60 years of Bundesliga
Club-by-club historical guide: Wattenscheid
Souleyman Sane's Bundesliga home and a club that once beat Bayern Munich - who now employ his son Leroy - Wattenscheid have a storied, if brief, Bundesliga history.
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!
SG Wattenscheid 09
Years in Bundesliga: 4 (1990-94)
Most appearances: Thorsten Fink (125)
Most goals: Souleymane Sane (39)
Youngest player: Robert Trenner (18 years, four months, 26 days)
A district of the city of Bochum, Wattenscheid occasionally caught the national eye with the odd DFB Cup run, but they spent most of their pre-Bundesliga era days outside of the top regional divisions. They came up to the second-tier Regionalliga West in 1969 and established themselves at that level, joining the newly created Bundesliga 2 in 1974. They had some luck in 1981/82 when they survived relegation thanks to 1860 Munich’s forced demotion. However, they made history in 1990 with promotion to the Bundesliga for the first time ever.
The club was often referred to as a ‘plain Jane’, while Bayern general manager Uli Hoeneß even called them “the worst thing that can happen to the Bundesliga”. A 7-0 defeat in Munich didn’t help their cause, but a 3-2 win in the reverse fixture perhaps silenced some critics, as Wattenscheid ended their maiden top-flight campaign in 11th. The following three seasons were more of a struggle, with finishes of 16th, 14th and finally 17th as their four-year Bundesliga stay came to an end in 1994.
Things since have been more down than up, bouncing between divisions and dropping as low as the sixth tier in 2010. They recovered to return to the fourth tier, before insolvency in 2020 meant demotion to the fifth level again, which is where they will play in 2023/24.
Despite playing second fiddle in the city to Bochum, a number of household Bundesliga names have come through at Wattenscheid, like Thorsten Fink, the Altintop twins of Halil and Hamit, Kerem Demirbay, Pierre-Michel Lasogga and Leroy Sane. The latter name has played a big part in Wattenscheid’s Bundesliga history. Leroy’s father Souleyman spent all four top-flight years at the Lohrheidestadion and is the club’s Bundesliga top scorer with 39 goals in 117 games. The Senegal international’s Wattenscheid and Bundesliga career was complete almost two years before Leroy was born.
>>> Discover many more memorable moments and records in the Bundesliga's 60-year history!