FV Speyer was a German association football club from the town of

Speyer Speyer (, older spelling ''Speier'', French: ''Spire,'' historical English: ''Spires''; pfl, Schbaija) is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany with approximately 50,000 inhabitants. Located on the left bank of the river Rhine, Speyer li ...

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...

. The club's greatest success has been promotion to the tier one Oberliga Südwest in 1952 and 1956, spending seven seasons at this level. In the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

era An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

''FV'' played in the tier two

Regionalliga Südwest The Regionalliga Südwest ( en, Regional League Southwest) is the fourth tier of the German football league system in the states of Hesse, Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland. It is one of five leagues at this level, together wit ...

for six seasons from 1968 to

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

, when the league was disbanded. In 2009 FV Speyer merged with local rival VfR Speyer to form FC Speyer 09.

History

FV Speyer was formed in 1919, originally as the football department of local gymnastics club Turnverein Speyer, but soon as an independent entity.FV Speyer
suedwest-fussball.de, accessed: 4 December 2015 FV Speyer became part of the tier one

Kreisliga Pfalz The Kreisliga Pfalz (English: ''District league Palatinate'') was the highest association football league in the Bavarian region of Palatinate from 1919 to 1923. The league was disbanded with the introduction of the Bezirksliga Rhein in 1923. Ove ...

in 1920 and played there for two seasons before being relegated again. It returned to top-level football for a season in 1926–27 in the

Bezirksliga Rhein The Bezirksliga Rhein was the highest association football league in the northern part of the German state of Baden and the Bavarian region of Palatinate from 1923 to 1927, when the league was replaced by the '' Bezirksliga Rhein-Saar''. Overvie ...

and continued on in the following season in the new

Bezirksliga Rhein-Saar The Bezirksliga Rhein-Saar was the highest association football league in the German state of Saarland, the Bavarian region of Palatinate and the northernmost part of Baden from 1927 to 1933. The league was disbanded with the rise of the Nazis to ...

in what was then very regionalised German first tier football in the

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's 2 ...

Ludwigshafen Ludwigshafen, officially Ludwigshafen am Rhein (; meaning " Ludwig's Port upon Rhine"), is a city in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, on the river Rhine, opposite Mannheim. With Mannheim, Heidelberg, and the surrounding region, it form ...

area. After the rise of the Nazis to power and the establishment of the

Gauliga A Gauliga () was the highest level of play in German football from 1933 to 1945. The leagues were introduced in 1933, after the Nazi takeover of power by the National Socialist League of the Reich for Physical Exercise. Name The German word '' ...

s in 1933 Speyer did not make an appearance in top tier football again until 1943 when it joined the

Gauliga Westmark A Gauliga () was the highest level of play in German football from 1933 to 1945. The leagues were introduced in 1933, after the Nazi takeover of power by the National Socialist League of the Reich for Physical Exercise. Name The German word ...

, temporarily playing as KSG Speyer. In 1951 Speyer became a founding member of the tier two

2. Oberliga Südwest The (English: 2nd Premier league Southwest) was the second-highest level of the German football league system in the southwest of Germany from 1951 until the formation of the Bundesliga in 1963. It covered the two states of Rhineland-Palatinate a ...

in which it finished runners-up and earned promotion in its inaugural season. ''FV'' played the next three seasons from 1952 to 1955 in the Oberliga Südwest, with a tenth place in 1952–53 as its best-ever result. After relegation the club finished runners-up once more in the 2. Oberliga and was promoted straight back to the Oberliga. A second stint in the Oberliga Südwest followed from 1956 to 1960 in which the best result was a twelfth place in 1958–59, followed by relegation the season after. The club came third in the 2. Oberliga in 1961 and fourth the season after but, in the final season of the league in 1962–63, it finished last and failed to qualify for the new

which would replace the 2. Oberliga in the region. Instead Speyer had to enter the tier three

Amateurliga Südwest The Amateurliga Südwest was the highest football league in the region of the Südwest FA and the third tier of the German football league system from its inception in 1952 to the formation of the Oberliga Südwest and the Verbandsliga Südwest ...

. The club played at this level for the next five season until finishing runners-up behind

1. FC Kaiserslautern Amateure 1. FC Kaiserslautern II is the German reserve football teams, reserve team of Football in Germany, German association football club 1. FC Kaiserslautern, based in Kaiserslautern, Rhineland-Palatinate. Historically the team has played as 1. FC Kaise ...

, the reserve team of 1. FC Kaiserslautern. As the former was ineligible for promotion Speyer went up instead. From 1968 to 1974 the club played in the second division Regionalliga Südwest and, apart from a fifth place in 1970, always finished in the bottom half of the league. A fifteenth place in

was not enough to qualify the club for the new

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

and, like 1963, the club once more had to drop back to the Amateurliga. From 1974 on wards the club experienced a decline, culminating in a disastrous 1976-77 Amateurliga season where Speyer earned just one point out of 36 games and conceded 183 goals. Consequently the club was relegated and unable to compete for qualification to the new tier three Oberliga Südwest in 1978. Speyer rose as far as the tier four

Verbandsliga Südwest The Verbandsliga Südwest is a German amateur football division administered by the Southwest German Football Association, one of the 21 German state football associations. Being the top flight of the Southwestern state association, the Verbandslig ...

again in 1983, where it played until 1991 and, again, from 1995 to 2004, and came close to Oberliga promotion in 2000 when it finished runners-up. After relegation from the Verbandsliga in 2003–04 Speyer experienced a number of difficult seasons, winning just eight games out of 118 and conceding 592 goals in four seasons but being spared relegation from the Landesliga twice because other clubs withdrew. The club played its last season in the Bezirksliga in 2007–08, having stabilised its fall with a sixth place. During the 2008–09 season FV Speyer merged with local rival VfR Speyer to form FC Speyer 09.

Honours

The club's honours: *

** Runners-up: 1951–52, 1955–56 * Landesliga Südwest-Ost ** Champions: 1994–95

Final seasons

The final season-by-season performance of the club:Historic German football league tables
Das Deutsche Fussball Archiv, accessed: 4 December 2015FV Speyer at Fussball.de
accessed: 4 December 2015

Stadium

From 1926 to 2001 FV Speyer played in the ''Stadion am Roßsprung'' which held 14,000 spectators. In 2001 the stadium was demolished and replaced by a housing estate. ''FV'' moved to the ''Sportpark Speyer'' from 2001 on wards which became the home ground of the new club FC Speyer.Sportpark Speyer (Hinterm Esel)
suedwest-fussball.de, accessed: 4 December 2015

References

External links

FC Speyer 09 website site

FV Speyer at Weltfussball.de
{{DEFAULTSORT:Speyer, Fv Defunct football clubs in Germany Defunct football clubs in Rhineland-Palatinate Association football clubs established in 1919 Association football clubs disestablished in 2009 1919 establishments in Germany 2009 disestablishments in Germany Football clubs in Germany