1. FFC Frankfurt



1. FFC Frankfurt is a German women's association football club based in Frankfurt, Hesse and has a membership of about 430. The team currently plays in the German first division women's Bundesliga.

FFC Frankfurt have won seven German women's football championships, a record nine Frauen DFB-Pokals, and a record four UEFA Women's Champions Leagues. FFC Frankfurt play at the Stadion am Brentanobad. FFC Frankfurt has a rivalry with 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam.

History
The club has its origins at the SG Praunheim. At Praunheim a women's football department was established in 1973. The club had no showings at national championship or cup tournaments, but managed qualification for the Bundesliga at its inception in 1990 nonetheless. In the early 1990s Praunheim achieved mid-table results with a tendency for slight improvements from season to season.

The foundation for the club's later success was laid in the 1993–94 season when former captain Monika Staab as coach and head of the women's football division and Siegfried Dietrich as manager and investor developed a professional concept to lead the club to lasting success — the first such concept in German women's football as FFC Frankfurt claims. Thus Frankfurt qualified for the playoffs for the German football championship for the first time in 1995–96, losing the final 0–1 to TSV Siegen. In the following seasons FFC Frankfurt managed to stay amongst the top clubs in German football, but won no titles. Also during that time they were always put behind by local rival FSV Frankfurt.

On 1 January 1999 the women's department left Praunheim to form ''1. FFC Frankfurt''. The club had success immediately winning the cup and the championship in their first season. In 1999–2000 Frankfurt won their second cup, but lost the championship to FCR Duisburg which in the previous season had finished second only to Frankfurt in both competitions. From 2000 to 2003 Frankfurt won three consecutive doubles while also rising to the pinnacle of European football with a victory in the UEFA Women's Cup's inaugury season in 2002. During these years a club from Potsdam had begun to challenge the supremacy of FFC Frankfurt. Thus in 2003–04 Turbine Potsdam won a double of their own, leaving Frankfurt without a title after winning ten titles in five years.

In the following seasons both clubs retained their dominance in German football, but European success was elusive as Umeå IK from Sweden won two consecutive titles in the UEFA Cup, also brushing away FFC Frankfurt 8–0 on aggregate in the 2004 final. After Turbine had won its own UEFA Cup title in 2005 both clubs met in the final of the UEFA Cup. Thanks to a 4–0 victory at Potsdam in the first leg Frankfurt was able to claim their second European title. The final was attended by a record crowd of 13,100 and even German chancellor Angela Merkel was amongst the spectators.

Having conceded the preceding three cup finals to Potsdam Frankfurt won another double in 2006–07, but lost in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup to Norwegian Kolbotn. Frankfurt won their second treble in the 2007–08, thus becoming the first and as yet only club to win the UEFA Cup three times. The second leg of the final against Umeå was attended by 27,640, a new record attendance for a women's club football game in Europe.

Frankfurt's performance dropped considerably in the 2008–09 season. A fourth-place finish in the league was the club's worst performance since a uniform Bundesliga was put into place. Also Frankfurt did not reach the cup final for the first time since 1998, losing in the second round to Bayern Munich, thus marking their worst cup performance since 1991–92. In the UEFA Cup Frankfurt was eliminated by FCR 2001 Duisburg in the quarter-finals.

Stadium
Frankfurt plays their homegames in the Stadion am Brentanobad, a stadium in the Rödelheim district of Frankfurt they share with the men's team of Rot-Weiss Frankfurt. Stadion am Brentobad is owned by the city of Frankfurt and has a capacity of 5,200 with 1,100 of those being roofed seats. In recent seasons Frankfurt had the highest attendance average in the Bundesliga with more than 1,000 spectators on average.

On a few occasions FFC Frankfurt has held their homegames at the Commerzbank-Arena of Eintracht Frankfurt. The UEFA-Cup final between Frankfurt and Potsdam in 2006 was attended by 27,400 spectators which is still a record for European club football matches.

Rivalry with Turbine Potsdam
A rivalry developed between Frankfurt and former East German women's champions 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam early in the 2000s as that club began its own ascent to the Bundesliga. That rivalry spilled over into the DFB Pokal and the European Cup when Potsdam qualified by taking the national title from Frankfurt and succeeded them as European champions.

Aside from the sporting and east-west rivalry, the two clubs have different team-building philosophies. Frankfurt, in a Western "capitalist" fashion, prefers buy up local and foreign players, while Potsdam, in the Eastern socialist tradition focuses on the development of young players within its own club-system. The defection of Petra Wimbersky and Karolin Thomas from Potsdam to Frankfurt inflamed the rivalry, as the two clubs had abided by an unwritten agreement not to poach each other's players without first consulting the German Football Association.

Due to the lack of hooliganism in the women's game, this rivalry has developed healthy competition within the Bundesliga and has strongly contributed to the success of the women's national team. There were fears of a potential Old Firm-style problem, as these two clubs were the wealthiest in the women's game and there was a fear that this might hinder the league's competitiveness if they become too dominant. With the rise of the women's departments of VfL Wolfsburg and FC Bayern München, new competitors have arrived on the scene, though.

Honours

 * Fußball-Bundesliga (women)
 * 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2008
 * DFB-Pokal
 * 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2014
 * DFB-Hallenpokal
 * 1997, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2008, 2012
 * UEFA Women's Cup/UEFA Women's Champions League
 * 2002, 2006, 2008, 2015

Current squad
As of 3 September 2016

Former players
For details of current and former players, see Category:1. FFC Frankfurt players.