Eintracht Frankfurt - Colours, Crest and Nicknames

Colours, Crest and Nicknames

The club crest derives from the coat of arms of Frankfurt am Main which is a reference to the one-headed imperial eagle of the 13th century.

The crest has evolved slowly over time, showing little significant change until 1980 when a stylized eagle in black and white was chosen to represent the team. In the centennial year 1999 the club board decided to re-adopt a more traditional eagle crest. Since 2006 Eintracht has a living mascot, Golden Eagle Attila from the nearby Hanau zoo who is very popular among supporters.

The official club colours of red, black, and white have their origins in the colours of the founding clubs Frankfurter FC Viktoria and Frankfurter FC Kickers, which sported red and white and black and white respectively. Red and white are the colours of the city coat of arms, and black and white the colours of Prussia. When the clubs merged, officials decided to adopt the colours of both sides. Since local rival Kickers Offenbach sport the colours red and white, Eintracht avoids playing in such a kit, preferring to play in black and red, or in black and white.

The club is nicknamed Die Adler (The Eagles), which obviously derives from their crest. A nickname still popular among supporters is SGE, taken from the club's old official name Sportgemeinde Eintracht (Frankfurt), roughly translated meaning Sports community United.

The nickname Launische Diva (Moody Diva) was heard most often in the early 1990s when the club would easily defeat top teams only to surprisingly lose to lesser clubs. This nickname was also held to refer to the what was regarded as the dubious work of some club chairmen, including for example, the failure to record the transfer fee of Hungarian star player Lajos Détári on club books. The current reign of Heribert Bruchhagen appears to have left these practises to the past.