VfL Osnabrück is a German multi-sport club in

Osnabrück Osnabrück (; wep, Ossenbrügge; archaic ''Osnaburg'') is a city in the German state of Lower Saxony. It is situated on the river Hase in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest. With a population ...

, Lower Saxony. It currently fields teams in basketball, gymnastics, swimming, table tennis, and tennis but is by far best known for its

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

section.

History

Foundation to WW2

The club has its origins in the coming together on 17 April 1899 of the memberships of the "wild" clubs Antipodia, Germania, and Minerva to create Fußball Club 1899 Osnabrück. This group joined Osnabrücker Ballverein 05 in 1920 to play as BV 1899 Osnabrück. Predecessor Osnabrücker BV 05 was the product of the 1905 merger of Fußball Club Edelweiß 1902 Osnabrück and Fußball Club Alemannia Osnabrück. This club made an appearance in the quarterfinals of the regional Westdeutsche (West German) final in 1910 where they were decisively put out (2–9) by Duisburger SV. The merger that created Verein für Leibesübungen Osnabrück took place in 1924 when BV was joined by Spiel- und Sport Osnabrück. Prior to 1921, SuS had played as the football department of the gymnastics club Osnabrücker Turnverein 1861, created in 1914 when Fußball Club 1903 Olympia Osnabrück and Fußball Club Teutonia 1902 Osnabrück became part of TV. Established 24 June 1902, Teutonia Osnabrück also had quarterfinal appearances in the Westdeutsche final to its credit, dropping decisions to FC München-Gladbach in 1908 (0–3), and BV Dortmund (3–4) in 1909. VfL was formally incorporated on 8 March 1925, but part of the membership of the newly formed association soon left to create a separate side called Sportclub Rapid Osnabrück – styled after well known club

Rapid Vienna Rapids are sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence. Rapids are hydrological features between a ''run'' (a smoothly flowing part of a stream) and a ''cascade'' ...

. Rapid came back to the fold thirteen years later in 1938 and the re-unified club adopted the light-purple colours of the returning footballers. After the re-structuring of German football leagues in 1933 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 ...

, Osnabrück played second division football until winning promotion to the

Gauliga Niedersachsen The Gauliga Niedersachsen was the highest football league in the Prussian Province of Hanover and the German states of Bremen, Brunswick, Schaumburg-Lippe and Oldenburg from 1933 to 1945. Shortly after the formation of the league, the Nazis reor ...

(I) in 1935. They were relegated after their first campaign, but returned to the top flight in 1937, capturing the division title in the 1938–39 season. The Gauliga Niedersachsen was then split into two divisions, and in each of the following two seasons VfL took the Niedersachsen-Nord title. They went on win to the overall division title in 1940, beating

Hannover 96 Hannoverscher Sportverein von 1896, commonly referred to as Hannover 96 (), Hannover, HSV or simply 96, is a German professional football club based in the city of Hanover, Lower Saxony. They played in the Bundesliga for a total of 30 years betwe ...

(3–2, 2–2), but lost their title to the same club the following year (1–1, 1–3). Their Gauliga titles in 1939 and 1940 put VfL into opening round group play for the national championship, but they were unable to advance.

Post-War era

After World War II, the club returned to play as 1. FSV Osnabrück but again took up their traditional name in 1946. The team played in the

Oberliga Nord The Oberliga Nord was the fourth tier of the German football league system in the north of Germany. It covered the states of Lower Saxony, Bremen, Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein. With the introduction of the 3. Liga, the league ceased to exist f ...

(I) and delivered credible performances that left them standing fourth in the league's all-time table behind well-known sides

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its football section. Though the current HSV was founded in June 1919 from a merger of three ...

Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen (), Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen, Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, they are be ...

, and

FC St. Pauli Fußball-Club St Pauli von 1910 e.V., commonly known as simply FC St Pauli (), is a German professional football club based in the St. Pauli district of Hamburg, that competes in the 2. Bundesliga. The football department is part of a larger sp ...

Failed Bundesliga ambition

The

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

was formed in 1963 as Germany's new top flight professional league. The Violets did not qualify for play there and were seeded into second division Regionalliga Nord. They had opportunities to advance through the promotion rounds in five consecutive years beginning in 1969, but were unable to break through. For three decades the club remained a tier II fixture in the Regionalliga Nord (1963–74) and the 2. Bundesliga (1974–84, 1985–93). They played a single season in the

Amateur Oberliga Nord The Oberliga Nord was the fourth tier of the German football league system in the north of Germany. It covered the states of Lower Saxony, Bremen, Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein. With the introduction of the 3. Liga, the league ceased to exist fr ...

(III), but only narrowly escaped relegation in 1979 when ''FC St. Pauli'' was instead sent down when they were refused a license over their financial situation. A highlight of the period was a 5:4 victory over

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...

in a 1978

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 considere ...

(German Cup) match-up.

Stabilisation

Since 1994 the club has primarily played in the Regionalliga Nord (III) and its successor, the 3. Liga, making occasional appearances in the 2. Bundesliga starting in 2000–01, along with the 2003–04 season, with the 00s a particular period of being a

yo-yo club A yo-yo club is a sporting side that is regularly promoted and relegated. The phrase is most typically used in association football in the United Kingdom, especially in reference to promotion to and relegation from the Premier League. The name ...

between the two divisions. On the final day of their 2006–07 campaign, VfL again won promotion to second division play, and were then able to avoid being immediately sent down once more by finishing out of the relegation zone in 14th place in 2007–08. However, in the 2008–09 season, Osnabrück were relegated to the 2009–10 3. Liga where they would earn promotion back to the 2. Bundesliga for the next season. Again the club was relegated to the 3. Liga after a poor 2010–11 season, and they spent 8 seasons in the 3. Liga before earning promotion via winning the league in the 2018–19 season, where they have played ever since.

Honours

(I) ** Champions: 1939, 1940 *

Regionalliga Nord The Regionalliga Nord ( en, Regional League North) is the fourth tier of the German football league system in the states of Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, Bremen and Hamburg. It is one of five leagues at this level, together with the Regional ...

(II) ** Champions: 1969,

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events Ja ...

** Runners-up:

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

, 1973 *

(III) ** Champions: 1985 *

(III) ** Champions: 1999, 2000 ** Runners-up: 1995, 2003 * 3. Liga (III) ** Champions: 2009–10, 2018–19 *

German amateur championship The German amateur football championship was a national football competition in Germany organized by the German Football Association (German: Deutscher Fußball-Bund; DFB) and in existence from 1950 to 1998. History Overview The championship was ...

** Champions:1995 *

Lower Saxony Cup The Lower Saxony Cup (german: Niedersächsischer Pokal) is an annual football cup competition, held by the ( en, Lower Saxony Football Association) since 1956. For sponsorship reasons, the official name of the competition is Krombacher-Pokal.

(Tiers III-V) ** Winners: 2005, 2013, 2015,

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

Players

Current squad

Out on loan

Managerial history

Recent seasons

The recent season-by-season performance of the club:VfL Osnabrück
Fussball.de. Retrieved 3 December 2015 ;Key

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Osnabruck, Vfl Football clubs in Germany Football clubs in Lower Saxony Association football clubs established in 1899 1899 establishments in Germany Sport in Osnabrück 2. Bundesliga clubs 3. Liga clubs