Since Magdeburg have won the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1974 40 years have passed; years during which the club has not seen the best of times. Since 1989 the club appears to be in a loop of promotion, insolvency and scandals. ‘Quo Vadis?’ thus seems to be the appropriate question in 2014. The events of…
It is the first encounter between East and West in 1974 and almost 3 quarters of the game have passed without any major incident. And yet, for many unnoticed, Georg Buschner, the East German coach has pulled his secret weapon from his sleeve: Erich Hamann. It was the game the East was eagerly awaiting ever…
Every time a World Cup is about to kick-off, the Germans are somehow said to be among the favourites. While some teams were great, many German or West German teams were simply lucky: the team of in 1982 that beat France on penalties in a semi-final which was overshadowed by Toni Schumacher’s criminal assault on…
After missing out on promotion by mere 5 minutes in 2007, the club once more failed to keep the momentum and stumbled. It did not fall. Another period of unrest ensued with heavy rotation on the coaching position as well as the playing staff. This period came to an end in 2012 when Andreas Petersen…
Benfica’s presence in this year’s Europa League Final is for many a right response to last year’s disappointment when they lost their final against Chelsea in injury time. Conspiracy theorists however, saw themselves confirmed. And their thoughts have been confirmed. Second Best by Nature This little story goes back until the 1960 when a Hungarian…
The fate of FC Magdeburg told in 7 posts. After the previous ones looked at off pitch failures, this looks at a season that ended in tears as Magdeburg missed out on promotion once more. The history of the club is one of few ups and a few more downs. Sadly, there are more downs…
In the previous posts of this series the focus was on the history of FC Magdeburg during the 1970s and early 1990s. Arguably, between 1976 and 1989 almost 13 years have passed without major crises. The 90s however, saw the club tumbling from crisis to crisis. This decade began with a huge breakup in East…
It was all set: The champagne in the fridge, the venue for the after match party. The sun was doing her best on this early May weekend. The veterans from Rotterdam 1974 played the warm-up game for the men’s team. Albeit, all this turned out to be premature. The ground, the old Ernst-Grube-Stadion, was decently…
1964 – 1974 – 1994 – 2004 – 2014 These 5 dates stand for important dates in the history of FC Magdeburg’s history, one of East Germany’s most popular and successful clubs, before and after 1990. After 1990 with an altered omen. In a series of articles, An Old International recounts the history of ‘The…
England, the country that gave birth to modern football hosted Hungary at Wembley in Noember 1953 and had to acknowledge that they had a bit of work to do to keep up with the Europeans. Read more →