German football broadcaster Constantin Eckner has given the lowdown on Freiburg before they face Aston Villa in the Europa League final on Wednesday evening.
“They finished seventh in the Bundesliga so they are at least qualified for the Conference league next season, but of course they want more,” he told BBC Sounds’ More than the Score podcast.
“The club is not known that well internationally but they were first promoted to the Bundesliga in 1993 and they are the proverbial underdogs in a sense. They are a small club from the south west of Germany near the German-French and German-Swiss border.
“They are a bit out of the centre of Germany but locally Freiburg are a major institution. The city itself has roughly 240,000 people living there while Freiburg as a club has 80,000 members.
“It is one of the 30 largest clubs in terms of memberships in the world, but many have not heard of them because it is quite a local affair. Up until this season they had never got past the round of 16 in European competition. In some years they fight against relegation, they have been relegated and promoted back to the Bundesliga on three occasions.
“People might not know that much about Freiburg but it is an intriguing club. For many years they always said they wanted to be one of the best 25 clubs in Germany. The Bundesliga is only 18 clubs, so they were even maybe content being in the second division and being in the best seven best teams there.
“With time, and more and more success, playing the Europa League in recent years, of course they want to achieve more and now they want to bring down Aston Villa in Istanbul.”