Nestled in the south of Germany in the Black Forest is a small yet fiercely followed club called SC Freiburg.
Now few from the Western Hemisphere would have heard of this club. One Argentinian, one Costa Rican, American legend Paul Caligiuri, urrent international Danny Williams and current youth international Caleb Stanko are the few from the west that have played for the club. Fans of English Championship side might remember Papiss Cisse who stared for the club for a time and current Germany national team coach Joachim Low still is the teams all time goal scorer.
Being relegated at the end of the 2014-15 season the club did what they have always done in staying loyal to their manager. By being loyal to Christian Streich the Brazilians of Breisgau have immediately rebounded from their relegation with silverware as they won the Zweite Bundesliga title ahead of big spending RB Leipzig.
While never having won their own Bundesliga title they club boasts a nice collection of four second division titles since the 92-93 season. SC Freiburg is the epitomy of a small club from a non-traditional city who have made their mark on the German scene only after the unification. Such is their up and down nature of the club there is a popular chant ‘We go down, we go up, we go into the UEFA Cup’.
Looking at the promoted players who were key pieces in their promotion 21 goals from Nils Peterson was supplemented by 14 goals and 11 assists from Vincenzo Grifo and nine and seven assists from Maximilian Philipp and Mike Frantz. Keeping the squad together has been key to management’s plan for success in their return to the Bundesliga.
Signings for the coming season have been a mixture of players from the second division and low key foreign signings. In the eye of Streich its all about making the squad have depth which is a reason why they fell last time in the top league. Adding in some trustworthy defenders is still a need with less than a month until the start of the season.
For this southern team there is low expectations as the club’s yo-yo history has given proof that while playing in one of the smallest stadiums, a old school 25,000 seater, there will not be enough about this squad to expect more than mere Bundesliga survival.
Unity will be the name of the game and should this southern team find a winning solution early then perhaps the scare of relegation will not be surrounding the team in 16-17.
