1. FC Frankfurt is a
German football club based in
Frankfurt (Oder),
Brandenburg
Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an area of 29,480 sq ...
.
The club was founded as the
army club SV VP Vorwärts Leipzig in
Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...
in
East Germany
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
in 1951. The club won six
East German championships as ASK Vorwärts Berlin and FC Vorwärts Berlin between 1958 and 1969.
History
1. FC Frankfurt originally began as the football department of sports club
SV VP Vorwärts Leipzig. The sports club was founded on 2 August 1951 and its first team was admitted to the
1951–52 DDR-Oberliga
The 1951–52 DDR-Oberliga was the third season of the DDR-Oberliga, the first tier of league football in East Germany
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a co ...
.
One of the characteristics of East German football after World War II, under the
Soviet occupation
During World War II, the Soviet Union occupied and annexed several countries effectively handed over by Nazi Germany in the secret Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 1939. These included the eastern regions of Poland (incorporated into two different ...
and the socialist East German regime, was the willingness of the authorities to manipulate teams and clubs in various ways for political or other reasons.
[The Darth Vaders of East German Soccer: BFC Dynamo]
Beyond The Last Man, 12 August 2016
The first team of SV Vorwärts der KVP Leipzig was relocated to
East Berlin in 1953 and continued as SV Vorwärts der KVP Berlin
[Forward With Vorwärts Berlin, East Germany’s Team Of The 60s – Part One]
Beyond The Last Man, 15 April 2015 The football team that began the
1952–53 DDR-Oberliga in Leipzig thus finished the season based in East Berlin. The sports club would undergo several name changes in the following years, before it was finally known as ASK Vorwärts Berlin.
![Bundesarchiv Bild 183-J0613-0020-001, FC Vorwärts Berlin FDGB-Fußball-Pokalsieger](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-J0613-0020-001%2C_FC_Vorw%C3%A4rts_Berlin_FDGB-Fu%C3%9Fball-Pokalsieger.jpg)
The club began a run of success in 1954 which included an
FDGB-Pokal
The FDGB-Pokal (Freier Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund Pokal or Free German Trade Union Federation Cup) was an elimination football tournament held annually in East Germany. It was the second most important national title in East German football af ...
(East German Cup) that year, East German championships in 1958, 1960, 1962, and 1965, as well as losing appearances in the 1956 FDGB-Pokal, and the 1957 and 1959 national finals. Their success continued after the team was again renamed as the football department of ASK Vorwärts Berlin was separated from the
sports club
A sports club or sporting club, sometimes an athletics club or sports society or sports association, is a group of people formed for the purpose of playing sports.
Sports clubs range from organisations whose members play together, unpaid, and ...
and reformed as ''FC Vorwärts Berlin'', one of the new centralized
football clubs
A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an all- ...
formed to increase the level of performance throughout the country. ''Vorwärts'' won another two championships (1966, 1969) and in 1970 again made a losing appearance in the FDGB-Pokal final. Throughout the entire period from 1951–71, the side played in the DDR Oberliga (top tier).
[
In 1971, the club was moved again, this time from the capital to Frankfurt an der Oder on the German-]Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles
Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...
border, to replace the local secret police-sponsored side ''SG Dynamo'', which was then disbanded. The decision to relocate the club was taken by the Ministry for Defence. The exact reasons for decision has not been fully clarified. The relocation was probably the result of political intrigues by the Ministry for State Security and the SED
sed ("stream editor") is a Unix utility that parses and transforms text, using a simple, compact programming language. It was developed from 1973 to 1974 by Lee E. McMahon of Bell Labs,
and is available today for most operating systems.
sed w ...
. German author Hans Joachim Teichler writes that all speculations end up with the head of the Ministry for State Security and the president of SV Dynamo
The Sportvereinigung Dynamo () (''Dynamo Sports Association'') was the Sports associations (East Germany), sport association of the security agencies (Volkspolizei, Stasi, Ministry for State Security, fire department and customs) of former East G ...
Erich Mielke
Erich Fritz Emil Mielke (; 28 December 1907 – 21 May 2000) was a German communist official who served as head of the East German Ministry for State Security (''Ministerium für Staatsicherheit'' – MfS), better known as the Stasi, from 1957 u ...
. Teichler suggest that Mielke somehow must have convinced the Minister for National Defence Heinz Hoffmann
Heinz Hoffmann (28 November 1910 – 2 December 1985) was Minister of National Defense in the Council of Ministers of the German Democratic Republic, and since 2 October 1973 member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Socialist Uni ...
that two clubs of the armed organs in Berlin were too many. Mielke regarded FC Vortwärts Berlin as a competitor to BFC Dynamo in the capital. His fellow Politburo member and SED First Secretary in Bezirk Frankfurt
The Bezirk Frankfurt, also Bezirk Frankfurt (Oder), was a district (''Bezirk'') of East Germany. The administrative seat and the main town was Frankfurt (Oder).
History
The district was established, with the other 13, on 25 July 1952, substituting ...
Erich Mückenberger
Erich Mückenberger (1910 in Chemnitz – 1998 in Berlin) was a German socialist politician. He began his political career in the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). He became a member of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) when the ...
on the other end anticipated a boost for the Frankfurt an der Oder region. ''Vorwärts'' then enjoyed another decent run in the 1980s, going to the UEFA Cup
A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...
four times (where they were twice knocked out by West German clubs, (Werder Bremen
Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen (), Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen, Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, they are best known for the ...
and VfB Stuttgart
Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's football team is currently part of Germany's first division, the Bundesliga. VfB S ...
). In 1983 they finished second nationally.[Forward With Vorwärts Berlin, East Germany’s Team Of The 60s – Part Two]
Beyond The Last Man, 21 April 2015
After German reunification in 1990, the club dropped its affiliation with the army and became ''FC Victoria Frankfurt/Oder''. After financial problems and re-organization in 1993 the side emerged as ''Frankfurter FC Viktoria'' (''FFC Viktoria 91''). In the early 1990s, they played a couple of seasons in tier III before slipping to division IV and V level play. The side then played in the Brandenburg-Liga
The Brandenburg-Liga (VI) (''formerly the Verbandsliga Brandenburg'') is the highest league for football teams exclusively in the German state of Brandenburg and at step six of the German football league system. Until the introduction of the 3. Li ...
(VI) before, on 1 July 2012, merging with MSV Eintracht Frankfurt to become ''1. FC Frankfurt''. The new club took over ''Viktoria'' in the Brandenburg-Liga and was aiming for promotion to the higher leagues. Their first success was winning the league in 2015, earning promotion to the NOFV-Oberliga for the first time in 12 years.
Nomenclature
FC Vorwärts Berlin and its forerunners in Berlin were not related to the historical football club Berliner FC Vorwärts 1890. The name "Vorwärts" was in common use in East Germany for teams associated with security organs, notably the East German army.
The "E.V." in the present club name stands for the names of the two predecessors "Eintracht" and "Viktoria" respectively.
Forms and names
Honours
Domestic
* East German Champions
** Winners: 1958, 1960, 1962, 1965, 1966, 1969
**''Runners-up:'' 1957, 1959, 1970, 1983
* FDGB-Pokal
The FDGB-Pokal (Freier Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund Pokal or Free German Trade Union Federation Cup) was an elimination football tournament held annually in East Germany. It was the second most important national title in East German football af ...
** Winners: 1954, 1970
**''Runners-up:'' 1956, 1976, 1981
* DDR-Liga
The DDR-Liga (English: GDR League or ''East German League'') was, prior to German reunification in 1990, the second level of football competition in the DDR (Deutsche Demokratische Republik or German Democratic Republic, commonly East Germany), bei ...
(II)
** Winners: 1954, 1979, 1990
International
* European Cup
** ''Quarter-finals'': 1969-70
* European Cup Winners' Cup
The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...
** ''Quarter-finals'': 1970-71
Regional
* Brandenburg-Liga
The Brandenburg-Liga (VI) (''formerly the Verbandsliga Brandenburg'') is the highest league for football teams exclusively in the German state of Brandenburg and at step six of the German football league system. Until the introduction of the 3. Li ...
(VI)
** Winners: 1997, 2003, 2015, 2022
**''Runners-up:'' 1996, 2021
European competitions
See also
*Berlin derby
The Berlin derby (, ) is the name given to any association football match between two clubs in Berlin, Germany, but has more recently referred to the derby between 1. FC Union Berlin and Hertha BSC.
History Before reunification
Despite produci ...
References
External links
*
Abseits Guide to German Soccer
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frankfurter, Viktoria FC
Football clubs in Germany
Football clubs in Brandenburg
Football clubs in East Germany
Sport in Frankfurt (Oder)
Association football clubs established in 1951
Military association football clubs in Germany
1951 establishments in Germany
Sports team relocations