Wikipedia:WikiProject Football/Germany task force/German club names
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There seems to be some confusion and inconsistency on Wikipedia as to how the names of German football clubs should be expressed.
Town and city names[edit]
In German football, it is not common practice to list clubs by just the town/city names, in the way that in England we refer to Liverpool or Blackpool. The club is always listed with a club name, e.g. Borussia Dortmund or Kickers Offenbach. If the team does not have an elaborate name like this, then the SC, FC, VfB (etc.) should be left in, i.e. VfB Stuttgart. This applies in all lists, infoboxes, league tables, statistics tables, fixtures, match details, and in a player's lead.
Obviously in article prose, a shortened name can be used, once the proper name has been established, to make the text flow more easily. Equally in tables where there is a lack of space, abbreviations can be used, but this is rare on Wikipedia.
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim[edit]
There has been recurring debate over the way to refer to TSG 1899 Hoffenheim in club, player, competition, and other types of football-related articles across the WikiProject. Discussion at the article's talk page in June 2023 established that TSG Hoffenheim should be used across articles, as it matches a crossing point between a common name in German (adhering to German club name standards), and one in English. In prose, once the name TSG Hoffenheim has been established, it would not be inappropriate to refer to the club as Hoffenheim.
Ambiguity[edit]
If you do insist on using one-word names, or town names, please check that it's appropriate, and that no other club uses that name. For example, there is another Hertha, another Stuttgart, another Frankfurt, another Köln and even another Bayern. This applies to abbreviations as well, FCB can be FC Barcelona, FC Basel, or even FC Bayern München.
The Karlsruher problem[edit]
When you do use one-word names, ensure that it makes grammatical sense. Karlsruher SC means "Sports Club of Karlsruhe" - Karlsruher is an adjective, so leaving it on its own makes no sense. Saying a player played for Karlsruher is like saying Zinedine Zidane played for French. Generally speaking, if the initials are after the town name, which ends in -er, then it's in its adjective form, while if it's written before, it's expressed normally, as a noun. Karlsruher SC is equal to SC Karlsruhe. Other examples are Linzer Athletik-Sport-Klub from Linz, Wolfsberger Athletik Club from Wolfsberg, Hertha, Berliner Sport-Club from Berlin.
Real-life examples[edit]
- League table at Kicker
- Player profile at Kicker
- Player profile at FC Bayern
- National squad list at the DFB
- Official fixture list of the 2. Bundesliga
Example infoboxes[edit]
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