FC St. Pauli

FC St. Pauli
Full nameFußball-Club St. Pauli von 1910 e.V.
Nickname(s)Kiezkicker (Neighbourhood Kickers)[citation needed]
Freibeuter der Liga (League Buccaneers)[citation needed]
Founded15 May 1910; 114 years ago (1910-05-15)
GroundMillerntor-Stadion
Capacity29,546[1]
PresidentOke Göttlich[citation needed]
Head coachAlexander Blessin
LeagueBundesliga
2023–242. Bundesliga, 1st of 18 (promoted)
Websitefcstpauli.com
Current season

Fußball-Club St. Pauli von 1910 e.V., commonly known as simply FC St. Pauli (German pronunciation: [ɛfˌtseː zaŋkt ˈpaʊli] ⓘ), is a German professional football club based in the St. Pauli district of Hamburg. The team is competing in the Bundesliga in the 2024–25 season following promotion.

The football department is part of a larger sports club that also has departments in rugby (FC St. Pauli Rugby), baseball, bowling, boxing (FC St. Pauli Boxen),[2] chess, cycling, handball, roller derby (Harbor Girls Hamburg),[3] skittles, softball, and table tennis and since 2011 Marathon.[4] Until the end of 2013, the club also had a department in American football, but it was dissolved because it lacked the youth team required in order to hold a men's team.[5] As of April 2023, FC St. Pauli has 30,400 members.[6]

The men's professional football team dropped down to the Regionalliga in 2003, at that time the third highest football division in Germany and remained there for four years. In 2007, they won promotion back to the 2. Bundesliga, the second highest division in Germany and in 2010, they were promoted to the Bundesliga, the highest division. After relegation, since the 2011–12 season they have played in 2. Bundesliga until the 2023–24 season when they were promoted back to the Bundesliga.

FC St. Pauli has a cross-city rivalry with Hamburger SV; the matches between the two are known as the Hamburger Stadtderby or simply Derby. The club also has a more recent rivalry with Hansa Rostock.[7][8]

Although the club has been only modestly successful, it is widely recognised for its distinctive social culture and has a large popular following as one of the country's "Kult" clubs.[9][10] FC St. Pauli supporters are strongly identified with their support of left wing politics.[11]

  1. ^ "FC St. Pauli – Fakten zum Millerntor". fcstpauli.com (in German). Fußball-Club St. Pauli v. 1910 e.V. Archived from the original on 8 October 2016. Retrieved 28 July 2015.
  2. ^ "Die Boxabteilung des FC St. Pauli". st-pauli-boxen.de. Archived from the original on 6 August 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  3. ^ "About". harbourgirls.de. Archived from the original on 23 May 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  4. ^ Fabian Balicki: Więcej niż piłka nożna? St. Pauli jest tą możliwością. Poligraf, 2015, ISBN 978-83-7856-321-1.
  5. ^ "Harmonische Mitgliederversammlung". fcstpauli.com. FC St. Pauli. 27 November 2013. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
  6. ^ "FC St. Pauli". kicker.de. Olympia-Verlag GmbH. Archived from the original on 4 May 2019. Retrieved 5 April 2023.
  7. ^ "Für die Fans: St. Pauli klagt für Hansa Rostock". Hamburger Morgenpost (in German). Hamburg: Morgenpost Verlag GmbH. 8 March 2012. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
  8. ^ Peter, Erik (18 November 2011). "Hansa Rostock gegen St. Pauli: Das gefährlichste Spiel des Jahres". 11freunde.de (in German). 11FREUNDE Verlag GmbH & Co. KG. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
  9. ^ "Midfield Dynamo Football Site". Midfielddynamo.com. Archived from the original on 17 January 2022. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
  10. ^ "Offizielle Homepage des FC St. Pauli von 1910 e. V. – Mannschaft". FC St. Pauli. Archived from the original on 5 May 2010. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
  11. ^ Conti, Allie (7 February 2019). "It's an Anti-Fascist Thing: How an Obscure German Soccer Team Gained a Brooklyn Cult". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 9 November 2022. Retrieved 1 October 2022.