VfR Mannheim

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VfR Mannheim
Verbandsliga Baden
(VI)
2015–163rd

VfR Mannheim is a German association football club based in Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg formed in 1911 out of the fusion of Mannheimer FG 1896, Mannheimer FG 1897 Union, and FC Viktoria 1897 Mannheim.[1] The club captured the national title in 1949 with a victory over Borussia Dortmund. They have played through most of its recent history as an unheralded local amateur side and were, until 2015, part of the Oberliga Baden-Württemberg (V).

History

Predecessor sides

TuRu Düsseldorf. The club finished in mid-table throughout the late 1920s and early 1930s in the Bezirksliga Rhein-Saar.[2]

Success through the 1930s and 1940s

After the 1933 re-organization of German football under the

FV Saarbrücken
.

Mannheim repeated as division champions in 1944. Wartime conditions made playing football increasingly difficult in the country, so much so that the national playoffs were initially abandoned and VfR declared champions by the sport's governing authority. However, this decision was revoked after protests from other clubs and the playoff competition reinstated. Mannheim advanced only as far as the eighth final before being eliminated by 1. FC Nürnberg.

Postwar national championship

Historical chart of VfR Mannheim league performance

After the war VfR Mannheim played in the first division

Viktoria trophy. The 1944 final between Dresdner SC and Luftwaffen-SV Hamburg was the last Viktoria match ever played as the trophy disappeared at war's end. The missing prize was replaced by the Meisterschale in 1949 and was first awarded to Mannheim despite 1. FC Nürnberg being Germany's first postwar champions in 1948. Today the Meisterschale recognizes the country's Bundesliga champions and is inscribed with the names of each national championship team since 1903. The Viktoria has since been recovered and is held by the German Football Association
.

The next year they again met Dortmund in the playoffs, this time in the opening round, and once again eliminated them. However, they would themselves be put out in the next round by

Preußen Dellbrück
and begin a slide into anonymity.

Descent from the top flight

Mannheim played in the second tier

Regionalliga Süd formed in 1963 at the same time as Germany's new professional league, the Bundesliga. After ten years near or at the bottom of the league table they fell to tier III football, the Amateurliga Nordbaden. Despite ongoing financial problems they rebuffed offers of a merger from SV Waldhof Mannheim in 1998 and again in 2003. They were denied a license that year and driven to the Verbandsliga Nordbaden (V). However, the side performed well enough to win their division the next season and promotion to Oberliga Baden-Württemberg
(IV), where they play today. With a sixteenth place in 2007–08, they narrowly avoided relegation, being on equal points with the seventeenth team.

After suffering relegation in 2009, the club took two seasons to recover before returning to the Oberliga in 2011. In its first season back the club finished second in the league behind SSV Ulm 1846. In the 2014–15 season the club came second-last in the league and was relegated to the Verbandsliga.

Honours

The club's honours:

League

  • German football championship
    • Champions: 1949
  • Southern German championship
    • Champions: 1925

Regional

Other sports

  • The club has won the German championship in baseball in 1965, 1966 and 1970.

Recent managers

Recent managers of the club:[3]

Manager Start Finish
Rainer Ulrich 1 January 2005 31 June 2006
Walter Pradt 1 July 2006 17 April 2007
Rainer Ulrich 18 April 2007 30 June 2007
Dieter Heimen 1 July 2007 25 October 2007
Ralf Köhnlein 26 October 2007 31 December 2007
Rafael Sánchez 1 January 2008 13 January 2009
Gernot Jüllich 13 January 2009 28 January 2011
Kenan Kocak 2 February 2011 Present

Recent seasons

The recent season-by-season performance of the club:[4][5]

Season Division Tier Position
1999–2000 Regionalliga Süd III 3rd
2000–01 Regionalliga Süd 8th
2001–02 Regionalliga Süd 9th ↓
2002–03
2003–04
Verbandsliga Baden
 V 1st ↑
2004–05 Oberliga Baden-Württemberg IV 12th
2005–06 Oberliga Baden-Württemberg 10th
2006–07 Oberliga Baden-Württemberg 15th
2007–08 Oberliga Baden-Württemberg 16th
2008–09 Oberliga Baden-Württemberg V 16th ↓
2009–10 Verbandsliga Nordbaden VI 4th
2010–11 Verbandsliga Nordbaden 2nd ↑
2011–12 Oberliga Baden-Württemberg V 2nd
2012–13 Oberliga Baden-Württemberg 3rd
2013–14 Oberliga Baden-Württemberg 15th
2014–15 Oberliga Baden-Württemberg 17th ↓
2015–16 Verbandsliga Baden VI 3rd
2016–17 Verbandsliga Baden
↑ Promoted ↓ Relegated

References

  1. ISBN 9783897841475
    .
  2. ISBN 3-928562-85-1
  3. ^ VfR Mannheim .:. Trainer von A-Z (in German) weltfussball.de, accessed: 4 September 2011
  4. ^ Das deutsche Fußball-Archiv (in German) Historical German domestic league tables
  5. ^ Fussball.de – Ergebnisse Archived 7 December 2011 at the Wayback Machine (in German) Tables and results of all German football leagues

External links

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