For the Lovers — Paderborn

Paderborn, the goal factory: the 2017/18 season saw a breathtaking attacking charge by the team.

Paderborn, the goal factory: the 2017/18 season saw

Paderborn, the goal factory: the 2017/18 season saw a breathtaking attacking charge by the team.

Paderborn, the goal factory: the 2017/18 season saw a breathtaking attacking charge by the team. Coach Steffen Baumgart simply let his players go for it. Ninety goals set a new club record in a 3. Liga campaign. Centre-forward Sven Michel led the team with 19 strikes.

Promotion to the Bundesliga: the greatest achievements in

Promotion to the Bundesliga: the greatest achievements in club history came in 2014 and again in 2019, when SC Paderborn were promoted to the Bundesliga.

Promotion to the Bundesliga: the greatest achievements in club history came in 2014 and again in 2019, when SC Paderborn were promoted to the Bundesliga. The special thing about the second promotion in 2019 was that coach Steffen Baumgart’s side charged straight through from the third tier to the top flight.

Top of the table: after Paderborn’s first promotion

Top of the table: after Paderborn’s first promotion in 2014, they sat first after four matchdays - and 18th after 34.

Top of the table: after Paderborn’s first promotion in 2014, they sat first after four matchdays - and 18th after 34. A fact nobody in Paderborn was particularly keen to accept afterwards. “We weren’t the worst team,” captain Uwe Hünemeier insisted. Goalkeeper Lukas Kruse, who conceded 65 goals, told a Kicker special on the 2014/15 season: “It was simply an unnecessary relegation. We don’t belong in Bundesliga 2, not that year. We didn’t deserve it.”

Quarter-finals: twice in a row, in 2018 and

Quarter-finals: twice in a row, in 2018 and 2019, SCP reached the quarter-finals of the DFB Cup - a club record on both occasions.

Quarter-finals: twice in a row, in 2018 and 2019, SCP reached the quarter-finals of the DFB Cup - a club record on both occasions. Home advantage did not help: first came a 6-0 loss to Bayern Munich, then a year later a 2-0 defeat to Hamburger SV.

To Munich as league leaders: the Bundesliga had

To Munich as league leaders: the Bundesliga had rarely seen anything quite so odd.

To Munich as league leaders: the Bundesliga had rarely seen anything quite so odd. On Matchday 4 of Paderborn’s debut top-flight season in 2014/15, the East Westphalians sat at the top with two wins and two draws, then challenged mighty Bayern in the top game at the Allianz Arena. On 23 September 2014 the league witnessed perhaps the strangest top-of-the-table clash of them all: Bayern, only fourth, against leaders Paderborn. A squad worth 564 million euros met one valued at 22.5 million. Two goals from Mario Götze plus strikes by Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Müller ended the Paderborn episode at the top with a 4-0 win and Bayern never surrendered first place again.

The goal of the century: 82.3 metres -

The goal of the century: 82.3 metres - that was the distance from which Moritz Stoppelkamp took aim on 20 September 2014 in the Bundesliga home match against Hannover 96 and scored.

The goal of the century: 82.3 metres - that was the distance from which Moritz Stoppelkamp took aim on 20 September 2014 in the Bundesliga home match against Hannover 96 and scored. No Bundesliga goal had ever been scored from farther away. “I saw that Ron-Robert Zieler had left his goal,” Stoppelkamp later told Kicker of his historic effort, “and I thought: just hit it.” A pathway to the stadium was later named after the goal.

Party in Hamburg: the highest Bundesliga victory. Few

Party in Hamburg: the highest Bundesliga victory.

Party in Hamburg: the highest Bundesliga victory. Few long-suffering HSV fans had expected what happened on 30 August 2014. Fresh from surviving relegation against Greuther Fürth by the away-goals rule, 54,553 Hamburg supporters packed into the Volkspark. Many began streaming out from the 69th minute onwards. Goals by Elias Kachunga and Mario Vrancic had already made it 2-0; Moritz Stoppelkamp completed the humiliation with the 3-0 in the 87th minute. As of December 2019, it remained Paderborn’s biggest Bundesliga away win.

18th and still in - thanks to 1860’s

18th and still in - thanks to 1860’s lost licence!

18th and still in - thanks to 1860’s lost licence! Thank you, 1860 Munich! Many SCP fans must have thought exactly that in 2017 when their club somehow stayed in the 3. Liga after all. As 18th in the table they had no sporting argument whatsoever. Fortunately for them, there was still one club that managed to embarrass itself even more: TSV 1860 Munich. The 1966 German champions went down after a 1-1 and 0-2 in the relegation playoff against Jahn Regensburg, failed to receive a 3. Liga licence and had to drop straight into the Regionalliga Bayern. Paderborn survived.

When nil ruled on the Pader: in 2000,

When nil ruled on the Pader: in 2000, Schalke’s coach was Huub Stevens.

When nil ruled on the Pader: in 2000, Schalke’s coach was Huub Stevens. But wasn’t the Dutchman actually in Paderborn in spirit? The then third-tier SCP obeyed his famous credo “the nil must stand” even better than his own team did: in five matches from 17 September to 15 October, Paderborn did not concede once. A club record.

Paderborn remain a respectable second-division side and a development club that continues to produce talent for the Bundesliga time and again....