Named after the Roman goddess of fortune, Fortuna Dusseldorf has always been one of Germany’s “big small clubs”. They built upon this reputation during the 1930’s, when for a brief period of time they were one of Germany’s best teams. It began with their 1931 victory in the Western German football championship, which subsequently qualified them for the German football championship. Soon after, the Nazis took control of football in German and reorganized the entire league system into the 16 regional Gauligen. Clubs with leanings that were unpalatable to the regime (leftist of faith-based) were banned or forced to merge with ideologically acceptable clubs. Luckily, Fortuna was not one of these and they took advantage of the situation by reaching the final of the 1933 German championship which was contested against Schalke 04, who were on the verge of becoming a powerful force in German football. A 3-0 win in front of 60,000 supporters  meant that Fortuna defeated the favorites to became the first club to win the tournament without conceding a goal in the final rounds, thanks to victories of 9-0, 3-0 and 4-0 in the previous rounds.

 

It also became the first national champion from the industrial Rhine-Ruhr area of the country. Dusseldorf began play in the newly formed Gauliga Niederrhein the following season. Despite only covering a small area of Germany, the league’s region had a large population, and Fortuna Dusseldorf were easily the most successful club in this league, reaching the national championship final in 1936 and the cup final in 1937, however they came out as losers on both occasions. But in their own division, Fortuna dominated with 5 titles in a row between 1936 and 1940. They were finally releagated in 1942 but promptly returned to the top flight and in 1945 they became a combined wartime side with the catchy name of Kreigsspielgemeinschaft TSV Fortuna/SC 99 Dusseldorf. It was a shortlived team, playing only two games before Nazi Germany fell to the advance of the Allies. With the end of the Nazi era, Fortuna Dusseldorf found themselves in the British occupation zone and unlike in southern Germany, top level football took some time to get restarted. It was only in 1947 when the new Oberliga West was introduced to cover the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. 

Achievements:
German football championship- Champions x1 runners up x1
Gauliga Niederrhein – Champions x5
German Cup – Runners up x1

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Star player: Paul Janes dob 11 March 1912, pob Kuppersteg, Germany, nickname: World Champion of Precision

A participant of two World Cups (1934 and 1938) with 71 appearances for the German national team, Janes is listed by the DFB as one of Germanys 20 best players of all time. In his era, he was one of the best full-backs around, who played with the type of flair that was not usually seen in a player of his position. He had a reputation for pulling off spectacular free kicks and bycicle kicks at a time when these feats were much rarer than they are today. His penalty kicks were so powerful, that on one occasion he hit the bar and the ball rebounded half way back across the field. Janes was the youngest of 8 children and worked as a bricklayer before turning to football. He joined Fortuna at the age of 18 and quickly became a first choice defender thanks to his great strength, positional awareness and heading ability. Janes first major honour came when his club defeated hot favourites Schalke 04 to win the 1933 German championship, revenge for their loss to the same club in the Western German final two years earlier. His Fortuna performances earned Janes a callup to the national team, and he debuted in 1932 against Hungary. He played in their 1934 World Cup team at right-half but was later moved to full-back where he spent the remainder of his career. Janes had to wait until 1935/36 for another crack at the national title, and Fortuna made it to the final only to suffer an agonizing extra time defeat to 1 FC Nurnberg. Worse still, Janes became injured and missed out on the 1936 Olympic Games on home soil, which ended embarrassingly early for Germany. Frustration continued with Fortuna missing out on the German Cup following a final loss to Schalke, but on the plus side, Fortuna won every season of the Niederrhein up until 1940. Janes played in the famous 8-0 defeat of Denmark that led to Germany becoming favourites to win the 1938 World Cup, which again led to disappointment after they were eliminated by Switzerland. Sepp Herberger named Janes as national team captain in 1939, solidifying his reputation as a dead ball specialist by scoring 7 goals, all of which were free kicks or penalties. That year, he also led Germany to a satisfying 5-2 win over two time World champions Italy. During the war, Janes served in the German navy but kept playing for the national team until 1942. His record of 71 caps went unbroken for 30 years. After the war, he picked up where he left off with Fortuna and played on until 1950, when he turned 38. He tried his hand at coaching but found it wasn’t his bag, so instead he ran a restaraunt  and pub with his wife in Dusseldorf.In 1985, at the age of 75 while travelling on a tram through the city, he suffered a heart attack and died.