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Last East German club gets demoted from Bundesliga

When Hansa Rostock was demoted from the Bundesliga, a group of angry fans unfurled a giant banner painted with the players' pictures.

"Can you still look in the mirror?" the banner asked.

Rostock wasn't just any club demoted from the country's first division, it was the last survivor from the former East Germany, the former socialist country whose soccer has plunged into a deep crisis since it reunified with the west in 1990.

But the region's 17 million residents weren't just angry that Rostock's players didn't score enough or defend well as the club stumbled to a 7-9-17 record and 17th place in the 18-team league.

They also acknowledged the club's tough fight to stay in the top league for 10 years, despite a shoestring budget.

Cheers and standing ovations rained down on the players after the final whistle in the 1-1 draw against Bielefeld that sealed Rostock's fate.

"I've been in this business for 35 years, but I've never seen what happened today in the stadium," said Rostock coach Joerg Berger, who had saved three other teams from relegation.

"I was really touched -- and it makes demotion all the tougher," he added.

Now that Rostock has sunk into the second league, it appears there may not be a team from the former East Germany in the Bundesliga for years.

East Germany's economy is still struggling to make the switch from socialism to the free market. Once proud clubs like Dynamo Dresden or VfB Leipzig, which reached the Cup Winners' Cup final in 1987, can't find sponsorship money.

"No matter what they do, it all comes down to an economic problem," said Hans Meyer, a coach from the east who made a name for himself with Bundesliga clubs like Hertha Berlin and Moenchengladbach.

German great Franz Beckenbauer suggested the Bundesliga be expanded to 20 teams, giving the eastern clubs more opportunity.

But many doubt if that is the solution.

"Probably two more teams from the west will play in the first league. That means more mediocrity and it won't in any way solve the problems in the east," said Paul Breitner, a midfielder on Germany's 1974 World Cup-winning team.

Breitner said the East German soccer crisis reflects Germany's overall problem in turning around the region economically. That has led to people fleeing to the west for jobs.

East Germany produced many of the country's best players in the last decade, but the clubs can't pay enough to hold them. A short list includes Bayern Munich's Michael Ballack, 1996 European player of the year Matthias Sammer, and Ulf Kirsten, the bullish forward who was the Bundesliga's top scorer of the 1990s.

The east German clubs were often exploited by unscrupulous western businessman, who promised to show the state-run sides how to prosper in the free market, then sold their players and ran with the money.

Dynamo Dresden, the most beloved club among east Germans, is the top hope to return to the Bundesliga.

The 17-time East German champions were one of four clubs from the region added to the Bundesliga after German reunification. But its stars, Sammer and Kirsten, jumped to west clubs dangling lucrative contracts, and a corruption scandal dropped it into a regional league in the 1995-1996 season.

After eight years -- including two in the fourth division -- this season Dresden regained the second league. Currently ninth, some hope it can build a financial base for the Bundesliga since it plays in one of the east's most prosperous cities.

Leipzig, Germany's first champions in 1903, may never recover. The team went bankrupt in 2000 and now plays under the name Lok Leipzig in the 11th league.

Rostock's financial problems may be too deep to regain the Bundesliga.
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