SC Paderborn 07

For most of the twentieth century, Paderborn had two football clubs: TuS Schloss Neuhaus and FC Paderborn, who remained rivals until the 1980s. After Neuhaus had been promoted to the 2. Bundesliga and finished last in 1983, this set-up had reached its athletic and financial ceiling. Thus, in 1985, the two clubs merged into TuS Paderborn/Neuhaus. In 1997, the club adopted its current identity by assuming the name SC Paderborn 07, named after TuS Neuhaus' founding date 1907.[1]

During most of the 1980s, the recently merged club competed in the third-tier Oberliga Westfalen, where they counted among the leading teams but never achieved promotion. In 1994, Paderborn won the league and thereby qualified for the promotion playoffs. The team lost to Eintracht Braunschweig and Fortuna Düsseldorf but secured a place in the newly formed third-tier of the German football pyramid, the Regionalliga West/Südwest. Except for a brief stint in the fourth tier, Paderborn enjoyed moderate success with regular trips to the DFB Pokal.[2]

During one of these, in 2004/5, the club reached the round of 16 beating MSV Duisburg and Bundesliga-side HSV on the way. It later emerged, that latter match had been affected by game manipulation; referee Robert Hoyzer had received a bribe to let Paderborn win the game. The incident remains the most significant betting scandal in the history of German football.[3]

Historical chart of Paderborn league performance

Paderborn returned to the 2. Bundesliga for the first time in nearly thirty years at the end of the same season. The team's advance into professional football brought with it a professionalisation of its structures and in 2005 construction began on a new 15,000-seat stadium which replaced the dated Hermann-Löns-Stadion. All of this helped to establish the club as a regular component of Germany's professional football landscape.[4] This process culminated in the club's first promotion to the Bundesliga after the 2013/14 season.[5]

Paderborn's foray into top-tier football turned out to be a brief one: after a decent first half of the season, the team's play deteriorated and resulted in direct relegation in 2015. There followed a precipitous fall, as the club plummeted to 18th in the 3.Liga in 2017. This result would have led to relegation to the non-professional Regionalliga West, had TSV 1860 Munich not failed to obtain the licence necessary to continue professional play. Thus, Munich was forced to move to the Regionalliga Bayern which allowed Paderborn to avoid its third consecutive relegation.[6] Having been saved narrowly, the club surprisingly finished second in the 2017/18 season and returned to the 2. Bundesliga. In 2019, a remarkable turn of events, the newly promoted side managed another top-two finish, which returned Paderborn to the Bundesliga after years of turbulence.[7] The 2019–20 season, however, saw the club struggle against Bundesliga competition, which led to their relegation back to the second tier in June 2020.[8]

As of 23 January 2021[9]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  GER Moritz Schulze 2 DF  GER Uwe Hünemeier 3 DF  GER Frederic Ananou 5 MF  COD Chadrac Akolo 6 MF  BEL Aristote Nkaka (on loan from Anderlecht) 7 FW  GER Prince Osei Owusu 8 MF  GER Ron Schallenberg 9 MF  GER Kai Pröger 10 MF  GER Julian Justvan 11 FW  GER Sven Michel 12 DF  GER Jesse Tugbenyo 13 DF  GER Sebastian Schonlau (captain) 14 DF   SUI Nicolas Bürgy 16 MF  GER Johannes Dörfler

No. Pos. Nation Player 17 GK  GER Leopold Zingerle 18 FW  GER Dennis Srbeny 20 FW  GER Marco Terrazzino 21 GK  GER Jannik Huth 22 MF  GHA Christopher Antwi-Adjei 23 MF  GER Maximilian Thalhammer 24 MF  GER Marcel Heller 25 DF  POR Marcel Correia 27 MF  GER Chris Führich (on loan from Borussia Dortmund II) 29 DF  NGA Jamilu Collins 31 MF  SWE Svante Ingelsson (on loan from Udinese) 36 DF  ENG Chima Okoroji (on loan from SC Freiburg) 39 MF  GRE Sebastian Vasiliadis

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  ENG Antony Evans (at Crewe Alexandra) — MF  BIH Rifet Kapić (at FC Sheriff Tiraspol)

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  GER Pascal Steinwender (at VfB Lübeck)