RW Essen

Rot-Weiss Essen
Logo
Full nameRot-Weiss Essen e. V.
Nickname(s)RWE[citation needed]
Founded1 February 1907; 117 years ago (1 February 1907)
GroundStadion an der Hafenstraße
Capacity20,650[contradictory][citation needed]
ChairmanMarcus Uhlig[citation needed]
ManagerChristoph Dabrowski
League3. Liga
2022–233. Liga, 15th of 20
WebsiteClub website
Current season

Rot-Weiss Essen is a German association football club based in Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club currently[when?] plays in the 3. Liga, at the Stadion an der Hafenstraße.

The team won the DFB-Pokal in 1953, and the German championship in 1955. The latter success qualified them to the first season of the European Cup.

History

Early years

The club was formed as SV Vogelheim on 1 February 1907 out of the merger of two smaller clubs: SC Preussen and Deutsche Eiche.[citation needed] In 1910, Vogelheim came to an arrangement with Turnerbund Bergeborbeck that allowed the two clubs to field a football side.[citation needed] The footballers left in 1913 to set up their own club, Spiel- und Sportverein Emscher-Vogelheim, which changed its name to Spiel und Sport 1912 after World War I. Finally, in 1923, this side turned again to Turnerbund Bergeborbeck to create Rot-Weiss Essen.

Breakthrough to the Gauliga

In 1938, RWE broke into[tone] top-flight football in the Gauliga Niederrhein, one of sixteen premier divisions formed in the 1933 re-organization of German football under the Third Reich, and came within a point of taking the division title in 1941. In 1943, they played with BV Altenessen as the combined wartime side KSG SC Rot-Weiß Essen/BV 06 Altenessen.[citation needed] The next season this club was in turn joined by BVB Essen, but played only a single match in a stillborn season as World War II overtook the country.

Rise and golden years[tone]

Historical chart of Rot-Weiss Essen league performance

The club returned to first division football in the Oberliga West in 1948, where a series of solid performances[according to whom?] led to a divisional championship in 1952.[citation needed] The pinnacle of the club's success[according to whom?] came with a 2–1 win over Alemannia Aachen in the 1953 DFB-Pokal final, followed by a national championship in 1955 when it beat 1. FC Kaiserslautern 4–3.[citation needed] The following season, Rot-Weiss became the first German side to qualify for the European Cup.

Their performance tailed off[tone] after this and RWE became just[tone] another mid-table side before they were relegated in 1961.[citation needed] The club then played most of the 1960s as a second division side, though made a first appearance in the top-flight Bundesliga in 1966–67. It returned to the Bundesliga for two seasons in 1969–70, and again, for four seasons beginning in 1973–74.

Financial problems and slow decline

Between 1978 and the end of the century,[vague] Rot-Weiss was a solid[according to whom?] second- or third-tier club, with just one season spent in the Oberliga Nordrhein (IV) in 1998–99.[citation needed] During this period, the club was plagued[tone] by financial problems that saw it denied a licence in 1984, 1991, and 1994, leading to relegation from the 2. Bundesliga each time as a result.[citation needed] Bright spots[tone] during this period included winning the German amateur championship in 1992 and an appearance in the 1994 DFB-Pokal final, which they lost 1–3 to SV Werder Bremen.

RWE returned to the Regionalliga Nord (III) in 1999, but dropped to the Oberliga (IV) the next season.[citation needed] In 2004, they won promotion back to the 2. Bundesliga, but stumbled to a 17th-place finish and were relegated once again.

In November 2005, Pelé became an honorary club member (membership number 23101940).[1][2]

The team reappeared in the 2. Bundesliga after winning the Regionalliga Nord in 2006, but narrowly missed staying up when they lost the critical final match of the 2006–07 season 3–0 to Duisburg.

Rot-Weiss became a fourth division side following the introduction of the 3. Liga in 2008 and a fifth division team after insolvency in 2010.[citation needed] They won the fifth level NRW-Liga in 2010–11 and returned to Regionalliga West for the 2011–12 season.

Stadium

Until 2012 Rot-Weiss used to play in the Georg-Melches-Stadion (capacity 15,000), named in honour of a former club president.[vague] In 1956, the team's home field became the first stadium in West Germany to have floodlights.[3]

Since August 2012, RWE has played in the new Stadion Essen (capacity 20,000).[contradictory] The naming rights to the stadium include RWE AG.

Supporters

Rot-Weiss Essen visiting Magdeburg in May 2008

Rivalries

Fortuna Düsseldorf, Rot-Weiß Oberhausen and Wuppertaler SV are local rivals when they are playing in the same league (as took place in the 2007–08 season).[citation needed] The club's fiercest rivalry[according to whom?] is with FC Schalke 04, from nearby Gelsenkirchen, with whom they contest the Ruhrderby.

In the past, the local derbies versus Schwarz-Weiß Essen were big events, sometimes followed by more than 30,000 fans, however since their rivals decline the rivalry has waned in importance.[vague][4][5] Although often clouded in political terms,[jargon] the "reds" were left-wing and the "blacks" right-wing, in reality there was no real distinction. The rivalry was more based on geography of the city, a north (RWE) versus south (SWE) city divide.[6] While the reputation of northern Essen has been attached to the working class[according to whom?] in the past decades,[when?] the south of the city is generally regarded as a wealthier area, inhabited by an upper-middle class.[7]

Friendships

The RWE followers have a strong fan friendship with SV Werder Bremen, while another with Borussia Dortmund ended.[vague]

Attendance

Although mostly playing in lower divisions, the club enjoys[tone] solid fan support,[according to whom?] with an average attendance of better than 6,000 per game.

Season Average crowd Division
2019–20 10.742 Regionalliga West (IV)
2018–19 7.275 Regionalliga West (IV)
2017–18 6.951 Regionalliga West (IV)
2016–17 7.863 Regionalliga West (IV)
2015–16 7.349 Regionalliga West (IV)
2014–15 8.208 Regionalliga West (IV)
2013–14 7.684[8] Regionalliga West (IV)
2012–13 8.008 Regionalliga West (IV)
2011–12 6.815 Regionalliga West (IV)
2010–11 7.008 NRW-Liga (V)
2009–10 5.956 Regionalliga West (IV)
2008–09 7.077 Regionalliga West (IV)
2007–08 10.021 Regionalliga Nord (III)
2006–07 13.436 2. Bundesliga (II)
2005–06 12.290 Regionalliga Nord (III)
2004–05 14.176 2. Bundesliga (II)

Honours

The club's honours:

League

Cup

Current squad

As of 9 November 2023[9]

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

Out on loan

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

Notable players

Main category: Rot-Weiss Essen players

Former coaches

References

  1. ^ "RW Essen ernennt Pelé zum Ehrenmitglied" (in German). fussball.com. 28 October 2005. Archived from the original on 1 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  2. ^ "Pelé Ehrenmitglied bei RWE" (in German). Morgenpost.de. 29 October 2005. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  3. ^ "Vereinsgeschichte" (in German). Rot-weiss-essen.de. 27 June 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  4. ^ "Vor dem Essen-Derby: Die goldenen Jahre von RWE und ETB: Barfuß und Lackschuh". 11freunde.de. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
  5. ^ Schmahld, Ralf. "ETB gegen RWE: Schwarz Weiss Essen gewinnt Derby und Pokalfinale". turus.net. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
  6. ^ "Schwarz-Weiss Essen". abseits-soccer.com. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
  7. ^ Weiguny, Bettina (14 January 2013). "Armut und Reichtum: Essen: Die gespaltene Stadt". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
  8. ^ "Regionalliga West 2013/2014 » Zuschauer » Heimspiele" (in German). weltfussball.de. Retrieved 23 August 2014.
  9. ^ "Team" (in German). Rot-Weiss Essen. 16 June 2021. Retrieved 6 November 2022.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rot-Weiss Essen.