Bundesliga club-by-club historical guide: Alemannia Aachen
Alemannia Aachen once finished as runners-up to Bayern Munich, but Germany's most westerly club are normally found further south in the league table.
bundesliga.com is taking you through all the teams to have graced Germany’s first division over the last 60 years – based on the number of seasons they’ve played up to and including 2023/24.
Discover many more memorable moments and records in the Bundesliga's 60-year history!
Alemannia Aachen
Years in Bundesliga: 4 (1967-70, 2006/07)
Most appearances: Erwin Hermandung (98)
Most goals: Erwin Hermandung (19)
Youngest player: Manuel Junglas (18 years, one month, 14 days)
Formed by schoolboys in December 1900 and named Alemannia after the Alemanni tribe of Roman times to stress the club’s Germanness in the nation's westernmost city, Aachen were the only team alongside Schalke and Borussia Dortmund to be ever-presents in the Oberliga West from its post-war formation in 1947 to the Bundesliga’s creation in 1963. However, they missed out on a place in the new top flight, despite protests to the DFB and legal appeals, where president Gerd Heusch presented a 12-point catalogue of reasons why his club deserved to be included.
They finished in the top three of the second tier three times but missed out on promotion each year, although they reached the final of the DFB Cup in 1965. They finally came up in 1967 and finished a comfortable 11th. Their second campaign was remarkable as they claimed a sensational runners-up spot behind runaway champions Bayern. Notably, the gap to the top was eight points, but the gap from second to 18th was only 10. Things went very downhill after that as Alemannia finished bottom the next season, picking up only one point on the road.
Twenty years followed in the second division before financial difficulties got too much and the club dropped to the third tier for the first time ever in 1990. It took nine seasons to get back to Bundesliga 2 before a long-awaited second Bundesliga promotion in 2006 – 36 years since they last featured in the top flight, despite having played in the UEFA Cup the previous season after finishing runners-up in the DFB Cup in 2003/04 – the third time in as many appearances that they’ve lost the cup final. But Aachen went straight back down in 17th place and have been in the fourth tier since 2013, twice filing for insolvency.
Discover many more memorable moments and records in the Bundesliga's 60-year history!
