scored first but the team lost after two goals from Ottmar Walter. Founding member of the Bundesliga Their results as a mid-table side in the tough Oberliga West in the ten years prior to the formation of the Bundesliga in 1963 were good enough to earn Preußen Münster the admission as one of the five teams from that league to earn a place in Germany's new sixteen-team professional circuit. The club made only a cameo appearance in the Bundesliga, being relegated after a next-to-last 15th-place finish. Post Bundesliga play Preußen Münster played out the 1960s and 1970s as a second division side in the Regionalliga West and 2. Bundesliga Nord. In the 1970s the Preußen made several attempts to return to Bundesliga. Under club president Günter Wellerdieck (from 1970 to 1978) the club took a considerable financial risk to achieve the promotion to first tier. Preußen failed to do so by finishing on 5th place in the 1973–74 season and on 3rd place in the 1977–78 and 1978–79 seasons. After Wellerdieck and other staff of the club's management resigned due to financial difficulties and accusations of tax fraud in 1978, the decline of Preußen Münster continued. They slipped to the Amateur Oberliga Westfalen (III) in the 1981–82 season, and except for a short adventure in the 2. Bundesliga in the 1990 and 1991 seasons, played third tier football in the Regionalliga West/Sudwest (1993–2000) and Regionalliga Nord until 2006. During this period, they captured the German Amateur Championship in 1994 with a 1–0 win over Kickers Offenbach. In 2006, the club was relegated to the Oberliga Westfalen, now a fourth tier circuit. Management subsequently invested significant financial resources into a high-profile team of experienced second- and third-tier players in pursuit of immediate re-promotion. The attempt ended in failure and the club re-built itself with young players in place of expensive veterans and also put in place a young and relatively unknown coach, Roger Schmidt. The re-worked side finished in first place in the 2007–08 season, and so qualified for the new Regionalliga West which replaced the Oberliga in the league system. They ended the season in fourth place in the Regionalliga in 2008–09, and in sixth in 2009–10. For season 2008–09 the club qualified for the DFB-Pokal the first time since season 1997–98 (where they were defeated by 1.FSV Mainz 05). The opponent was VfL Bochum which competed in Bundesliga at