SC Düsseldorf-West (Germany)

Sportclub Düsseldorf-West 1919/50 e.V. is a sports club that was founded on June 19th 1972 who are based in the Oberkassel district of the North-Rhine Westphalia city of Düsseldorf. The club came about through a merger of SSV Oberkassel and Sportfreunden Düsseldorf-Lörick.

Oberkassel had been formed on March 19th 1919 and were a relatively successful local football club, spending four years in the Niederrhein Amateurliga. Lörick had been founded on October 23rd 1950, and brought handball, pentaque and gymnastics to the organisation.

Düsseldorf-West became members of the Landesliga Niederrhein at the start of the 1990-91 season but returned to the Bezirksliga just twelve months later. The 2004-05 campaign saw West rise again.

The club won promotion to Niederrheinliga in 2007-08 where the team remained until they were relegated at the completion of the 2011-12 campaign to drop back down to the Landesliga Niederrhein; where the team competed in Gruppe 2.

West were moved to Gruppe 1 from 2013-14; where the side went on to end up as runners-up in two consecutive seasons. In 2014-15 this resulted in promotion to the Oberliga Neiderrhein under head coach Marcus John.

Two ninth places followed in 2015-16 and 2016-17 as Düsseldorf-West consolidated their place in one of several fifth divisions of German football at their Schorlemerstraße home. Ninth place was achieved in the 2017-18 campaign.

West were relegated in the 2018-19 down to the Landesliga Niederrhein 1 where they were placed in Group 1. The team were in third place in 2019-20 when the season was halted owing to the COVID-19 pandemic with Ismail Cakici top scorer.

SC Düsseldorf-West will play in Landesliga Niederrhein 1 in the 2020-21 season.

My visit

Friday 18th August 2017

My long weekend primarily to Germany and Belgium was under way after I had arrived in Düsseldorf the previous evening and enjoyed some fine ambience around the bars of the Aldstadt. Fortunately I woke in good form the next morning.

With time to kill before I caught the train down to Cologne and then Liége for the evening’s football I looked for something to do. Rather than just mooch around, I decided to occupy myself in time honoured fashion by seeking out a previously unvisited club.

I had a walk along Grafenberger Allee before jumping on the U72 at Uhlandstraße before alighting at Barbarossaplatz. It took less than ten minutes along Schorlemerstraße before arriving at the stadium. The gate by the club headquarters was open.

The facility was basic in regards to spectator accommodation with just a couple of steps of open terracing down the entrance side, with a raised area in the centre containing the club bar. The offices and changing rooms sat downstairs.

Once I’d got the photos I required I repeated my journey to the U Bahn stop before taking the train to Tonhalle/Ehrenhof for a brief walk along the banks of the Rhine and into Aldstadt and Königsallee; Germany’s most exclusive shopping street to take more pictures.

With a little additional time on my hands I bought the latest edition of Kicker and relaxed with a large glass of Alt in Restaurant Zum Schiffchen inside Düsseldorf Hauptbanhof before taking the train south for my connection.