Samenvoeging oost en west:quote:
In 1991, a year after German reunification, East Germany's Deutscher Fußball-Verband der DDR, or Football Federation of the German Democratic Republic, was merged into West Germany's DFB. East German sides were seeded and assigned to various levels within the West German league structure, which was itself modified to accommodate the influx of new clubs. To facilitate the union with the eastern league the Bundesliga temporarily expanded to 20 clubs in the 1991–92 season and added the DDR-Oberliga's top two sides, Dynamo Dresden and Hansa Rostock. The Bundesliga returned to an 18 team slate in the following season with Dresden managing to stick in the top league, while Rostock was relegated. These two teams continued to make appearances in the Bundesliga through the 1990s. The only other former East German sides to earn promotion to the Bundesliga to date are FC Energie Cottbus and VfB Leipzig, while a half dozen others of these clubs have played in 2.Bundesliga.
Like other East German teams they were the victims of a harsh economic reality as the wealthier, well-established western sides bought up the most talented eastern footballers as their clubs struggled to survive financiallyGeld zal dus het voornaamste probleem geweest zijn om op het hoogste niveau actief te blijven. Onderstaande Wikipedia quotes onderschrijven dat.
Dynamo Dresden:Following the subsequent merger of the East and West German leagues, they played for four years in the top flight Bundesliga, always finishing in the bottom half of the slate. A last place finish in 1994-95 led to relegation,
compounded by financial problems that saw the club's president imprisoned for fraud. The club was denied a license and sent all the way down to Regionalliga Nordost (III).
Carl Zeiss Jena:After German re-unification in 1990, Jena was seeded into the 2.Bundesliga.
Lokomotiv Leipzig/VfB Leipzig:Re-unification in 1990 was followed by the merger of the football leagues of the two Germanys. A poor season led to a seventh place finish in the transitional league, but an unexpectedly strong playoff propelled the club into the 2.Bundesliga.
1.FC Lokomotive made a grasp at their former glory by re-claiming the name VfB Leipzig. A third place finish in 1993 advanced the team to the top flight Bundesliga where they finished dead-last in the 1994 season. The new VfB began a steady slide down through the 2.Bundesliga into the Regionalliga Nordost (III) and then further still to the Oberliga Nordost/Süd (IV) by 2001.
They were bankrupted in 2004, their results were annulled and the club was dissolved.
1. FC MagdeburgRe-unification in 1990 also brought the merger of the football leagues of the two Germanys. 1. FC Magdeburg found themselves out of first division play in the Oberliga Nordost-Mitte/Regionalliga Nordost (III).
BFC DynamoAfter German re-unification in 1990 the side was re-named FC Berlin in an attempt to re-package it and distance it from its unsavory past, but in 1999, they again took up the name BFC Dynamo. Without its powerful patron, the side quickly fell to tier III play and since the 2000-01 season has toiled in IV or V division leagues.
The team went bankrupt in 2001-02 but was required by the DFB (Deutscher Fussball Bund or German Football Association) to play out the balance of its games for the season as "mandatory friendlies", which did not count in league standings, using available third string players – not an uncommon practise in these types of circumstances. The farce was played out in a series of lopsided defeats.
The club recovered to win the Verbandsliga Berlin (V) championship in 2004 and return to fourth division play in the Oberliga Nordost-Nord (IV) where they have settled in as mid-table side.
Energie Cottbus:After years as a II division or lower-table I division side in East Germany,
Energie has emerged as one of the few former DDR sides to enjoy relative prosperity in a united Germany. After five seasons playing tier III football, they earned promotion to the 2. Bundesliga in 1997, winning the Regionalliga Nordost, and then played their way into the Bundesliga in 2000, where they managed a three year stay.
Hansa Rostock:The club's timely success earned them a place in the Bundesliga alongside Dynamo Dresden when the league was briefly expanded from 18 to 20 teams for the 1991-92 season to accommodate two former East German teams. Hansa was unable to stay up and was relegated after falling just a single point shy of the club ahead of them. Three seasons of tempering in the 2. Bundesliga would return the club to the top flight for the 1995-96 season. In ten years spent in the Bundesliga the team's best results were a pair of sixth place finishes. In spite of frequent placings in the bottom half of the league table, they would persist as the only former East German side able to consistently challenge the well-heeled clubs of the west.