FC Viktoria Köln 1904 e. V., commonly known as Viktoria Köln () or Viktoria Cologne in
English
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* English people
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Culture, language and peoples
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
* ''English'', an Amish ter ...
, is a German professional
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
club based on the right bank of the river
Rhine
The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...
in the
Höhenberg district of
Cologne
Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...
,
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...
. The club competes in 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 t ...
, the third tier of German football.
From
1978
Events January
* January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213.
* January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...
to
1981
Events January
* January 1
** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union.
** Palau becomes a self-governing territory.
* January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...
Viktoria Köln played in the
2. Bundesliga. During this period, the club achieved its best result in the 1979–80 season, finishing 4th.
History
With the oldest parent club of the "Viktoria", the ''FC Germania Kalk'', founded on the 1st of July 1904 it is one of the oldest football clubs in the city. In 1909 ''Germania'' merged with ''FC Kalk'', which was founded in 1905, to form the ''SV Kalk 04'' and in 1911 this club was, in turn, united with ''Mülheimer FC'' to create ''VfR Mülheim-Kalk 04''. The club was renamed ''VfR Köln 04 rrh.'' in 1918 after the previously independent towns of
Kalk
Kalk or KALK may refer to:
* Kalk (surname)
* Kalk, Cologne, a borough of Cologne, Germany
* Kalk, Poland, a settlement in Kościerzyna County, Pomeranian Voivodeship
* Chemische Fabrik Kalk, a former German chemical company
* USS ''Kalk'' (D ...
and
Mülheim
Mülheim, officially Mülheim an der Ruhr (, ; ; ) and also described as ''"City on the River"'', is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia in western Germany. It is located in the Ruhr Area between Duisburg, Essen, Oberhausen and Ratingen. It is ho ...
were incorporated into Cologne. In 1926 the ''VfR'' won its first
Western German football championship
The Western German football championship () was the highest association football competition in Western Germany, in the Prussian Province of Westphalia, the Rhine Province, the northern parts of the province of Hesse-Nassau as well as the Principal ...
and entry to the
1926 German football championship.
After the re-organization of German football in 1933 under the
Third Reich
Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...
into sixteen top flight divisions, ''VfR'' played in the
Gauliga Mittelrhein
The Gauliga Mittelrhein was the highest football league in the central and southern part of the Prussian Rhine Province from 1933 to 1945. Shortly after the formation of the league, the Nazis reorganised the administrative regions in Germany, and ...
taking titles there in 1935 and 1937 but then performed poorly at the national level. In 1941 The Gauliga Mittelrhein was split into the
Gauliga Moselland and
Gauliga Köln-Aachen
The Gauliga Mittelrhein was the highest football league in the central and southern part of the Prussian Rhine Province from 1933 to 1945. Shortly after the formation of the league, the Nazis
Nazism (), formally named National Sociali ...
, with ''VfR'' playing in the latter division. Two years later the club joined ''Mülheimer SV'' to play as the combined wartime side (Kriegsspielgemeinschaft) ''KSG VfR 04 Köln/Mülheimer SV 06''. ''Mülheim'' had also played in the Gauliga Mittelrhein since 1933 claiming titles of its own in 1934 and 1940, and had similarly poor results at the national level. Play in the Gauliga Köln-Aachen was suspended in the 1944–45 season as Allied armies advanced into Germany at the end of World War II.
After the war ''VfR Köln'' resumed playing first division football in the Oberliga West, but lasted only a single season before being relegated. In 1949 the team merged with its wartime partner ''Mülheimer SV'' to become ''SC Rapid Köln'' and played in the
2. Oberliga West (II) until falling to third-tier football after 1952. ''Rapid'' joined local rivals ''SC Preußen Dellbrück'' forming ''SC Viktoria 04 Köln'' in 1957. Of these sides, ''Preußen Dellbrück'' was most successful, advancing to the semi-finals of the national championships in 1950 before going out against ''
Kickers Offenbach
Offenbacher Fussball-Club Kickers, commonly known as Kickers Offenbach, is a German association football club in Offenbach am Main, Hesse. The club was founded on 27 May 1901 in the Rheinischer Hof restaurant by footballers who had left establis ...
'' in a replay of their scoreless first match.
In 1963, the city selected Viktoria as its representative in the
Fairs Cup
The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, most commonly referred to as the Fairs Cup and sometimes as the European Fairs Cup or Fairs Cities' Cup, was a European football competition played between 1955 and 1971. The Fairs Cup was the idea of FIFA vice-presid ...
, the forerunner of today's
UEFA Cup
The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star.
Computer scientists and Mathematici ...
, but the club was unable to capitalize on the opportunity. The team played as a second and third division side with generally unremarkable results until the 1994 merger with ''SC Brück'' that created ''SCB Preußen Köln'', the new team being named after predecessor ''Preußen Dellbrück''. The new club earned a second-place finish in their division in 2000, but quickly tumbled to the
Oberliga Nordrhein
The Oberliga Nordrhein was the highest Football League in the region of Nordrhein which is part of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia from 1978 to 2008. In its last season, it was one of nine Oberligas in German football, the 4th tier of the Ge ...
(IV), even spending one season in fifth division
Verbandsliga Mittelrhein
The Mittelrheinliga (), sometimes also referred to as Oberliga Mittelrhein after its elevation to Oberliga status in 2012, is a German amateur football division administered by the Football association of the Middle Rhine, one of the 21 German st ...
. The pattern continued after the team was re-christened ''SCB Viktoria Köln'' in 2002. Just two years later, Viktoria was relegated to the Verbandsliga (V). In the 2009/10 season the team was relegated to the
Landesliga
The Landesliga () is a tier of football in some states of the German football league system.
In Bavaria, Saxony, Thuringia, Bremen, Lower Saxony and Hamburg, the Landesligas are set right below the Oberliga and therefore are the sixth tier. The r ...
(VI). The SCB Viktoria filed for
insolvency
In accounting, insolvency is the state of being unable to pay the debts, by a person or company ( debtor), at maturity; those in a state of insolvency are said to be ''insolvent''. There are two forms: cash-flow insolvency and balance-sheet i ...
on 1 August in 2010.
On 22 June 2010, a new club called ''FC Viktoria Köln'' was founded which took over the youth teams of now insolvent SCB Viktoria Köln. Although it was expected that the new club can begin in the ''Landesliga'', where SCB Viktoria had played at last, they were forced by the
association
Association may refer to:
*Club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal
*Trade association, an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry
*Voluntary associatio ...
to start in the lowest league, ''Kreisliga D''. Nonetheless, on 24 February 2011 the members of the ''FC Viktoria'' decided to incorporate the spun-off senior football department of FC Junkersdorf into the new club. Junkersdorf became champion of the 2010–11
Mittelrheinliga
The Mittelrheinliga (), sometimes also referred to as Oberliga (football), Oberliga Mittelrhein after its elevation to Oberliga status in 2012, is a German amateur football division administered by the German Football Association#Southern Germany, ...
and so FC Viktoria Köln could start in 2011–12 in the
NRW-Liga
The Nordrhein-Westfalen-Liga (''North Rhine-Westphalia League''; NRW-Liga) was the highest football league in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) from 2008 to 2012. It was one of the eleven Oberliga (football), Oberliga groups in German foo ...
.
Viktoria became champions of the
2011–12 NRW-Liga with a one-point lead over
Sportfreunde Siegen
Sportfreunde Siegen is a German association football club based in Siegen, North Rhine-Westphalia. After going through insolvency in 2008, the first team was forcibly relegated to the fifth-tier NRW-Liga. Promotion to fourth division Regionallig ...
and was also crowned top scorer with
Mike Wunderlich, who scored 32 goals. The title led to promotion to the
Regionalliga West
The Regionalliga West is a German professional football division administered by the German Football Association#Western Germany, Western German Football Association based in Duisburg. It is one of the five German regional football associations. ...
(IV).
On 29 April 2017, Viktoria became champions of the Regionalliga West on match day 31 of the
2016–17 season. Viktoria lost the home match in the
promotion round to 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 t ...
against
Carl Zeiss Jena 2:3, and although the club managed a 1:0 win in
Jena
Jena (; ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 in ...
, Viktoria missed out on promotion due to the
away goals rule
The away goals rule is a method of tiebreaking in association football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. Under the away goals rule, if the total goals scored by each team are equal, the team that ...
.
In the last home game of the
2018–19 Regionalliga West season on 18 May 2019, Viktoria Köln won 1:0 against
Borussia Mönchengladbach II
Borussia Mönchengladbach II is a German association football club from the town of Mönchengladbach, North Rhine Westphalia. It is the reserve team of Borussia Mönchengladbach.
The team's greatest success has been promotion to the tier four ...
to gain promotion to the 3. Liga.
Crest
Honours
*
Regionalliga West
The Regionalliga West is a German professional football division administered by the German Football Association#Western Germany, Western German Football Association based in Duisburg. It is one of the five German regional football associations. ...
(IV)
** Champions:
2016–17,
2018–19
**''Runners-up'':
2017–18
*
NRW-Liga
The Nordrhein-Westfalen-Liga (''North Rhine-Westphalia League''; NRW-Liga) was the highest football league in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) from 2008 to 2012. It was one of the eleven Oberliga (football), Oberliga groups in German foo ...
(V)
** Champions:
2011–12
*
Verbandsliga Mittelrhein
The Mittelrheinliga (), sometimes also referred to as Oberliga Mittelrhein after its elevation to Oberliga status in 2012, is a German amateur football division administered by the Football association of the Middle Rhine, one of the 21 German st ...
** Champions:
1977–78 (III),
1997–98 (V)
*
Middle Rhine Cup
The Middle Rhine Cup (German: ''Mittelrheinpokal'') is a German football club Cup competition open to teams from the Lower Rhine region of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The competition is one of the 21 regional cup competitions of German fo ...
(Tiers III–V)
** Winners:
1986
The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles.
** Spain and Portugal en ...
,
1990
Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...
,
2014
The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...
,
2015
2015 was designated by the United Nations as:
* International Year of Light
* International Year of Soil __TOC__
Events
January
* January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...
,
2016
2016 was designated as:
* International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly.
* International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...
,
2018
Events January
* January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency.
* January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...
,
2021
Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...
,
2022
The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...
,
2023
Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...
,
2025
So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...
Players
Current squad
European participations
Inter-Cities Fairs Cup
The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, most commonly referred to as the Fairs Cup and sometimes as the European Fairs Cup or Fairs Cities' Cup, was a European football competition played between 1955 and 1971. The Fairs Cup was the idea of FIFA vice-presid ...
/
UEFA Cup
The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star.
Computer scientists and Mathematici ...
/
UEFA Europa League
The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...
:
Kit suppliers and shirt sponsors
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Koln, Viktoria
Football clubs in Cologne
Association football clubs established in 1904
1904 establishments in Germany
Football clubs in Germany
2. Bundesliga clubs
3. Liga clubs