Club-by-club historical guide: Augsburg

bundesliga.com is taking you through all the teams to have graced Germany’s first division over the last 60 years – based on the number of seasons they’ve played up to and including 2023/24.

FC Augsburg
Years in Bundesliga: 13 (2011-present)
Most appearances: Daniel Baier (274)
Most goals: Alfred Finnbogason (37)
Youngest player: Simon Asta (17 years, three months, 17 days)

Augsburg travelled a seemingly familiar path of being a club from a smaller city that has experienced many ups and downs, partially associated with finances. Multiple mergers and splits between clubs in Augsburg define the history of football in the Bavarian city. The team now known as FC Augsburg traces its story back to 1908. A 27-0 defeat to TV Augsburg didn’t bode well for their future, but they would emerge as the dominant force following a 1969 merger with Schwaben Augsburg, after the realisation that neither club could establish themselves in the new Bundesliga while also competing with each other at home.

Financial problems at the end of 1990s saw them demoted to the fourth tier but it prompted investment and a cleaning up of the club. Their 23-year absence from professional football was ended with promotion to Bundesliga 2 in 2006, while a modern new stadium was opened in 2009. Two years later, an 85th-minute winner from Stephan Hain against FSV Frankfurt saw them reach the Bundesliga for the first time ever. And they’ve remained there ever since.

Watch: Augsburg 2-1 Bayern Munich in 2021/22

Although top-flight survival has always been the name of the game, Die Fuggerstädter enjoyed their best finish in history with fifth in 2014/15 to qualify for the UEFA Europa League, where only a narrow 1-0 aggregate loss to Liverpool in the round of 32 saw their European adventure end after games against Athletic Bilbao, Partizan Belgrade and AZ Alkmaar.

Augsburg count Julian Nagelsmann among their former players, while he also made his first steps into coaching there as a scout for Thomas Tuchel when he worked with the youth teams there. However, Augsburg’s most famous son is undoubtedly Helmut Haller. The forward went to three World Cups with Germany and achieved fame in Italy, winning the league with Bologna and Juventus. His return in 1973 sparked such excitement that an estimated 90,000 spectators packed into Munich’s Olympic Stadium to watch Augsburg take on 1860. It remains the highest attendance at any second-division game in Germany and, depending on sources, the highest of any non-top-flight league fixture in the world.