SC Freiburg (Germany)

SC, or Sportclub Freiburg, is a professional football club from the Baden-Württemberg region of southern Germany, whose history can be traced back to 1904. It was in that year that Freiburger Fußballverein 04 was formed. Two months later, FC Schwalbe Freiburg was born. 

They changed their name to FC Mars in 1905 and then Union Freiburg in 1906, while FV 04 Freiburg became Sportverein Freiburg 04 in 1909. The two separate clubs would eventually merge in 2012 to form Sportclub Freiburg.

After World War I, the club made an arrangement with Freiburger FC to play under the name KSG Freiburg to be able to field a full team. In 1919, SCF made an association with another local club, FT 1844 Freiburg, until 1928, when they left to enter a ground share arrangement with PSV (Polizeisportvereins) Freiburg 1924.

Two years later, SCF were back with their old allies FT 1844 as PSV disbanded. In 1928, SC Freiburg reached the Bezirksliga Baden at their first home of the Winterer-Stadion and then the Gauliga Baden, which was one of sixteen top-level leagues introduced by the ruling Third 

Reich. 

However, SCF were relegated in 1933-34. Two years later, the club had to abandon their stadium as it was required for an airstrip for the Luftwaffe. Following the end of World War II, the club were forced to change their name to remove any connection to the Nazi era

SC Freiburg became VfL Freiburg until 1950, when they were permitted to reclaim their identity. Two years later, the club cut its ties once again with FT 1844 Freiburg as they played their football in the Amateurliga Südbaden. In 1954, the club was given some land to the east of the city, where they settled, with the ground being named Dreisamstadion. 

Stands were erected on the south side in 1970. Although the lesser club to neighbours Freiburger FC, SCF continued to build momentum, and by 1978-79 they had reached 2. Bundesliga. A new Main Stand and expansions were added to celebrate to take the capacity of Dreisamstadion up to 15,000.

The 1992-93 season saw SC Freiburg promoted to the top flight for the first time as champions of 2. Bundesliga under the chief trainer Volker Finke. After a close shave with relegation in their first season, they finished third in their second attempt. The club gained the nickname of Breisgau-Brasilianer, the Brazilians of Breisgau, at that time. 

In 1994-95, SC Freiburg played in Europe for the first time as they qualified for the UEFA Cup. However, they went out in the first round to Slavia Praha. Within two years, the team were relegated, but fought back at the first attempt. A new South Stand was erected at the stadium at the same time.

In 2000-01, the club had another taste of the UEFA Cup. This time, they defeated MŠK Púchov and St Gallen before bowing out to Feyenoord in the third round. Unfortunately, once again this led to relegation in the following campaign, but once again they retained their status at the first attempt.

SCF continued in the top flight until 2005-06. On 20 May 2007, Volker Finke resigned as the club's trainer after sixteen years in the job. Robin Dutt was the new incumbent in the job. Promotion was secured once again in May 2009. Christian Streich took over first-team duties in 2012 as relegation looked on the cards.

SC Freiburg finished the 2013-14 season in fifth place to qualify for the Europa League. Had they beaten FC Schalke 04 on the final day of the season, they’d have made the Champions League places. As it was their continental soiree ended with a third place in the group stage against Estoril, Slovan Liberec and Sevilla.

In February 2015, the citizens of Freiburg were asked to take part in a referendum to decide whether the club should move to a new stadium. The vote was in favour of a new stadium at Wolfswinkel near Freiburg's municipal airport.

A final day defeat at Hannover 96 in May 2015 relegated SC Freiburg once more, with Streich’s side finishing in seventeenth place. With Mensur Mujdža as skipper, Freiburg won the 2. Bundesliga title in 2015-16 as Maximilian Philipp set up the goals for Nils Petersen and Vincenzo Grifo.

On their return to the top flight, Breisgau-Brasilianer finished in seventh spot with Florian Niederlechner topping the scoring prior to Julian Schuster taking the captain’s armband in 2017-18 when the team narrowly avoided the drop.

SC Freiburg-Stadion takes shape

Mike Frantz led the team on the pitch for the 2018-19 campaign, in which Freiburg improved slightly to thirteenth position as Alexander Schwolow did his bit while in goal. The new SC-Freiburg-Stadion had begun construction across the city.

The 2019-20 season looked to mark the final season at Schwarzwald-Stadion with Streich continuing as head coach. The team narrowly missed out on a Europa League place as proceedings had been earlier suspended for a time owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Europa-Park Stadion open for business

Sixth place was achieved in 2021-22, with Europa-Park Stadion opening as well as Freiburg reaching the DFB-Pokal final. RB Leipzig were victorious on penalties after a 1-1 draw in which Maximilian Eggestein scored for the Breisgau outfit. The league performance was improved upon the following season, with Vincenzo Grifo scoring the goals. 

Julian Schuster arrived for the 2024-25 season, which saw Freiburg again finish fifth, as Ritsu Doan top-scored.

SC Freiburg will play in the Bundesliga in the 2025-26 season.

My visit

SC Freiburg 1 VfL Bochum 3 (Saturday 15th August 2015) 2. Bundesliga (att: 23,700)

It wasn’t always in my plans to include a game at Freiburg in my footballing jaunt in Baden-Württemberg. Originally, I marked down the opening Bundesliga clash between Augsburg and Hertha BSC. However, travelling time and the potential of a later game on Saturday tea time, along with a far better ticket price, tempted me to Freiburg. 

Much of this was on the basis that they were only charging €10.50 for a standing place on the Nordtribune. The train from Karlsruhe arrived a couple of hours before kick-off, so I filled in some time by going to have a look at the homes of SF Eintracht Freiburg and Freiburger FC. 

My impressions were of a very pleasant and tidy small city, as I caught the U3 tram from Rohrgraben, which had several SC clad fans on board. I followed their lead and jumped off at the next stop, Bissierstraße.

Within minutes, an empty football special tram had arrived, so I got a seat on the journey of nearly forty minutes. The line ran right through the centre of the old town with many narrow streets and congested traffic. Freiburg was not unlike the centres of York or Chester. Eventually, we arrived at the Römerhof stop.

The walk up to Schwarzwald-Stadion, as the stadium was now called under a sponsorship deal, was through narrow residential streets. I could see why the club may want a move. My gate was at the far end. I managed to get through the narrow gap left by the police vehicle cordon and went down the passage behind the Osttribune.

Within a minute, I was frisked and inside with time to buy myself a sausage and a beer. It only came to €5.40, with €1 being a deposit on the hard plastic cup. I wandered round to the front of the Stehplatz Nord to take in the view. My terrace was one steep block of medium size and was already very busy. 

The opposite end, Sudtribune, had seats upstairs with seating below, not unlike a stand at Loftus Road. The visitors of Bochum were in the left corner in their blue and white finery.  The left-hand side Osttribune was a large single-seating block slightly raised above pitch level and stood back from the touchline. 

The final main side Haupttribune was also a single tier of raised seating, but a bit smaller than its opposite. It contained the offices and the facilities. With another beer in hand, I set about finishing a decent vantage point. I was moved from an aisle position near the back, so I went to the lower corner. 

I was moved by a helpful steward who spoke perfect English, and I ended up on the back of the wide second step, so I didn’t obstruct anyone else’s view, but I could also see. The high fences at the front weren’t a major help, but it was compensated for by the super atmosphere.

The first half of the game was a tight tactical battle between the top two sides in the division. Both were nullifying the other's attacking moves with defenders in control. As the half-time board was displayed by the fourth official, I headed to the back of the stand for another beer and more wonderful sausage.

I just had the impression, as the second half got under way that Bochum looked just that little bit more incisive and physically stronger. They had an extra half yard in their step. The turning point of the game undoubtedly came after fifty-seven minutes. 

Mensur Mujdža, the Breisgauer centre back, was adjudged to have used his elbow on Bochum forward Simon Terrode when challenging for a header by referee Peter Sippel. He decided it was a yellow card offence, and with Mujdža already cautioned, he had to take an early bath. Terrode rapidly recovered.

Within five minutes, the visitors from the Ruhr were celebrating as Onur Bulut cleverly lobbed home as the ball bobbled around the Freiburg area. With twenty minutes left on the clock, a textbook goal put Bochum in total control. Marco Terrazzino countered down the left flank and crossed to the far side of the area, where Bulut controlled and set up Terrode, who slotted home.

Although the home fans kept up their excellent support throughout but Terrode went a long way to quietening them down with eight minutes remaining when he smashed home from outside the box. I thought it was a good shot. Many home fans seemed to think that their goalkeeper, Alexander Schwolow, should have kept it out. 

Some headed for the exits, but those remaining loyal were given hope a minute later. Full back Marc Torrejón scored with a fine effort from twenty yards into the top corner. Suddenly, the home side looked like they may break down the tight Bochum rearguard. Substitute Karim Guédé was causing problems with his movement.

However, the task was made much harder as Torrejón received a straight red card for raising a foot while going for an aerial challenge. I’m not sure it was worthy of a sending off, but the visiting players and bench and reaction surely helped the referee make up his mind.

Freiburg tried until the end, but Bochum ended as deserved winners. I headed off as quickly as I could behind the stadium, as I still wanted to look at another couple of nearby venues before my train out of town.