Rot-Weiss Essen

Rot-Weiss Essen is a German association football club based in Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club 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.

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. In 1910, Vogelheim came to an arrangement with Turnerbund Bergeborbeck that allowed the two clubs to field a football side. 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 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. 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
The club returned to first division football in the Oberliga West in 1948, where a series of strong seasons saw them win divisional championships in 1952 and 1955, as well as finishing runners-up in 1949 and 1954 and third in 1950 and 1953. The pinnacle of the club's success 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. The following season, Rot-Weiss became the first German side to qualify for the European Cup.

The club remained competitive for the remainder of the 1950s, continuing to finish in the division's top half, but 1961 saw a sharp decline leading to relegation from the Oberliga West at the end of the season. The club then played most of the 1960s as a second division side, though it did make 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 Rot-Weiss was a second- or third-tier club, with just one season spent in the regional Oberliga Nordrhein (IV) in 1998–99. During this period, the club was plagued 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. Bright spots 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. 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).

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 MSV 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. 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 played in the Georg-Melches-Stadion (capacity 15,000), named in honour of a former club president. In 1956, the team's home field became the first stadium in West Germany to have floodlights.

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

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). The club's fiercest rivalry 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. Although often described in political terms, with the "reds" allegedly being left-wing and the "blacks" right-wing, in reality there was no substantive distinction. The rivalry was more based on the geography of the city, a north (RWE) versus south (SWE) city divide. and with northern Essen being predominantly working class historically and the south of the city being generally regarded as a wealthier area, inhabited by the upper-middle class.

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

Honours
The club's honours:

League

 * German championship
 * Champions: 1955
 * German amateur championship
 * Champions: 1992
 * Oberliga West
 * Champions: 1952, 1955
 * Regionalliga West (II)
 * Champions: 1973
 * Regionalliga Nord (III)
 * Champions: 2004, 2006
 * Oberliga Nordrhein (IV)
 * Champions: 1985, 1986, 1993, 1999
 * Regionalliga West (IV)
 * Champions: 2022
 * NRW-Liga (V)
 * Champions: 2011

Cup

 * DFB-Pokal
 * Winners: 1952–53
 * Lower Rhine Cup (Tiers III–V)
 * Winners: (11) 1995, 2002, 2004, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2020, 2023, 2024

Former coaches

 * Elek Schwartz (1955–1957)
 * Fritz Pliska (1965–1967)
 * Erich Ribbeck (1967–1968)
 * Herbert Burdenski (1969–1971)
 * Janos Bedl (1971–1972)
 * Horst Witzler (1973)
 * Ivica Horvath (1975–1976)
 * Diethelm Ferner (1978–1979)
 * Rolf Schafstall (1979–1981)
 * Rolf Bock (1982–1983)
 * Janos Bedl (1983–1984)
 * Siegfried Melzig (1984)
 * Horst Hrubesch (1986–1987)
 * Peter Neururer (1987)
 * Horst Franz (1987–1988)
 * Siegfried Melzig (1988)
 * Hans-Werner Moors (1989–1991)
 * Jürgen Röber (1991–1993)
 * Wolfgang Frank (1994–1995)
 * Rudi Gores (1995–1997)
 * Klaus Berge (1998–1999)
 * Fritz Fuchs (1999)
 * Klaus Berge (1999–2001)
 * Harry Pleß (2001–2003)
 * Holger Fach (2003)
 * Jürgen Gelsdorf (2003–2005)
 * Uwe Neuhaus (2005–2006)
 * Lorenz-Günther Köstner (2006–2007)
 * Heiko Bonan (2007–2008)
 * Michael Kulm (2008–2009)
 * Ralf Aussem (2009)
 * Ernst Middendorp (2009)
 * Ralf Aussem (2009–2010)
 * Uwe Erkenbrecher (2009–2010)
 * Waldemar Wrobel (2010–2014)
 * Marc Fascher (2014–2015)
 * Jürgen Lucas (2015)
 * Markus Reiter (2015)
 * Jan Siewert (2015–2016)
 * Sven Demandt (2016–2017)
 * Argirios Giannikis (2017–2018)