The British Army of the Rhine once had a huge barracks at Paderborn, and over the years thousands of young Brits have gone to SC Paderborn 07 for their football while away from home.
The club can trace its roots rights back to 1907 when one of its many predecessor clubs was founded. The club we know today was formed in 1985 following a merger of two local sides and adopted its current name in 1997. Between then and 2005 Paderborn played in regional leagues and for the last 12 years, apart from one season in the Bundesliga, has moved between the 2nd and 3rd divisions.
The wrong kind of record
In 2016/17 the club came very close to making history as the first football club to drop from the Bundesliga to the fourth division in three successive seasons. Having earned promotion to the Bundesliga for the first time in 2013/14 Paderborn endured a miserable season in the top division, finished bottom and dropped straight back into the 2 Bundesliga. In 2015/16 the misery continued, and Paderborn came bottom again. A third successive relegation in 2016/17 was avoided despite finishing in 18th place yet again because 1860 München, having been relegated from 2 Bundesliga, failed to meet DFB financial deadlines. As a result, the Bavarian club was refused a professional license and put into a Regionalliga. This allowed Paderborn to hang onto league status.
Moving on up
Paderborn fans have enjoyed the 2017/18 season. Strong performances before and after the winter break meant their club had secured promotion with three games still to play. All that remained for the final stages of the season was a battle with Magdeburg for first place.
SC Paderborn at a glance
Website: http://www.scp07.de/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/meinSCP
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SCPaderborn07
Email: info@scpaderborn07.de
Telephone: +49(0) 5251 8771907
Online Ticket Shop: https://www.eventimsports.de/ols/scp07/
Ground: Benteler Arena
Capacity: 15,000
Average attendance 17/18: 8,035
Address: Paderborner Straße 89, 33104 Paderborn
Colours: Black white blue
Getting to Paderborn
Paderborn has its own airport, but there are no longer any flights to and from the UK. The city is 60 miles to the east of the Ruhr conurbation and 90 miles south-west of Hanover. It has good rail links, so the simplest way to get there is to fly either to Dortmund Düsseldorf or Hanover and then get the train.
Dortmund Airport
There are flights here from London Stansted and London Luton. You need to catch a shuttle bus to Dortmund station where you can catch a train to Paderborn.
Düsseldorf Airport
There are flights here from Birmingham, London Stanstead, London Heathrow, London Gatwick, Manchester, Cardiff, Glasgow and Newcastle. The airport has a station where you can continue your journey to Paderborn.
Hanover Airport
There are flights here from Birmingham, Manchester, London City and London Heathrow. When you arrive you take a local train (S5) from the airport to Hanover station. These trains run every 30 minutes and the journey takes 18 minutes. There are frequent trains between Hanover and Paderborn, and it takes about 2 hours to get there.
If you are not in a hurry
A more leisurely way to get here would be by train – take the Eurostar from London St Pancras to Brussels, change there for Cologne and then continue to Paderborn. This costs about £150.
If you have plenty of time, National Express will take you from London to the region by bus for about £40 return. But be prepared for a very long journey!
Getting to the ground
Your match ticket entitles you to free local bus travel from the town centre to the stadium. The number 68 towards “Schöne Aussicht” will take there from the station in about 15 minutes. You get off at “Arena/Almeaue”.
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