The 1964/65 season is only the second season of the Bundesliga – and a very strange one. In Berlin they have raised themselves financially and are even hiding tickets in the coffin. And chaos reigns at Schalke too. You dismount, but in the end you stay inside. But before that you have to let yourself be bitterly humiliated by your old rival.
The Bundesliga developed into a real weekend attraction for the Germans in its second season, the 1964/65 season. Buses and trains rolled through the country. The fans enjoyed the long away trips and actively supported their clubs. The exciting course of a fast-paced season also had spectators storming into the stadiums. In the end, SV Werder Bremen surprisingly prevailed against the favored team from Cologne. After a big fight, the reigning German champion ended up in second place in the table, three points behind last year’s tenth place from Bremen.
The green-whites could hardly believe their luck, as goalkeeper Bernard said in retrospect: “If someone had told me before the season that we would be champions, I would have thought they were crazy!” The Bundesliga had a hard time with Werder’s tough back line, which only conceded 29 goals. Ex-Bremer goalkeeper Ilic said enthusiastically: “With this kind of defence, I could still be in goal when I was 100.”
Even before the season, the team had been busy rehearsing tactical variants under their strict coach Willi “Fischken” Multhaup, who came from the hard-working Ruhr region. Since the training camp took place in the course of an international tournament in New York, the team was given the nickname “America Elf”.
“In football, ‘a’ for work comes before ‘f’ for party!”
And the team of unlimited possibilities actually created the sensation. The title win was celebrated exuberantly. Max Lorenz and Klaus Matischak even had their hair cut much shorter after a lost bet. A gag that would later become a big fashion. In the hustle and bustle of the championship in Bremen, it was not forgotten who was most to thank for the unexpected triumph: coach Willi Multhaup. His motto paid off in the end: “In football, ‘a’ for work comes before ‘f’ for party!”
The relegation battle was just as turbulent as at the top of the table. A club had also got lost there that nobody had expected before the season. But FC Schalke 04 managed to write new negative headlines week after week.
The first highlight of a season that went badly: Borussia Dortmund won the game at FC Schalke 04 6-2 on the sixth matchday. Aki Schmidt scored the first goal in the tenth minute. A hit from 22 meters. In later years, story after story, this shot turned into a dream goal from well over 30 meters. The beautiful battle cry of the BVB fans has been handed down from that day: “Aki Schmidt, we’ll take the points with us!”
A champagne at halftime
And after just 36 minutes, BVB players Schmidt, Konietzka, Brungs and Emmerich had completed their day’s work. It was 6-0 for Borussia. The “Kicker” wrote: “Like a devastating natural disaster that cannot be stopped by human power, the typhoon in the sold-out Glückaufkampfbahn, kindled by Borussia Dortmund, hit the Schalke team.”
Dortmund’s coach Eppenhoff then analyzed soberly: “Our tactic of letting the opponent come to us worked. In the second half we played cautiously to protect ourselves.” In truth, Borussia weren’t quite so sober any more at this point: Already in the half-time break they had opened a bottle of sparkling wine for victory!
Meanwhile, chaos reigned at Schalke at all levels. Observers said the team was a “disgrace to the glorious club”. Ernst Kuzorra and the completely helpless chairman Fritz Szepan despaired of a difficult team that nobody could really get a grip on. The highlight of the internal disputes was Egon Horst’s kick in the face of his comrade Bachmann. The bad thing: The defender kicked on purpose. The descent could no longer be prevented. The Royal Blues were relegated together with Karlsruher SC – everyone thought. But then a first major scandal shook the Bundesliga.
Huge anger about Hertha BSC
- Ben Redelings is a best-selling author and comedian from the Ruhr area.
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In Berlin they wanted to buy the success at Deubel come out. Players were signed for Hertha for a lot of money – especially lavish earnest money, which was far beyond what was permitted. They quickly got into financial difficulties, which they tried to solve creatively. Hertha’s treasurer Herzog had 55,000 cards printed in black at a printing shop, picked them up personally and stored them in a coffin at his funeral home. Later, in one of the wooden resting places, he also hoarded the money that was flushed into the box office from the illegal sale of tickets.
But the rumors that swept through the Bundesliga after the many well-known and expensive transfers forced the DFB to check the books. In the meantime, Berlin had completely lost track, got caught up in new contradictions and finally had to watch how Hertha was banned from the Bundesliga by concurring sports and federal court decisions because of “serious violations of the statute”.
Now action had to be taken quickly. At an extraordinary Bundestag, the DFB decided at the end of July – just 14 days before the start of the league – to lift the relegation not only of Karlsruher SC, but also of FC Schalke 04. At the same time, Tasmania 1900 Berlin was accepted into the Bundesliga without any sporting qualifications. With this “Berlin aid”, the DFB made a political decision in order not to jeopardize the connection between Berlin and the rest of Germany in sporting terms. The league was increased from 16 to 18 clubs.
In the midst of this initial chaos, two clubs were promoted to the Bundesliga that were to have a decisive influence on events at the top in the years to come: Borussia Mönchengladbach and FC Bayern Munich.