SVWW narrow defeat to Champions in season finale
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History: The year in which our club was born was also a landmark year for Arminia Bielefeld. Although the East Westphalian outfit had already been around for several decades – it was founded as 1. Bielefelder FC Arminia in 1905 – its rise to prominence only began once the club changed its name to "Deutscher Sportclub Arminia" in 1926. The Black, White & Blues have spent a total of 16 years in the Bundesliga, with the last spell in the top flight coming between 2004 and 2009. The club then dropped down to the Bundesliga 2. Two relegations to the third division followed in 2011 and 2014, but the club from the Alm have since established themselves in the second tier.
Stadium: 1926 was also the year in which Bielefeld moved into the almost legendary "Alm", where their current stadium still stands today. Back then, Arminia leased the land for the stadium – which acquired its name because it looked more like an "Alm" (mountain pasture) than a football ground – from a farmer named Lohmann, after whom the Arminia mascot – Lohmann the bull – was subsequently named. Since 2004, Arminia have been playing their home games at the SchücoArena. It has a capacity of 26,515 and can be reached by foot from the main train station in approximately 20 minutes.
Coach: By the day of the match against SVWW, Uwe Neuhaus will have been in the Arminia Bielefeld dugout for 440 days (18/12/18). Such a long tenure might be relatively uncommon in football, but it isn't for Uwe Neuhaus. The Hatting native coached 1. FC Union Berlin for seven years, winning the third division title with the "Iron Ones" in 2009. Six years later, the former Wattenscheid player achieved promotion to the second tier with Dynamo Dresden. Neuhaus coached SGD between 2015 and 2018.
Head-to-head record: SVWW and DSC met in the Bundesliga 2 for the first time earlier this season, but the two clubs had previously faced off on six occasions in the third division between 2011 and 2015. Arminia have the superior head-to-head record, having won three times. The spoils have been shared on three occasions. The Red & Blacks' only victory came in 2011, with Nils-Ole Book scoring the winning goal in the 77th minute. On the subject of scoring goals – record goalscorer Fabian Klos, who has been plying his trade for Bielefeld for nine years, has netted four goals in six appearances against SVWW.