The SpVgg Lindau is a German football club from
Lindau
Lindau (german: Lindau (Bodensee), ''Lindau am Bodensee''; ; Low Alemannic German, Low Alemannic: ''Lindou'') is a major Town#Germany, town and Lindau (island), island on the eastern side of Lake Constance (''Bodensee'' in German) in Bavaria, Ge ...
,
Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
.
Overview
The club was formed on 1 August 1919 as the football department of the ''TSV 1850 Lindau'' under the leadership of Sosthenes Sailer and its first chairman Goldbrunner. The new club was put into the ''A-Klasse Gau Oberschwaben'', where it remained in the coming years. Despite being a Bavarian club, the team always competed in neighbouring
Württemberg
Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart.
Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Würt ...
, which it is geographically much closer to than to clubs in the Bavarian region of
Schwaben
Swabia ; german: Schwaben , colloquially ''Schwabenland'' or ''Ländle''; archaic English also Suabia or Svebia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany.
The name is ultimately derived from the medieval Duchy of ...
where it politically belongs to.
In 1924, a new law in Germany stipulated that football clubs had to be clearly separated from other sports clubs and the team was renamed ''VfL Lindau'', now under the leadership of Jakob Egg.
In 1928, the club achieved its first success with the championship in the A-Klasse and promotion to the Bezirksliga.
In 1934, a new football stadium was opened in town, the ''Städtische Stadion''. To celebrate this occasion, a game between the
FC Bayern Munich
Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which play ...
and
SSV Ulm
SSV Ulm 1846 is a German football club from Ulm, Baden-Württemberg. The modern-day football department, officially playing as SSV Ulm 1846 Fussball, was formed on 9 March 2009 when the department separated from SSV Ulm 1846.
The club's great ...
was organised which Bayern won 3–2.
During the years of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, football in Lindau actually received a boost with a large number of German soldiers stationed in town. By 1944 however, football came gradually to a halt as most of those were sent to the front line.
Football only resumed in Lindau in April 1946, with permission of the allied authorities, when the ''SG Lindau'' was formed.
Facing the rather unusual situation of having to many players, the club split in 1950 in two new ones: The ''ESV Lindau'' and ''SpVgg Lindau''.
SpVgg Lindau was formed on 5 March 1950 in the "Gasthof Schweitzerhof", a restaurant and pub and the new club was integrated in the ''A-Klasse Bodensee'' that year. ''SpVgg'' finished on top of that league in its first year and gained promotion to the ''2nd Amateurliga Oberschwaben'' where they played for two seasons before being relegated back down. Immediately winning promotion back to the ''2nd Amateurliga'', the club managed to stay there this time, achieving a championship in this league in 1961. ''SpVgg Lindau'' however failed to gain promotion to the
Amateurliga Schwarzwald-Bodensee
Between 1960 and 1978 the 1. Amateurliga Schwarzwald-Bodensee was the highest football division in the southern parts of the Württembergian Football Association and a level three division of the German football league system.
Founding
The d ...
, losing its promotion matches.
The year after, the club achieved its goal, promotion to the third division ''Amateurliga Schwarzwald-Bodensee'', on the strength of another ''2nd Amateurliga'' championship. In 1966, the ''SpVgg'' managed to win the ''Württemberg Cup'' with a 5–3 victory over the ''TSG Backnang''. This qualified them for the ''Southern German Cup'' where they lost 0–6 to
SSV Reutlingen
SSV Reutlingen 05 is a German association football club from Reutlingen, Baden-Württemberg.
History
The club was founded as FC Arminia Reutlingen and was renamed SV Reutlingen 1905 in 1910. The club fused with 1. Schwimmverein 1911 to form the ...
. In 1968, they won the cup again, this time with a 1–0 victory over ''Union Böckingen''.
In league football, a second place in the Amateurliga (III) in 1967 and 1973 were the greatest success the club achieved so far in its history.
With the reorganisation of league football in Germany and Baden-Württemberg, mainly the interception of the
Oberliga Baden-Württemberg
The Oberliga Baden-Württemberg is the highest association football league in the state of Baden-Württemberg and the Baden-Württemberg football league system. It is one of fourteen Oberligas in German football, the fifth tier of the German footb ...
and the
Verbandsliga Württemberg
The Verbandsliga Württemberg is a German amateur football division administered by the Württemberg Football Association, one of the 21 German state football associations. Being the top flight of the Württemberg state association, the Verbandsli ...
, the ''SpVgg'' found itself relegated to fourth tier, missing the qualification to the new ''Oberliga'' by only finishing 11th in the ''Amateurliga''. Sixteen years of being a third-division outfit came to an end.
Relegated to the ''Landesliga'', things got worse for the ''SpVgg Lindau'' in 1979–80, when the club was relegated again, to the
Bezirksliga
The Bezirksliga ( en, County League) is commonly a medium set of amateur divisions set at steps 7, 8 or 9 in the German football league system.
Structure
Depending on the structural organisation within each of the 21 state football associations ...
. In 1982, the club managed to correct this by winning the ''Bezirksliga'' and gaining promotion back to the ''Landesliga''. To this league, they only belonged for two seasons, being relegated again in 1984. In 1985, the drop got even worse when the ''SpVgg'' was relegated to the seventh-tier ''Kreisliga A'', the clubs deepest fall ever.
In 1988, the club managed to rectify this disgrace, winning the league and promoting themselves back to the ''Bezirksliga'', largely on the strength of its goalscorer Thommes who scored 37 goals in 26 games. Nine years in this league followed, with a fourth place in 1991–92 the highlight. In 1997, the club went down again, but only for one season, where the club only suffered one defeat and won promotion comfortably.
Under coach Andreas Wagenhaus, a former
East German
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
international, the club came close to promotion with a third-place finish in the ''Bezirksliga'' in 2000, but only two years later, relegation was unavoidable again. Until the 2013–14 season, the SpVgg Lindau played in the ''Kreisliga A Staffel II'', when it was relegated to the ''Kreisliga B''. A title in this league in 2015–16 moved the club back up to the ''Kreisliga A''.
The ''SpVgg Lindau'' has a somewhat unusual geographical location in German football, based only a few kilometres from the
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
n border, within view of
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
and
Liechtenstein
Liechtenstein (), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein (german: link=no, Fürstentum Liechtenstein), is a German-speaking microstate located in the Alps between Austria and Switzerland. Liechtenstein is a semi-constitutional monarchy ...
. It is hardly surprising then, that for its under-16s girls tournament in 2008, of the eight invited clubs three are from Germany, two each from Switzerland and Austria and one from Liechtenstein.
Honours
The club's honours:
League
* A-Klasse Oberschwaben
** Champions: 1928
* A-Klasse Bodensee (V)
** Champions: (2) 1951, 1954
* 2nd Amateurliga Oberschwaben (IV)
** Champions: (2) 1961, 1962
*
Amateurliga Schwarzwald-Bodensee
Between 1960 and 1978 the 1. Amateurliga Schwarzwald-Bodensee was the highest football division in the southern parts of the Württembergian Football Association and a level three division of the German football league system.
Founding
The d ...
(III)
** Runners-up: (2) 1967, 1973
* Bezirksliga (VI)
** Champions: 1982
* Kreisliga A Staffel II (VII)
** Champions: (2) 1988, 1998
* Kreisliga Bodensee B4 (X)
** Champions: 2016
Cup
*
Württemberg Cup
The Bitburger-wfv-Pokal is one of the 21 regional cup competitions of German football. The winner of the competition gains entry to the first round of the German Cup. It was introduced in 1945. In 2011 the cup was renamed from WFV-Pokal into Bitbu ...
** Winners: (2) 1966, 1968
Recent seasons
The recent season-by-season performance of the club:
* With the introduction of the
Regionalliga
The Regionalliga () is the fourth tier in the German football league system. Until 1974, it was the second tier in Germany. In 1994, it was introduced as the third tier. Upon the creation of the new nationwide 3. Liga in 2008, it became the four ...
s in 1994 and the
3. Liga in 2008 as the new third tier, below the
2. Bundesliga, all leagues below dropped one tier.
DFB Cup appearances
The club has qualified for the first round of the
German Cup
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 ...
only once:
Former players
*
Karl-Heinz Mrosko, started his career with SpVgg Lindau, first and second Bundesliga player, also played for
Oakland Stompers
The Oakland Stompers were a soccer team based out of Oakland, California that played the 1978 season in the North American Soccer League (NASL). The Stompers played in the Western Division of the American Conference and finished the year with ...
Karl-Heinz Mrosko profile at Weltfussball.de
accessed: 13 November 2008
References
External links
Das deutsche Fußball-Archiv
historical German domestic league tables
Württemberg amateure leagues: Tables and results
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lindau, SpVgg
Football clubs in Germany
Football clubs in Bavaria
Football clubs in Baden-Württemberg
Association football clubs established in 1919
Football in Swabia (Bavaria)
1919 establishments in Germany
Lindau (Bodensee)