Verein für Rasenspiele 1907 Schweinfurt e.V., called VfR 07 Schweinfurt, VfR Schweinfurt, or simply VfR 07, was a German association football club established in

Schweinfurt Schweinfurt ( , ; ) is a city in the district of Lower Franconia in Bavaria, Germany. It is the administrative centre of the surrounding district (''Landkreis'') of Schweinfurt and a major industrial, cultural and educational hub. The urban ag ...

(

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 ...

) in

1907 Events January * January 14 – 1907 Kingston earthquake: A 6.5 Mw earthquake in Kingston, Jamaica, kills between 800 and 1,000. February * February 11 – The French warship ''Jean Bart'' sinks off the coast of Morocco ...

. The club dissolved in 2015 after it had gone bankrupt. VfR Schweinfurt experienced a number of successful years from the late 1930s to the early 1940s. The club appeared in the top-tier

Gauliga Bayern The Gauliga Bayern was the highest association football league in the German state of Bavaria from 1933 to 1945. Shortly after the formation of the league, the Nazis reorganised the administrative regions in Germany, and the five ''Gaue'' ''Bayre ...

for four seasons overall, and made it into the second 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 considere ...

1940 A calendar from 1940 according to the Gregorian calendar, factoring in the dates of Easter and related holidays, cannot be used again until the year 5280. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * Januar ...

. After the

Second World War 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 opposi ...

, VfR 07 was not able to play any role on the national level. The club's home games were held at Stadion am Hutrasen in Schweinfurt from 1928 on.

History

Early years

The football club was founded in May 1907 as ''1. FV Viktoria 1907 Schweinfurt''. After a fusion with ''FC Union 1909 Schweinfurt'' in May 1926, it obtained its name, lasting until 2015. In 1928 the team moved to Hutrasen, which was expanded to become a football stadium with a capacity of 6,000 (1941).Hardy Grüne: ''Vereinslexikon. Enzyklopädie des deutschen Ligafußballs.'' Kassel: Agon Sportverlag, 2001. , Pages 410f.

Successful years

The club gained first class status with promotion to the top-tier

in 1939. The team finished 9th in the 1939–40 season, achieving its best position during the single division Gauliga era. Again in

, VfR Schweinfurt reached the second round of the

( Tschammerpokal), where it lost to 1938 cup winner and later German football champion

SK Rapid Wien Sportklub Rapid Wien (), commonly known as Rapid Vienna, is an Austrian football club playing in the country's capital city of Vienna. Rapid has won the most Austrian championship titles (32), including the first title in the season 1911–12, ...

. After it was relegated in 1941, the club returned to Gauliga Bayern - now split into a northern and a southern division due to the Second World War - for a further two years in

1942 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Declaration by United Nations is signed by China, the United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union, and 22 other nations, in w ...

. VfR 07 midfielder Robert Bernard became a Germany international footballer in 1936 when he earned two

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

during the

Olympic Summer Games The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

. In addition, the club provided the education for

1938 FIFA World Cup The 1938 FIFA World Cup was the third edition of the World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams and was held in France from 4 June until 19 June 1938. Italy defended its title in the final, bea ...

and

Europe XI The Europe XI is an association football scratch team mainly consisting of players from the UEFA region but, on occasion, players hailing from other continents playing for European teams are invited to play. The European XI play one-off games agai ...

selection player Andreas "Ander" Kupfer, who joined the local rival 1. FC Schweinfurt 05 in 1933.

Late years

After World War II, VfR 07 was reclassified into tier-two

Landesliga Bayern The Landesliga Bayern sits at step 6 of the German football league system and is the third highest level in the Bavarian football league system, below the Bayernliga and organised in five regional divisions. The current Landesligas were formed in ...

, and many of the players, among them Robert Bernard, now joined Schweinfurt 05 as well. The club could not continue on the old road to success, and for decades played in lower football leagues only. A noteworthy highlight back then was a short period in tier-four

Landesliga Bayern-Nord The Landesliga Bayern-Nord ( en, State league Bavaria-North) was the sixth tier of the German football league system in northern Bavaria. Until the introduction of the 3. Liga in 2008 it was the fifth tier of the league system, until the introdu ...

from the late 1970s on. Due to growing financial problems combined with membership decline, the club had to declare insolvency in April 2011. Stadion am Hutrasen was leased to ''Hilalspor Schweinfurt'', and VfR 07 Schweinfurt was finally dissolved in 2015.

Honours

Cup

** ''Second round'':

Seasons

Performance of the club during its most successful years 1938–1947 and 1978–1981: * The 1944–45 Gauliga Bayern season operated in five regional divisions. The

Lower Franconia Lower Franconia (german: Unterfranken) is one of seven districts of Bavaria, Germany. The districts of Lower, Middle and Upper Franconia make up the region of Franconia. History After the founding of the Kingdom of Bavaria the state was totally ...

(German: ''Unterfranken'') division was made up from four clubs: 1. FC Schweinfurt 05, VfR 07 Schweinfurt, FV 04 Würzburg, and

Würzburger Kickers Würzburger Kickers is a German association football club playing in Würzburg, Bavaria. In pre-World War II football, the club competed briefly at the highest level in the Bezirksliga Bayern, and during the war, in the Gauliga Bayern. Post-war, ...

. It is unknown whether any of the season's games were played.

German Cup appearances

The club's appearances in

( Tschammerpokal):

Notable past players

* Robert Bernard ( MF) * Andreas Kupfer ( MF)

References

External links

VfR 07 Schweinfurt profile at Weltfussball.de
Defunct football clubs in Germany Defunct football clubs in Bavaria Football in Lower Franconia Association football clubs established in 1907 Association football clubs disestablished in 2015 1907 establishments in Germany 2015 disestablishments in Germany {{coord, 50, 2, 19.1, N, 10, 14, 3.7, E, region:DE-BY_type:landmark , display=title