Fun Facts
That Mainz 05 is a "carnival club" and, with the exception of the 1982 German amateur championship, has never won a senior title — everyone in Frankfurt knows that too. Less well known are these facts.
The threefold Zidan: Mohamed Zidan could apparently only be happy in Mainz. The Egyptian, German champion with Borussia Dortmund in 2011, fled to the Bundesliga idyll of Mainz on loan from Werder Bremen as early as 2005. He was signed permanently in 2007, and after stints at HSV and BVB was signed a third time in 2012. The fan favourite scored 29 of his 47 Bundesliga goals for Mainz.
Noveski — One like Kaltz and Körbel: Macedonian Nikolce Noveski holds the record for the most Bundesliga appearances for 1. FSV Mainz 05 with 313 matches in Germany's top flight (as of December 2019). Signed from Erzgebirge Aue in 2004, the centre-back shaped the team for 14 years, eventually as captain. He is slightly less proud of his other record: only Manfred Kaltz and Karl-Heinz Körbel managed more own goals (six each) in Bundesliga history.
A fine Mainz tradition: It is tradition in Mainz that the stadium announcer reads out the visiting team's line-up using only first names, giving the away fans the chance to chant the surnames.
The opportunity-creation club: Ex-president Harald Strutz once described his club as a "Chancen-Eröffnungs-Verein" (opportunity-creation club) — and he was absolutely right. Jürgen Klopp and his successor Thomas Tuchel both moved from Mainz 05 to Borussia Dortmund and became two of Germany's most prominent coaches. That both went on to manage Liverpool and Paris Saint-Germain respectively from 2015 and 2018 further underlines the club's extraordinary coaching pipeline.
Honorary captain: Dimo Wache was promoted to the Bundesliga with Mainz 05 in 2004. Between 1995 and 2010, Wache made over 400 competitive appearances for the "Null-Fünfer" and was named the club's first-ever honorary captain.
First international: The first professional from 1. FSV Mainz 05 to wear the German national team shirt was not André Schürrle, but Manuel Friedrich. The centre-back made his international debut in 2006 ahead of the home World Cup and earned nine caps in total, seven of them as a Mainz player — making him the club's record international.
The "Bruchweg Boys" and their colleagues generate millions: "Bruchweg Boys" is what the tabloids christened the Mainz team that rocked the league under coach Thomas Tuchel in 2010/11. A top-of-the-table clash between Mainz 05 and Borussia Dortmund (0-2) — not even the biggest jokers in the Rhineland-Palatinate capital would have expected that! Two players from that team, Hungarian Adam Szalai and Mainz-born Lewis Holtby, later generated significant transfer fees.
Noteworthy: The top 8 transfers brought Mainz nearly 100 million euros in revenue in just seven years. Yet the motto of legendary manager Christian Heidel still applies at Eugen-Salomon-Straße: "Bundesliga in Mainz is nischt selbstverständlisch" (nothing to be taken for granted).