslager 28 DF Olivier Veigneau 29 MF Burakcan Kunt 30 GK Marcel Lenz 31 GK Roland Müller 32 MF Sefa Yılmaz

MSV Duisburg II squad

As of 4 August 2010 (2010 -08-04)^[update]

Manager: Markus Reiter

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

No. Position Player 1 GK Marcel Lenz 2 DF Samed Basol 3 DF Nikolaj Žugčić 4 DF Burak Akarca 5 MF Marko Martinović 6 DF Tanju Öztürk 7 FW Bünyamin Aksoy 8 FW Faruk Gülgün 9 FW Sebastian Hirsch 11 FW Wilson Weller Pereira

No. Position Player 12 DF Stephan Hennen 13 MF Dominik Reinert 14 DF Dustin Bomheuer 15 MF Oskar Mbele 16 FW Arnold Suew 17 MF Harun Celebi 18 DF Matthias Tietz 19 DF Daniel Somuah 20 MF Athanasios Tsourakis 22 GK Kevin Hillebrand

During the season the following players of the 1^st team have also played for MSV Duisburg II:
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Roland Müller 7 MF Michael Blum

No. Position Player DF Sven Theißen

Manager History

• Hermann Lindemann (1955–1957)
• Rudi Gutendorf (1963–1965)
• Wilhelm „Ömmes“ Schmidt (1965)
• Hermann Eppenhoff (1965–1967)
• Gyula Lóránt (1967–1968)
• Robert Gebhardt (1968–1970)
• Rudolf Fassnacht (1970–1973)
• Willibert Kremer (1973–1976)
• Rolf Schafstall (1976)
• Otto Knefler (1976–1977)
• Carl-Heinz Rühl (1977–1978)
• Rolf Schafstall (1978–1979)
• Heinz Höher (1979–1980)
• Friedhelm Wenzlaff (1980–1981)
• Kuno Klötzer (1981–1982)
• Siegfried Melzig (1982–1983)
• Luis Zacharias (1983–1985)
• Günter Preuß (1985)
• Helmut Witte (1985–1986)
• Friedhelm Vos (1986)
• Detlef Pirsig (1986–1989)
• Willibert Kremer (1989–1992)
• Uwe Reinders (1992–1993)
• Ewald Lienen (1993–1994)
• Hans Bongartz (1994–1996)
• Friedhelm Funkel (1996–2000)
• Josef Eichkorn (2000)
• Wolfgang Frank (2000)
• Josef Eichkorn (2000–2001)
• Pierre Littbarski (2001–2002)
• Bernard Dietz (2002–2003, caretaker)
• Norbert Meier (2003–2005)
• Heiko Scholz (2005, caretaker)
• Jürgen Kohler (2005–2006)
• Rudolf Bommer (2006–2008)
• Heiko Scholz (2008, caretaker)
• Peter Neururer (2008–2009)
• Uwe Speidel (2009, caretaker)
• Milan Šašić (2009–present)

In popular culture

Tatort, a popular crime series in Germany, features an episode entitled Zweierlei Blut (Blood of Two Kinds) which deals with a murder in the MSV Duisburg hooligan scene. In one scene, Inspector Horst Schimanski is beaten to a pulp, and dragged naked into the centre circle of the Wedaustadion.

External links

• Official team site
• The Abseits Guide to German Soccer
• Duisburg statistics