Welcome to the Soccer Tavern, where we’re discussing the history, philosophy, and culture of the beautiful game. My name is Dave and in this video, we’re talking about the history of 1. Fußball- und Sportverein Mainz 05, also known as FSV Mainz 05. Pull up a seat and let’s start the discussion.
FSV Mainz 05 is located in the western part of the city of Mainz. Mainz is located in the central, slightly western part of Germany. The club currently play in the Bundesliga and its home ground is called the Opel Arena, which opened in 2011 and holds about 34,000 people.
Origin
In 1903, a group of people tried to form a soccer club in the city of Mainz. At the time, soccer was outwardly discouraged in a lot of the German culture, while gymnastics & track & field were more socially acceptable. Only a few years later though, there was a successful attempt to create a club.
On March 16, 1905, the 1. Mainzer Fußballclub “Hassia” 1905 was created. The Erste Mainzer Fußballclub part of the name meant first Mainz football or soccer club. Hassia referred to the region of Germany where the city of Mainz was located. And 1905 was the founding year of 1905.
In August of 1912, the club merged with FC Hermannia 07 and became 1. Mainzer Fußballverein 05. It dropped the Hassia portion of the name.
After WWI, the club merged with Sportverein 08 in 1919 and became 1. Mainzer Fußball- und Sportverein 05.
Sometime between 1919 and today, the Mainzer portion of the club’s name was shortened to just Mainz and moved to the end of the club’s official name, but I wasn’t able to find exactly when. If you know more details about that name change, please let us know in the comments section below the video.
Nicknames
The club has 2 nicknames: die Nullfünfer, meaning ‘the Zero-Fives’, and Karnevalsverein, meaning ‘Carnival Club’.
Die Nullfünfer nickname means ‘the zero-fives’ and refers to the club’s founding year of 1905.
The Karnevalsverein nickname means the ‘Carnival Club’ in English. The city of Mainz holds one of the longest and largest Carnivals in all of Germany, which is where this nickname comes from. English speakers night also know Carnival by its other name of Mardi Gras. In actuality, local Mainz citizens call Carnival ‘Fastnacht’ and the Karnevalsverein nickname came from outsiders. The nickname stuck though and Mainz is the Karnevalsverein.
Crest
Let’s look at Mainz’s crest now.
The colors of red & white come from the city of Mainz’s coat of arms, which dates back to the 13th century, possibly even before then.
The club’s full name is written at the bottom of the crest.
The main element of the crest is a stylized M written in a circular shape. The M stands for Mainz and the numbers 05 stand for the club’s founding year of 1905.
I haven’t been able to verify this, but the city of Mainz’s coat of arms includes 2 wheels with spokes and the club’s crest kind of looks like it’s trying to create a wheel with spokes. I don’t have anything to verify that, but I wanted to share in case you found it interesting. If anyone has more details, please let us know in the comments section of the video.
Nowadays, you’ll likely see this simplified crest of just the M & 05 for the club.
Important Events
The first event I’d like to highlight is a not so happy one. After the 1975-1976 2. Bundesliga Süd season, Mainz decided to self-relegate themselves after finishing mid-table. The club was experiencing serious financial issues and would play in the amateur divisions for more than 10 years. Unfortunately, most of the sources I’ve found merely reference this time period but don’t share more details about what exactly happened. If you have some more information, I’d love to know, so please let us know in the comments section below the video.
The next event I’d like to discuss happened while the club was playing in the amateur divisions. On June 17, 1982, Mainz 05 won the club’s greatest trophy to date. On this day, the club beat Werder Bremen’s amateur side 3-0 in the final of the Deutsche Fußball-Amateurmeisterschaft or German Amateur Championship. It was a great day for the club even though this technically isn’t considered a major trophy.
Jumping forward 10 years to April 1, 1992. On this date, Christian Heidel joined the 05ers as an executive. Some sites list him as sporting director and some list him as manager, but regardless of his title, Heidel is likely the most important person in the club’s history. Heidel supported Mainz 05 as a child and is from the city of Mainz. He provided excellent leadership, revamped the club’s youth academy & scouting network, appointed some of the club’s most important managers who we’ll discuss in more detail soon, and was in charge as the club built a new, modern stadium. Heidel was instrumental in the club reaching and becoming a regular Bundesliga club. He left in 2016 after 24 years and will always be an incredibly important person in Mainz 05’s history.
The next event I’d like to highlight happened on February 27, 2001 which is when Jürgen Klopp was appointed club manager. Klopp was a long-time player for the club and was actually an active player at the time, but was injured. Mainz was in a relegation battle that season and fired its manager. Klopp was asked to take over on an interim basis. This appointment would be incredibly important as we’ll discuss in more detail later in this video.
One of the things under Klopp’s leadership that we can discuss right now happened on May 23, 2004. It was the final day of the 2. Bundesliga season and Mainz beat Eintracht Trier 3-0. The result clinched 3rd place for Mainz and promotion to the Bundesliga for the first time. It was the first time in the club’s nearly 100 year history that it would be playing in the top division. It is arguably the greatest day in the club’s history.
And the final event I’d like to highlight is a year rather than a specific date. In 2011, Mainz 05 finished the Bundesliga season in 5th place – it’s highest ever league finish. That result qualified Mainz for European competition from a sporting perspective for the first time in the club’s history. Mainz had previously qualified for Europe through a fair play award. The incredible year for the club was not done, as that same year, the club opened its new, modern stadium. The club had previously been playing in a makeshift expanded stadium that did not truly meet the requirements of a top division club. The new stadium was a huge accomplishment for the club and has allowed Mainz to maintain its place in the Bundesliga for 10 seasons at time of recording. 2011 was one of the greatest years in club history.
Supporters
The Humba is now a world famous chant, but it all began in the city of Mainz in 1964. At that time, Ernst Neger, who was a local composer, wrote the chant as a Carnival song. It’s a nonsensical call and response chant that goes: “Gebt mir ein H (crowd responds with H!) – gebt mir ein U (crowd responds with U!) – gebt mir ein M (crowd responds with M!) – gebt mir ein B (crowd responds with B!) – gebt mir ein A (crowd responds with A!)” and then everybody goes crazy and they all chant: “Wir singen Humba, Humba, Humba, Täteräääää!!”
It really doesn’t mean anything but it looks like a lot of fun and you can understand how it’s become so popular. The chant as it applies to soccer was first adopted by Mainz 05 supporters in the 1990s. The Humba has spread throughout the Bundesliga and since the German national team adopted it in 2007, it has become world famous. Now, many clubs & supporters perform the chant after victories. It all traces back to the city of Mainz and Mainz 05.
Noteworthy Players
I’d like to discuss 4 players in this section.
Jürgen Klopp signed his first professional contract with the club at the age of 23 in 1990. Klopp described himself as an average player who had 4th-division talent and a 1st-division head. He’d play for the club for 11 seasons, making over 300 appearances before an injury ended his playing career in 2001. Though Klopp likes to downplay his own achievements, he’s currently 3rd on the club’s all- time scoring charts, which is very impressive for someone who played the majority of his career as a defender.
Dimo Wache was a goalkeeper for Mainz from 1995-2010. He’d make more than 400 appearances for the club, mainly in the 2. Bundesliga but have a handful of seasons in the Bundesliga. Mainz would be the only professional club that Wache would make an appearance for in his career. He’s the club’s all-time record appearance holder and was a long time club captain. Wache is an honorary club captain and is a legend for FSV Mainz 05.
Nikolče Noveski was a defender for Mainz for 11 years and captain for 7 of those years from 2004-2015. He made more than 300 appearances for the club including more than 250 Bundesliga appearances. He was a Macedonian international and was named honorary captain of the club after his departure. In September 2017, Mainz held a testimonial match for Noveski and he is an absolute club legend.
Lastly, I’d like to mention arguably the club’s most talented ever player, André Schürrle. Schürrle joined Mainz as a youth player and made his professional debut in the summer of 2009. He’d only play for Mainz for 2 seasons before moving to Leverkusen and then onto other clubs in Germany and abroad. Schürrle’s 2 seasons at Mainz to start his career were probably the best of his career. He’s has gone on to have a moderately successful career that has tailed off in recent seasons. The pinnacle of Schürrle’s career though was an incredibly high point. He provided the match winning assist in the 2014 World Cup Final that won Germany the title. For that reason alone, Schürrle deserves mention here.
Noteworthy Managers
With limited historical success, I’m only going to highlight 2 managers in this section and both managers are relatively recent in the club’s history.
As we already mentioned, Jürgen Klopp took over Mainz 05 in February 2001. Klopp saved the club from relegation to the 3rd division that season and in his next 2 full seasons at the club, he nearly led Mainz into the Bundesliga. In his third full season at the club, Klopp finally did lead the club into the Bundesliga for the first time in 2004. Klopp maintained Mainz in the Bundesliga for 3 seasons before suffering relegation. He remained in charge of the club for 1 more 2. Bundesliga season but couldn’t bring the 05ers back to the Bundesliga and departed for Dortmund in 2008. Klopp would have great success at Dortmund and now Liverpool, where he currently manages. He’s widely considered one of the best managers of his generation and it all started at Mainz 05. Klopp is one of the most important people in the club’s nearly 115 year history.
And the other manager I’d like to highlight is Thomas Tuchel. Tuchel had a short playing career in the lower divisions of Germany and became a youth coach at Stuttgart & Augsburg. He joined Mainz in 2008 as a youth coach and was surprisingly appointed as first team manager in the summer of 2009 after the previous manager had led the club back to the Bundesliga. Tuchel proved to be the right hire though as he led the club for 5 seasons and stabilized Mainz in the Bundesliga. Additionally, Tuchel led Mainz to a 5th placed Bundesliga finish in the 2010-2011 season. As mentioned in our important events section, this is still the club’s highest ever league finish. Tuchel has gone on to manage Borussia Dortmund and Paris Saint Germain and, though not quite at the level of Jürgen Klopp, he has a very impressive managerial resume.
Rivals
Mainz has 2 rivals: Eintracht Frankfurt and 1. FC Kaiserslautern.
The Eintracht Frankfurt rivalry isn’t one of the most intense in Germany. Matches will sometimes be called Rhein-Main-Derby matches in reference to the rivers that the cities of Mainz and Frankfurt lie near. This is a bit of a one-sided rivalry as Frankfurt has a few other clubs that it considers to be primary rivals, while Mainz considers Frankfurt and more recently Kaiserslautern as its main rivals. Frankfurt and Mainz are located less than 25 miles apart, which helps any rivalry, but most fans won’t consider these matches to be full-blown derbies with intense passion. The rivalry deserves mention, but it’s not enormous.
Mainz’s other main rival is 1. FC Kaiserslautern. Based on an article from Der Spiegel, this seems to be a newer rivalry. Kaiserslautern has a longer history as a Bundesliga club, but in recent years, Mainz has overtaken Kaiserslautern in the German soccer pyramid. That has likely helped fuel this budding rivalry between clubs from the German state of Rheinland-Pfalz. Again, this isn’t considered one of the most intense rivalries in German soccer, but is a rivalry and should continue to grow in the future.
Stats & Records
The stats and records we’re about to discuss are as of December 2019, which is when we are recording this video.
Mainz 05 has played 14 seasons in the top flight in its history.
The club has no major trophies and its greatest title was winning the 1982 German Amateur Championship.
The 05ers’ record first team appearance holder is Dimo Wache with 406 first team appearances.
The club’s record goal scorer is Michael Thurk with 64 first team goals.
Mainz’s record transfer purchase was Jeremiah St. Juste from Feyenoord in the Netherlands on August 7, 2019 for ~€9M.
And the club’s record transfer sale was Abdou Diallo to Borussia Dortmund on July 1, 2018 for ~€28M.
And 1 last interesting fact about the club:
I believe Mainz has the 2nd largest standing supporters stand in Germany behind Borussia Dortmund’s stadium. There are other grounds with greater standing supporter capacity, but Mainz’s stadium technically has the 2nd most when comparing just 1 stand or section of the stadium. I do want to add in a disclaimer that this was accurate as of 2016, but I wasn’t able to fully verify that it is still accurate. If you have any more details, please let us know in the comments section.
So there you have it… a bit of history on 1. Fußball- und Sportverein Mainz 05. Let’s continue the discussion in the comments section below the video.
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