FC Energie Cottbus
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| Full name | FC Energie Cottbus | ||
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| Nickname(s) | Energie, Die Lausitzer | ||
| Founded | January 31, 1966 | ||
| Ground | Stadion der Freundschaft, Cottbus | ||
| Capacity | 22,450 | ||
| Chairman |  Ulrich Lepsch | ||
| Manager | Petrik Sander | ||
| League | Bundesliga | ||
| 2005-06 | 2. Bundesliga, 3rd (promoted) | ||
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FC Energie Cottbus is a German football club based in Cottbus, in the Lausitz region of Brandenburg. It was founded in 1963 as SC Energie Cottbus in what was, at the time, East Germany. The club was quickly buttressed by a wholesale transfer of players from BSG Aktivist Brieske-Ost ordered by East German authorities, who often intervened in the business of the country's sports and football clubs for political reasons.
History
Predecessor sides
Through this link, the side can trace its roots back to a club founded by coal miners in 1919, in what was then called the town of Marga. Glückauf Marga was active until 1925 when the miners left to form a new team called FSV Sturm Marga which was banned by the Nazis in 1933.
Play in the GDR
The club re-emerged after World War II in 1949 as Franz Mehring Marga, becoming BSG Aktivist Brieske-Ost in 1950. The club was re-named SC Aktivist Brieske-Senftenberg in 1954 and played in the DDR-Oberliga generally earning mid-table results until calamitously falling all the way to the fourth tier Cottbus Berzirksliga in the early 60's. The players of this side were delivered to SC Energie Cottbus in 1963.
In the mid-60's a re-organization program by the regime led to the separation of football sides from sports clubs and the creation of BSG von Bodo Krautz under the patronage of a local coal mine. The football club went by that name only briefly and was quickly re-named BSG Energie in early 1966.
German reunification
The team took on the name FC Energie in 1990 at the time of German re-unification.
After years as a II division or lower-table I division side in East Germany, Energie has emerged as one of the few former DDR sides to enjoy relative prosperity in a united Germany. After five seasons playing tier III football, they earned promotion to the 2. Bundesliga in 1997 and then played their way into the Bundesliga in 2000, where they managed a three year stay. A key player in their Bundesliga run was Vasile Miriuta, an imaginative midfield player who played a big part in the team's promotion. After being relegated, Energie narrowly missed a prompt return to the top tier, losing out to FSV Mainz 05 on goal differential. The club has since returned to play in the Bundesliga after winning promotion at the end of the 2005-06 season and will be the only team from the former East Germany to play in the top division this year.
Current players
As of 7 January2007. Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Team trivia
- On April 6, 2001, Energie became the first Bundesliga club to field a side made up of 11 foreign players.
- The players were Tomislav Piplica, Faruk Hujdurovic, Bruno Akrapovic (Bosnia), Laurentiu-Aurelian Reghecampf, Janos Matyus, Vasile Miriuta (Hungary), Rudi Vata (Albania), Moussa Latoundji (Benin), Andrzej Kobylanski (Poland), Antun Labak (Croatia) and Franklin (Brazil). As a side note, even the three substitutes were foreigners, namely Johnny Rödlund from Sweden, Sabin Ilie from Romania and Witold Wawrzyczek from Poland [1].
- Energie often fielded 9 or 10 foreigners that season: German players appeared a total of just 83 times, with striker Sebastian Helbig as the leader with 28 [2].
- East German authorities had a penchant for tagging sports teams with the names of socialist heroes: Franz Mehring was a German socialist politician and journalist. He wrote a biography of Karl Marx and was a strong supporter of his ideas.
- Angela Merkel is an honorary member of the club.
