VfL Bochum
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| VfL Bochum | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Verein für Leibesübungen Bochum 1848 Fußballgemeinschaft e.V. |
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| Nickname(s) | Die Unabsteigbaren ("The Unrelegables", only prior to 1994) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Founded | 1848 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | rewirpowerSTADION (Capacity 31,328) |
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| Chairman |  Werner Altegoer |
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| Head Coach |  Marcel Koller |
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| League | Bundesliga | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2007/08 | Bundesliga, 12th | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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VfL Bochum is a German football club based in Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia.
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[edit] History
[edit] Founding to World War II
VfL is one of the oldest sports organizations in Germany claiming an origin date of July 26, 1848 when an article in the Märkischer Sprecher - a local newspaper - called for the creation of a gymnastics club. The Bochumer Turnverein was then formally established with the authorities on February 18, 1849. However, the origin of the VfLs football department is the predecessor side of the Fußballklub 06 formed in 1906, later known as SV Germania 06 Bochum.
Another ancestor - Spiel und Sport Bochum - was formed in 1908 and played the first football match at the Castroper Straße (Ruhrstadion) on October 8, 1911. After a merger with another local side in 1919, they took on the name TuS Bochum 1848.
Two of these clubs played in the Gauliga Westfalen, one of sixteen top-flight divisions established through the re-organization of German football under the Third Reich in 1933. TuS Bochum appeared there briefly in 1936 and 1937, while Germania Bochum played in the division from 1933 to 1938. VfL Bochum was formed when the Naziregime ordered the consolidation of TuS, Germania, and Turnverein Bochum 1848 on April 14, 1938 and began play in the 1938-39 season. After 1943 they played with yet another club as the combined wartime side Kriegsspielgemeinschaft (KSG) VfL 1848 Bochum/Preußen Bochum until the end of the conflict. Although the club was able to field competitive sides, they had the misfortune of playing in the same division as Schalke 04 which was the dominant team of the era: Bochum's best results were a number of distant second place finishes.
[edit] Postwar and entry to Bundesliga play
Following the war the football section resumed play as the independent VfL Bochum Fussballgemeinschaft 1848 and played its first season in the second division 2.Oberliga West in 1949, while Preußen Bochum went on to lower tier amateur level play. VfL captured the division title in 1953 to advance to the Oberliga West for a single season. They repeated their divisional win in 1956 and returned to the top-flight until again being relgated after the 1960-61 season.
With the formation of the Bundesliga, Germany's new professional league, in 1963, VfL found itself in the third tier Amateurliga Westfalen. A first place result there in 1965 raised them to the Regionalliga West (II) from where they began a steady climb up the league table to the Bundesliga in 1971. During this rise Bochum also played its way to the final of the 1968 German Cup where they dropped a 1:4 decision to 1. FC Köln.
In spite of being a perennial lower table side, Bochum developed a reputation for tenaciousness on the field in a run of twenty seasons at the top flight. The club made a repeat appearance in the German Cup final in 1988, this time going down 0:1 to Eintracht Frankfurt. Relegated after a 16th place finish in 1993, the team has become a classic "elevator side", bouncing up and down between the Bundesliga and 2.Bundesliga. The club's best Bundesliga results have come relatively recently as 5th place finishes in 1997 and 2004, which earned them appearances in the UEFA Cup tournament. In 1997, they advanced to the third round where they were put out by Dutch side Ajax Amsterdam, and in 2004, they were eliminated early through away goals (0-0 and 1-1) by Standard CL Liège of Belgium.
[edit] Current
Today's sports club has 5,000 members with the football department accounting for over 2,200 of these. Other sections now part of the association include athletics, badminton, basketball, dance, fencing, gymnastics, handball, hockey, swimming, table tennis, tennis, and volleyball.
[edit] Players
For recent transfers, see List of German football transfers Summer 2008#Bochum.
[edit] Current squad
As of January 30, 2008
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[edit] Players out on loan
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[edit] VfL Bochum II squad
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[edit] Notable players
See also: Category:VfL Bochum players
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Germany
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[edit] Honours
- UEFA Cup
- 1997/98 (Third Round), 2004/05 (First Round)
- German Cup finalists
- 1968, 1988
- Bundesliga UEFA Cup qualification
- 1996/97 (5th), 2003/04 (5th)
- Bundesliga top goal scorer
- 1985/86 (Stefan Kuntz, 22 goals), 2002/03 (Thomas Christiansen, 21 goals (w/Giovane Elber)), 2006/07 (Theofanis Gekas, 20 goals)
- 2. Bundesliga champions
- 1993/94, 1995/96, 2005/06
- Promoted to Bundesliga
- 1970/71 (1st Regionalliga West, 1st promotion group #1), 1993/94 (1st), 1995/96 (1st), 1999/2000 (2nd), 2001/02 (3rd), 2005/06 (1st)
[edit] League results
[edit] Stadium
rewirpowerSTADION (formerly known as "Ruhrstadion") was one of the first modern football-only stadiums in Germany. It was built in the 1970s on the traditional ground of TuS Bochum 08 at the Castroper Straße north of the city centre.
The fully-roofed venue's capacity is 31,328, including standing room for 15,639.
[edit] Team trivia
- One of the most prominent supporters of VfL Bochum is popular German musician and actor Herbert Grönemeyer, who wrote the song "Bochum" which soon became the club's unofficial anthem sung by VfL fans prior to every home match.
- Some team supporters share a fan-friendship with FC Bayern Munich.
- In 1955, VfL Bochum became the first German football club to travel to Israel to play a friendship match.
- The club does not assign the number 12 to any player in order to honour its fans as the 12th man.
[edit] Coaches
| 1967-1972 | Hermann Eppenhoff |
| 1972-1979 | Heinz Höher |
| 1979-1981 | Helmuth Johannsen |
| 1981-1986 | Rolf Schafstall |
| 1986-1988 | Hermann Gerland |
| 1988-1989 | Franz-Josef Tenhagen |
| 1989-1991 | Reinhard Saftig |
| 1991 | Rolf Schafstall |
| 1991-1992 | Holger Osieck |
| 1992-1995 | Jürgen Gelsdorf |
| 1995-1999 | Klaus Toppmöller |
| 1999 | Ernst Middendorp |
| 1999-2000 | Bernard Dietz |
| 2000-2001 | Ralf Zumdick |
| 2001 | Rolf Schafstall |
| 2001 | Bernard Dietz |
| 2001-2005 | Peter Neururer |
| 2005- | Marcel Koller |
