SC Paderborn 07

Sport-Club Paderborn 07 e.V., commonly known as simply SC Paderborn 07 or SC Paderborn, is a German association football club based in Paderborn, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club has enjoyed its greatest successes since the turn of the millennium, becoming a fixture in the 2. Bundesliga before finally earning promotion to the Bundesliga in the 2013–14 season. They suffered a hasty fall from grace, however, being relegated to the 2. Bundesliga after only a season in the top division, and then again to the 3. Liga the season after. The club returned to 2. Bundesliga, reaching 2nd place in the 2018–19 season and was promoted to the Bundesliga. The club finished 18th in the 2019–20 season and returned to the 2. Bundesliga. History Fusion into SC Paderborn For most of the twentieth century, Paderborn had two football clubs: TuS Schloss Neuhaus and FC Paderborn, who remained rivals until the 1980s. After Neuhaus had been promoted to the 2. Bundesliga and finished last in 1983, this set-up had reached its athletic and financial ceiling. Thus, in 1985, the two clubs merged into TuS Paderborn/Neuhaus. In 1997, the club adopted its current identity by assuming the name SC Paderborn 07, named after TuS Neuhaus' founding date 1907. Beginnings in amateur football (1985–2005) During most of the 1980s, the recently merged club competed in the third-tier Oberliga Westfalen, where they counted among the leading teams but never achieved promotion. In 1994, Paderborn won the league and thereby qualified for the promotion playoffs. The team lost to Eintracht Braunschweig and Fortuna Düsseldorf but secured a place in the newly formed third-tier of the German football pyramid, the Regionalliga West/Südwest. Except for a brief stint in the fourth tier, Paderborn enjoyed moderate success with regular trips to the DFB Pokal.