Kaiserslautern

Kaiserslautern is a German football club based in Kaiserslautern, Rhineland-Palatinate. The club was founded on 26 October 1896, and first played in the Southern German Football League (Süddeutscher Fußball-Bund, or SFB), a regional division of the German football league system. Kaiserslautern became part of the new German Football Association (DFB) in 1933. The club played in the Gauliga Südwest from 1933 to 1945, and then in the Gauliga Westfalen from 1945 to 1949. Kaiserslautern became a founding member of the 2. Bundesliga in 1966, and played in the league until 1991, when it was relegated to the Regionalliga Süd. The club returned to the 2. Bundesliga in 1997 and has played there since. Kaiserslautern reached the German Cup Final in 1981 and 1984, and was the runner-up in 1988. The club played in the UEFA Cup in 1963 and 1981. Kaiserslautern has also played in the UEFA Champions League twice, in 2003 and 2004. The club has played its home games at the Fritz-Walter-Stadion since 1999.