Brinkumer SV

Brinkumer SV go into this season in the Bremen-Liga, the fifth tier of German football, still measuring themselves against the sides that have kept the title just out of reach. They finished runners-up there in 2015 and again in 2022, close enough each time to sting.

The club traces back to 1924, though its identity has not run in a straight line. In 1945 it merged with FTSV Jahn Brinkum to form TSV Brinkum, and it took until 13 March 1961 for that arrangement to be undone and Brinkumer SV to stand again as its own club — a date some databases still list as the founding year.

Two Bremen-Liga titles mark the modern era. The 2009 side went through the season unbeaten, then chose not to take the promotion it had earned. In 2018 the title came down to a single point over FC Oberneuland, and this time Brinkumer SV did try to go up, only to lose the promotion play-off. Further back, in 2003, the club won the Landesliga Bremen. The Bremen Cup has been less forgiving: five finals — 2006, 2008, 2012, 2015 and 2021 — and five defeats.

The only season in the Oberliga Nord, the fourth tier, came in 2005/06 and ended in relegation after an 18th-place finish. That campaign is still remembered for the players it brought through Sportplatz Brunnenweg, the club's blue-and-white ground in Stuhr. Algerian goalkeeper Mourad Bounoua spent 2006-07 there before moves to St Pauli, Hannover 96, Eintracht Frankfurt and Basel, and four World Cups with Algeria. American forward Darren Spicer scored eight goals in that same Oberliga Nord season before financial trouble at the club sent him back across the Atlantic to Rochester Rhinos.

FC Oberneuland remains the name that stings most — the club that took the 2018 title off Brinkumer SV by a single point and has stood in their way ever since.