Rot-Weiß Oberhausen

Lothar Kobluhn finished 1970/71 as the Bundesliga's top scorer. Oberhausen had come up from the Regionalliga West in 1969 and stayed in the top flight only until 1972; the bribery scandal that touched the league in 1971 named the club among those implicated, though no sanctions followed.

Two spells in the 2. Bundesliga marked the return trips since: 1998, after winning the Regionalliga West/Südwest, and 2008, when the club held its place until 2011. Punctuated by Oberliga Nordrhein titles in 1979, 1983, 1995 and 2007 and by three Niederrheinpokal wins.

The club traces back to a merger on 18 December 1904 between Emschertaler SV and the football department of Oberhausener TV 1873, and it changed name and shape more than once after that — a wartime union with ASV Elmar Alstaden in 1943 was undone in 1945, when the club settled on the name it has carried since: SC Rot-Weiß Oberhausen-Rheinland. Fixtures against MSV Duisburg, the Pott-Derby, carry the weight of the local rivalry; matches with Rot-Weiss Essen carry a similar edge.

What Oberhausen has produced more consistently than trophies is players who left. Max Meyer came through the academy before Schalke and, later, Crystal Palace; Felix Passlack and Chris Führich followed similar routes out.