FC St Pauli

Fusball-Club St Pauli von 1910 e.V., commonly known as simply FC St Pauli, is a German professional football club based in the St. Pauli district of Hamburg, that competes in the 2. Bundesliga.

The football department is part of a larger sports club that also has departments in rugby (FC St. Pauli Rugby), baseball, bowling, boxing (FC St. Pauli Boxen),chess, cycling, handball, roller derby (Harbour Girls Hamburg),skittles, softball, and table tennis and since 2011 Marathon. Until the end of 2013, the club also had a department in American football, but it was dissolved because it lacked the youth team required in order to hold a men's team. FC St. Pauli has 27,000 members as of November 2018.

The men's professional football team dropped down to the Regionalliga in 2003, at that time the third highest football division in Germany and remained there for four years. In 2007, they won promotion back to the 2. Bundesliga and in 2010, they were promoted to the Bundesliga, the highest division. After relegation, since the 2011–12 season they have played in 2. Bundesliga, the second-highest division in Germany.

FC St Pauli has a cross-city rivalry with Hamburger SV; the matches between the two are known as the Hamburger Stadtderby or simply Derby. The club also has a more recent rivalry with Hansa Rostock.

Although the footballers have enjoyed only modest success on the field, the club is widely recognised for its distinctive social culture and has a large popular following as one of the country's "Kult" clubs, which has now developed beyond Germany. FC St. Pauli supporters are strongly identified with their support of left-wing politics.

This page also has a version in other languages :  Санкт-Паули (russian)