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Club History
Sport Club Donauschwaben Concordia
In the middle 1950’s when most people came over from Europe, many people having played or just watched the game of soccer got together on January 20, 1957 established the present soccer club under the name and sponsorship of the GBU (Greater Beneficial Union). In the first years the team consisted of players who came from Europe and had learned their skills from there. Since we were a new team, we had to start our first season in the second division of the Cleveland Soccer League. We won the championship in that year and advanced to the first division the following year where we once again won the championship in that division. In the first two years many bus trips were taken to places such as Allentown PA, Elizabeth NJ, Chicago IL, and Detroit MI where we would make acquaintances with other new German or Danube Swabian teams. It was in 1958 that the members of the GBU first met the newly formed Society of the Danube Swabians. On July 10, 1959 the Soccer Club joined with the Society at the Banater Club and changed its name to Sport Club Donauschwaben.
In the 1960’s the soccer club probably experienced its greatest success on the field due to the development from its own club players still coming over from Germany or England. After winning another Cleveland Soccer League Championship in 1961, the club went through a few years of rebuilding due to loss of players to the army or other commitments. In 1963 members from our club were responsible for starting a youth team and also getting youth programs started in the Cleveland area. In the fall of 1964 we were mainly involved in establishing the Lake Erie Soccer League. With many players available at that time we started a First Division team known as Green White which played successfully for almost ten years. Our Major team won the Lake Erie League Championship four years in a row from1965 to 1968. Exhibition games were played in the late sixties against professional teams from Europe and we were involved in some cup games in the American Leagues.
The 1970’s started slowly as our Major team had changed over to mostly players who were born here and grew up in our junior program, some of which were playing in universities and in the off season would return to the club. Also with the start of the Cleveland Stars (later the Cleveland Cobras), our club had several players playing with them. It was also in the 1970’s that many of our players went to play MISL Indoor Professional Soccer League. In order for the American people to recognize soccer as an American sport, our club, along with most other LESL clubs, modified their names to sound more Americanized, hence the added name Concordia. With the purchase of Lenau Park in the 1970’s by the Danube Swabian Society we were able to finally have a home field to play on.
In the 1980’s we were able to bring in some of our younger high school players and later players from England who played at CSU. It was with these additions that our teams once again began to prosper. Also in the 1980’s members of our club were responsible for starting the North Coast Soccer League where we presently have two senior teams playing. Our club also helped established the first all women soccer league. With the building of the Cultural Center and it’s opening in 1985 a great era of indoor soccer started and is still going strong downstairs in the gym where three sessions are being played every winter.
In the early 1990’s the NCAA limited its players to only playing for their school teams during the fall season, our club had to depend mostly on our players coming from our junior programs and high school players from around the area. In the spring of 1997 the Major team went undefeated, winning the Lake Erie League Championship without a loss. In the late 1990’s and early 2000’s our senior teams as well as junior teams went through hard times. After two years of rebuilding the Major team came back strong after 2002 by winning the indoor Super League six times and also being in the finals of the Danube Swabian of Americas Tournament the last 7 years winning in 2004, 2007, 2009 and 2010. 2007 saw the team win the Lake Erie League Cup and a return to cup play winning the Ohio Amateur Championship in 2008 & 2010. The junior program has seen remarkable growth with over 15 teams and 250+ youth players. Our North Coast teams are stronger than ever. In 28 years of North Coast league play our 2 teams, Concordia & Donauschwaben, have appeared in 14 final games winning the cup 8 times. Since 2000 our boys have won 6 of the last 10 finals.
The Soccer Club hopes with your continued support to build on this success in order to maintain and further our soccer traditions in the future.
PRESIDENTS
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