SpVgg Unterhaching
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| Full name | Spielvereinigung Unterhaching e.V. | ||
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| Nickname(s) | Haching | ||
| Founded | 1 January 1925 | ||
| Ground | Generali Sportpark Unterhaching, Germany (Capacity: 15,053) |
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| Chairman |  Engelbert Kupka |
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| Manager | Ralf Bucher |
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| Coach | Klaus Augenthaler |
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| League | 3rd Liga | ||
| 2008-09 | 3rd Liga, 4th | ||
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Spielvereinigung Unterhaching is a German sports club in Unterhaching, a semi-rural municipality on the southern outskirts of the Bavarian capital Munich.
The club's football team is widely known for playing in the first-division Bundesliga alongside its more famous cousins Bayern Munich and 1860 Munich for two seasons between 1999 and 2001, while the bobsleigh department has captured several world and Olympic titles.
The team currently play in the 3. Liga, the German third division, having been relegated from the 2. Bundesliga in season 2006–07 and then moved into the newly created 3. Liga for 2008–09 following a reorganisation of the German league system.
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History
Early history
Originally part of the gymnastics and sports club TSV Hachinger, SpVgg Unterhaching was established as an independent football club on 1 January 1925. Their first promotion to a higher division came in 1931 and they went on to be promoted to the A-Klasse a year later. However, the club was dissolved in 1933 as it was regarded as "politically unreliable" by the Nazis and was not re-established until after the end of World War II in 1945 to resume play in the amateur fourth division B-Klasse.
A rise through the ranks
Unterhaching's football team was only an anonymous local amateur team with no significant successes until a climb through league ranks that began in 1976 with promotion from B-Klasse to A-Klasse play. A first place finished earned the club quick promotion to the Bezirksliga in 1977. Continued good play put the team into the fourth-division Landesliga Bayern-Süd in 1979 and then the Oberliga Bayern (III), the highest amateur division at the time, by 1981.
Unterhaching finished first there in 1983 to earn an appearance in the playoff round for the Second Bundesliga, but failed to advance. They suffered a similar fate in 1988 when they next appeared in the promotion round.
The club finally emerged out of the Oberliga to play in the 2. Bundesliga in 1989, but were quickly relegated after a 20th-place finish. Promoted a second time in 1992, they were once again sent down after a marginally better 18th place result. Unterhaching next appeared in the second division in 1995 after a first-place finish in the new Regionalliga Süd (III).
Unterhaching's Bundesliga adventure
With their return to the 2. Bundesliga in the 1995-96 season the club would begin a period that would see them earn their best ever results. They finished 4th that season, then slipped to 6th and 11th place results in their next two campaigns before securing promotion to the top-flight Bundesliga after a 2nd place finish in 1999 season.
They went on to surprise everyone with a respectable 10th place result in their inaugural Bundesliga season and also famously played the spoiler's role in deciding who would win the championship that year. Their first Bundesliga win came in just their second match of the season, with a 2:0 victory over MSV Duisburg at home. While struggling in away matches, Unterhaching remained undefeated at home in nine games before losing 0:2 to their stronger neighbours, Bayern Munich. Prior to this loss, they had earned wins at home in matches against highly favoured teams like VfB Stuttgart and Borussia Dortmund, beating them 2:0 and 1:0 respectively. They earned their first away win in the Bundesliga by beating VfB Stuttgart 2:0 once again.
On the final matchday of the season, visiting Bayer Leverkusen needed only a draw in Unterhaching to secure their first national title, but instead went down to defeat to the determined home side. Things took a sinister turn for Leverkusen when Michael Ballack scored an own goal that put home side ahead in the 20th minute. Their title hopes ended when Haching midfielder Markus Oberleitner made the score 2:0 in the 72nd minute. Meanwhile, Bayern Munich beat Werder Bremen 3:1 at home and were able to overtake Leverkusen on goal difference to snatch away the title. With a 10th place result, Unterhaching finished ahead of long-established sides Borussia Dortmund and Schalke 04. They ended the season with the league's fifth best home record with 10 wins and 5 draws in 17 matches having lost only to Bayern Munich and 1. FC Kaiserslautern.
Goalkeeper Gerhard Tremmel, defender Alexander Strehmel, midfielders Jochen Seitz and Markus Oberleitner, and strikers Altin Rraklli and André Breitenreiter – who scored 13 Bundesliga goals between them that season – were among the most memorable players of a team that impressed by its discipline.
However, the start of the 2000–01 season was a nightmare for Unterhaching as they would win only one and draw two of their first eight matches. While the team went undefeated in its next six matches, they were unable to maintain that form and at the mid-season break were only out of the relegation zone on goal difference. The second half of the season was just as dismal, and although they earned wins over local rivals Bayern Munich and 1860 Munich, their campaign would end with a 16th place result and relegation.
Interestingly, as the season drew to a close Unterhaching was once again in a position to help Bayern Munich win another title. Needing only to hold second-place Schalke 04 to a draw in their final match to ensure Bayern's win, Unterhaching held 2:0 and 3:2 advantages before finally succumbing 3:5 to Schalke. Bayern then had to make their own way to the championship with at least a draw against Hamburger SV which they only narrowly managed on a Patrik Andersson equalizer (1:1) deep into stoppage time.
Ironically, in the middle of their poor season, SpVgg Unterhaching would emerge as winners of the last ever DFB-Hallenpokal, an indoor football tournament staged during the winter break of the Bundesliga season from 1987 to 2001.
Recent history
The club's struggles continued after their relegation to the 2. Bundesliga. Needing an away win in their final match of the season in order to avoid being sent down to the Regionalliga Süd (III), they instead went down to a 0:3 defeat to Karlsruher SC and finished in 15th place. They re-bounded the following season, taking the Regionalliga title, and making their way back to second division competition. Subsequently, 'Haching' has delivered poor results in the 2. Bundesliga, narrowly avoiding being relegated again in both 2004 and 2006 before finally dropping into the Regionalliga in 2007, finishing 16th in the table due to FC Carl Zeiss Jena's 2-1 win against FC Augsburg.
In the 2007-08 season, the club was never really in contention for a 2. Bundesliga return but did qualify for the new 3rd Liga. In its first season in the new, nationwide 3. Liga, the club was close to promotion, but a loss 3:4-loss against Carl Zeiss Jena on the 37th matchday earned them a fall from 2nd to 4th place, and a prolonged stay in the 3rd league.
In 2009/10 the club started well, but went down the tableau during winter. 2008/09's successful coach Ralph Hasenhüttl got replaced by the 1990-world champion Klaus Augenthaler, who led the team to a finish on a secure 11th place.
Reserve team
SpVgg Unterhaching II (or SpVgg Unterhaching Amateure) belong to the Oberliga Bayern since 2001, coming ninth in the 2007–08 season of this league. Due to a number of clubs in the league not receiving a licence for the Regionalliga, the team gained entry to the Regionalliga Süd for the 2008–09 season[1][2].
Current squad
As of 15 August 2010[update]
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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SpVgg Unterhaching II squad
Notable former players
Miroslav Stević (2005-2006)- Necat Aygün
- André Breitenreiter
- Ralf Bucher
- Stefan Buck
- Francisco Copado
- Anton Fink
- Alfonso Garcia
- Dennis Grassow
- Marco Haber
- Robert Lechleiter
- Matthias Lust
- Markus Oberleitner
- Darlington Omodiagbe
- Altin Rraklli
- Danny Schwarz
- Jan Seifert
- Jochen Seitz
- Alexander Strehmel
- Carsten Sträßer
Milan Susak- Gerhard Tremmel
- Peter Zeiler
- Matthias Zimmermann
Team trivia
- For many years, Unterhaching received financial support from their bigger, wealthier cousins Bayern Munich until the smaller club's much improved performance transformed it into a potential rival.
Stadium
SpVgg Unterhaching's home stadium is the municipal Stadion am Sportpark (capacity 15,053), now known as Generali Sportpark under a sponsorship arrangement with the club. The club's fan base is local in character, although it has developed a small following as one of Germany's "Kult" teams.
Until 1960, Haching played their home matches at the Jahnstraße football field and moved then to the Grünauer Allee stadium, which has about 4,000 standing places and where they played before the Sportpark stadium opened in April 1992. The Grünauer Allee stadium is now home ground of the club's reserve squad, Haching II, which is currently playing in the fourth-division Oberliga Bayern. The Grünauer Allee stadium is also the home ground of Fortuna Unterhaching, established in 1992 and playing close to the bottom end of the German league system. During winter, Fortuna Unterhaching shares the artificial football pitch owned by SpVgg Unterhaching.
Bobsleigh
In 1975, local entrepreneur and club sponsor Anton Schrobenhauser († 1982) founded the bobsleigh department, which he presided over until 1979. The club's bobsledders have since achieved a number of excellent results on the national and international level.
Numerous Olympic medals and world championship titles make Christoph Langen Unterhaching's outstanding bobsledder. His honours include:
- Olympics 2-man crew: 2002 (Gold); 1992, 1998 (Bronze)
- Olympics 4-man crew: 1998 (Gold)
- World champion 2-man crew: 1993, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001
- World champion 4-man crew: 1996, 2001
- World Cup 2-man crew: 1996, 1999, 2004
- World Cup 4-man crew: 1996, 1999
- European champion 2-man crew: 1994, 1995, 1996, 2001, 2004
- European champion 4-man crew: 1996, 1999
Recent seasons
| Year | Division | Position |
| 1998-99 | 2nd Bundesliga (II) | 2nd ↑ |
| 1999-2000 | Fussball-Bundesliga (I) | 10th |
| 2000-01 | Fussball-Bundesliga | 16th ↓ |
| 2001-02 | 2nd Bundesliga (II) | 15th ↓ |
| 2002-03 | Regionalliga Süd (III) | 1st ↑ |
| 2003-04 | 2nd Bundesliga (II) | 13th |
| 2004-05 | 2nd Bundesliga | 10th |
| 2005-06 | 2nd Bundesliga | 14th |
| 2006-07 | 2nd Bundesliga | 16th ↓ |
| 2007-08 | Regionalliga Süd (III) | 6th |
| 2008-09 | 3rd Liga (III) | 4th |
| 2009-10 | 3rd Liga (III) | 11th |
Honours
- League
- Regionalliga Süd (III) champions: 1994
- Oberliga Bayern (III) champions: 1983, 1988, 1989, 1992
- Landesliga Bayern-Süd (IV) champions: 1981
- Cup
- Bavarian Cup winner: 2008
- Oberbayern Cup winner: 2004 (reserve team), 2008, 2009
- Youth
- Bavarian Under 19 championship winners: 2004, 2008
- Bavarian Under 19 championship runners-up: 2007
- Bavarian Under 17 championship winners: 2002, 2004
- Bavarian Under 17 championship runners-up: 2007, 2009
- Bavarian Under 15 championship runners-up: 1993, 2004, 2006
References
- ↑ Aufstieg Regionalliga Süd (in German) Weltfussball.de, accessed: 13 June 2008
- ↑ Keine Lizenz für die SpVgg (in German) SpVgg Bayreuth website, accessed: 13 June 2008
External links
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