FC Ingolstadt 04


Fußball-Club Ingolstadt 04 e.V., commonly known as simply FC Ingolstadt 04, is a German football club based in Ingolstadt, Bavaria. The club was founded in 2004 out of the merger of the football sides of two other clubs: ESV Ingolstadt and MTV Ingolstadt.

History

ESV Ingolstadt

ESV Ingolstadt was founded in 1919 as FC Viktoria. Two years later the football players of Turnverein 1861 Ingolstadt joined the club to form VfR Ingolstadt. A number of other clubs from the Ringsee district fused with this club, but to little effect. The club's achievement amounted to not more than a couple of seasons spent in the Gauliga Bayern in 1936–38. After World War II, the club was re-constituted as VfR Ingolstadt, changed its name to Erster Sportverein Ingolstadt in 1951 and then changed it again to its current form in 1953 when "E" came to stand for Eisenbahner to reflect its affiliation with the railway.
ESV Ingolstadt joined the Regionalliga Süd in 1963 when the Bundesliga – Germany's professional football league – was formed. After bouncing between tiers II and III, capped with two seasons spent in 2. Bundesliga Süd from 1979 to 1981, the club began a descent through tier III to Landesliga Bayern-Süd, last playing in 1993–94. The sports club itself carried on until it went bankrupt in the summer of 2004 and those football players there were left to join FC Ingolstadt 04. ESV continues to operate today offering a number of other sports activities while acknowledging FC 04 on its website.

MTV Ingolstadt

MTV Ingolstadt is the city's largest sportsclub with 3,400 members and has an on-and-off relationship with its football side. The club was founded in 1881 and took up football in 1905. The footballers set up a separate club in 1924, but returned to the fold in 1933 at the direction of sports authorities in the Third Reich. After World War II occupying Allied authorities ordered the dissolution of all organizations in Germany, including sporting associations. The club was re-founded as Städtischer SV Ingolstadt 1881. Their original name was restored in 1948.
MTV spent two seasons in 2. Bundesliga Süd after Amateurliga Bayern champion 1. FC Haßfurt declined promotion in 1978. When ESV faced bankruptcy in 2004, MTV allowed its footballers to leave to help form FC Ingolstadt.

Current

In 2004–05, newly formed FC Ingolstadt began play in the Oberliga Bayern and managed to finish second in their first season. Their success continued in 2005–06 when they captured the divisional title and won promotion. They finished their debut Regionalliga Süd campaign 2006–07 with a fifth-place result. League restructuring was planned for the 2008–09 season with the introduction of a national third division and FC would have to finish their 2007–08 Regionalliga season in the top 10 to qualify. They exceeded that goal by finishing second and advancing to the 2. Bundesliga.
Ingolstadt won its debut second division match, but the following months proved less successful for the club and by the mid-winter break they had dropped to 12th place. The latter half of the season proved even worse with the club only realizing 1 win in 18 matches. They finished the season in 17th place and were subsequently relegated to the 3. Liga.
FC delivered a steady performance in third division play and ended their campaign in third place. A new promotion/relegation format accompanied the introduction of the 3. Liga and the club's finish earned them a play-off versus Hansa Rostock which had finished in 16th place in the 2. Bundesliga. Ingolstadt won both legs of the two match play-off and returned to the second division alongside the top two third tier teams which advanced automatically by virtue of their finishes.
On 17 May 2015, they clinched the 2014–15 2. Bundesliga title and won promotion for the first time in their history to the Bundesliga. Ingolstadt finished 11th in the 2015-16 Bundesliga, but the following year they fell to 17th and were relegated back to the 2. Bundesliga.
In the 2018–19 2. Bundesliga, Ingolstadt finished 16th and lost the relegation playoff against SV Wehen Wiesbaden on away goals.

Reserve team

FC Ingolstadt 04 II played the 2011–12 season in the Regionalliga Süd after finishing runners-up in the Bayernliga and taking FC Ismaning's promotion spot after the later declined promotion. In the 2012–13 season the team played in the new Regionalliga Bayern.

Club culture

The club nickname Die Schanzer has a military background, meaning trenchmen or rampartmen. The official club anthem is called "Schanzer Herz", performed by Ingolstadt-based hard rock band Bonfire. The stadium's goal theme song is "Esellied", performed by South Tyrol band Volxrock. The pre-kick-off song is "Thunderstruck" by AC/DC.

Players

Current squad

Honours

League

Source:
ManagerStartFinish
Jürgen Press1 July 20041 January 2008
Thorsten Fink5 January 200821 April 2009
Horst Köppel27 April 20098 November 2009
Michael Wiesinger9 November 20096 November 2010
Benno Möhlmann7 November 20109 November 2011
Tomas Oral10 November 201127 May 2013
Marco Kurz10 June 201330 September 2013
Ralph Hasenhüttl4 October 201330 June 2016
Markus Kauczinski1 July 20166 November 2016
Maik Walpurgis12 November 201622 August 2017
Stefan Leitl22 August 201722 September 2018
Alexander Nouri24 September 201826 November 2018
Roberto Pätzold26 September 20182 December 2018
Jens Keller2 December 20182 April 2019
Tomas Oral3 April 201930 June 2019
Jeff Saibene1 July 20199 March 2020
Tomas Oral11 March 2020Present

FC Ingolstadt 04 seasons

Source:

First team

Reserve team

SeasonDivisionTierPosition
2004–05Bezirksoberliga OberbayernVI5th
2005–06Bezirksoberliga OberbayernVI2nd ↑
2006–07Landesliga Bayern-SüdV6th
2007–08Landesliga Bayern-SüdV2nd ↑
2008–09BayernligaV6th
2009–10BayernligaV6th
2010–11BayernligaV2nd ↑
2011–12Regionalliga SüdIV9th
2012–13Regionalliga BayernIV8th
2013–14Regionalliga BayernIV6th
2014–15Regionalliga BayernIV5th
2015–16Regionalliga BayernIV11th
2016–17Regionalliga BayernIV

;Key
↑ Promoted↓ Relegated

DFB Cup appearances

The club has qualified for the first round of the German Cup ten times and the third round just once:
SeasonRoundDateHomeAwayResultAttendance
2005–06First20 August 2005FC Ingolstadt 041. FC Saarbrücken1–1 aet 2,000
2008–09First9 August 2008FC Ingolstadt 04Hamburger SV1–311,000
2009–10First31 July 2009FC Ingolstadt 04FC Augsburg1–25,250
2010–11First13 August 2010FC Ingolstadt 04Karlsruher SC2–06,600
2010–11Second27 October 2010TSG 1899 HoffenheimFC Ingolstadt 041–010,500
2011–12First31 July 2011FC OberneulandFC Ingolstadt 041–4750
2011–12Second26 October 2011Bayern MunichFC Ingolstadt 046–063,000
2012–13First19 August 2012VfR AalenFC Ingolstadt 043–03,027
2013–14First3 August 2013Sportfreunde BaumbergFC Ingolstadt 041–42,448
2013–14Second25 September 2013FSV FrankfurtFC Ingolstadt 040–23,089
2013–14Round of 164 December 2013VfL WolfsburgFC Ingolstadt 042–17,846
2014–15First18 August 2014Kickers OffenbachFC Ingolstadt 040–0 aet 7,386
2015–16First9 August 2015SpVgg UnterhachingFC Ingolstadt 042–16,500
2016–17First21 August 2016Erzgebirge AueFC Ingolstadt 040–0 aet 6,650
2016–17Second25/26 Oct 2016Eintracht FrankfurtFC Ingolstadt 040–0 aet 6,300