EAST GERMANY: SG Schönfliess (1928-±1944) / BSG Stahl Fürstenberg (1950-1953) / BSG Stahl Stalinstadt (1953-1961) / BSG Stahl Eisenhüttenstadt (1961-1990) / EFC Stahl (1990-2016) / FC Eisenhüttenstadt (2016-)

Sportanlagen Waldstrasse "Stadion der Hüttenwerker", Eisenhüttenstadt (FC Eisenhüttenstadt, formerly SG Schönfliess / BSG Stahl Fürstenberg / BSG Stahl Stalinstadt / BSG Stahl Eisenhüttenstadt / EFC Stahl)

East Germany (former GDR / DDR), state: Brandenburg

17 IX 2022 / FC Eisenhüttenstadt - BSV Guben Nord 3-0 / Landesliga Süd Brandenburg (= BRD level 7)

Timeline

• 1928 / Construction of a football ground at Waldstrasse, serving as home soil for a small local club, Sportgemeinschaft (SG) Schönfliess - Schönfliess being a hamlet just to the west of the village of Fürstenberg. SG Schönfliess must have ceased all activities in the latter stages of World War II.
• 1950 / Foundation of Betriebssportgemeinschaft (BSG) Stahl Fürstenberg. The club settles at Waldstrasse, taking over the premises of the erstwhile SG Schönfliess. BSG Stahl is the recreational omnisports club of Rheinmetall's fledgling steel works factory in Fürstenberg.
• 1951 / Following a decision of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) the year before, Rheinmetall is taken over by a state-led ironworks concern, named Eisenhüttenkombinat Ost. A town intended to house the steel workers is built, incorporating the villages of Fürstenberg and Schönfliess. 
• 1953 / The industrial model town created around the steel factory is given the status of an independent community, named Stalinstadt in honour of the recently deceased Soviet dictator. Eisenhüttenkombinat Ost takes over BSG Stahl Fürstenberg that same year, with the club taking on the modified name BSG Stahl Stalinstadt. In the course of 1950s, a small stadium, given the name Stadion der Hüttenwerker, is created at Waldstrasse to allow a modest number of spectators to watch BSG Stahl's home matches.
• 1954 / After two years at Bezirksliga level, the third tier of East Germany's newly formed football pyramid, BSG Stahl Stalinstadt accedes to the DDR-Liga, the country's second division.
• 1956 / Due to a reorganisation in the GDR's league system, BSG Stahl has to take a step back, being placed in the so-called II. DDR-Liga, the new third tier of the country's football pyramid.
• 1960 / Having moved back and forth between the second and third tier of GDR football, BSG Stahl wins the play-offs for promotion to the second tier, starting a prolonged period of slowly improving results in the DDR-Liga in the 1960s.
• 1961 / As a result of de-Stalinisation, which in the GDR was undertaken much later than in the Soviet Union, the town of Stalinstadt is renamed Eisenhüttenstadt - with BSG Stahl Stalinstadt duly becoming BSG Stahl Eisenhüttenstadt as a result.
• 1969 / For the first time in club history, BSG Stahl Eisenhüttenstadt gains promotion to the Oberliga, the top flight of East Germany's football pyramid. With the experienced coaching duo of Hans Studener and Manfred Fuchs at its helm and an experienced squad of players, the club has high hopes of establishing itself durably in the top division. Meanwhile, the Stadion der Hüttenwerker is extended to a maximum capacity of 10,000.
• 1970 / After an abysmal season, in which the club manages just five wins, BSG Stahl finished last in the Oberliga, thus being condemned to relegation to the DDR-Liga. The new season barely underway, a court case brings to light the fact that Stahl Eisenhüttenstadt has exceeded the salary cap in order to strengthen its squad the previous year. According to the official court judgment, the club acted against the principles of a socialist society and a socialist sports organisation - and not for the first time, as Stahl had already been punished with a four-point-deduction in the 1966-67 season as a result of illegally headhunting players from other clubs. BSG Stahl is punished with an immediate second relegation, thus continuing the season at Bezirksliga level, while part of the players are punished with long suspensions. Coaches Hans Studener and Manfred Fuchs are suspended from professional football for two years.
• 1971 / Finishing first in Bezirksliga Frankfurt (Oder), BSG Stahl Eisenhüttenstadt wins promotion to DDR-Liga, playing at that level for the next 18 seasons.
• 1989 / BSG Stahl Eisenhüttenstadt wins promotion to the Oberliga for a second time. Under the aegis of manager Günther Reinke, the club barely saves its skin in the 1989-90 season - in spite of just two wins (and 14 draws!), Stahl stays up based on goal difference. The club was helped by the arrival, in January 1990, of Bodo Rudwaleit, former goalkeeper of BFC Dynamo with ten East-German championship medals - as well as 33 caps for the GDR - to his credit.
• 1990 / Following the Peaceful Revolution in East Germany, BSG Stahl Eisenhüttenstadt is refounded as a privatised club, independent from the steelworks factory, choosing to take on the new name of Eisenhüttenstadter Fussball-Club (EFC) Stahl. 
• 1991 / In its second consecutive Oberliga season - incidentally also the last season of GDR football -, EFC Stahl finishes ninth, losing a play-off for one last spot in the united Germany's 2. Bundesliga against 1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig - as a result being placed in the Oberliga Nordost, or third division, for the 1991-92 season. Yet, due to the club reaching the cup final, in which it loses against league champions FC Hansa Rostock (1-0), EFC Stahl qualifies for the united Germany's Supercup semi-final (in which it loses to SV Werder Bremen, 1-0) the Cup Winners Cup. Drawn against Turkey's Galatasaray SK in the first round, Stahl bows out with a 5-1 aggregate defeat. The club's only-ever European goal is scored by Frank Bartz in the home game at Stadion der Hüttenwerker, attended by 3,420 spectators.
• 1992 / In its first season in Oberliga Nordost, EFC Stahl finishes sixth. That same season, the club wins the Brandenburg Regional Cup (Landespokal Brandenburg), thus qualifying for Germany's nationwide cup (DFB-Pokal), in which it sees off Wuppertaler SV Borussia before being defeated at Georg-Melches-Stadion by Rot-Weiss Essen (3-2).
• 1993 / Winning the Brandenburg Regional Cup for the second time in a row, EFC Stahl draws SpVgg Unterhaching in the DFB-Pokal, losing 0-2.
• 1997 / Drawing a home game against Hertha BSC in the first round of the DFB-Pokal, Stahl loses 0-4 in front of a crowd of 5,300 spectators.
• 1999 / After nine seasons of third tier football (1991-94 Oberliga Nordost, 1994-2000 Regionalliga Nordost), EFC Stahl has to take a step back, dropping to the Oberliga Nordost or fourth division.
• 2002 / The club obtains the Landespokal Brandenburg for a third time. In the DFB-Pokal, Stahl draws SV Werder Bremen, losing the match at Stadion der Hüttenwerker 0-1 (5,000 spectators). 
• 2004 / Due to financial difficulties, EFC Stahl is forced to withdraw its first team from Oberliga Nordost in September 2004; the following season, the club makes a new start in the Brandenburg-Liga - Brandenburg's Verbandsliga, at the time the fifth tier of German football. Descending into non-league obscurity, the club alternates spells in Verbandsliga and Landesliga in the following seasons. Also in 2004, EFC Stahl concludes an agreement with 1. FC Fürstenberg to combine both clubs' youth academies.
• 2014 / One year after suffering relegation to Landesliga level, EFC Stahl finds its way back to the Brandenburg-Liga - meanwhile the sixth tier of Germany's football pyramid.
• 2016 / EFC Stahl ceases to exist as an independent club, as a merger is concluded with SG Aufbau Eisenhüttenstadt, 1. FC Fürstenberg, and youth academy club Eisenhüttenstadt 2012. The newly founded merger club, given the name FC Eisenhüttenstadt, moves most of its activities to Sportanlagen Waldstrasse, with first team football being played at the park's old stadium, which still largely has the look it was given in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Aufbau's pitches at Diehloer Strasse as well as Stadion Fürstenberg remain in use for lower team football and training sessions.
• 2022 / FC Eisenhüttenstadt is relegated to Landesliga Süd Brandenburg, the 7th level of Germany's football pyramid. That same summer, at the behest of Eisenhüttenstadt's town council, the main stand of Stadion der Hüttenwerker is declared unfit for use and closed down.

Note: Below, a compilation of photos of two different visits: pictures 1-19 = non-matchday visit, May 2022 / pictures 20-46 = match visit, September 2022.

All photos: (c) W.B. Tukker / www.extremefootballtourism.blogspot.com. Publication of any of these images only after permission of author