FCN won a further 11 regional championships, including the Oberliga Süd formed in 1945, and were German champions another seven times.

Owing to its status as a founding member of the Bundesliga while Bielefeld was not, however, Nürnberg's consequent nine relegations from the top tier are a record by itself.

FC Nürnberg was founded on 4 May 1900 by a group of 18 young men who had gathered at local pub Burenhütte to assemble a side committed to playing football rather than rugby, one of the other new "English" games becoming popular at the time.

As early as 1919, they came to be referred to simply as "Der Club" in recognition of their skill and of their style on and off the field and would go on to become one of the nation's most widely recognized and popular teams.

[citation needed] Nürnberg faced SpVgg Fürth in the first national championship held after the end of World War I, beating the defending champions 2–0.

The re-match also went into extra time, and in an era that did not allow for substitutions, that game was called at 1–1 when Nürnberg was reduced to just seven players and the referee ruled incorrectly the club could not continue.

FCN's dominance was already beginning to fade when they captured their final trophy of the era in 1927 as the game began to evolve into a more quickly paced contest which did not suit their slower, more deliberate approach.

The post-war period began with the club being integrated into the Oberliga Süd, one of the five top divisions in West-Germany at the time.

The club's strong play made it an obvious choice to be amongst the 16 teams selected to participate in the Bundesliga, Germany's new professional football league formed in 1963.

[2] This was a result of Max Merkel's decision to remove his championship-winning team of veterans – believing that they were too old – in favour of a dozen newcomers.

The club immediately played its way back to the top flight, but since then its Bundesliga performances have typically ended in the lower positions in the league table with occasional relegations.

FCN had already begun sending renewal letters to current season ticket holders which included statements about successfully avoiding relegation.

Every other team in the equation won their matches, including Frankfurt who routed Kaiserslautern 5–1 with three late goals, whereas Nürnberg lost 2–1, with Frank Baumann missing a chance to score in the last minute, and suffered a shock relegation.

Manager Martin Bader's work (such as the signing of former Ajax captain and Czech international Tomáš Galásek), as well as head coach Hans Meyer's tactical awareness, helped Nürnberg to its most successful finish in almost 40 years.

In May 2007, qualification for the UEFA Cup was assured, and after eliminating Eintracht Frankfurt in the semi-final, the Club won the DFB-Pokal final against VfB Stuttgart 3–2 after extra time, winning the trophy 45 years after its last victory.

In the first round of 2007–08 the team's form in the Bundesliga was poor, but due to finishing second in their UEFA Cup group (ahead of eventual champion Zenit Saint Petersburg), head coach Hans Meyer was allowed to restructure the team, for example by buying Czech international striker Jan Koller from Monaco.

[3] After a slow start, Michael Oenning was able to guide Nürnberg to a third-place finish and a 5–0 aggregate win over Energie Cottbus in the play-off to rejoin the Bundesliga.

The rivalry dates back to the early days of German football when, at times, those two clubs dominated the national championship.

Allegedly, Hans Sutor, a former Fürth player, was forced to leave the team when he married a woman from Nuremberg.

Der Club boasted[tone] the title of Deutscher Rekordmeister as holder of the most championships for over 60 years (although occasionally having to share the honour with Schalke 04) before being overtaken by Bayern Munich in 1987.

Despite winning the national title nine times, Nürnberg – the country's second-most successful side – is not entitled to sport any championship stars.

It has been the club's home since 1963,[11] and currently has a capacity of 50,000 spectators following the stadium's most recent expansion during the winter break of the 2009–10 season.

[14] However, the club never announced any official plans for a new stadium and no major changes had been made by 2024, in which Nuremberg was overlooked as a host city for the UEFA Euro 2024 tournament held in Germany.

[15] Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply.

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply.

Outstanding[tone] coaches of the earlier years include Izidor "Dori" Kürschner (1921, 1922), Fred Spiksley (1913, 1920s), former player Alfred Schaffer (1930s), Dr. Karl Michalke (1930s), Alwin "Alv" Riemke (1940s–1950s) and former player Hans "Bumbes" Schmidt (1940s, 1950s), who notably did not win a single of his four German Championship titles as coach with Nürnberg, but three of them with the long-standing main rivals Schalke 04.