As the name suggests, Fortuna Dusseldorf is a Bundesliga side based in the city of Dusseldorf, in North-Rhine Westphalia in Germany. Formed in 1895, they have won one German championship (before the creation of the Bundesliga), and two German Cups.
Fortuna are currently competing for the 25th season in the Bundesliga, which shows how the majority of their existence has been outside Germany’s top flight. Their best spell was during the 1970s, when they were in the Bundesliga for 16 seasons, and managed two third-place finishes, in 1972-73 and 1973-74. Fortuna also have the record for the biggest away defeat for Bayern Munich, as they defeated the German powerhouse 7-1 in December 1978. Fortuna’s DFB-Pokal wins also came during this time, as they won the trophy for two years in a row in 1979 and 1980, having finished as runners-up on five previous occasions. They also saw a decent run in Europe during this time, reaching the final of the 1979 Cup Winners’ Cup, only to lose to Barcelona in a thrilling match which ended 4-3 to the Catalan side. In more recent years, Fortuna have been relegated to as low as the third division, and their recent Bundesliga campaign is the second consecutive one, following promotion in 2018.
Fortuna play at the Merkur-Spiel Arena, a 54,600-capacity multi-functional stadium in Dusseldorf. Fortuna formerly played at the Rheinstadion, which was also a 54,000 capacity stadium, before moving to their current ground in 2004. Their club colours are red and white, seen on the club crest and the home kit. Owing to their location in the North-Rhine Westphalia region, Fortuna have a number of low-key rivalries with the other football clubs from the area, including Borussia Dortmund, Borussia Monchengladbach, Bayer Leverkusen and FC Koln.
The current first-team head coach is Uwe Rosler. Rosler is a former East Germany international, while also having represented the likes of Manchester City and FC Kaiserslautern during his playing days. He had managed a number of clubs before taking charge of Fortuna in January of this year, most notably Leeds United, Brentford and Wigan Athletic in England, and was most recently the head coach of Molde in Norway. The incumbent captain is German midfielder Oliver Fink, who joined Fortuna in 2009.
The current season saw Fortuna flirting with relegation at the time it was suspended. Fortuna were in 16th place and thus in the relegation playoff spot, having played 25 games, and sitting four points behind Mainz and four ahead of Werder Bremen
