SW Essen

Izidor 'Dori' Kürschner arrived in 1925 as the club’s first full-time trainer. Before that, the football department had been part of a much older gymnastics association, the Essener Turnerbund, founded in 1881. The sport remained a side activity until Kürschner took charge. Under his guidance, the club secured the Ruhrbezirks-Meisterschaft in 1920 and the Ruhrgau-Meisterschaft in 1922 and 1923.

The true test came in 1959. Traveling to Kassel for the DFB-Pokal final, Schwarz-Weiß faced Borussia Neunkichen. They dismantled their opponents 5–2. The Eberhard-Piekenbrock-Stadion, with a capacity of roughly 2,500, hosted the daily grind, but that day in Kassel was where the legacy was cemented.

Life in Essen is complicated by the shadow of Rot-Weiß Essen. The rivalry is old and bitter, with matches between the two often referred to as the Essen Derby. In 2010, Schwarz-Weiß managed to edge past their neighbours 2–1 in the Niederrheinpokal, a small comfort in a long-standing conflict. Yet, the bond between the clubs has also been transactional. In 1978, a cooperation agreement saw players like Urban Klausmann and Detlef Wiemers move to Rot-Weiß Essen, a transfer that left a mark on both sides of the divide.

History is not always linear. Albert Bollmann became the club’s first international player in 1914, a milestone for a side that would later struggle to maintain its momentum. They reached the quarterfinals of the German Amateur Championship in 1985 and finished as vice-champions of the Oberliga Nordrhein that same year, but subsequent seasons have been quieter. The club still wears its black and white colours, known as The Black-Whites, but the era of national headlines has passed. Today, the focus is on survival and local pride, a far cry from the cup glory days when Kürschner’s methods were still fresh in the memory of the fans.