FC Energie Cottbus

Energie Cottbus
Full name	Fußballclub Energie Cottbus e. V.
Nickname(s)	Energie; Die Lausitzer (Lusatian); Ultima Raka (Crayfishes)
Founded	31 January 1966
Ground	Stadion der Freundschaft
Capacity	22,528 (10,949 seated)
Chairman
Manager	Claus-Dieter Wollitz
League	Regionalliga Nordost
2020–21	9th
Website	Club website
Home colours	Away colours

FC Energie Cottbus (Lower Sorbian: Energija Chóśebuz) is a German football club based in Cottbus, Brandenburg. It was founded in 1963 as SC Cottbus in what was East Germany. After the reunification of Germany, Energie played six seasons in the third tier of the German football league system before floating between the 2. Bundesliga and Bundesliga for 17 years between 1997 and 2014. From 2014 to 2016, the club played in the third tier, 3. Liga, and were then relegated to the Regionalliga Nordost. In 2018, they were promoted back into the 3. Liga, only to be relegated again the next season.

History[]

Predecessor sides[]

Energie Cottbus can trace its roots back to a predecessor side of FSV Glückauf Brieske-Senftenberg, a club founded by coal miners in 1919, in what was then called the town of Marga. FV Grube Marga, as the club was then called, was active until 1924 when the miners left to form a new team called SV Sturm Grube Marga which was banned by the Nazi Party in 1933.

GDR[]

Historical chart of Energie league performance after WWII

The club re-emerged after World War II in 1949 as BSG Franz Mehring Grube, becoming BSG Aktivist Brieske-Ost in 1950. The club was renamed SC Aktivist Brieske-Senftenberg in 1954 and played in the DDR-Oberliga generally earning mid-table results until calamitously falling all the way to the fourth tier Cottbus Bezirksliga in the early 1960s. The players of this side formed SC Energie Cottbus in 1963, whilst the reserve team merged back to BSG Aktivist Brieske-Ost to form BSG Aktivist Senftenberg. The club still exists as FSV Glückauf Brieske-Senftenberg today. SC Cottbus was quickly assisted by a wholesale transfer of players from BSG Aktivist Brieske-Ost ordered by the East German authorities, who often intervened in the business of the country's sports and football clubs for political reasons. East German authorities had a penchant for tagging sports teams with the names of socialist heroes: Franz Mehring was a German socialist politician and journalist.

In the mid-1960s, a re-organization program by the regime led to the separation of football sides from sports clubs and the creation of BSG von Bodo Krautz under the patronage of a local coal mine. The football club went by that name only briefly and was quickly renamed BSG Energie in early 1966.

German reunification[]

Team bus of Energie Cottbus.

Previous logo.

The team took on the name FC Energie in 1990 at the time of German reunification.

After years as a II division or lower-table I division side in East Germany, Energie emerged as one of the few former DDR sides to enjoy relative prosperity in a united Germany. After six seasons playing tier III football, the club earned promotion to the 2. Bundesliga in 1997 (the same year they became the first former East German club to play the DFB Cup Final), winning the Regionalliga Nordost, and then played its way into the Bundesliga in 2000, where it managed a three-year stay. A key player in the Bundesliga run was Vasile Miriuță, an imaginative midfield player. After being relegated, Energie narrowly missed a prompt return to the top tier, losing out to Mainz 05 on goal difference.

In 2004–05, Energie struggled with both financial (reported debts of €4.5 million) and on-field problems, and the only club escaped relegation to the third tier Regionalliga by scoring one more goal than Eintracht Trier while having the same number of points and goal difference. During the season, the manager and the chairman were replaced. The 2005–06 season was a much more successful one, as the club finished third and won promotion back to the Bundesliga.

The 2006–07 Bundesliga season resulted in a 13th-place finish and 41 points, a club record total in the Bundesliga. Energie Cottbus were the only club from the former East Germany playing in the Bundesliga until they lost a relegation play-off to 1. FC Nürnberg in 2009. Cottbus remained in the 2. Bundesliga for another five seasons until 2014, when an 18th-place finish meant relegation to the 3. Liga, ending a 17-season stint in the top two divisions. After a 19th-place finish in the 3. Liga in 2015–16, the club suffered another relegation, to the Regionalliga Nordost.

Following two seasons in the fourth tier, Cottbus gained promotion back to the 3. Liga after beating Weiche Flensburg over two legs in the Regionalliga play-offs, but in the 2018–19 season they were relegated back to the Regionalliga after finishing 17th.

The German Chancellor Angela Merkel is an honorary member of the club.

Honours[]

The club's honours:

DFB-Pokal:
- Runners-up: 1997
2. Bundesliga (II)
- Bundesliga promotion: 2000, 2006
Regionalliga Nordost: (III/IV)
- Winners: 1997, 2018
German Under 17 championship:
- Runners-up: 2004
Brandenburg Cup (Tiers III-VII)
- Winners: 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998^‡, 2001^‡, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019
DFB-Pokal U17
- Winners:

Team[]

Current squad[]

As of 24 August 2020

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


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
1	GK	GER	Toni Stahl
3	DF	GER	Shaun Kauter
4	DF	GER	Matthias Rahn
6	DF	GER	Jonas Hofmann
7	FW	GER	Max Kremer
8	MF	GER	Joshua Putze
10	FW	RUS	Maximilian Pronichev
11	MF	GER	Nikos Zografakis
12	GK	GER	Elias Bethke
14	MF	GER	Tobias Hasse
16	MF	MNE	Arnel Kujovic
17	MF	GER	Jonas Hildebrant


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
18	MF	GER	Erik Engelhart
19	MF	GER	Niklas Geisler
20	MF	GER	Axel Borgmann
21	MF	GER	Tobias Eisenhuth
22	FW	GER	Niclas Erlbeck
23	MF	GER	Malcolm Badu
24	DF	GER	Jan Koch
26	DF	GER	Jonas Böhmert
27	FW	GER	Janik Mäder
31	GK	GER	Corbinian Moye
33	FW	GER	Theo Harz

Notable players[]

Statistics[]

The all-foreign line-up[]

On 6 April 2001, Energie became the first Bundesliga club to field a side made up of 11 foreign players. Energie often fielded nine or ten foreigners that season: German players appeared a total of just 83 times, with striker Sebastian Helbig as the leader with 28.

The players were Tomislav Piplica, Faruk Hujdurović, Bruno Akrapović (Bosnia and Herzegovina), János Mátyus, Vasile Miriuță (Hungary), Rudi Vata (Albania), Moussa Latoundji (Benin), Andrzej Kobylański (Poland), Antun Labak (Croatia), Laurențiu Reghecampf (Romania), and Franklin (Brazil). As a side note, even the three substitutes were foreigners, namely Johnny Rödlund from Sweden, Sabin Ilie from Romania and Witold Wawrzyczek from Poland [1].

Reserve team[]

The club's reserve team, FC Energie Cottbus II, has played as high as Regionalliga level, last playing in the Regionalliga Nordost in 2012–13. The team most recently played in the tier five NOFV-Oberliga Süd but has, in the past, also played in the northern division of the league. It first reached Oberliga level in 1998 and has won league championships in 2007 and 2010.^[1]^[2] At the end of the 2015–16 season, the team was withdrawn from competition.

In 1998, it also won the Brandenburgischer Landespokal, the local cup competition in Brandenburg, and qualified for the first round of the DFB-Pokal through this. In 1998–99, it went out losing 1–0 to SpVgg Greuther Fürth, in 2001–02 it lost 4–0 to Arminia Bielefeld.

References[]

^ Das deutsche Fußball-Archiv (in German) Historical German domestic league tables
^ FC Energie Cottbus II at Fussball.de (in German) Tables and results of all German football leagues

External links[]

[Archiv-1] Das deutsche Fußball-Archiv (in German) Historical German domestic league tables

[Fussballreserve-2] FC Energie Cottbus II at Fussball.de (in German) Tables and results of all German football leagues

[1]

[2]

show v t FC Energie Cottbus
Information	Club Statistics Players Managers Stadium
Seasons	2000–01 2004–05 2012–13
Matches	1997 DFB-Pokal Final

show v t Bundesliga
2021–22 clubs	FC Augsburg Hertha BSC Union Berlin Arminia Bielefeld VfL Bochum Borussia Dortmund Eintracht Frankfurt SC Freiburg Greuther Fürth 1899 Hoffenheim 1. FC Köln RB Leipzig Bayer Leverkusen Mainz 05 Borussia Mönchengladbach Bayern Munich VfB Stuttgart VfL Wolfsburg
Former clubs	1860 Munich Alemannia Aachen Bayer 05 Uerdingen/KFC Uerdingen 05 Blau-Weiß 90 Berlin Borussia Neunkirchen Darmstadt 98 Dynamo Dresden Fortuna Düsseldorf Eintracht Braunschweig Energie Cottbus Fortuna Köln Hamburger SV Hannover 96 Hansa Rostock FC 08 Homburg FC Ingolstadt 1. FC Kaiserslautern Karlsruher SC Kickers Offenbach VfB Leipzig Meidericher SV/MSV Duisburg Preußen Münster 1. FC Nürnberg Rot-Weiss Essen Rot-Weiß Oberhausen SC Paderborn 1. FC Saarbrücken Schalke 04 FC St. Pauli Stuttgarter Kickers Tasmania Berlin Tennis Borussia Berlin SSV Ulm 1846 SpVgg Unterhaching Waldhof Mannheim Wattenscheid 09 Werder Bremen Wuppertaler SV
History	Reichsliga Introduction in 1963 1965 scandal 1971 scandal 2005 scandal Promotion
Competition	Clubs winners Players foreign Managers Broadcasters
Lists and statistics	Records and statistics Borussia Mönchengladbach 12–0 Borussia Dortmund All-time table Footballer of the Year Top scorers Top scorers by season Hat-tricks Attendance
Seasons	1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22
Category Managers Players

show v t 3. Liga
Seasons	2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22
2021–22 clubs	Viktoria Berlin Eintracht Braunschweig Borussia Dortmund II MSV Duisburg SC Freiburg II Hallescher FC TSV Havelse 1. FC Kaiserslautern Viktoria Köln 1. FC Magdeburg Waldhof Mannheim SV Meppen Türkgücü München 1860 Munich VfL Osnabrück 1. FC Saarbrücken SC Verl SV Wehen Wiesbaden Würzburger Kickers FSV Zwickau
Former clubs	Alemannia Aachen VfR Aalen Rot Weiss Ahlen Erzgebirge Aue SV Babelsberg 03 1. FC Union Berlin Arminia Bielefeld Werder Bremen II Wacker Burghausen Chemnitzer FC Energie Cottbus Darmstadt 98 Borussia Dortmund II Dynamo Dresden Fortuna Düsseldorf SV Elversberg Kickers Emden Rot-Weiß Erfurt FSV Frankfurt SG Sonnenhof Großaspach 1. FC Heidenheim FC Ingolstadt Carl Zeiss Jena Karlsruher SC Holstein Kiel TuS Koblenz Fortuna Köln RB Leipzig Sportfreunde Lotte VfB Lübeck 1. FSV Mainz 05 II Bayern Munich II Preußen Münster Rot-Weiß Oberhausen Kickers Offenbach SC Paderborn 07 Jahn Regensburg Hansa Rostock SV Sandhausen Stuttgarter Kickers VfB Stuttgart II KFC Uerdingen 05 SpVgg Unterhaching Wuppertaler SV
Promotion to 3. Liga Promotion to 2. Bundesliga