1. FC Kaiserslautern

1. FC Kaiserslautern (1.FCK, Kaiserslautern) is a football team from Kaiserslautern, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. In 2004/2005, the club competed in the Bundesliga, the premier German national football (Soccer) league. Kaiserslautern's home ground is Fritz Walter Stadium, which is also one of the Stadiums of the Football World Cup 2006.

Kaiserslautern won the German championships in 1951, 1953, 1991, and 1998. Notably, it won its most recent title immediately after being repromoted to the First Bundesliga in 1997.

1 Club Culture
2 Financial Trouble
3 Famous players and contributors
- 3.1 1950s
- 3.2 Modern Age
4 Current players
5 External links

Club Culture

In the past, the "Betzenberg" (the colloquial name for the stadium) was feared for its ferocious fans. Bayern Munich once lost a match 4-7 after leading 4-1 at halftime. However, partly due to the club's decline, and partly due to the fact that the stadium now holds 48500 spectators (more empty places, which means less atmosphere), the "Betzenberg" is no longer such a feared ground.

The club has good ties to TSV 1860 Munich and are bitter rivals of Waldhof Mannheim and Bayern Munich. In the early nineties the fans had also good ties to Hellas Verona and SV Werder Bremen.

Financial Trouble

In 2003, 1. FCK was on the brink of bankruptcy. Heavy mismanagement by the executive board, notably Jurgen Friedrich, Robert Wieschemann and Gerhard Herzog led the club into critical fiscal trouble. Black money payments were revealed, and a new executive board with Swiss president Rene C. Jaggi just managed to save the club from bankruptcy. Today, 1. FCK is a relatively poor, but debt-free club.