Wonderful transformation! But the soccer season doesn’t end there. Check out all match predictions for this weekend to stay up-to-date on all upcoming matches. There are still a lot of interesting things to come.
Eleven years ago Eintracht were relegated from the Bundesliga for the last time – with Theofanis Gekas, Khalil Altyntop and Alexander Meyer. They returned to the league the next season. That team featured current Eintracht captain Sebastian Rohde!
The 20-year-old midfielder had just arrived from Kickers Offenbach, a third league club. He was already plagued by injuries – he played infrequently and played only 11 games in the 2010/11 season Bundesliga.
In the mid-tens (2015/16), Eintracht escaped relegation in the second half of the second knockout game against Nürnberg.
In the spring of 2018, the club suddenly won the first trophy in 30 years – Niko Kovac beat Bayern in the German Cup final and moved to Munich. With cup tournaments in general they are better than championships – 5 cups.
In the 2018/19 season, Eintracht completely went wild: won all 6 matches in the Europa League group, passed Benfica, Inter and Lazio – in the semifinals they got eliminated by Chelsea in a penalty shootout.
After this achievement the club sold Luka Jovic and Sebastian Aller at a considerable profit.
Even in the championship the team before the last round was a contender for the Champions League (the best result in 27 years was just a little short).
At the same time, the Eintracht team has never been very successful in the German championship – the only title they won before the Bundesliga was created (1959), and in recent years they have only once finished above the 7th position (just 5th last season).
This year Eintracht finished 11th! But for the first time they will play in the Champions League.
Eintracht won the Europa League/UEFA Cup for the second time – the first was 42 years ago, in 1980. Then there were four (!) German teams in the semifinals. With cups, as we already know, it is easier for Eintracht. First, they knocked out Bayern, and in the final, they dealt with Borussia Gladbach.
In this Europa League, Eintracht have never lost and scored in all 13 matches – only the second club after Chelsea 2018/19 to do so in the Europa League (that is, in 12 years).
Eintracht continued the nice tradition – they have never lost in the European competitions in Spain (four wins and one draw before this match). Now they have taken a trophy here as well.
The winning penalty was scored by Rafael Santos Borre who also scored a goal in the match, allowing Eintracht to get back into the game. That goal was the sixth goal for the Colombians in the finals of the Leagues (thanks to Radamel Falcao) – the same number for the Spaniards. No one has scored more.
Eintracht became the first German club in 25 years to win the second most important European trophy. Surprisingly, the last UEFA Cup went to Germany back in 1997, when Schalke did their best.