under the guidance of new coach winfried schäfer, ksc's return to the top flight was marked with some success as for the first time the team managed to work its way out of the bottom half of the league table. in the 1993–94 season, the club had a successful run in the uefa cup, going out in the semi-finals on away goals to austria salzburg after beating, in turn, psv, valencia, bordeaux and boavista. their stunning 7–0 second-round victory over valencia, a top team in the spanish la liga at the time and in historical terms as well, might be considered the high point of the club's history in its centennial year. between 1992 and 1997, the club was ranked in the single digits in six consecutive bundesliga seasons and also participated in two more uefa cups, reaching the third round both in the 1996–97 and 1997–98 seasons, being eliminated from the competition after losing their second-leg matches to brøndby and spartak moscow respectively. in 1995, ksc won the dfb-hallenpokal, an indoor football tournament that was traditionally held during winter breaks of the bundesliga seasons. they also played in the final of the dfb-pokal in 1996, but lost 0–1 to 1. fc kaiserslautern.