FC St. Pauli
Germany
Bundesliga
Est: 1910
Fußball-Club St. Pauli von 1910 e.V., commonly known as simply St. Pauli (German pronunciation: [ɛfˌtseː zaŋkt ˈpaʊli] ), is a German professional football club based in the St. Pauli district of Hamburg. The team plays in the Bundesliga for the 2025–26 season, their second consecutive season in the top flight following promotion from the 2. Bundesliga in 2023–24.
The football department is part of a larger sports club that also has departments in rugby (FC St. Pauli Rugby), baseball, bowling, boxing (FC St. Pauli Boxen), chess, cycling, handball, roller derby (Harbor Girls Hamburg), skittles, softball, table tennis, and since 2011, marathon. Until the end of 2013, the club also had a department in American football, but it was dissolved because it lacked the youth team required in order to hold a men's team. As of April 2023, FC St. Pauli has 30,400 members.
The men's professional football team dropped down to the Regionalliga in 2003, at that time the third highest football division in Germany and remained there for four years. In 2007, they won promotion back to the 2. Bundesliga, the German second tier. In 2010, they won promotion back to the top-flight Bundesliga, but were immediately relegated the following season. Their current tenure in the top-flight dates to their promotion in 2023–24 season.
FC St. Pauli has a cross-city rivalry with Hamburger SV, with whom they contest the Hamburg derby, the only cross-city derby currently featured in the Bundesliga. The club also has a more recent rivalry with Hansa Rostock, known as the Political derby, or even the Fear derby, reflecting the divergent political identities of the two clubs.
Although the club has been only modestly successful, it is widely recognised for its distinctive social culture and has a large popular following as one of the country's \"Kult\" clubs. FC St. Pauli and supporters are strongly identified with their support of left-wing politics.
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