TBVfL Neustadt-Wildenheid

The TBVfL Neustadt-Wildenheid is a German association football club from the city of Neustadt bei Coburg, Bavaria.

The club is a merger of ''TBV Wildenheid'' and ''VfL 07 Neustadt''.ASV Neustadt: "Wir stecken im nackten Existenzkampf“
Neue Presse Coburg – Article on football in Neustadt bei Coburg, accessed: 7 April 2009 The latter achieved notability by playing in the 2nd Oberliga Süd from 1954 to 1963.

History

While the ''TBV Wildenheid'' throughout its existence played as a lower amateur side, reaching the tier-four Landesliga Bayern-Nord for one season in 1968–69, the ''VfL Neustadt'' became quite a successful side during the 1950s and early 1960s. The club should not be mistaken with the VfL Neustadt/Weinstraße, a club from Rhineland-Palatinate.

VfL Neustadt

The ''VfL Neustadt'' was formed in 1907.

The club surfaced as a force in Bavarian football after the Second World War, earning promotion to the tier-two Landesliga Bayern (northern group) in 1946. It only lasted for two seasons at this level, in 1948, when the league was reduced to one single group it was relegated again.

The club made a return to Bavaria's highest league in 1950, winning the 2nd Amateurliga Oberfranken-Ost and coming second in the following promotion round. The Landesliga Bayern had been renamed to Amateurliga Bayern in 1950, along with the introduction of the 2nd Oberliga Süd as the new second division in Southern Germany. ''VfL'' took out the Amateurliga title in its first season there 1950–51 but failed in the promotion round to the 2nd Oberliga. Coming third on equal points with VfR Aalen and ASV Feudenheim, it lost 0–1 to the later in a decider.

The following season, ''VfL'' finished second in the league, one point behind champions FC Amberg. With Heinz Wittig, the club had a player selected for the German team that finished fourth at the 1952 Summer Olympics. After a seventh place in 1953, the league was once more divided into two regional groups, north and south and ''VfL'' became part of the northern group again. In 1953–54, it took out the title in this league. A Bavarian title game was not played and ''VfL'' advanced to the 2nd Oberliga promotion round. In this competition, the club came first and, alongside southern Bavarian champions SpVgg Weiden, won promotion to the second division.

''VfL'' established itself as a mid-table side in its new league, staying out of relegation trouble. In its second season, 1955–56, the club set a home attendance record when 11,000 saw a 1–3 loss to FC Bayern Munich who would finish second in the league and earn promotion back to the Oberliga Süd.

In the 2nd Oberliga, considered a semi-professional league, ''VfL'' would pay its players DM 60 a month to play for the club. The rise of the club from the Easy German was made possible by employers like Siemens and local sponsors.

The 1957–58 season became the most successful for the club, finishing third and within four points of Oberliga promotion, which went to SV Waldhof Mannheim and TSG Ulm 1846. The next season was almost as successful, coming fourth but seven points clear of a promotion spot. After this, ''VfL'' declined somewhat.

In the 1959–60 season, the club finished twelfth and, to avoid relegation, Fritz Walter was hired temporarily as a coach. The club continued in the following year to struggle against the drop to the Amateurliga, with the gap to the relegation ranks getting smaller every season. In 1961–62, it saved itself by two points only.

Changes to the German league system in 1963, the introduction of the Fußball-Bundesliga and the Regionalligas below meant, ''VfL'' would have had to finish ninth or better to retain its second division status. This mark was missed by six points in twelfth place and the club had to return to the now single-division again Amateurliga Bayern.

Back in the third division, ''VfL'' finished sixth in its first year but then came only 16th in 1965 and was relegated to the tier-four Landesliga Bayern-Nord. It managed a second-place finish in this league in 1965–66 but then fell away to become a mid-table side until suffering another relegation, now to the Bezirksliga, in 1971. ''VfL'' immediately recovered and earned promotion back to the Landesliga, finishing fourth in this league in 1972–73. A period of upper-table finishes followed, culminating in a second place in 1978. From there, results declined and the club was relegated once more in 1981, never to return to this level of play.

Its glory years a thing of the past, the club played as a lower amateur side in the 1980s and 90s. In 1993, it made a return to the Bezirksliga, which was now the seventh tier, but lasted for only two seasons until 1995. It returned for another season in 1997–98.

Merger club

The new millennium saw ''VfL'' in desperate financial trouble with the real threat of having to declare insolvency. In 2003, it had to sell its stadium, the ''Stadion an der Sonneberger Straße'', and clubhouse to ''SV Türk Gücü Neustadt'' to stay afloat. On 30 May 2005, the club had to merge with local amateur side ''TBV Wildenheid'' to survive, a step not universally accepted by all members, some of the older ones having left the club in protest. For a while after the merger, the club played under the name of Kickers Neustadt-Wildenheid, rising from the Kreisklasse back to the Bezirksliga.

The club played in the Bezirksliga Oberfanken-West (VIII) as a mid-table side in 2008–09, before winning the league the following year and earning promotion to the Bezirksoberliga Oberfranken.

At the end of the 2011–12 season the club dropped back to the Bezirksliga after finishing eleventh in the Bezirksoberliga but remained at the same tier as the Bezirksoberliga was disbanded. The club was relegated back to the Kreisliga at the end of the 2013–14 season.

Honours

The club's honours:

League

* Amateurliga Bayern (III)
** Champions: 1951
** Runners-up: 1952
* Amateurliga Nordbayern (III)
** Champions: 1954
* Landesliga Bayern-Nord
** Runners-up: (2) 1966, 1978
* Bezirksliga Oberfranken-West (V-VIII)
** Champions: (2) 1972, 2010

Recent seasons

The recent season-by-season performance of the club:Fussball.de – Ergebnisse
Tables and results of all German football leagues

*With the introduction of the Bezirksoberligas in 1988 as the new fifth tier, below the Landesligas, all leagues below dropped one tier. With the introduction of the Regionalligas in 1994 and the 3. Liga in 2008 as the new third tier, below the 2. Bundesliga, all leagues below dropped one tier. With the establishment of the Regionalliga Bayern as the new fourth tier in Bavaria in 2012 the Bayernliga was split into a northern and a southern division, the number of Landesligas expanded from three to five and the Bezirksoberligas abolished. All leagues from the Bezirksligas onwards were elevated one tier.

Further reading

* ''Festschrift zur 60-Jahrfeier des VfL 07 Neustadt bei Coburg'' 60th Anniversary book of the VfL Neustadt

References

Sources

*''Süddeutschlands Fussballgeschichte in Tabellenform 1897–1988'' History of Southern German football in tables, author: Ludolf Hyll

External links

Official team siteDas deutsche Fußball-Archiv
historical German domestic league tables

{{DEFAULTSORT:Neustadt-Wildenheid, TBVfL
Football clubs in Germany
Football clubs in Bavaria
Association football clubs established in 2005
Football in Upper Franconia
2005 establishments in Germany