Altonaer FC von 1893

Altonaer FC von 1893 (AFC) is a German association football club based in the Altona district of the city of Hamburg. The football team is a department of a larger sports club which also offers handball, karate, table tennis, and volleyball.

Altona 93
Full nameAltonaer Fußball-Club von 1893 e. V
Nickname(s)AFC
Founded1893
GroundAdolf-Jäger-Kampfbahn
Capacity8.000
ChairmanDirk Barthel
CoachBerkan Algan
LeagueRegionalliga Nord (IV)
2018–19Oberliga Hamburg (V), 1st (promoted}
WebsiteClub website

History

Late in the nineteenth century, a number of sports having their origins in England – including cricket, rugby, and football – were introduced to continental Europe where they enjoyed considerable popularity. This club was founded on 29 July 1893 as Altonaer Cricketclub by a group of students who also demonstrated an early interest in football. In 1894, the club was renamed Altonaer Fussball und Cricket Club and then Altonaer Fussball Club in quick succession.

Altona is one of Germany's oldest football clubs: they were part of the Altona-Hamburg football league formed in 1894, as well as one of the founding clubs of the German Football Association (Deutscher Fussball Bund or German Football Association) at Leipzig in 1900. In 1903 at their home ground, they hosted the first-ever German national championship final played between VfB Leipzig and DFC Prague. The match was refereed by AFC player Franz Behr, who also served as the vice-chairman of the newly formed DFB until 1904. The club rescued the match by providing a new ball when the original one proved to be unsuitable for play. The hosts of the country's first title match never won or even played in a national final, being able to advance only as far as the semi-finals in 1903 and 1909, and the quarter-finals in 1914.

In 1919, the club merged with Altonaer TS 1880 in a union that lasted until 1922, during which time they were known as VfL Altona. After the break-up the team played as Altonaer FC 1893 VfL. Another merger in 1938 with Borussia 03 Bahrenfeld created Altonaer FC 93 Borussia. Between the end of World War I and the end of World War II the team played continuously in the country's top-flight leagues. Under the Third Reich German football was re-organized into sixteen Gauliga and AFC played first in the Gauliga Nordmark, and later in the Gauliga Hamburg.

After the war the club picked up play in the Stadtliga Hamburg before earning promotion to the first tier Oberliga Nord. Their best results were a pair of third-place finishes in 1954 and 1958, and semi-final appearances in the DFB-Pokal (German Cup) in 1955 and 1964. After the formation of the Bundesliga – Germany's new professional league – in 1963, Altona found itself in the second-tier Regionalliga Nord where they played until 1968. Between 1969 and 1981 Altona played third and fourth division ball before slipping to Landesliga Hamburg-Hammonia (V). They returned to using their old name, Altona FC, in 1979.

The club has moved up and down between the third and fifth tiers since the mid-1980s. In 1997, they found they were unable to sustain themselves financially in the Regionalliga Nord (IV) and after a single season at the professional level voluntarily withdrew to lower league play. The club is currently again playing in the Regionalliga Nord after promotion in 2019.

Fans

Altona despite their current low division have a relatively large local following, having the 3rd largest fan-base in Hamburg. Their origins are similar of that of neighbours FC St Pauli and therefore the fans are of a similar left-wing political persuasion, which means that there are little tensions between the two local teams, but they do contest a local derby with Hamburger SV although mainly with their reserve team.

Recent seasons
Historical chart of Altonaer FC league performance after WWII
Year Division Position
1999–2000 Verbandsliga Hamburg (VI) 2nd
2000–01 Verbandsliga Hamburg 3rd
2001–02 Verbandsliga Hamburg 2nd ↑
2002–03 Oberliga Hamburg/Schleswig-Holstein (V) 8th
2003–04 Oberliga Hamburg/Schleswig-Holstein 2nd ↑
2004–05 Oberliga Nord (IV) 12th
2005–06 Oberliga Nord 7th
2006–07 Oberliga Nord 5th
2007–08 Oberliga Nord 2nd
2008–09 Regionalliga Nord (IV) 16th ↓
2009–10 Oberliga Hamburg (V) 3rd
2010–11 Oberliga Hamburg 5th
2011–12 Oberliga Hamburg 9th
2012–13 Oberliga Hamburg 2nd
2013–14 Oberliga Hamburg 3rd
2014–15 Oberliga Hamburg 7th
2015–16 Oberliga Hamburg 6th
2016–17 Oberliga Hamburg 3rd ↑
2017–18 Regionalliga Nord 18th ↓
2018–19 Oberliga Hamburg 1st ↑
2019–20 Regionalliga Nord
Key
↑ Promoted ↓ Relegated

Current squad
As of 13 February 2018[1]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK  RSA Joshua du Preez
2 DF  GHA Clifford Aniteye
3 MF  GUI Eliezer Correia Cà
4 DF  TUR Abdullah Yilmaz
5 DF  GER William Wachowski
6 MF  GER Samuel Hosseini
8 MF  PER Mark Hinze
9 DF  GER Jakob Sachs
10 FW  GER Nick Brisevac
11 MF  AFG Mustafa Hadid
12 FW  GER Pablo Kunter
14 DF  GER Niklas Holz
15 DF  GER Finn Rettstedt
17 MF  GER Luis Hacker
No. Pos. Nation Player
18 DF  GER Jan Novotny
19 MF  GER Mamadou Sanoussy Balde
20 MF  GER Max Stolzenburg
21 GK  GER Tjark Grundmann
22 DF  GER Serhat Cayir
23 DF  GER Marco Schultz
24 FW  GER Braima Balde
25 FW  GER Björn Dohrn
26 DF  GER Niklas Siebert
26 DF  GER Jan-Ove Edeling
30 GK  GER Anton Matthäi
31 MF  LVA Vitalijs Barinov
33 GK  GER Tobias Grubba
45 FW  GER Andy Akoteng-Bonsrah

Honours

The club's honours:

Stadium

Since 1909 the team has played in the AFC-Kampfbahn, renamed the Adolf-Jäger-Kampfbahn (AJK) in 1944. Jäger was killed trying to defuse an Allied bomb in Altona while working as a volunteer in a bomb squad, within weeks of the stadium-naming ceremony honouring him. The facility has a capacity of 8,000 spectators (1,500 seats). Germany's first national championship was played at the club's original grounds, Exerzierweide, in Altona's Bahrenfeld quarter (known today as Schnackenburgallee) on 31 May 1903.

The stadium was featured as a stop during the German leg of The Amazing Race 16, an American television program, in which participants had to kick footballs through targets.

  • Main entrance
  • Main bridge
  • back straight
gollark: Oh, yes, and convenient updates too.
gollark: Yes, the same awful thing.
gollark: .vbs - no idea what that is, sounds like windowsomancy.
gollark: .bat is just aaargh (it's basically just command calling and variables)
gollark: Not as nicely.

References
  1. "Spielerteam 2017/18" (in German). Altonaer FC von 1893. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.