FC Carl Zeiss Jena

In 1933, 1. SV Jena joined the Gauliga Mitte, one of 16 top-flight divisions formed in the reorganization of German football under the Third Reich. The team captured division titles in 1935, 1936, 1940, and 1941. This earned Jena entry to the national finals, but they performed poorly and were never able to advance out of preliminary-round group play. After the 1943–44 season, the Gauliga Mitte broke up into a collection of city-based leagues as World War II overtook the area.

Historical chart of Carl Zeiss Jena league performance

In the immediate aftermath of the war, associations of all types (including sports and football clubs) were banned in Germany by the occupying Allied authorities. Jena was reconstituted in June 1946 as SG Ernst Abbe Jena and, like many other clubs in East Germany, underwent a number of name changes: SG Stadion Jena (October 1948), SG Carl Zeiss Jena (March 1949), BSG Mechanik Jena (January 1951), BSG Motor Jena (May 1951) and SC Motor Jena (November 1954).

In the aftermath of World War II, East Germany authorities tagged sports teams with the names of socialist heroes: Ernst Abbe was a local son and physicist associated with the Zeiss optical factory. He made an early contribution to easing the plight of workers by introducing the 8-hour work day at the Zeiss plant, a milestone for labour during the late 19th century.

In 1950 the club became a founding member of the DDR Liga (II), and in their second season captured a divisional title to win promotion to the top-flight DDR Oberliga for a single-season appearance. Renamed SC Motor Jena in 1954, they played their way back to the upper league by 1957. Jena won its first honours with the capture of the FDGB-Pokal in 1960 and followed up with the East Germany national title in 1963. The club was "re-founded" as FC Carl Zeiss Jena in January 1966, and became one of East Germany's "focus centres" for the development of players for the national side and a dominant side in the DDR-Oberliga. They took two more national titles in 1968 and 1970, but finished in second place another half-dozen times to sides such as Vorwärts Berlin, Dynamo Dresden and 1. FC Magdeburg. They also captured East German Cups in 1972, 1974 and 1980, and appeared in the 1981 European Cup Winners' Cup Final, losing 2–1 to Dinamo Tbilisi.

After German reunification in 1990, Jena entered the 2. Bundesliga. Their second-place finish in 1992 deteriorated into a 17th-place finish in 1994 and relegation to Regionalliga Nordost (III). They won immediate promotion, and played for three more years at tier-II level. Since 1999 the team has primarily played tier III and IV football,[1] but a second place-finish in the Regionalliga Nord secured Jena promotion to the 2. Bundesliga for the 2006–07 season. Jena remained in the 2. Bundesliga by winning 2–1 away against FC Augsburg in their final match of the season. They finished last in the 2. Bundesliga in 2007–08, returning to the third tier. However, this would not be one of the Regionalligen; the German Football Association (DFB) launched the new 3. Liga for 2008–09, of which Jena was a charter member.

On 9 November 2009 chairman Peter Schreiber announced his retirement;[2] on 13 November the executive board accepted his resignation,[3] and on 25 November Hartmut Bayer became the new chairman.[4] The second team was involved in the 2009 European football betting scandal,[5] accused of match-fixing in the game against ZFC Meuselwitz.[6] On 10 December 2009 the club announced that it was in financial distress, owing over €1 million.[7] In January 2010 the players agreed to accept a lower salary.[8]

Carl Zeiss Jena were relegated from the 3. Liga in 2012 and finished second in the tier four Regionalliga Nordost in 2013, and third in 2014. In the 2016–17 season they won the Regionalliga Nordost and were promoted to 3. Liga after a play-off win against Viktoria Köln. CZ Jena won the first match in Köln 3–2 and lost the second leg 1–0 at home, but were promoted on the away goals rule. After three seasons in the 3. Liga, the club experienced an underwhelming season and was relegated to the Regionalliga Nordost in June 2020.[9]

Top tier

• DDR-Oberliga (East German Championship)
  • Winners: 1963, 1968, 1970
  • Runner-up: 1958, 1965, 1966, 1969, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1981
  • Third placed: 1977, 1979, 1980, 1983, 1986

Lower tiers

• Regionalliga Nordost[note 1]
  • Winners: 1995,[note 2] 2017
• Regionalliga Nord[note 3]
  • Runner-up: 2006[note 4]
• NOFV-Oberliga Süd[note 5]
  • Winner: 2005[note 6]
  • Runner-up: 2003, 2004
  • Third place: 2002

• FDGB Cup (East German Cup)
  • Winners: 1960, 1972, 1974, 1980
• Olympia-Pokal (de)
  • Winners: 1964

• Gauliga Mitte[note 7]
  • Winners: 1935, 1936, 1940, 1941
  • Runners-up: 1939, 1942
• Thuringian Cup[note 8] (Tiers III-VII)
  • Winners: 1993,[note 9] 1995, 1999, 2004, 2006, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023
  • Runner-up: 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2009

• UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
  • Runners-up: 1981

• German U-17 Championship
  • Runner-up: 1993

As of 21 August 2023[15]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  GER Kevin Kunz 2 DF  GER Fynn Kleeschätzky 3 DF  GER Ken Gipson 4 DF  GER Burim Halili 5 DF  GER Bastian Strietzel (Captain) 6 DF  GER Maurice Hehne 7 FW  GER Pasqual Verkamp 8 MF  GER Lukas Lämmel 9 FW  GER Jan Dahlke 10 MF  GER Jonathan Muiomo 11 FW  GER Maximilian Krauß 12 GK  GRE Alexios Dedidis

No. Pos. Nation Player 15 DF  GER Marcel Hoppe 16 DF  GER Justin Smyla 17 MF  GER Justin Petermann 18 MF  GER Elias Löder 19 MF  UKR Oleksiy Ohurtsov 20 FW  GER Josien Nathaniel 21 FW  GER Max Grimm 22 GK  GER Maximus Babke 23 FW  GER Benjamin Zank 25 MF  GER Justin Schau 27 MF  GER Joel Richter 33 MF  GER Joshua Endres

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

FCC sent 33 players to the DDR (East German) national side.

Before the end of World War II, Jena sent three players to the Germany national side: Willy Krauß (1911–12), Heinz Werner (1935) and Ludwig Gärtner (1939–41).

American defender, Brian Bliss, played at the club from 1992 to 1996 and received regular calls to the United States men's national soccer team. He went on to play for MLS side Columbus Crew SC and would later serve as technical director in the club's front office.

Another notable player is former Germany goalkeeper Robert Enke, who started his career at the club and then went on to play for clubs such as Hannover 96, FC Barcelona and S.L. Benfica.