VfB Theley is a German association football club from the Theley suburb of the town of

Tholey Tholey () is a municipality in the district of Sankt Wendel, in Saarland, Germany. It is situated approximately west of Sankt Wendel, and north of Saarbrücken. History Local history The first traces of settlement in the area of today's Thol ...

Saarland The Saarland (, ; french: Sarre ) is a state of Germany in the south west of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and ...

. The club's greatest success has been promotion to the second tier

2. Oberliga Südwest The (English: 2nd Premier league Southwest) was the second-highest level of the German football league system in the southwest of Germany from 1951 until the formation of the Bundesliga in 1963. It covered the two states of Rhineland-Palatinate a ...

in 1958 where it played for five seasons. After the

introduction of the Bundesliga The Introduction of the Bundesliga was the long-debated step of establishing a top-level association football league in Germany in 1963. The new league, the Bundesliga, played its first season in 1963–64 and continues to be the highest league in ...

in 1963 Theley spent another three seasons at the second tier, now the

Regionalliga Südwest The Regionalliga Südwest ( en, Regional League Southwest) is the fourth tier of the German football league system in the states of Hesse, Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland. It is one of five leagues at this level, together wit ...

before dropping out of higher level football altogether in 1974. Theley also made two appearances in 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 ...

, in 1974–75 and 1976–77, but was knocked out in the second round at each occasion.

History

Football was established in Theley after the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

when British soldiers were stationed in the village for a number of weeks to demarcate the boundary between Germany and the soon to be

League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...

-administrated

and were spotted playing the game by local youth. The club played as a local amateur side for the first couple of decades of its existence. VfB Theley won promotion to the tier three Amateurliga Saarland in 1955 and spent the first two seasons as a lower table side before winning the league in 1957–58. Promoted, Theley played in the

the next five season from 1958 to 1963, playing as a lower table side with two eleventh-place finishes as its best result. Back in the Amateurliga Theley won the league in 1970 and 1972, earning promotion to the tier two Regionalliga on each occasion. The club spent three seasons in the

, in 1970–71 and from 1972 to 1974 with a tenth place in 1973 as its best result. At the end of the 1973–74 season the Regionalliga was disbanded in favour of the new

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

and the club dropped out of higher league football altogether. In the period that followed Theley made two appearances in the first round of the

, in 1974–75 and 1976–77. In Both instances the club advanced to the second round where it was knocked out by

Altonaer FC 93 Altonaer FC von 1893, commonly known as Altona 93 and abbreviated to AFC, is a German association football club based in the Altona district of the city of Hamburg. The football team is a department of a larger sports club which also offers h ...

and

MSV Duisburg Meidericher Spielverein 02 e. V. Duisburg, commonly known as simply MSV Duisburg (), is a German association football club based in Duisburg, North Rhine-Westphalia. Nicknamed ''Die Zebras'' for their traditional striped jerseys, the club was on ...

. In its first two Amateurliga seasons Theley finished runners-up in the league and fourth in 1977 but, in 1977–78, when a top-seven finish was required to qualify for the new Oberliga the club came only thirteenth. Because of this it dropped to the new tier four

Verbandsliga Saarland The Verbandsliga Saarland is currently the seventh tier of the German football league system in the German federated state of Saarland. Until the introduction of the Saarlandliga in 2009 it was the sixth tier, until the introduction of the 3. Liga ...

, but was relegated from this level the following season as well. Theley returned to the Verbandsliga in 1981 but was relegated in 1984. It returned for a second time in 1988, generally achieving better results that culminated in a league championship in 1998–99. Promoted, the club played for a single season in the Oberliga Südwest in 1999–2000 but finished eighteenth and was relegated again. Back in the Verbandsliga Theley played as a lower table side until 2007 when it was relegated to the Landesliga. When the

Saarlandliga The Saarlandliga (English: ''Saarland league'') is currently the sixth tier of the German football league system in the German federal state of Saarland. It was a new league, introduced at the end of the 2008-09 season. In the past, the term ''Saa ...

was introduced as the new highest league in the state, as the sixth tier of the league system, the club moved back up to the expanded Verbandsliga. From there it won promotion to the Saarlandliga where it spent the 2010–11 season. Relegated back to the Verbandsliga Theley experienced another drop in 2015, now to the Landesliga. A runners-up finish in the Landesliga in 2015–16 took the club back up to the Verbandsliga.

Honours

The club's honours:VfB 1919 Theley
saarlandpokal.de, accessed: 8 December 2015 * Amateurliga Saarland ** Champions: 1957–58, 1969–70, 1971–72 *

** Champions: 1998–99, 2009–10 *

Saarland Cup The Saarland Cup (German: ''Saarlandpokal'') 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 is limited to clubs from Saarland, however, teams from t ...

** Winners: 1975–76

Recent seasons

The recent season-by-season performance of the club:Historic German football league tables
Das Deutsche Fussball Archiv, accessed: 8 December 2015VfB Theley at Fussball.de
accessed: 8 December 2015 * With the introduction of the Regionalligas in 1994 and the

3. Liga The 3. Liga is a professional association football league and the third division in Germany. In the German football league system, it is positioned between the 2. Bundesliga and the fourth-tier Regionalliga. The modern 3. Liga was formed for th ...

in 2008 as the new third tier, below the

, all leagues below dropped one tier.

References

External links

Official club site

VfB Theley at Weltfussball.de
{{DEFAULTSORT:Theley, Vfb Football clubs in Germany Football clubs in Saarland Association football clubs established in 1919 1919 establishments in Germany