Schwarz-Weiß Bregenz or SW Bregenz (formerly Sportclub Bregenz or SC Bregenz) is an

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

club based in the town of

Bregenz Bregenz (; gsw, label= Vorarlbergian, Breagaz ) is the capital of Vorarlberg, the westernmost state of Austria. The city lies on the east and southeast shores of Lake Constance, the third-largest freshwater lake in Central Europe, between Switze ...

Vorarlberg Vorarlberg ( , ; gsw, label=Vorarlbergisch, Vorarlbearg, , or ) is the westernmost States of Austria, state () of Austria. It has the second-smallest geographical area after Vienna and, although it also has the second-smallest population, it is ...

, Austria. The club competes in Austrian 2. Liga, the second tier of the Austrian football. Founded in 1919, it is affiliated to the

Vorarlberg Football Association The Vorarlberg Football Association (German: Vorarlberger Fussballverband; VFV) is the umbrella organization of the football clubs of the Austrian state Vorarlberg. The VFV was founded in 1920 and has its headquarters in Hohenems. The VFV is one ...

. The team plays its home matches at ImmoAgentur Stadion, where it has been based since 1951. The club's history includes numerous promotions and relegations and some spells of sustained success, including participation in the

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, 'betting pool'),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International Foot ...

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

and

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

. The club went bankrupt in 2005 and was subsequently refounded. SC Bregenz3

History

Early years (1919–1945)

FC Bregenz was founded on 28 June 1919 with the club colours being black and white, making it the fourth oldest football club in the

region. In its early history, the club played mainly

friendly matches An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

against German and Swiss clubs from around

Lake Constance Lake Constance (german: Bodensee, ) refers to three Body of water, bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: Upper Lake Constance (''Obersee''), Lower Lake Constance (''Untersee''), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, ca ...

. In 1927, the

based club made its first appearance in the Vorarlberger A-Klasse, the highest level in Vorarlberg at the time, where they finished second. Already in 1928, FC Bregenz became Vorarlberg champions ahead of FA Turnerbund Lustenau (today

SC Austria Lustenau Sportclub Austria Lustenau is a professional association football club based in the town of Lustenau, Vorarlberg, Austria, that competes in the Austrian Football Bundesliga, the top tier of the Austrian football league system. Founded in 1914, ...

) and

FC Lustenau FC Lustenau 07 is a football club based in Lustenau, Vorarlberg. They currently compete in the Vorarlbergliga The Vorarlbergliga is the highest football league of the Austrian state of Vorarlberg. It's the fourth highest football league in A ...

. In 1930, FC Bregenz only reached fourth place and, as a result, were relegated from the A-Klasse. In 1933, the Bregenz team was back in the top flight and managed to stay in the Vorarlberger A-Klasse until its upheaval in 1938. After the ''

Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, en, Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a " Greater Germany ...

'' in 1938, the Vorarlberger A-Klasse was replaced by the Bodensee-Vorarlberg Bezirksklasse. The best clubs in Vorarlberg (including FC Bregenz) now played in the same league with clubs such as

VfB Friedrichshafen VfB Friedrichshafen Volleyball GmbH is a German professional men's volleyball club founded in 1969 and based in Friedrichshafen, southern Baden-Württemberg. Main stakeholder is VfB Friefdrichshafen e.V. The club plays in the German Bundesliga an ...

, VfL Lindau, SV Weingarten, FC Lindenberg, and other clubs from

Meckenbeuren Meckenbeuren is a municipality in the Bodensee district, in Baden-Württemberg, Southern Germany. It is located south of Ravensburg, and northeast of Friedrichshafen, on Lake Constance. Geography Location Meckenbeuren is located about eight ...

Langenargen Langenargen is a town in the district of Bodensee in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. Sports Langenargen is an ideal venue for sports such as sailing. The town's location on the shores of the Bodensee ( Lake Constance) provides smooth waters e ...

Ravensburg Ravensburg ( Swabian: ''Raveschburg'') is a city in Upper Swabia in Southern Germany, capital of the district of Ravensburg, Baden-Württemberg. Ravensburg was first mentioned in 1088. In the Middle Ages, it was an Imperial Free City and an impo ...

, and other areas in Germany. The 1941–42 season was cancelled due to

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 ...

After World War II (1945–1999)

After the end of the war, FC Bregenz returned to its footballing activities. However, the club had to choose a new name as ordered by the French occupying forces. In 1945, the club was therefore renamed Schwarz-Weiß Bregenz. The club logo, which was designed by Bregenz honorary member Hans Kolb, also dates from this year. As early as 1946, Schwarz-Weiß Bregenz played in the highest league in Vorarlberg, which was now called 1. Klasse Vorarlberg. A Vorarlberg league championship was held until 1950. In 1950, the Arlbergliga was founded by the football associations of Vorarlberg and

Tyrol Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...

. After winning several championships, Schwarz-Weiß Bregenz became the first club from Vorarlberg to be promoted to the top division of Austria, the Staatsliga, in 1954. However, the club only managed one season at the highest level, and they were relegated again the following year. In 1960, the

Regionalliga West The Regionalliga West is a German semi-professional football division administered by the Western German Football Association based in Duisburg. It is one of the five German regional football associations. Being the single flight of the Western ...

was founded, in which Bregenz played for many years. In 1966, Schwarz-Weiß ventured into the top Austrian division for a second time and even finished sixth ( 1966–67 season). Two years later they were relegated again – only to return in the 1970–71 season season under the sponsor name ''SC Olymp Bregenz''. After one year, they relegated again. The 1970s were marked by several mergers and name changes. In the 1973–74 campaign, after a merger with FC Rätia Bludenz, which had been promoted to the first division, the club was called ''FC Vorarlberg'' for a short time. In the 1974–75 season the official name was ''SC Vorwerk Vorarlberg (Bregenz)'' after the new sponsor was introduced. The most momentous merger occurred in 1979: Schwarz-Weiß Bregenz merged with

FC Dornbirn 1913 Fußballclub Dornbirn 1913 is a professional association football club based in the town of Dornbirn, Vorarlberg, Austria, that competes in the Austrian Football Second League, the second tier of the Austrian football league system. Founded in ...

and was named ''IG Bregenz/Dornbirn'' until 1987. Under the name Schwarz-Weiß Bregenz, the team was promoted to the

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

in 1996. After Casinos Austria became the main sponsor, the Bregenz club started playing as ''Casino SW Bregenz''.

Bundesliga, Europe, and bankruptcy (1999–2005)

Between 1999 and the 2004–05 season, the club played in the

Austrian Bundesliga The Austrian Football Bundesliga (german: Österreichische Fußball-Bundesliga, italic=no , "Austrian Football Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Austrian football league system. Th ...

. In

and

, Bregenz also played European football in the

. Opponents included

Torino Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. T ...

, against whom the club was eliminated after a 1–0 away defeat at the Stadio Delle Alpi and a 1–1 draw at home. After a successful run, the club ran into increasingly severe financial problems. A poor 2004–05 season was followed by relegation to the second-tier Erste Liga. However, the club was denied a licence for the following season due to financial problems. After also losing the battle before the permanent neutral arbitration court of the Austrian Bundesliga, Bregenz filed for bankruptcy and was consequently dissolved.

Resurgence (2005–present)

The senior team was admitted to the 5th level of the Austrian football pyramid and adapted the traditional black and white club colours of the former SW Bregenz in the 2009–10 season. On 8 July 2013 the club was renamed ''Schwarz-Weiß Bregenz'' again and they also took over the logo of the former club. The club was relegated from

Austrian Regionalliga West The Austrian Regional League West (german: Regionalliga West) was a third-tier division of Austrian football introduced in the 1980–81 season as successor of the ''Alpenliga''. It covered the Austrian states of Salzburg, Tyrol (excepting East ...

in 2016. In 2022–23, Schwarz-Weiß Bregenz secure promotion to Austrian 2. Liga from 2023–24 and champions of Regionalliga West in 2022–23.

Stadium

The ImmoAgentur Stadium in

, which was constructed in 1994 as the Casino Stadium to replace the demolished Bodensee Stadium, has a capacity of 12,000 spectators (of which approx. 4,000 are seated). The record attendance was 10,800 for the

derby against

in the

in the autumn of 1999. Since the bankruptcy of SW Bregenz in 2005, the successor club SC Bregenz and, since the 2013–14, Schwarz-Weiß Bregenz, have played their home games there. The stadium is located close to the city centre (next to the railway station and the Festspielhaus Bregenz) and in the immediate vicinity of

European record

;Notes *SW Bregenz goals listed first *R1: First round *R2: Second round

Current squad

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bregenz SW Football clubs in Austria Schwarz-Weiß Bregenz Association football clubs established in 1919 Sport in Vorarlberg 1919 establishments in Austria 2. Liga (Austria) clubs