Good to Know — Mainz 05
It is well known that Mainz 05 are in many ways “a slightly different” Bundesliga club.
Good to Know
It is well known that Mainz 05 are in many ways “a slightly different” Bundesliga club.
It is well known that Mainz 05 are
It is well known that Mainz 05 are in many ways “a slightly different” Bundesliga club.
It is well known that Mainz 05 are in many ways “a slightly different” Bundesliga club. Less well known is that since 2010 the club has described itself as “the first climate-neutral club in the Bundesliga.”
As early as 2004, after the Bruchwegstadion was
As early as 2004, after the Bruchwegstadion was redeveloped, the club installed a photovoltaic system on one of the stands.
As early as 2004, after the Bruchwegstadion was redeveloped, the club installed a photovoltaic system on one of the stands. Ecological considerations also played a major role in building and outfitting the Opel Arena. One of the then three largest solar roof systems on a football stadium in Germany was installed there. It generated around 700,000 kWh of electricity per year and fed it into the public grid, thereby avoiding roughly 470 tons of CO2 emissions annually that would have been produced through conventional power generation. In 2007, the city of Mainz honored the club for its “exemplary operational environmental management” as an “Ökoprofit business.”
That Mainz is a carnival stronghold is common
That Mainz is a carnival stronghold is common knowledge, and it shows at Mainz 05 as well.
That Mainz is a carnival stronghold is common knowledge, and it shows at Mainz 05 as well. In his 2013 pictorial history of 50 years of the Bundesliga, journalist Daniel Stolpe called Mainz 05 “like a house of pleasure — just without politics.” Every Mainz goal is accompanied by the Narhalla March. For Fastnacht, the team traditionally appears in a special edition shirt in the colors red, yellow, blue and white. Players and officials also sometimes join the great Rose Monday parade. The club’s affinity for Fastnacht is well known; less well known is that in 2019 the club staged its own carnival session for the first time — and used the occasion to verbally blast its own pyro-loving ultras. Tobias Rinauer from the club’s press office, appearing as the “retired rabble-rouser,” mocked them in rhyming dialect and told the little know-it-all pyromaniacs to go and sing their endless chants in the cathedral instead, where everyone could at least bring a candle.
Jürgen Klopp launching his coaching career at Mainz
Jürgen Klopp launching his coaching career at Mainz 05 is football common knowledge.
Jürgen Klopp launching his coaching career at Mainz 05 is football common knowledge. But who actually discovered Klopp? That is less clear. Two coaching legends, one clear claim, and a third figure at least as important all played a decisive role. Robert Jung and Dragoslav “Stepi” Stepanović can both claim to have discovered Jürgen Klopp. Stepi brought the 1.91-meter forward to Oberliga side Rot-Weiß Frankfurt in 1989. After winning the Hessenliga title and missing out on promotion, Klopp moved to Mainz in 1990. Robert Jung, then coach at Mainz and also a maths teacher, had noticed Klopp in a promotion match and made him a second-division professional. Yet Klopp himself regards Wolfgang Frank as his true footballing mentor. In September 2018, on the fifth anniversary of Frank’s death, Klopp said on British television that Frank had inspired his footballing ideas more than anyone else and had shaped his tactical thinking profoundly.
Good to Know — Update 2020–2026
The “coaching university” of Mainz 05 kept its tradition going.
The “coaching university” of Mainz 05 kept its
The “coaching university” of Mainz 05 kept its tradition going.
The “coaching university” of Mainz 05 kept its tradition going. After Jurgen Klopp (2001–2008) and Thomas Tuchel (2009–2014), the club produced its next managerial export in Bo Svensson. The Dane took over in January 2021 with the side sitting second from bottom and engineered a spectacular escape with the best second half of a season in club history. In 2021/22 he led Mainz into the top half and became the most sought-after young coach in Germany.
What particularly set Mainz apart between 2020 and
What particularly set Mainz apart between 2020 and 2026 was this: managerial changes in mid-season almost always worked.
What particularly set Mainz apart between 2020 and 2026 was this: managerial changes in mid-season almost always worked. After Svensson’s departure in 2023, Bo Henriksen took over — another Scandinavian — and stabilised the club. When Henriksen also left, proven Swiss pragmatist Urs Fischer arrived. The red thread running through it all: sporting director Christian Heidel, who returned to Mainz in 2020 and pulled the strings in the background.