Verein für Rasenspiele 1921 Aalen e.V., known simply as VfR Aalen, is a German football club based in

Aalen Aalen () is a former Free Imperial City located in the eastern part of the German state of Baden-Württemberg, about east of Stuttgart and north of Ulm. It is the seat of the Ostalbkreis district and is its largest town. It is also the large ...

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

. The football team is part of a larger sports club which also offers its members gymnastics, table tennis, and cheerleading. The club's greatest success came in 2011–12 when it finished second in the 3. Liga and earned promotion to the 2. Bundesliga for the first time.

History

The club was founded on 8 March 1921 out of the football department of the gymnastics club MTV Aalen and has led a largely unremarked existence as a lower division side. In 1939, Aalen was promoted to the first division

Gauliga Württemberg The Gauliga Württemberg was the highest football league in the German state of Württemberg and the Prussian province of Hohenzollern from 1933 to 1945. Shortly after the formation of the league, the Nazis reorganised the administrative regions ...

, one of sixteen top-flight leagues established through the 1933 re-organization of German football under the

Third Reich Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

. They played there until 1945, typically finishing in the lower half of the table. After the war the club was joined by Boxclub Aalen in 1950. They went on to the third tier

Landesliga Württemberg The Landesliga Württemberg (consisting of four divisions) is the second highest league of the Württemberg Football Association and the seventh highest league in the German football league system. It was first carried out between 1945 and 1950. ...

and in 1951 captured the title in what had become the

Amateurliga Württemberg The Amateurliga Württemberg was the highest football league in the region of the Württemberg Football Association and the third tier of the German football league system from its inception in 1945 until the formation of the Oberliga Baden-Württ ...

(III). After a single season appearance in the 2nd Oberliga Süd in 1951–52 they returned to play in the III and IV divisions over the next two decades. The club slipped to fifth division play in the late 1970s for a couple of seasons before recovering itself. At the turn of the millennium, Aalen managed an advance to the third division Regionalliga Süd and played at that level as a mid-table side from 1999 onwards. A fourth-place finish in 2007–08 qualified them for the new 3. Liga. They were immediately relegated after just one season, but captured the Regionalliga title in 2011, and returned to third-tier play. A second-place result in 2011–12 earned the team promotion to the 2. Bundesliga. After two good seasons in the league the club finished last in the league in 2014–15 and was relegated. Following relegation the club experienced financial difficulties and was initially unable to provide coverage for the required €5.6 million for a 3. Liga licence but was eventually able to apply for one. It deregistered its reserve team, VfR Aalen II, playing in the fifth tier Oberliga, to save money. In December 2016, the club filed for bankruptcy while competing in the 2016–17 season, leading to a nine point-deduction decided by the

DFB DFB may refer to: * Deerfield Beach, Florida, a city * Decafluorobutane, a fluorocarbon gas * Dem Franchize Boyz, former hip hop group, Atlanta, Georgia * Dfb, Köppen climate classification for Humid continental climate * Distributed-feedback ...

on 10 March 2017.

Honours

League

* 3. Liga ** ''Runners-up'': 2012 *

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 foot ...

(IV) ** Champions: 1999 *

(III) ** Champions: 1951 * Amateurliga Nordwürttemberg (III) ** Champions: 1974, 1975 *

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 ...

(IV-VI) ** Champions: 1980, 1983, 2014^‡

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: 1972, 1979, 1986, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2010 ** ''Runners-up'': 1987, 1992, 1999 * ^‡ Denotes title won by reserve team.

Players

Current squad

Recent managers

Recent managers of the club:

Recent seasons

The recent season-by-season performance of the club:

VfR Aalen

VfR Aalen II

* 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. ;Key

Stadium

The team plays its home matches in the OSTALB-ARENA – popularly known as the Rohrwang – which has a capacity of 11,183.Scholz-Arena
weltfussball.de. Retrieved 18 September 2011

References

External links

*
VfR Aalen at Weltfussball.deDas deutsche Fußball-Archiv
historical German domestic league tables

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aalen, VfR Football clubs in Germany Football clubs in Baden-Württemberg Association football clubs established in 1921 1921 establishments in Germany Ostalbkreis 2. Bundesliga clubs 3. Liga clubs