Paderborn

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's founding date 1907.^[][]

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.^[]

During one of these, in 2004/5, the club reached the round of 16, beating MSV Duisburg and Bundesliga side Hamburger SV on the way. It later emerged that latter match had been affected by match fixing; 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.

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.^[] This process culminated in the club's first promotion to the Bundesliga after the 2013/14 season under coach André Breitenreiter, who had only joined the club from TSV Havelse at the start of the season.

Having never been in the Bundesliga before, Paderborn were described^[][] as "the biggest outsider in Bundesliga history" going into the season. The team started well; in the fourth game of the campaign against Hannover 96, midfielder Moritz Stoppelkamp scored a volley from 83 metres out,^[] headline a Bundesliga record for the furthest ever goal. This goal also put the team top of the Bundesliga table at the time.

Paderborn were 10th in the table at the halfway point, but suffered a number of heavy losses in the second half of the season. On the second last matchday of the season, they dropped to last place, and were relegated on the final day. Upon relegation, a number of key players such as Alban Meha, Mario Vrančić, Lukas Rupp, Marvin Ducksch and captain Uwe Hünemeier left the club, while coach Breitenreiter joined Schalke.

Starting the 2015–16 season with Markus Gellhaus in charge, Paderborn surprisingly^[] gave former Germany international Stefan Effenberg his first coaching job in October 2015.^[] In March, Effenberg was sacked, with the team bottom of the table and heading for a second consecutive relegation, which was later confirmed. Competing in the 3. Liga for the first time since 2009, Paderborn again found themselves^[] at the bottom of the table. After Steffen Baumgart took over as coach in April, the team picked up 11 points from his five games in charge, but could not escape the relegation zone, finishing in 18th position. That should have been a third relegation in a row, this time to the non-professional Regionalliga West, but Paderborn were unexpectedly saved by 1860 Munich not receiving a license to play in the 3. Liga. 1860 Munich were forced^[] to move to the Regionalliga Bayern, which allowed Paderborn to stay in the third tier.

Having been saved narrowly, Baumgart's team 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^[] completed another top-two finish, which returned Paderborn to the Bundesliga after years of turbulence.^[] The 2019–20 season, however, ended in the same way their first Bundesliga campaign did, as Paderborn finished last, meaning relegation back to the second tier in June 2020. The following season, Paderborn finished 9th in the 2. Bundesliga, the first time since 2012–13 that the club finished outside the promotion or relegation places.