A fan’s guide – the club from early doors to today
Düsseldorf may boast an impressive stadium, one of ten around Germany co-hosting Euro 2024, but the city’s flagship football club Fortuna have spent most of the last 30 years outside the Bundesliga. In 2024, the Rheinländer waltzed into the home leg of the promotional play-off for the Bundesliga 3-0 up against Bochum – and finished the fixture in spot-kick agony.
Back in 2004, when the Merkur Spiel-Arena first opened, in leafy surroundings overlooking the Rhine, Fortuna had just gained promotion from the fourth tier to the third. Average home crowds had clicked above 5,000.
Thereafter, Fortuna’s fortunes picked up, with three seasons at elite level, but the club is a long way behind nearest Rhineland rivals 1FC Köln. Cologne, though, doesn’t have a punk band as legendary in Germany as Die Toten Hosen – and the club they love, Fortuna, were helped by financial support arranged by the group when the chips were down in the early 2000s.
The red-and-white shirts worn by team, band and followers of both feature a badge saying ‘F95’ – but the date is a bit of a misnomer. While the original gymnastics club from which Fortuna sprang, Turnverein Flingern, was formed in 1895, the football team was given the foundation date of 1911.
First there was Alemania 1911 then, by sheer coincidence, Fortuna 1911. While Hertha Berlin got their name from a steamship funnel, Fortuna’s was inspired by a passing bread cart. It was only in the economic chaos after World War I that Turnverein Flingern 95 and Fortuna fused, Flingern referring to an area of housing for industrial workers east of Düsseldorf, behind the main station.
The football team had always played in or around this area in any case, despite the opening of the showcase Rheinstadion in 1925. There, up in leafy north Düsseldorf, a sports and recreation complex was created, on the same site as today’s Merkur Spiel-Arena. It staged its first all-Germany final in 1930 and would soon witness Fortuna playing the occasional prestige play-off game for the same end.
Mostly, though, the club known as Flingeraner stayed in Flingern, moving from nearby Vennhauser Straße to Flinger Broich in 1930. This remains the club’s spiritual home, linked by name and history to the greatest player to grace it: Paul Janes.
A bricklayer by trade, Janes was spotted by someone at Fortuna watching a game between two local factory teams. Making his Düsseldorf debut as a teenager in 1931, this right-sided defender read the game like a veteran and would fire off devastating free-kicks. His arrival came just as the direction of German football was heading west, from Bavaria and Prussia to the industrial zone around the Ruhr and the Rhine.
That same year, Fortuna won their first regional title and advanced to the national finals. A crowd of 30,000 crammed into the Rheinstadion to see Janes and his teammates take the lead against Eintracht Frankfurt, only for the game go to extra-time. The visitors duly hit the winning goal in the very last minute to defeat the hosts – but Fortuna’s time would come.
Two years later, despite losing 1-0 to Schalke in the regional final, the Düsseldorf side would ace the national finals, winning 9-0, 3-0, 4-0 and then 3-0 over a formidable Schalke team. A year later, Janes, Jakob Bender and Stanislaus Kobierski would then join Schalke playmaker and captain Fritz Szepan to star in the Germany side that reached the World Cup semi-final in Italy.
Janes also played in the 1938 tournament, winning his 71st and then record last cap in Germany’s war-time international in Slovakia in November 1942. Still only 30, he would have gone on to win many more – the Nationalelf played their next game in 1950, and only a foot injury prevented the 38 year old from being selected.
Fortuna would make one last national final, in 1936, taking the lead early against 1FC Nürnberg but falling to a winner in the last minute of extra-time. While the Flingeraner would monopolise the Niederrhein division of the reorganised national football set-up under the Nazis, they didn’t even have quite enough to overcome the dominant force in the German game, Schalke.
Players returned from the war having undergone different experiences. A national hero, Janes was given light duties when stationed in Wilhelmshaven and even played a few games for Hamburg – an ethnic Pole, Kobierski survived a brutal Soviet POW camp in a mine beyond the Arctic Circle. He made it back home but never played again.
Paul Janes took up a coaching position at Fortuna but his taciturn manner made him little suitable for the role. He retired to run his self-named restaurant in his native Leverkusen. Before he left the game, however, Janes had been responsible for bringing Toni Turek to Fortuna, a masterstroke.
Trained as a baker, Turek had had an unremarkable career as a goalkeeper at Duisburg and had been wounded on the Polish front during the war. A piece of shrapnel lodged in his brain, the 31-year-old Turek was not only encouraged by Janes to come to Düsseldorf, the Fortuna coach also persuaded Sepp Herberger to include him in the national team. This was for the same game that Janes himself couldn’t make, the first post-war international against Switzerland in 1950, for which Turek kept a clean sheet.
While a Fortuna player, Turek would go on to win 20 caps, all in his thirties. His penultimate international would be the one that earned him legendary status in the German game. The oldest player at the 1954 World Cup, Turek kept the mighty Hungary at bay at the muddy final in Berne, inspiring radio commentator Herbert Zimmermann to famously name him a Fußballgott.
Considered the man who won West Germany the World Cup, Turek was given a hero’s welcome in Düsseldorf. His statue, showing him casually propping up the goalpost, stands outside the Merkur Spiel-Arena today.
Crossing paths with Turek was combative defender Erich Juskowiak, first capped in 1951, then again after the 1954 World Cup, by which time he had joined Fortuna. Appearing in two consecutive German Cup finals in 1957 and 1958, both narrow defeats, Juskowiak is best known for his World Cup adventures.
At the 1958 semi-final in Sweden, defending champions West Germany were level with the hosts 1-1 despite a number of questionable refereeing decisions. On the hour, the volatile Juskowiak committed a vicious revenge foul on Kurt Hamrin to become the first German to be sent off at a World Cup. The Swede went on to score the third of three goals that took his country to the final – Juskowiak was blamed for losing his country the trophy.
Shunned by his teammates at the post-match dinner, Juskowiak lived with the guilt until 1982, on the eve of another World Cup and shortly before his own death, he trekked to Gothenburg to ask the Swede’s apology.
The German coach at that World Cup in Spain was Jupp Derwall, Juskowiak’s teammate at Fortuna. As an inside-forward in the 1958 German Cup Final, Derwall played his part in the ding-dong 4-3 defeat by Stuttgart, settled in extra-time.
Not invited to the inaugural Bundesliga in 1963, won by bitter rivals Köln, Fortuna only began to make waves in the 1970s. Spearheaded by Reiner Geye, a team under Heinz Lucas surprised everyone by finishing third in a strong Bundesliga in 1973. A talented by largely unsung coach hired by influential Fortuna president Bruno Recht, Lucas had taken the club to the top flight in his first season.
The change in status coincided with the club leaving Flinger Broich for the new-build Rheinstadion, a feat of modern stadium architecture on the site of the pre-war one, created for the 1974 World Cup.
This is where Fortuna took their first steps on the international stage, tentatively against Lokomotive Leipzig in 1973 then boldly against Torino a year later, a 3-1 win Fortuna’s first big Euro night at the Rheinstadion.
Better was to follow as the young Allofs brothers, Klaus and Thomas, joined the forward line later that decade. Between them, the club’s top scorers for four seasons, the locally born siblings would star in Fortuna’s most successful campaign to date, 1978-79.
At home, Düsseldorf memorably beat Bayern Munich 7-1 and won their first domestic silverware since 1933, the German Cup, thanks to a cheeky last-gasp goal from Wolfgang Seel.
The club had also returned to Europe through the back door, by losing a cup final they would rather have won, against Rhineland rivals Köln, the previous year. Edging out Universitatea Craiova, Aberdeen and Servette, Fortuna overcame Baník Ostrava in the Cup Winners’ Cup semi, the Allofs brothers scoring all three in the home leg.
Reaching their first and only European final to date, against a Barça side featuring World Cup stars Johan Neeskens and Hans Krankl, Fortuna kept pace with the Catalans in Basel, twice equalising to take the game to extra-time. Despite a second goal from Seel, Fortuna trailed 4-3 and ran out worthy losers.
A year on, with later Greek legend Otto Rehhagel in charge, Fortuna gained revenge over Köln with a second consecutive lifting of the German Cup. Their Rhineland rivals then responded by luring away Klaus Allofs. A hat-trick hero at West Germany’s triumphant Euro win in 1980, he had not long experienced his last European adventure in a Fortuna shirt, a narrow defeat to Benfica in the Cup Winners’ Cup quarter-final.
Elected city mayor in 1976, chairman Bruno Recht had removed himself from the Fortuna boardroom but, with the club selling key players and slipping down the table, the disorder behind the scenes persuaded him to return. Blamed for Fortuna’s poor form, Recht stepped down in 1984, a sorry farewell for a man who had first helmed the club back in 1962.
Relegated in 1987, Düsseldorf bounced back briefly but the subsequent 25 years were challenging ones, Fortuna nearly going under at one stage. Two relegations in two seasons were followed by two consecutive promotions, before Fortuna settled in the third tier in the early 2000s. Meanwhile, a new stadium was being built on the site of the Rheinstadion.
Having moved back to Flinger Broich, now renamed after Paul Janes, Fortuna hit near rock bottom, playing in front of crowds in the low four figures. Improvement came with the arrival of former Werder Bremen midfielder Norbert Meier as coach in January 2008.
Gaining promotion to the second tier in his first full season, in 2012 Meier steered the club back to the Bundesliga for the first time in 15 years. Going unbeaten until nearly Christmas, Fortuna set the pace in the 2. Bundesliga, drew too many games in spring and had to settle for a play-off with Hertha.
Leading 2-1 from the first game in Berlin, Düsseldorf were leading 2-1 in front of a packed-out ESPRIT Arena when flare-throwing away fans tried to stop the game. There were further shenanigans just before the final whistle when Fortuna supporters invaded the pitch.
Having won 4-3 on aggregate, Düsseldorf were preparing for a return to the Bundesliga when Hertha demanded a replay, then appealed the decision when it went against them. Poorly prepared for the upcoming season and forced to play their first home game behind closed doors, Fortuna sank straight back to the second tier.
Performing creditably in the 2. Bundesliga in front of decent crowds of around 30,000, the Düsseldorf side stayed in contention thanks to goals from experienced journeyman, ex-Burnley forward Rouwen Hennings.
In 2016, the wonderfully named Friedhelm Funkel took over as coach, lifting Fortuna to the top of the 2. Bundesliga table and staying there through spring 2018. For the last home game, the visit of fellow challengers Holstein Kiel, 50,000 gathered at the ESPRIT Arena, a draw helping to push Fortuna over the line.
Averting another immediate relegation from the Bundesliga after a string of defeats, Fortuna only lasted until 2020, since when the Flingeraner have been knocking on the door of the elite league. The banging got louder after Fortuna beat Bochum 3-0 away in the first leg of the Bundesliga play-off in May 3024 – only for VfL to shock the Rhinelanders in the return in Düsseldorf, squaring the tie at 3-3 and edging the play-off on penalties.
Stadium Guide
The field of dreams – and the story behind it
The construction of what is known today as the Merkur Spiel-Arena was controversial, not least because its regular tenants Fortuna were playing before crowds of 5,000 when mayor Joachim Erwin announced the decision to build it in late 2001.
Worse was to follow. The following April, Düsseldorf was overlooked when Germany’s 12 host cities were selected to stage the 2006 World Cup. Soon afterwards, the would-be hosts sank to an all-time low, Germany’s fourth tier. For a city official best known for his grand projects and egomania, this wasn’t a great look, but Erwin brushed aside his critics, even survived an investigation into his allegedly shady tax dealings, and pushed through the €80 million public funding required.
This was only about a third of the total cost, though, so initially charter airline LTU sponsored the stadium. As it merged into Air Berlin, and Berlin isn’t in Düsseldorf, another backer was found, the somewhat incongruous fashion brand ESPRIT, which tried to extricate itself out of the contract years earlier than agreed.
Meanwhile, Fortuna fans weren’t happy. Not only had their revered Rheinstadion, of 1974 World Cup vintage, been knocked down, but the new arena alongside lacked standing places. For the soft opening, a third-flight Regionalliga Nord game against Union Berlin in September 2004, seating was missing in the upper tier.
But football rolled on as football does. In February 2005, Germany and Argentina played an entertaining curtain-raising friendly in front of a full house of 52,000, and by 2009, Fortuna were attracting crowds of almost 30,000 in the 2. Bundesliga. For a single season with the elite, they averaged nearly 46,000.
By then, the reluctantly named ESPRIT Arena had hosted the Rolling Stones, the Eurovision Song Contest and, of course, home boys Die Toten Hosen. Seven times.
Given proximity to the airport and an on-site hotel, the stadium lends itself to international friendlies on neutral ground, so far involving USA, Portugal, Greece, Japan, Saudi Arabia and Malta. Internazionale won through to the final of the Europa League here, in that strange period of empty stadiums and pandemic conditions in 2020.
And, of course, there’s Euro 2024, half a century after the Rheinstadion staged five games at the 1974 World Cup. Three group matches and two knock-out ties take place here, including a quarter-final.
The Merkur Spiel-Arena, renamed in 2018 and called the Düsseldorf Arena during Euro 2024, holds 52,000 for domestic fixtures. Just under 10,000 of these are standing places. Capacity for friendly internationals is 54,600, for Euro 2024, 51,031, one of the smaller of the ten venues.
Two steep banks of tiering, thinly sandwiched by VIP boxes, rise up close to the pitch. Home fans occupy the Süd-Tribüne, standing places in blocks 33A-35, 36-39 immediately behind the goal, and in the so-called Support Area (blocks 40-41, 160-161), the colourful domain of F95’s various fan projects, adjoining main West/Merkur-Tribüne. It’s also pretty raucous in the tier above the south goal, blocks 149-162.
Visiting supporters are allocated 5,300 places in the north-east corner, comprising seated upper blocks 125-132 and 1,700 are standing in lower blocks 19-21. Alongside, the Warsteiner-Tribüne overlooks the north goal. While Fortuna remain in the 2. Bundesliga, seats in the Ost/Stadtsparkasse-Düsseldorf-Tribüne lining the long sideline should provide the right combination of perfect view and affordability.
With some seriously big clubs currently in Germany’s second tier – Schalke 04, Hamburg SV, Hertha – average gates at Fortuna are just under 40,000, with an atmosphere more akin to a Bundesliga game.
If you’re wandering around outside, there’s a statue of the heroic goalkeeper from the 1954 World Cup, Toni Turek, in a casual pose by the Rheinbahn station, looking towards the Rhine.
Down in Flingern, south-east Düsseldorf, the club’s venerable Paul-Janes-Stadion is also where it has its headquarters, in the building named after the heroic goalkeeper from the 1954 World Cup, Toni Turek. Here you’ll also find the Fortuna shop and clubhouse, Bar95.
The ground itself holds 7,200, 2,280 of those places covered seating in the main stand. If Fortuna’s second team, which plays here, ever climb higher than the fourth-tier Regionalliga West, some 5,000 standing spectators can also be accommodated, 1,370 away fans.
A public viewing area for the 2006 World Cup, the ground also welcomes the senior side for occasional pre-season games and friendlies, plus the club’s youth teams. With floodlights and easy transport links, the Paul-Janes is head and shoulders above its counterparts in Fortuna II’s league, although its main attraction is its history. Home to Fortuna from when it opened in 1930, it hosted the title-winning side of that decade, as well as games in the immediate post-war era when the British Army was using the Rheinstadion.
In 1950, a record attendance of 36,000 squeezed into the ground for a game with local rivals Schalke. Given the hunger for football at the time, it was thought that Flinger Broich, as it was then called, was too small to stage first-team matches. Two years later, Fortuna duly moved to the original Rheinstadion, only coming back for the 1971-72 season when its successor of the sane name, a 1974 World Cup venue, was being built on the same site north of the city.
For the same reason, the construction of today’s Merkur Spiel-Arena, Fortuna played here in 2001-02 and for several seasons afterwards, less often as the team climbed the league pyramid. The stadium owes its current look, including the uncovered seating opposite the main stand, to the €5 million revamp dating to the early 2000s.
getting here
Going to the stadium – tips and timings
The easiest way to get to the stadium is with the U78 Rheinbahn line from the main station, Düsseldorf Hbf, via Heinrich-Heine-Allee in the city centre, to MERKUR SPIEL-ARENA/Messe Nord by the Tulip Inn hotel, the stadium just behind. Services run every 10mins daily, the journey of 14 stops taking 20mins. Trains leave platform 1 from the main station. On game days, match-ticket holders travel for free – the rest of the week, the ride is €3.40, reduced with the VRR eezy app.
As there are few bars around the stadium and because the U78 is so frequent, some Fortuna regulars stop off en route. From Nordstraße, for example, it’s an easy dander to the Rhine, and the Fortuna-Büdchen beer kiosk, and the Trinkhalle is right by Reeser Platz.
Although the airport is close as the crow flies, by public transport, it’s easier to head to the main station in town and out again to the stadium. If you’re a visiting supporter flying in for the game, shuttle buses are arranged from the terminal to the away sector at the stadium, details given on the Fortuna website. A taxi from the airport to the stadium wouldn’t take more than 10mins but would cost around €20.
Away fans may also use the U78 line, exiting at Löwengang but please note that this entrance is closed after the match, so you have to make your way to the next stop of Mörikestraße nearby.
For the Paul-Janes-Stadion, the quickest way from the main station is by taking S-Bahn S8/S28 (destination Hagen Hauptbahnhof or Wuppertal) to Flingern, 1 stop and 2mins away. Rheinbahn 709 also goes to Flingern S-Bahn, 4 stops, journey time 6mins. From there, it’s a 7-8min walk along Behrenstraße/Vennhauser Straße, then under the rails to Flinger Broich and straight on to the ground.
Alternatively, buses 737 and 738 take you from the station to Dieselstraße (15mins), closer to the ground – cut down Junkerstraße then left down Rosmarinstraße to Flinger Broich.
getting in
Buying tickets – when, where, how and how much
With average gates in the 2. Bundesliga (just) under 40,000, games at Fortuna aren’t sold out but tickets are in demand. In Bundesliga seasons, it’s nearer 45,000 and you’ll have get in early.
You’ll have to register to book online (German-only). Sales begin from four to six weeks before each home game. Tickets are also sold at both fan shops, Flinger Broich 87 (Mon-Fri 10am-6pm, Sat 10am-2pm) at the Paul-Janes-Stadion and Burgplatz 2 (Mon-Fri 10am-7pm, Sat 10am-6pm) in town.
Two ticket offices operate at the stadium on match days, from 90mins before kick-off until 15mins afterwards. These are found in the north-west corner and behind the home Süd-Tribune. Payment is in cash or by EC card, not credit cards. On the day, there’s a €2 levy per ticket.
For all enquiries, contact +49 211 23 80 10, service@f95.de. For admission to the supporters’ area in one corner of the home end, see the SCD website.
Depending on the opposition, prices start at €14 to stand and €20 to sit behind the goal in the Nord-Tribüne. It’s closer to €25-€30 for seat in the corners or in the outer blocks of the Ost-Tribüne lining the long sideline.
You pay around €35 in the higher rows over the halfway line, €40-€50 for the best seats within earshot of the players. Children’s tickets in the family block are €10 for most games. Pick up free passes for under-6s from the ticket offices (see above) at the stadium from 90mins before kick-off.
what to buy
Shirts, kits, merchandise and gifts
The club oversees three shops: at Flinger Broich 87 (Mon-Fri 10am-6pm, Sat 10am-2pm) at the Paul-Janes-Stadion; Burgplatz 2 (Mon-Fri 10am-7pm, Sat 10am-6pm) in town, and the match-day Fanshop Arena at Arenastraße 1 by the stadium, accessible through the store, and open until 30mins after the final whistle.
The current iteration of the home shirt of red-and-white hoops has a red collar and shoulders. Away is white with red trim, third choice navy with white trim.
An imaginative range of T-shirts includes one with Düsseldorf landmarks or cityscape all over it, otherwise the F95 logo gets used on ashtrays, cigarette lighters and never-out-of-fashion-in-Germany sew-on patches.
stadium tours
Explore behind the scenes around the ground
Stadium tours take place at noon on Sundays provided there’s not a game on. For security reasons, there are no visits either side of or during the Euros, from May 5 to July 26. On all other Sundays, for a modest €5, you’re given a 90-minute tour behind the scenes at the Merkur Spiel-Arena, from the VIP seats to the dressing rooms, and you’ll see how they actually close a retractable roof.
The tours, like the booking form, you have to fill out to request a visit, are given in German.
Where to Drink
Pre-match beers for fans and casual visitors
There are two main drinking hubs in the run-up to a Fortuna game, and neither is at the Merkur Spiel-Arena. Fortunately, if you’re pushed for time of a match day, the Bar95 at the club’s old stadium, spiritual home and HQ of the Paul-Janes-Stadion, also operates five days a week, Tue-Fri 5pm-8pm and Sat 10am-6pm.
It’s worth popping in if you’re curious about Fortuna’s history, with a giant photo of how the stadium looked in its heyday, all kinds of other team line-ups, player portraits (including one of Paul Janes from 1940) and tasteful murals.
Plus, last but not least, local Füchschen Alt beer. The bar is in the Toni-Turek-Haus by the old stadium at Flinger Broich 87, with a club shop and ticket outlet alongside.
Sadly, another touchstone nearby, the Fortuna-Eck Bei Moni, on Fortuna Straße, closed when Monika Frohberg threw in the towel after 31 years.
If you’re getting Rheinbahn U78 to the stadium, you can do as many local fans do and stop off at a couple of Fortuna kiosks on the way. A short walk down Scheibenstraße from the Nordstraße stop, the Fortuna-Büdchen beer kiosk (daily 9.30am-10pm) at Joseph-Beuys-Ufer 27 has the huge advantage of a river view, plus a fair range of beers alongside the popular Füchschen Alt. Decent bar snacks, too.
By the stop for Reeser Platz further up the track, Trinkhalle on Kaiserswerther Straße opens nice and early every day, 8am, and provides outside tables and sunshades for you to plonk down your bottle of Altbier and get supping.
At the stadium, the only option is the Backstage Bar at the Tulip Inn Hotel, which closes its stadium view terrace in the run-up to kick-off but might be handy around match day if you’re entertaining a client or staying there anyway. It attempts to exude a little football atmosphere by serving currywurst but you probably don’t want truffle fries with it – nobody wants that, in fact – while the business fraternity feel at ease in its loungey surroundings.
The Altbier at the stadium is local Schumacher, with Carlsberg for lager drinkers, both priced around €5.
