Arminia Bielefeld History: Rivals, Trophies & Club Records
Amid all there is to learn about German football, Arminia Bielefeld history is probably a way down the priorities. After all, this is a club with a best Bundesliga finish of eighth.
Die Blauen have been a bit of a yoyo team in the 21st century. In 2021-22, the club were popular in Bundesliga news but were back in the second tier as recently as 2019-20 and the third tier back in 2014-15.
Getting to know Arminia Bielefeld FC is about much more than league finishes, though. A football club goes beyond its results; it’s only through diving into the past that we can learn how a club has become what it is today.
German football has been shaped by historical events as much as any European country, but there are smaller turning points in the history of a club like Arminia Bielefeld from stadium redevelopments to player moves.
Let’s dive into Arminia Bielefeld history from the club’s founding onwards.
History
Founded under the name 1. Bielefelder FC Arminia in May 1905, it didn’t take long for Arminia Bielefeld FC to be recognised by the German authorities.
The club was accepted into a small league alongside three teams from Osnabrück in 1906, and they began to enjoy success.
The First World War obviously stopped the club in its tracks, and a merger with Bielefelder Turngemeinde 1848 was undone in the 1920s.
They were the dominant force in the Western German championships in the decade, however, winning consecutive titles in 1922 and 1923.
Walter Claus-Oehler became Arminia’s first representative for the German national team, while the club continued to pick up wins at a good rate. By 1926, the current name of Deutscher Sportclub Arminia Bielefeld had been adopted.
The 1930s saw the club reach the Gauliga for the first time, including a second-placed finish in 1939-40. Of course, the Second World War brought major disruption to German sport, and the football pyramid looked very different by 1945.
Just a couple of years after peace, Arminia slumped to the third tier for the first time in their illustrious history. They bounced back to the top flight, albeit briefly, before again suffering relegation.
It was the 1960s that brought improvement for the club, though they only narrowly made it into the newly formed Regionalliga West.
When Ernst Kuster joined the club in the mid-60s, they were poised for a promotion push. Kuster, the club’s leading scorer, fired them into the top flight.
Unfortunately, it was a short-lived Bundesliga stay. The 1970s match fixing scandal was centred around Die Blauen with two of their players being banned from football for life.
Relegated to the Regionalliga as a penalty, Arminia still got a spot in the just formed 2. Bundesliga.
While they took some time to regroup from the relegation, the club eventually found its way back to the Bundesliga and consolidated in the top flight for a few seasons, which included a couple of eighth-placed finishes.
The 1980s were a turbulent time for Arminia. Initially putting up a fight in the Bundesliga, the club suffered a drop in attendances and ran into some financial problems.
They again found themselves in the third tier, and missed opportunities to gain promotion from the Oberliga.
With an influx of high-profile acquisitions including German international Stefan Kuntz, Arminia made headlines in the late-1990s.
They once again hit a rocky period financially, however, forcing the club to operate with a reduced budget as they fell into the second tier.
The 2000s had many of the same woes. Five consecutive Bundesliga seasons in the noughties ended when they finished bottom of the table in 2008-09, and after two campaigns in 2. Bundesliga, they suffered another relegation.
They spent three of the next four seasons in 3. Liga before a five-season run in the 2. Bundesliga. Topping the division with 68 points in 2019-20 took Die Blauen back to the Bundesliga for the first time in over a decade.
Rivalries In Arminia Bielefeld History
Known for an incredibly loyal fanbase, Arminia have supporters’ groups all over the world. They have also maintained strong attendance numbers even when in their lowly periods outside the Bundesliga.
The club is usually thought to view SC Preußen Münster as its main rivals, though the two sides went over two decades without meeting in Bielefeld. Historically, Arminia and VfB Fichte Bielefeld were fierce rivals, but that has waned in recent decades.
Paderborn fans see Arminia as a rival, while there’s tension with Bochum. Arminia isn’t at the centre of any of Germany’s main rivalries, however, and they have a friendly relationship with both Hamburg and Hannover.
Honours
- 2. Bundesliga – 1977-78, 1979-80, 1998-99, 2019-2013
- 3. Liga – 2014-15
- Regionalliga West – 1994-95
- Oberliga Westfalen – 1989-90
- Western German football championship – 1922, 1923
- Western German cup winner – 1966, 1974
- Westphalian cup winner – 1908, 1932, 1991, 2012, 2013
Most appearances in Arminia Bielefeld History
- Wolfgang Kneib – 370
- Wolfgang Pohl – 331
- Helmut Schröder – 313
- Dieter Schulz – 255
- Thomas Stratos – 246
- Gerd Siese – 245
- Mathias Hain – 243
- Jörg Bode – 233
- Norbert Eilenfeldt – 232
- Gerd Roggensack – 226
- Andreas Ridder – 211
- Rüdiger Kauf – 204
- Detlev Schnier – 201
Top scorers
- Ernst Kuster – 11
- Norbert Eilenfeldt – 81
- Artur Wichniarek – 70
- Gerd Roggensack – 69
- Christian Sackewitz – 61
- Volker Graul – 60
- Bruno Labbadia – 50
- Gerd-Volker Schock – 44
- Gerrit Meinke – 44
- Bernd Kirchner – 37