[ˈdɔʏtʃɐ ˈʃpɔʁtklʊp ʔaʁˈmiːni̯a ˈbiːləfɛlt]; commonly known as Arminia Bielefeld (German pronunciation: [aʁˌmiːnia ˈbiːləfɛlt] ⓘ), also known as Die Arminen [diː ˈʔaʁmiːnən] or Die Blauen [diː ˈblaʊən]), or just Arminia (pronounced [aʁˌmiːnia] ⓘ), is a German sports club from Bielefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia.

[5] Arminia's name derives from the Cheruscan chieftain Arminius, who defeated a Roman army in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest.

The club was admitted to the German Football Association in the same year and started to play in a league (in one consisting only of Arminia and three teams from Osnabrück, at first) in 1906.

[citation needed] Arminia played for the first time in the German Championships, but were eliminated in the quarter-finals after losing 0–5 to FC Wacker München.

[21] In 1954, Arminia were even relegated to the third tier, the "Landesliga Westfalen, Gruppe Ostwestfalen", a league only covering the north-eastern part of Westphalia.

In 1962–63 they finished in seventh place to secure a spot in the newly formed Regionalliga West, which was situated directly below the new Bundesliga.

A year later, forward Ernst Kuster joined the team; he would become the club's all-time leading goal scorer (more than half a century later, Fabian Klos would beat his record).

A 0–1 loss to Wuppertaler SV on the last day of the 1966–67 season stopped Arminia entering the Bundesliga promotion play-offs.

[citation needed] Arminia participated in the 1971–72 Bundesliga season while the investigation was ongoing, but were ultimately found guilty of match fixing by the DFB and were denied a license and forcibly relegated at the conclusion.

[28] Arminia had difficulty avoiding relegation, but stayed in the Bundesliga for five years, a period which included two eighth-place finishes at the end of the 1982–83 and 1983–84 seasons.

Arminia Bielefeld midfielder Ewald Lienen was victim to what the press[29][30] referred to as "the most brutal foul in Bundesliga history" on August 14, 1981.

Werder Bremen defender Norbert Siegmann slashed Lienen's right thigh in a tackle, exposing his muscles and femur.

In the spring of 1994, Arminia signed veteran Bundesliga players Thomas von Heesen, Armin Eck and Fritz Walter.

Bruno Labbadia became the league's top scorer with 28 goals during the 1998–99 season and the club immediately regained promotion to the Bundesliga by winning the 2.

The club entered the 1999–2000 season with a smaller budget due to financial problems and was subsequently relegated after becoming the third team in history to lose ten matches in a row.

The team earned promotion to the Bundesliga again in 2003–04, with Ghanaian striker Isaac Boakye scoring 14 goals in his debut season.

Players from the 2004–05 and the 2005–06 season departed the club, including Fatmir Vata and Heiko Westermann in 2007, Mathias Hain, Sibusiso Zuma and Petr Gabriel in 2008.

Arminia avoided relegation during the 2006–07 season in part by winning four matches from the 30th to the 33rd matchday, led by manager Ernst Middendorp.

Players Rüdiger Kauf, Dennis Eilhoff, Jonas Kamper and Radim Kučera remained a part of the squad for the 2009–10 2.

[46] In November manager Christian Ziege was let go and replaced by Ewald Lienen, former Bielefeld player and member of the fan-voted "Best XI" of all time.

Liga club, Arminia reached the semi-finals by defeating three Bundesliga teams (Hertha BSC, SV Werder Bremen and VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach).

[citation needed] Arminia found themselves[vague] among the lowest four teams in the league table from the fourth matchday onwards, mostly on the 16th or 17th rank.

They avoided relegation as they finished in 15th after a 6–0 win over promotion candidate Eintracht Braunschweig and a 1–1 against Dynamo Dresden at the last two matchdays.

In that season, Arminia also made a big step[tone] in lowering its debts through an alliance of sponsors[47] and Fabian Klos replaced Ernst Kuster as the club's all-time top scorer.

[50] They finished the 15th matchday on 1 December on the first rank of the league table where they would stay for the rest of the season in spite of competing with Hamburger SV and VfB Stuttgart who were originally estimated[by whom?]

Liga, team captain Fabian Klos announced his retirement from professional football, thus also ending his 13-year history with the club.

friendly matches between Arminia and VfB Fichte Bielefeld, as the club nowadays is called, take place every year.

[vague] There are friendly relations to the supporters of the Hamburger SV,[vague] with both clubs sharing the same colours (black, white and blue), resulting in the chant "Schwarz, weiß, blau – Arminia und der HSV" (Black, white, blue – Arminia and HSV) among supporters of both clubs.

Other remarkable Arminia players who represented foreign countries while at the club are Pasi Rautiainen, Artur Wichniarek, Markus Weissenberger, Fatmir Vata, Isaac Boakye, Delron Buckley, Sibusiso Zuma, Rowen Fernández, Christopher Katongo, Jonas Kamper, Ritsu Dōan and Alessandro Schöpf.

[71] Four players were capped by Germany during their time with Arminia: Walter Claus-Oehler in 1923, Stefan Kuntz in 1996, Ronald Maul in 1999 and Patrick Owomoyela in 2004 and 2005.