60 years of Bundesliga
Club-by-club historical guide: Borussia Neunkirchen
The first club to gain Bundesliga promotion twice, Borussia Neunkirchen also introduced Europe to the one and only Jay-Jay Okocha.
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.
>>> Discover many more memorable moments and records in the Bundesliga's 60-year history!
Borussia Neunkirchen
Years in Bundesliga: 3 (1964-66, 1967/68)
Most appearances: Dieter Schock (88)
Most goals: Günter Kuntz (21)
Youngest player: Jürgen Müller (18 years, six days)
Despite a decent record in the Oberliga Südwest, Neunkirchen missed out on a spot in the inaugural Bundesliga to rivals Kaiserslautern and Saarbrücken. However, they would top their league and then also beat the likes of Bayern Munich and St. Pauli in the promotion group to come up in 1964.
As the smallest city in the top flight at the time, they lost only twice at their Ellenfeldstadion home to finish an impressive 10th on their Bundesliga bow, doing so with a squad of players almost exclusively from Neunkirchen and the surrounding areas. However, they were relegated the following year but bounced back immediately as the first club to gain Bundesliga promotion twice. Again, they finished second-bottom and went down, just falling short of another return on a number of occasions.
Although Borussia produced Neunkirchen native Stefan Kuntz in the 1970s and 80s, and introduced Jay-Jay Okocha to Europe in 1990, they have been on a seemingly endless slide down the divisions and have been in the sixth-tier Landesliga Saarland since 2017. It makes them the lowest-ranked former Bundesliga club still in existence.
>>> Discover many more memorable moments and records in the Bundesliga's 60-year history!