VfL Bochum

VfL Bochum

Full name	Verein für Leibesübungen Bochum 1848 Fußballgemeinschaft eingetragener Verein
Nickname(s)	Die Unabsteigbaren (The Unrelegatables, only prior to 1994)
Founded	1848 as Turnverein zu Bochum
Ground	Ruhrstadion (Capacity: 31,328)
Chairman	Werner Altegoer
Head coach	Friedhelm Funkel
League	2. Bundesliga
2009–10	Bundesliga, 17th (relegated)
Home colours Away colours Third colours

Verein für Leibesübungen Bochum 1848 Fußballgemeinschaft, commonly referred to as simply VfL Bochum, is a German football club based in the city of Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia.

History

Founding to World War II

VfL Bochum is one of the oldest sports organizations in Germany claiming an origin date of July 26, 1848 when an article in the Märkischer Sprecher - a local newspaper - called for the creation of a gymnastics club. The Turnverein zu Bochum was then formally established on 18 February 1849. The club was banned on 28 December 1852 for political reasons and then reestablished on 19 June 1860. The club was reorganized in May 1904 as Turnverein zu Bochum, gegründet 1848 and formed a football department on 31 January 1911. On April 1, 1919 the club merged with Spiel und Sport 08 Bochum to form the Turn- und Sportverein Bochum 1848. On February 1, 1924 the two clubs from the earlier merger spilt to into the Bochumer Turnverein 1848 (gymnastics department) and Turn- und Sportverein Bochum 1908 (football, track and field, handball, hockey and tennis departments).^[1]

Bochumer Turnverein 1848 was forced by the Nazi regime to merge with Turn- und Sport Bochum 1908 and Sportverein Germania Vörwarts Bochum 1906 into the current-day club VfL Bochum on April 14, 1938. After the merger the VfL Bochum continued to compete in the top flight as part of the Gauliga Westfalen.^[1][2][3]

As World War II progressed, play throughout Germany became increasingly difficult due to player shortages, travel problems, and damage to football fields from Allied bombing raids. VfL became part of the wartime side Kriegsspielgemeinschaft VfL 1848/Preußen Bochum alongside Preußen 07 Elberfeld before reemerging as a separate side after the war. Although they fielded competitive sides, they had the misfortune of playing in the same division as Schalke 04 which was the dominant team of the era: VfL's best result was a distant second place in 1938–39.

Postwar and entry to Bundesliga play

Following the war the football section resumed play as the independent VfL Bochum Fussballgemeinschaft 1848 and played its first season in the second division 2.Oberliga West in 1949, while Preußen Bochum went on to lower tier amateur level play. VfL captured the division title in 1953 to advance to the Oberliga West for a single season. They repeated their divisional win in 1956 and returned to the top-flight until again being relgated after the 1960-61 season.

With the formation of the Bundesliga, Germany's new professional league, in 1963, VfL found itself in the third tier Amateurliga Westfalen. A first place result there in 1965 raised them to the Regionalliga West (II) from where they began a steady climb up the league table to the Bundesliga in 1971. During this rise Bochum also played its way to the final of the 1968 German Cup where they dropped a 1:4 decision to 1. FC Köln.

In spite of being a perennial lower table side, Bochum developed a reputation for tenaciousness on the field in a run of twenty seasons at the top flight. The club made a repeat appearance in the German Cup final in 1988, this time going down 0:1 to Eintracht Frankfurt. Relegated after a 16th place finish in 1993, the team has become a classic "yo-yo club", bouncing up and down between the Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga. The club's best Bundesliga results have come relatively recently as 5th place finishes in 1997 and 2004, which earned them appearances in the UEFA Cup tournament. In 1997, they advanced to the third round where they were put out by Dutch side Ajax Amsterdam, and in 2004, they were eliminated early through away goals (0-0 and 1-1) by Standard CL Liège of Belgium.

Current

Today's sports club has 5,000 members with the football department accounting for over 2,200 of these. Other sections now part of the association include athletics, badminton, basketball, dance, fencing, gymnastics, handball, hockey, swimming, table tennis, tennis, and volleyball.

Players

See also List of VfL Bochum players

Current squad

As of July 9, 2010 Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Philipp Heerwagen 2 DF Björn Kopplin 3 DF Patrick Fabian 4 DF Marcel Maltritz (captain) 5 MF Christoph Dabrowski (vice-captain) 7 MF Paul Freier 8 MF Andreas Johansson 9 FW Stanislav Šesták 10 MF Miloš Marić 11 FW Zlatko Dedič 13 FW Jong Tae-Se 14 MF Faton Toski 15 FW Roman Prokoph 16 MF Kevin Vogt 17 MF Oguzhan Kefkir

No. Position Player 18 MF Giovanni Federico 19 MF Dennis Grote 20 DF Mergim Mavraj 21 DF Marc Pfertzel 22 FW Mirkan Aydin 23 MF Marc Rzatkowski 24 DF Philipp Bönig 25 DF Antar Yahia 26 GK Andreas Luthe 27 DF Christian Fuchs 28 DF Matias Concha 29 MF Mimoun Azaouagh 30 GK Daniel Fernandes 31 GK Michael Esser 33 MF Philip Semlits

For recent transfers, see List of German football transfers summer 2010#VfL Bochum and List of German football transfers winter 2009–10#VfL Bochum.

VfL Bochum II squad

As of January 22, 2010

Manager: Nicolas Michaty

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player — GK Michael Esser — GK Markus Scholz — DF Jonas Acquistapace — DF Christoph Caspari — DF Nurdin Hrustić — DF Christian Kalina — DF Christian Mengert — DF Matthias Ostrzolek — DF Pascal Pellowski — MF Sascha Donougher — MF Jürgen Duah — MF Marc Rzatkowski — MF Philip Semlits

No. Position Player — MF Gianluca Zavarise — MF Oliver Zech — FW Mirkan Aydin — FW Salvatore Bari — FW Victor Braininger — FW Justin Eilers — FW Mike Hibbeln — FW Mohamed Labiadh — FW Alexander Neumann — FW Roman Prokoph (captain) — FW Goran Slavkovski — FW Laurenz Wassinger

Notable players

The following are listed on the club's official site as their "Legendary Players", or are among the Bundesliga players with most appearances or goals.

See also: Category:VfL Bochum players

Honours

UEFA Cup

1997/98 (Third Round), 2004/05 (First Round)

German Cup finalists

1967/68, 1987/88

Bundesliga UEFA Cup qualification

1996/97 (5th), 2003/04 (5th)

Bundesliga top goal scorer

1985/86 (Stefan Kuntz, 22 goals), 2002/03 (Thomas Christiansen, 21 goals (w/Giovane Elber)), 2006/07 (Theofanis Gekas, 20 goals)

Promoted to Bundesliga

1970/71 (1st Regionalliga West, 1st promotion group #1), 1993/94 (1st), 1995/96 (1st), 1999/2000 (2nd), 2001/02 (3rd), 2005/06 (1st)

2. Bundesliga champions

1993/94, 1995/96, 2005/06

2. Bundesliga top goal scorer

1993/94 (Uwe Wegmann 22 goals)

Youth

• German Under 19 championship
  • Champions: 1969
  • Runners-up: 2004, 2005
• German Under 17 championship
  • Champions: 1985
• Under 19 Bundesliga West
  • Champions: 2004, 2005

League results

Stadium

Ruhrstadion (also known as "rewirpowerSTADION" under a sponsorship deal) was one of the first modern football-only stadiums in Germany. It was built in the 1970s on the traditional ground of TuS Bochum 08 at the Castroper Straße north of the city centre.

The fully-roofed venue's capacity is 31,328, including standing room for 15,639.

Team trivia

• One of the most prominent supporters of VfL Bochum is popular German musician and actor Herbert Grönemeyer, who wrote the song "Bochum" which soon became the club's unofficial anthem sung by VfL fans prior to every home match.
• In 1955, VfL Bochum became the first German football club to travel to Israel to play a friendship match.
• The club does not assign the number 12 to any player in order to honour its fans as the 12th man.

Coaches

Current staff

As of November 3, 2009^[40]

Coaches since 1963

References

External links

• The Abseits Guide to German Soccer
• Official website
• fussball.com
• vfl-bochum.pl