Arminia Bielefeld successfully navigated their 18th Bundesliga campaign in 2020/21, but who are Die Arminen and does the city of Bielefeld even exist?

History

Founded in 1905, Bielefeld celebrated their 115th year in existence by being crowned 2019/20 Bundesliga 2 champions and securing top-flight football for the first time since demotion 11 years ago. Back-to-back eighth-place finishes in 1982/83 and 83/84 are the club’s best Bundesliga returns, while their longest runs in the top tier are five successive seasons from 1980-85 and 2004-09.

Hertha Berlin coach Bruno Labbadia will look forward to returning to the club for whom he scored 50 goals in 98 league appearances, including 22 goals across two Bundesliga campaigns.

Former West Germany international Uli Stein is another famous former player, while Artur ‘King Artur’ Wichniarek - who also played for Hertha - made himself a Bielefeld legend with 88 goals in 216 appearances across all competitions; a club record for a foreign player and one only bettered by all-time top-scorer - and current captain - Fabian Klos.

Honours

4x Bundesliga 2 champions (1978, 1980, 1999, 2020)
1x Third division champions (2015)

Coach

Frank Kramer oversaw the Germany U18, U19 and U20 teams, and was serving as Red Bull Salzburg youth academy director when he was appointed Bielefeld head coach on 2 March 2021. The former Bayern Munich II midfielder, who has also worked in a coaching capacity at Greuther Fürth, Fortuna Düsseldorf and Hoffenheim, proceeded to collect 17 points from 36 available, more than justifying the club's decision to dismiss Uwe Neuhaus. The 2021/22 campaign will be his first full season as a full-time Bundesliga head coach.

Frank Kramer oversaw four wins and five draws in his first 12 matches as Bielefeld coach during the latter part of 2020/21. - Wolfgang Frank/Eibner-Pressefoto via www.imago-images.de/imago images/Eibner

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Star man

Labelled Germany’s Jamie Vardy, Klos finally got his first taste of Bundesliga football last season. Having ended the 2019/20 campaign as Bundesliga 2 top scorer with 21 goals, the 33-year-old struck a joint-leading five times before penning a one-year extension in June 2021.

A Bielefeld player since 2011, Klos has represented the club in Germany's top three divisions, serving as captain for the last seven years. He has registered 157 goals and 68 assists in 362 competitive appearances all told.

Bielefeld captain Fabian Klos (l.) featured in the Bundesliga for the first time in 2020/21. - /Ulrich Hufnagel via www.imago-images.de/imago images/Ulrich Hufnagel

Last season

Back in the big time as Bundesliga 2 champions following an 11-year absence, Bielefeld held Eintracht Frankfurt to a 1-1 draw on the opening weekend. Arminia recorded their first top-flight win in 11 years against Cologne on Matchday 2, but a subsequent seven-match losing streak was more in keeping with a season spent fighting for their Bundesliga lives.

Although wins over Mainz, Schalke, Hertha and VfB Stuttgart kept them in touch with the safe house, Bielefeld's inconsistencies cost promotion mastermind Neuhaus his job. Below the waterline on goal difference alone, and with one point - a spirited 3-3 draw at Bayern - from a possible 15 between Matchdays 18-23, the club hierarchy turned to Kramer.

Arminia lost just three of their remaining 12 Bundesliga matches under the 49-year-old, relegating Schalke on Matchday 30, before securing their top-flight status with a 2-0 win at Stuttgart on the final day. They finished 15th on 35 points, two clear of Cologne in the relegation play-off spot.

PSV Eindhoven loanee Ritsu Doan tied Klos for goals, but produced three assists to his skipper's two.

Watch: Ritsu Doan helped Bielefeld to another season of Bundesliga football on the final day of 2020/21

The stadium

The Schüco Arena may be out of the club’s ownership, but its sale to local businesses not only saved the club financially, but crucially kept it in the hands of the community. Known by fans as The Alm for its similarities to alpine grasslands, it has been the club’s home since 1926 and Bielefeld have the option to buy it back in 2023 as part of their 15-year lease agreement signed upon its sale in 2018.

Hit by a bomb during World War Two, various rebuilding works have been undertaken over the years, so long gone are the grass mounds that once housed supporters and in their place are four complete stands that make for a 26,515 (8,005 standing and 18,510 seating) stadium just a 25 minute walk from the city centre.

Arminia Bielefeld's Schüco Arena is know as The Alm, for its old likeness to alpine grasslands due to its grass bank stands. - Reinaldo Coddou H./Bundesliga/DFL via Getty Images

The city... that doesn't exist?

Located in the north-east of Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalia, the city of Bielefeld is a historic one that has over 340,000 inhabitants and dates back to the ninth century. Or does it? A student named Achim Held 'went viral' before there was such a saying by posting on Usenet in 1994: "Bielefeld? There's no such thing". The result was a long-running joke that the government collaborated with an unknown entity named SIE - or They - to nefariously fool the public into thinking Bielefeld existed.

The theory was supported by three questions: Do you know anybody from Bielefeld? Have you ever been to Bielefeld? Do you know anybody who has ever been to Bielefeld? Chancellor Angela Merkel even referenced The Bielefeld Conspiracy in 2012, and in 2019 the medieval town ran a hugely successful marketing campaign that offered €1m to anyone that could prove Bielefeld’s non-existence.

For those more confident of Bielefeld’s being, a trip to the city offers a lot. There are hiking trails and areas of great natural beauty due to its location north of the Teutoburg Forest, while gothic and medieval design make up architectural statements throughout the city once known as a major producer of linen. Or so we’re led to believe...

Getting there

Paderborn (37km) and Münster (53km) are the two closest airports to Bielefeld, but beyond a handful of European destinations, they will largely service international visitors of Bielefeld making a transit from Munich or another major German airport. Düsseldorf and Cologne/Bonn airports - both under two hours away by car and a nudge over that by train - also have large international and intercontinental networks.

Arminia fans packed out the Bielefeld city centre to celebrate the club's 2019/20 Bundesliga 2 title win. - imago

Getting to the Schüco Arena

Once in Bielefeld, the stadium is incredibly easy to get to. As mentioned above, it’s but a 25-minute walk from the city centre, quarter of an hour on foot from Bielefeld Central Station, a 10-minute drive via Stapenhorststraße and can be accessed directly on matchdays by the Stadtbahn Bielefeld tram line 2.

Buying tickets

For tickets, you can purchase them officially via the official club website HERE.

Watch on TV

If you can't make it to the stadium, Bundesliga matches are broadcast around the world. ESPN provides coverage in the United States, while BT Sports are the exclusive broadcaster in the United Kingdom. In Germany, Sky Sports show the majority of matches, with DAZN hosting one match per week.

Buying the kit

You can get your own Bielefeld jersey online HERE.

- DFL

Stateside fan clubs

According to the club’s official website, there are currently hundreds of Bielefeld fan clubs - including overseas ones in Hereford, England and Murcia, Spain - but none in the States. If you want to start the first, you can find out more on the website HERE, but you’ll need to get your applications in ahead of the 2020/21 season quickly, with the closing date pegged as early August.