Founded in 1895 as "Football and Cricket Club Eintracht", the club had to wait until 1904 before they could finally start playing competitive soccer, as there wasn't an organized league in the Duchy of Braunschweig before that year. Being among the best teams in Northern Germany before World War I, Eintracht dominated their local league fom the start - the club also reached the final of the Northern German championship 7 times between 1906 and 1913, though only winning the 1908 and 1913, and additionally reached the quarterfinals of the German championship play-offs in 1905 and 1908. From a sporting point of view the club failed to reach its former success again between the wars, making the building of a new stadium at Hamburger Straße the most notable event of this time. The club's old ground at Helmstedter Straße (roughly at the opposite end of the city) with a capacity of 3000 had become way too small. After various reconstructions the stadium is still in use today, although the club had to sell it to the city during the 1980s because of financial difficulties.During the time of the Third Reich the club seemingly didn't have much trouble adapting to the new political situation. On the field the results were mostly mediocre, despite qualifiying for the German championship play-off again twice during the 1940s. After the war the British forced various Braunschweig clubs to merge into a single one, which started playing soccer under the name of TSV Braunschweig in 1946 again. The new name stood until the year of 1949 in which a return to the traditional name of Eintracht was made. Eintracht continued to play moderately succesfully in the highest division of Northern Germany (a unified national league still didn't exist in Germany at that time) until 1952. In 1952 Eintracht was forcibly relegated because of alleged game manipulations. Still the club managed to return without any problems the following season by winning the second division. In 1958 Eintracht qualified for the national championship play-offs again, the only time between the end of WWII and the abolishment of those play-offs with the introduction of the nationwide Bundesliga. Surprisingly Eintracht managed to be among the 16 lucky clubs who qualified to become the founding members of this new league, unlike Bayern München, for example. They managed to surprise even more by establishing itself in the Bundesliga, despite being seen as likely relegation candidates by the national press. The 1966/67 season would eventually become the highlight in the club's long history - thanks to a extremely strong defence the German championship was sensationally won (also making Eintracht Braunschweig the last amateur side to do so). The following year Eintracht reached the quarter-final of the European cup, losing 3:2, 0:1 and finally 0:1 in a hard-fought 3 games series with Juventus FC of Italy. The team around players like Horst Wolter, Lothar Ulsaß, Jürgen Moll, Erich Maas and others, coach Helmuth Johannsen and long-time club president Ernst Fricke (who also gave this article it's name with a quote of him translating into "our weakness [on the road] got stronger" - a problem of Eintracht which exists to this day) still remains legendary among fans. The 1970s would become a succesful decade for the Eintracht - despite not starting very well. At first the club was involved in the infamous Bundesliga scandal of 1971 (some of the club's player's had been involved in macth fixing), and in 1973 Eintracht was relegated from the Bundesliga for the first time. Still, they managed to return in fashion after only one year in the second division. But also outside of the soccer pitch Eintracht secured its place in the history books of soccer in 1973: this year the club became the first ever team in the country to have a shirt sponsor! After long negotiations the DFB had finally allowed them to wear their now famous kits with the Jägermeister logo, the company of then main sponsor and later president Günter Mast. But also on the field Eintracht was a top team again: in 1977 the lions finished 3rd, just 1 point behind the champions Mönchengladbach. Besides 3 UEFA cup participations, the 70s also saw world champion Paul Breitner joining the team from Real Madrid - he was bought for a German transfer record of 1.5 million German marks. But the success of the 1970s didn't last... financial difficulties led to a slow decline. Finally, in 1985 the club was relegated for the third, and up to today last, time from the Bundesliga - after a total of 20 seasons in the top flight between its introduction in 1963 and the 1985 season. But it would become even worse: in 1987 Eintracht was relegated to the third division for the first time in its history. After a quick return to the 2nd Bundesliga the fans saw one last big highlight: in 1990 the club reached the German cup semi-final for the second time in its history. But the decline couldn't be stopped: in 1993 followed the second relegation from the second Bundesliga. The club should stay in the third divison for 9 years - a time in which the team often came close to promotion, but in the end always seemed to fail. Despite this the crowds started to rise again, year after year. Finally, the fans could finally celebrate the return to professional soccer in 2002... but only for one year. Only 10 points in the first half of the season meant relegation in the end, despite a good showing in the season's second half. This time, the stay in the third divion should only last 2 years: in 2005 Eintracht was promoted to the 2nd Bundesliga again, this time managing to stay in the league the following season. But seemingly this club doesn't seem to be made for long-time success: after a horrible first half of the 2006/2007 season, all signs seem to point towards relegation again...
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