Leher Turnerschaft is a German football club from the Lehe district of

Bremerhaven Bremerhaven (, , Low German: ''Bremerhoben'') is a city at the seaport of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, a state of the Federal Republic of Germany. It forms a semi-enclave in the state of Lower Saxony and is located at the mouth of the Riv ...

in the state of Bremen. Founded in 1898, it plays in the

Bremen-Liga The Bremen-Liga, sometimes also referred to as ''Oberliga Bremen'', is a fifth tier of the German football league system and the highest league in the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. It is one of fourteen Oberligas in German football ...

in the fifth tier of the

German football league system The German football league system, or league pyramid, refers to the hierarchically interconnected league system for association football in Germany that in the 2016–17 season consisted of 2,235 leagues in up to 13 levels having 31,645 teams ...

. The origins of the club are in the establishment of the worker's sportclub ''Arbeiter-Turnverein Frei Heil Lehe'' which was later renamed ''Freie Turnerschaft Lehe und Umgebung''. In 1911, ''SpVgg Leherheide'' split off and would later become ''SFL Bremerhaven''. The football department of ''TS Lehe'' followed, becoming independent in 1913 as ''Freie Sportvereinigung Lehe''. As a worker's club, ''FSV Lehe'' was part of the Arbeiter-Turn- und Sportbund (ATSB or Workers' Gymnastics and Sports Federation), a national German sports organization active between 1893-1933. The ATSB actively promoted leftist political views built around class struggle and nationalism. The

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

regime regarded worker's and faith-based clubs as politically undesirable and this led to the disbanding of clubs of this type in 1933. ''FSV'' avoided dissolution by abandoning the ATSB and reorganizing as ''Leher Turnerschaft''. They later (1943-45) played alongside '' Bremerhaven 93'' as the wartime side (Kriegspielgemeinschaft) ''KSG Bremerhaven''. In 2016–17, the team won the

Bremen Cup The Bremer Pokal ( en, Bremen Cup) is an annual football cup competition, held by the ( en, Bremen Football Association). It is one of the 21 regional cup competitions in Germany and a qualifying competition for the German Cup, with the winner o ...

for the first time, defeating

Bremer SV Bremer SV is a German association football club, based in the city of Bremen, which was founded in 1906. The club play their home games at the Panzenberg Stadium and currently participate in the 4th tier Regionalliga Nord. History Bremer SV w ...

9–8 on penalties after a goalless draw in the final on 25 May. In doing so, the team qualified for the

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considered ...

for the first time. In the first round on 12 August 2017, they hosted

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 ...

team 1. FC Köln at

OSC Bremerhaven OSC Bremerhaven is a German sports club based in Bremerhaven, in the federal state of Bremen. History The club was founded in 1972 as ''Olympischer Sport-Club Bremerhaven'' in a merger of various local football clubs including ''ATS Bremerhav ...

's Nordsee-Stadion and lost 5–0.

References

1898 establishments in Germany Association football clubs established in 1898 Football clubs in Germany Football clubs in Bremen (state) Organisations based in Bremerhaven Sport in Bremerhaven {{Germany-footyclub-stub