MSV Duisburg

Meidericher Spielverein 02 e. V. Duisburg, commonly known as simply MSV Duisburg (German pronunciation: [ʔɛm ʔɛs faʊ ˈdyːsbʊɐ̯k]), is a German association football club based in Duisburg, North Rhine-Westphalia. Nicknamed Die Zebras for their traditional striped jerseys, the club was one of the original members of the Bundesliga when it was formed in 1963, although they are now playing in the third tier of German football.

MSV Duisburg

Full name	Meidericher Spielverein 02 e. V. Duisburg
Nickname(s)	Die Zebras (The Zebras)
Founded	1902; 122 years ago (1902)
Ground	MSV-Arena
Capacity	31,514
Manager	Engin Vural
League	3. Liga
2022–23	3. Liga, 12th of 20
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours Third colours
Current season

History

 

Historical chart of MSV Duisburg league performance

 

Bernard Dietz

Early years

The club was founded in 1902 as Meidericher Spielverein, representing the city of Meiderich, which became a district of Duisburg in 1905. In 1905, they absorbed the club Sport Club Viktoria Meiderich. In 1967, they took on their current name, acknowledging their role as the city's most popular and successful side.

While Duisburg has always been a competitive side, real success has so far eluded them. Early in their history, they captured a number of local championships, and even enjoyed a pair of undefeated seasons (1913–14) when they scored 113 goals while only giving up 12. In 1929, they won the first Niederrhein championship and qualified for the first time for the national championship rounds, repeating the feat in 1931.

However, the club then went into a tailspin from which they did not really recover until the 1950s, when they began once again to field competitive sides. During World War II, the club came close to folding, but returned to play after the war emerging as city champions in 1946. In 1951, Duisburg earned promotion to the top-flight Oberliga West with their first-place finish in the 2. Oberliga West. The Oberliga West was the most competitive division of German football at the time, and except for the 1954–55 season, Duisburg would play first division football there right up to the time of the formation of the Bundesliga.

Entry to the Bundesliga

 

Former logo of MSV Duisburg.

The club's play was good enough to earn a place as one of the original 16 teams in Germany's new professional league, the Bundesliga, in 1963. That first season was their most successful as they finished second, behind champions 1. FC Köln. The "Zebras" spent nearly 20 years in the upper league before slipping to the 2. Bundesliga in 1982–83 and then becoming one of German football's "elevator teams", named for their frequent up and down moves between divisions. Even so, they managed another eight seasons in the Bundesliga over two-and-half decades.

Current

 

MSV Duisburg Anniversary logo used in the 2022–23 season

MSV Duisburg won promotion to the Bundesliga for the 2007–08 season by way of a third-place finish in the 2. Bundesliga, behind Karlsruher SC and Hansa Rostock. Duisburg defeated Rot-Weiss Essen in a dramatic contest on the last day of the season 3–0, which secured their promotion for the fifth time in the last two decades while relegating Essen. However, the club fared poorly in top flight play and was again relegated after an 18th-place result. In 2008–09, they focused on the re-promotion, but although they lost only twice under their new coach Peter Neururer and went unbeaten for 12 matches after him taking office, they missed the promotion. During the next season, they focused on the promotion again, but after a heavy 0–5 defeat in the DFB-Pokal against FC Augsburg, Neururer was sacked. On 2 November 2009, Milan Šašić was presented as new coach. The Croat became the third foreign coach in the club history. They finished the season like the previous one, sixth in the league table.

In 2010–11, MSV Duisburg surprisingly reached their fourth DFB-Pokal Final—after 1966, 1975 and 1998—where they played against Schalke 04. The game was lopsided, with MSV Duisburg conceding early on, and the game ultimately finishing 5–0 in favour of Schalke.

After being demoted to the 3. Liga in 2013, Duisburg was promoted to the 2. Bundesliga for the 2015–16 season. The team placed 16th and lost the playoffs, therefore the team was dropped back to the 3. Liga for the 2016–17 season. They won the 3. Liga and were again promoted to the 2. Bundesliga next season.

Recent seasons

Year	Division	Tier	Position
1963–64^[1]	1. Bundesliga	I	2nd
1964–65	1. Bundesliga		7th
1965–66	1. Bundesliga		8th
1966–67	1. Bundesliga		11th
1967–68	1. Bundesliga		7th
1968–69	1. Bundesliga		12th
1969–70	1. Bundesliga		15th
1970–71	1. Bundesliga		7th
1971–72	1. Bundesliga		14th
1972–73	1. Bundesliga		10th
1973–74	1. Bundesliga		15th
1974–75	1. Bundesliga		14th
1975–76	1. Bundesliga		10th
1976–77	1. Bundesliga		9th
1977–78	1. Bundesliga		6th
1978–79	1. Bundesliga		13th
1979–80	1. Bundesliga		14th
1980–81	1. Bundesliga		12th
1981–82	1. Bundesliga		18th ↓
1982–83	2. Bundesliga	II	11th
1983–84	2. Bundesliga		3rd
1984–85	2. Bundesliga		13th
1985–86	2. Bundesliga		20th ↓
1986–87	Oberliga Nordrhein	III	2nd
1987–88	Oberliga Nordrhein		1st
1988–89	Oberliga Nordrhein		1st ↑
1989–90	2. Bundesliga	II	10th
1990–91	2. Bundesliga		2nd ↑
1991–92	1. Bundesliga	I	19th ↓
1992–93	2. Bundesliga	II	2nd ↑
1993–94	1. Bundesliga	I	9th
1994–95	1. Bundesliga		17th ↓
1995–96	2. Bundesliga	II	3rd ↑
1996–97	1. Bundesliga	I	9th
1997–98	1. Bundesliga		8th
1998–99	1. Bundesliga		8th
1999–2000	Bundesliga		18th ↓
2000–01	2. Bundesliga	II	11th
2001–02	2. Bundesliga		11th
2002–03	2. Bundesliga		8th
2003–04	2. Bundesliga		7th
2004–05	2. Bundesliga		2nd ↑
2005–06	Bundesliga	I	18th ↓
2006–07	2. Bundesliga	II	3rd ↑
2007–08	Bundesliga	I	18th ↓
2008–09	2. Bundesliga	II	6th
2009–10	2. Bundesliga		6th
2010–11	2. Bundesliga		8th
2011–12	2. Bundesliga		10th
2012–13	2. Bundesliga		11th ↓↓
2013–14	3. Liga	III	7th
2014–15	3. Liga		2nd ↑
2015–16	2. Bundesliga	II	16th ↓
2016–17	3. Liga	III	1st ↑
2017–18	2. Bundesliga	II	7th
2018–19	2. Bundesliga		18th ↓
2019–20	3. Liga	III	5th
2020–21	3. Liga		15th
2021–22	3. Liga		15th
2022–23	3. Liga		12th
2023–24	3. Liga

Key

↑ Promoted

↓ Relegated

Honours

League

• Bundesliga
  • Runners-up: 1963–64
• 2. Oberliga West (II): 1950–51
• 3. Liga (III): 2016–17
• Oberliga Nordrhein (III): 1987–88, 1988–89

Cup

• DFB-Pokal
  • Finalists: 1965–66, 1974–75, 1997–98, 2010–11

International

• Intertoto Cup (3): 1974, 1977, 1978

Regional

• Bezirksliga Niederrhein (I): 1928–29, 1930–31, 1931–32
• Lower Rhine Cup (Tiers III–below): 1988–89, 2013–14, 2016–17

Amateur/Youth teams

• German amateur championship (III): 1986–87
• German Under 19 championship: 1971–72, 1976–77, 1977–78

Current squad

As of 8 January 2024^[2]

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   GER Vincent Müller 2 DF   GER Baran Mogultay 4 DF   GER Marvin Senger 5 MF   USA Santiago Castañeda 6 MF   GER Marvin Bakalorz 7 MF   GER Kolja Pusch 8 MF   GER Hamza Anhari 9 MF   GER Alaa Bakir 10 MF   GER Thomas Pledl 11 DF   GER Niklas Kölle 14 FW   GER Pascal Köpke 15 DF   GER Tobias Fleckstein 16 MF   GER Jonas Michelbrink 17 DF   GER Marvin Knoll 18 MF   GER Caspar Jander

No. Pos. Nation Player 19 FW   GER Chinedu Ekene 20 MF   GER Robin Müller 21 DF   VEN Rolf Feltscher 22 MF   GER Tim Köther (on loan from Heidenheim) 23 MF   GER Niclas Stierlin 24 GK   GER Maximilian Braune 26 DF   GER Sebastian Mai (captain) 27 FW   GER Phillip König 29 DF   GER Joshua Bitter 30 GK   GER Dennis Smarsch 31 FW   GER Benjamin Girth 32 DF   GER Batuhan Yavuz 33 FW   GER Daniel Ginczek 39 MF   GER Ahmet Engin 40 FW   GER Alexander Esswein

Manager history

•   Hermann Lindemann (1955–1957)
•   Rudi Gutendorf (1963–1965)
•   Wilhelm Schmidt (1965)
•   Hermann Eppenhoff (1965–1967)
•   Gyula Lóránt (1967–1968)
•   Robert Gebhardt (1968–1970)
•   Rudolf Fassnacht (1970–1973)
•   Willibert Kremer (1973–1976)
•   Rolf Schafstall (1976)
•   Otto Knefler (1976–1977)
•   Carl-Heinz Rühl (1977–1978)
•   Rolf Schafstall (1978–1979)
•   Heinz Höher (1979–1980)
•   Friedhelm Wenzlaff (1980–1981)
•   Kuno Klötzer (1981–1982)
•   Siegfried Melzig (1982–1983)
•   Luis Zacharias (1983–1985)
•   Günter Preuß (1985)
•   Helmut Witte (1985–1986)
•   Friedhelm Vos (1986)
•   Detlef Pirsig (1986–1989)
•   Willibert Kremer (1989–1992)
•   Uwe Reinders (1992–1993)
•   Ewald Lienen (1993–1994)
•   Hans Bongartz (1994–1996)
•   Friedhelm Funkel (1996–2000)
•   Josef Eichkorn (2000)
•   Wolfgang Frank (2000)
•   Josef Eichkorn (2000–2001)
•   Pierre Littbarski (2001–2002)
•   Bernard Dietz (2002–2003, caretaker)
•   Norbert Meier (2003–2005)
•   Heiko Scholz (2005, caretaker)
•   Jürgen Kohler (2006)
•   Heiko Scholz (2006, caretaker)
•   Rudi Bommer (2006–2008)
•   Heiko Scholz (2008, caretaker)
•   Peter Neururer (2008–2009)
•   Uwe Speidel (2009, caretaker)
•   Milan Šašić (2009–2011)
•   Oliver Reck (2011–2012)
•   Ivica Grlić (2012, caretaker)
•   Kosta Runjaić (2012–2013)
•   Karsten Baumann (2013–2014)
•   Gino Lettieri (2014–2015)
•   Iliya Gruev (2015–2018)
•   Torsten Lieberknecht (2018–2020)
•   Gino Lettieri (2020–2021)
•   Uwe Schubert (2021, caretaker)
•   Pavel Dochev (2021)
•   Uwe Schubert (2021, caretaker)
•   Hagen Schmidt (2021–2022)
•   Torsten Ziegner (2022–2023)
•   Engin Vural (2023–)

Women's section

Main article: MSV Duisburg (women)

In popular culture

Tatort, a popular crime series in Germany, features an episode entitled Zweierlei Blut [de] (Blood of Two Kinds) which deals with a murder in the MSV Duisburg hooligan scene. In one scene, Inspector Horst Schimanski is beaten to a pulp and dragged naked into the centre circle of the Wedaustadion.

References

1. 30 Jahre Bundesliga, DFB special edition booklet
2. Team

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to MSV Duisburg.

• Official website