Fifteen men met on 8 March 1899 at Düsseldorfer Straße 14 near to the main station in the city to found the Frankfurter Fußballclub Victoria – Eintracht’s oldest predecessor. Now, the club with the Eagle on their jersey have over 14,000 active male and female athletes taking part in more than 50 different sports. This makes Eintracht Frankfurt the world’s biggest multi-sports club featuring a professional football team according to a recent study, and this combination of professional football and mass sport is a unique one.
Football in the heart of Europe:
- Footballers have been playing on a local recreational area called the Hundswiese (or dog meadow) since the end of the 1890s, mowing the grass, setting up the goal posts and marking out the pitches with ropes.
- In 1899, the 1899 Kickers football club was also founded in Frankfurt. Victoria and Kickers went on to merge in 1911.
- Another merger came in 1920, this time with the Frankfurter Turngemeinde gymnastics club, to form the Turn- und Sportgemeinde Eintracht Frankfurt von 1861. There was then a split in 1927, with the Turngemeinde Eintracht Frankfurt von 1861 and the Sportgemeinde Eintracht Frankfurt (F.F.V) von 1899 being re-established.
- With football in Germany becoming increasingly more professional, Eintracht set up a department in 1948 for players under contract.
- Eintracht’s Alfred Pfaff won the World Cup in 1954 in Switzerland.
- A 5-3 win over Kickers Offenbach saw Eintracht crowned German champions in Berlin in 1959.
Regular additions were made to Eintracht’s trophy cabinet over the years, with plenty of victories being etched into the memories.
28 June 1959, Eintracht Frankfurt – Kickers Offenbach 5-3 aet: 1959 saw Eintracht Frankfurt win their first ever league title with a win over local rivals Kickers Offenbach. Two goals from István Sztani and an Ekko Feigenspan hat-trick gave the team a 5-3 win in extra time.
18 May 1960, Eintracht Frankfurt – Real Madrid 3-7: 127,000 fans watched the match of the century at Hampden Park in Glasgow, when the amateurs of Eintracht – many of whom had regular day jobs outside football – faced a Madrid line-up packed with stars in the final of the European Cup. Puskas, di Stefano and co. won the trophy for the fifth time in a row, but Eintracht still came away from the match having earned themselves international recognition. Richard Kreß even gave Frankfurt the lead, while Erwin Stein scored two goals later in the match.
17 August 1974, Eintracht Frankfurt – Hamburger SV 3-1 aet: The first DFB Cup win and the start of a run of four titles in seven years. Gert Trinklein (40’), Bernd Hölzenbein (95’) and Wolfgang Kraus (115’) were on the mark for Eintracht that day.
21 May 1980 and 18 May 2022 – European titles: The two biggest trophies in the history of the club came 42 years apart. In 1980, an Eintracht team that had come together over a number of years and featured such legends as Grabi, Holz, Nickel, Körbel, Neuberger, Borchers and Nachtweih, got their reward. Then in 2022, Eintracht made a name for themselves with their away form, both on the pitch and in the stands. La Bestia Blanca was born and Eintracht won the Europa League.
29 May 1999, Eintracht Frankfurt – 1. FC Kaiserslautern 5-1: One incredible goal after another, with Fjörtoft’s step-over the icing on the cake. Three wins in a row gave Jörg Berger’s team the chance to avoid relegation on the last day of the season. Every goal ended up counting, and Fjörtoft it was who secured the club’s top-flight status.
19 May 2018, Eintracht Frankfurt – FC Bayern Munich 3-1: Eintracht won the DFB Cup thanks to a spectacular 3-1 win in the final over Bayern Munich. Ante Rebic (11', 82’) and Mijat Gacinovic (90’+6) scored the goals that sent the fans into raptures and brought an end to a 30-year wait for a trophy.
Eintracht have been relegated to Bundesliga 2 on four occasions, the first time being in 1996. There have also been bitter defeats that have spelled the end of a domestic or European cup campaign – most notably in 2019 against Chelsea and the 2006 and 2017 DFB Cup finals against Bayern and BVB respectively. Each and every fan will have their own worst memory of a loss that hit them particularly hard.
It has been 65 years since Eintracht Frankfurt won the men’s Bundesliga football title, but who knows what the future may bring? Perhaps Eintracht will one day grant the wish in the line of the song that says: “You will be German champions once more”. Until then, let’s dare to dream. And one thing is certain: there will be plenty more chapters to come.
