1. SV Gera

BSG Wismut Gera is a German association football club playing in Gera, Thuringia. The club is the successor to ''1. SV Gera'' whose football department joined ''Blau-Weiß Gera'' and ''Geraer KFC Dynamos'' in 2007 to form ''FV Gera Süd'', which, in turn, changed its name to ''BSG Wismut Gera'' in 2009.

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History

''SpVgg Gera'' was created in 1922 out of the merger of the predecessor associations ''Allgemeinen Turngemeinde Gera'' and ''1. VfR Gera''. In 1936, ''SpVgg'' was joined by ''Sport Club Concordia Gera-Reuß'' to form ''SV Gera 04''. The new association included as part of its heritage the side ''Sport Club Reuß'' which was established in 1904. ''SV'' made its first appearance in top flight football in 1939 in the Gauliga Mitte, one of sixteen upper divisions created in the 1933 re-organization of German football under the Third Reich. However, their stay in first division competition was short-lived. After narrowly escaping relegation in the two seasons following their debut, they were sent down in 1943.

Postwar play in East Germany

Like other most organizations in Germany, including sports and football clubs, ''Gera'' was dissolved at the end of World War II by occupying Allied authorities. The club was re-established in 1945 as ''SG Gera-Pforten'' and was renamed ''BSG Gera-Süd'' in 1949. In October 1950 that club was joined by ''BSG RFT Gera'' to form ''BSG Mechanik Gera'' which underwent names changes to become ''BSG Motor Gera'' in May 1951, and then ''BSG Wismut Gera'' in March 1953.

It was as ''Gera-Süd'' that the club returned to first division play in inaugural season of East Germany's DDR-Oberliga in 1949. They managed only a weak 11th-place finish just two points clear of relegation, but enjoyed a successful run in the FDGB-Pokal (East German Cup) advancing to the first ever Cup final against '' BSG Waggonbau Dessau'' where they dropped a 0:1 decision. The club had a long list of Cup appearances over the next four decades, but never did better than an advance to the 1969 quarter finals.

''Gera''s poor league play continued and the side was relegated in 1953 to the DDR-Liga. They made two single season cameo appearances in the top flight in 1966 and 1977 and struggled to distant last place finishes on both occasions.

Post re-unification

After German re-unification in 1990, the club took on the name ''FSV Wismut Gera'' and was seeded into the NOFV-Oberliga Süd for the 1992 season. By 1996 they had slipped for the first time to fifth-tier play in the Landesliga Thüringen. A division championship returned them to what was now the fourth-division Oberliga Nordost/Süd for one season in 1999.

A three-year-long turn in the Landesliga Thüringen (V) ended in bankruptcy and demotion to the Bezirksliga Thüringen-4 (VII) in 2003, where the club played until 2007 and the merger that created the current-day club.

At the end of the 2008–09 season, the club decided to revert to the name of BSG Wismut Gera. The club had been playing in the tier-six Thüringenliga since, finishing runners-up in 2014 and 2015. The latter earned the club promotion to the Oberliga after league champions Wacker Nordhausen II declined promotion.BSG Wismut Gera at Fussball.de
Tables and results of all German football leagues, accessed: 12 February 2015 ''BSG'' decided to renounce participating any further in the Oberliga in 2019 and returned to the Thüringenliga.

Honours

* FDGB-Pokal
** Runners-up: 1949

Stadium

''BSG Wismut Gera'' plays in the Stadion am Steg. ''1. SV Gera'' left the Stadion der Freundschaft in 2006, which is now used by their local rival, ''1. FC Gera 03''.

References

External links

Official websiteWismut fan siteDas deutsche Fußball-Archiv
historical German football league tables (in German)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gera, Bsg Wismut
Football clubs in Germany
Football clubs in East Germany
Football clubs in Thuringia
Association football clubs established in 1904
Gera
1904 establishments in Germany
Works association football clubs in Germany