KFC Uerdingen 05 KFC Uerdingen 05KFC Uerdingen is a scrappy club located in the Uerdingen suburb of Krefeld. It is one of the true "cult" teams. It was originally started back in 1905. Until 1996, the sponsor was the chemical giant Bayer, and the club was known as Bayer Uerdingen. Now you might think that advertising Bayer aspirin on Uerdingen's shirts would be a brilliant coup, since all the Uerdingen fans would have a splitting headache after watching Uerdingen live up to the "05" and lose 0:5. But this was apparently abandoned since the Uerdingers have few fans. Thus the "KFC", which does not stand for Kentucky Fried Chicken, but rather Krefelder Fussball Club.
All kidding aside, Uerdingen has managed to achieve quite a lot with almost no fan support or major financial resources. Just the fact that they were able to maintain themselves in the Bundesliga and 2.Liga for more than a decade has to be considered pretty significant.
The team wallowed in obscurity for most of it's early existence, but in 1975 achieved a surprise and qualified for the Bundesliga! It only lasted one year, finishing dead last, but they would pop up again and again. In 1985 they even finished 7th and achieved the club's greatest result: they stunned mighty Bayern Muenchen 2-1 to win the DFB-Cup. The subsequent year in EuroCup play they pulled off another sensation. Playing Dynamo Dresden in the quaterfinals, they lost 0-2 in Dresden. Then they were losing 1-3 at home at half, only to storm back and win 7-3. They were finally stopped by Atletico Madrid in the semifinals, and topped things off by finishing 3rd in the Bundesliga, their highest finish ever. During these glory years, they probably had their best player, Matthias Herget, capped 39 times for Germany. But within a couple of years, they were back to their elevator status...
Uerdingen was lame throughout the 1998-99 season and were deservedly relegated. The 99-00 could prove to one of the most critical in recent history. Uerdingen sucked, but managed to qualify for the new combined Regionalliga, just grabbing the last spot: equal on points and goal difference, KFC scored more goals, and thus won the tiebreaker. Unfortuately, although things went decently on the field, the accounting department was lacking. Uerdingen was forcibly relegated in 2005 due to financial shenanigans.
What seems pretty clear is that the glory of the Bundesliga is long gone from Krefeld, and KFC is unlikely to return to the upper echelons of the leagues.
| Fullname | Krefelder Fußball-Club Uerdingen von 1905 e.V. | ||||||||||||||||
| City | Krefeld (Nordrhein-Westfalen). Pop: 240,000 (2002). Uerdingen is a district of the city. | ||||||||||||||||
| Address |
Postfach 110, 47812 Krefeld. Phone: (02151) 490505 Fax: (02151) 490500 | ||||||||||||||||
| Colors | Blue-red checkered shirt, red shorts and socks. Road uniform is green and yellow. | ||||||||||||||||
| Stadium |
Grotenburg-Stadion. Capacity 34,500 (9,943 seats) Considering that the club was down in the 6th division, this is a pretty big facility. | ||||||||||||||||
| Nickname |
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| Tickets |
With Uerdingen down in the doldrums, ticket prices shouldn't be too outrageous.
| Supporters |
Drew 880 in the final match of 2009, the 6th division. The club magazine is called "Der Grotenburger", and is available
match-day for about 1 euro.
| Friends |
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Foes |
| Heroes |
3 German internationals. Matthias Herget (39 caps, 1983-88),
Holger Fach (5 caps, 1988-89), Wolfgang Funkel (2 caps,
1986). The latter two well-known as coaches as well. | Zeroes |
| Beer |
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Pub Grub |
| The Net |
The official site:
www.kfc-online.de , which is pretty nicely done.
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Recent History:
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Bayer 05 Uerdingen
1963-64 (III) Amateurliga Niederrhein 6th
1964-65 (III) Amateurliga Niederrhein 10th
1965-66 (III) Amateurliga Niederrhein 5th
1966-67 (III) Amateurliga Niederrhein 2nd
1967-68 (III) Amateurliga Niederrhein 8th
1968-69 (III) Amateurliga Niederrhein 2nd
1969-70 (III) Amateurliga Niederrhein 9th
1970-71 (III) Amateurliga Niederrhein 1st
1971-72 (II) Regionalliga West 7th
1972-73 (II) Regionalliga West 3rd
1973-74 (II) Regionalliga West 3rd
1974-75 (II) 2.Bundesliga Nord 2nd
1975-76 (I) Bundesliga 18th
1976-77 (II) 2.Bundesliga Nord 4th
1977-78 (II) 2.Bundesliga Nord 7th
1978-79 (II) 2.Bundesliga Nord 2nd
1979-80 (I) Bundesliga 15th
1980-81 (I) Bundesliga 18th
1981-82 (II) 2.Bundesliga 12th
1982-83 (II) 2.Bundesliga 3rd
1983-84 (I) Bundesliga 10th
1984-85 (I) Bundesliga 7th
1985-86 (I) Bundesliga 3rd
1986-87 (I) Bundesliga 8th
1987-88 (I) Bundesliga 11th
1988-89 (I) Bundesliga 13th
1989-90 (I) Bundesliga 14th
1990-91 (I) Bundesliga 17th
1991-92 (II) 2.Bundesliga 1st
1992-93 (I) Bundesliga 17th
1993-94 (II) 2.Bundesliga 2nd
1994-95 (I) Bundesliga 15th
----> KFC
KFC Uerdingen 05
1995-96 (I) Bundesliga 18th
1996-97 (II) 2.Bundesliga 9th
1997-98 (II) 2.Bundesliga 13th
1998-99 (II) 2.Bundesliga 16th
1999-00 (III) Regionalliga West/SW 11th
2000-01 (III) Regionalliga Nord 12th
2001-02 (III) Regionalliga Nord 5th
2002-03 (III) Regionalliga Nord 10th
2003-04 (III) Regionalliga Nord 7th
2004-05 (III) Regionalliga Nord 7th (forcibly relegated)
2005-06 (IV) Oberliga Nordrhein 11th
2006-07 (IV) Oberliga Nordrhein 10th
2007-08 (IV) Oberliga Nordrhein
2008-09 (VI) Niederrhein-liga 7th
(c) Abseits Guide to Germany