The Enigmatic 1.FCN

It’s not easy following an enigmatic football team such as 1.FC Nuremberg. You hear and read all about the history of the great club and want it to all come back for present day generations to witness.

But Der Club are too often flirting with relegation from the Bundesliga, or promotion back into it in seasons after the trap door has opened. Occasionally a player or two, and maybe even a coach, come along and seem to herald a new dawn. Hopes are raised but are then dashed before any dreams are fully realised.

Then in May 2007, it happened. Forty-five years after last winning the DFB Pokal (the German FA Cup), and thirty-nine after last winning the German championship, everyone associated with 1.FCN finally had something to cheer. A magical cup final victory over Stuttgart was enough cause for celebration in itself but this success also brought the promise of European competition in the following season’s UEFA Cup.

Enigmatic though is defined as a mystery, a puzzle, something difficult to understand. When applied to a football team the enigma is the turning of hope into despair, followed by the hope that the despair will soon end and the team will again find glory.

You get sucked into to it all, taken along for a big ride and no matter how many times you want to get off over the years you can’t. You’re in it ‘til death do us part, in sickness and in health, for better or for worst. You desperately seek heaven in a devoted marriage to your team which often seems like it was made in hell.

Some teams are just successful, some are just unsuccessful. You know where you stand with them – you either taste success and little else, or you live in hope and nothing else. But with the enigmatic 1.FCN it really is a rollercoaster, from season-to-season and match-to-match. Will they or won’t they? Can they or can’t they? There’s rarely an occasion when there’s nothing to speculate about. Maybe for the fans of 1.FCN and thousands or other enigmatic teams this is the real attraction.