Wuppertaler SV
Full name | Wuppertaler Sport-Verein e.V. | ||
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Nickname(s) | WSV, Die Löwen (The Lions) | ||
Founded |
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Ground | Stadion am Zoo | ||
Capacity | 23,067 | ||
Chairman | Alexander Eichner | ||
Manager | Hüzeyfe Doğan | ||
League | Regionalliga West (IV) | ||
2022–23 | 2nd | ||
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Wuppertaler SV is a
History
Early history of predecessors TSG and SSV
TSG was active as a gymnastics club as early as 1880 while the roots of'SSV go back to the 1904 establishment of the winter sports club Bergischer Wintersport-und SV 04 Elberfeld, which was known simply as SSV Elberfeld by 1905. This club took part in the early rounds of the national finals in 1930–31 and went on to play in the
Post war play and the formation of WSV
After
Both clubs were part of the
WSV returned to the top flight for the 1962–63 campaign, which was the last Oberliga season before the creation of the new first division Bundesliga. Although they had a poor regular season, the team enjoyed a good DFB-Pokal run, advancing to the semi-finals where they lost a closely fought match (0–1) to first division side and eventual cup winners Hamburger SV before a record hometown crowd of 40,000.
Rise to the Bundesliga
The following year, the club became part of the Regionalliga West, one of the five divisions in the newly established second-tier circuit. Wuppertal delivered a solid performance, finishing second in their division behind Alemannia Aachen. They remained competitive throughout the remainder of the 1960s and into the early 1970s. In 1972, they achieved a breakthrough by winning the Regionalliga West title and subsequently triumphing in the Bundesliga promotion playoffs. WSV dominated their opposition, winning all eight of their promotion round matches, a remarkable feat in the 11 seasons played under this playoff format.
Bundesliga 1972–75
Die Löwen played three seasons in the top flight with their debut 1972–73 season being their most successful. While they never seriously challenged eventual champions
The fourth-place finish earned the club a place in the 1973–74
Widely regarded as having too old a roster to compete, in the third top tier season the club stumbled to an ignominious last place finish on 12 points. This stands as the second-worst Bundesliga result in history, only four points better than the
Post-Bundesliga (1975) to 2013
After the 1975 relegation from the Bundesliga, Wuppertal next played five seasons in the second tier 2. Bundesliga until 1980. From 1980 the played a dozen seasons in the Amateur Oberliga Nordrhein (III). A series of strong finishes in the late 80s eventually led to a return to the 2. Bundesliga for the 1992–93 and 1993–94 seasons before relegation once again to third tier football in the Regionalliga West/Südwest.
The club had a close brush with bankruptcy in 1998 and the next season was sent down to the Oberliga Nordrhein (IV) for failing to pay their dues. By 2003 they had earned a return to the Regionalliga Nord (III).
In 2004, the club merged with Borussia Wuppertal to become Wuppertaler SV Borussia adopting the red and blue colours and logo of the more senior WSV. Borussia had been formed in 1976 through the union of SV Germania 1907 Wuppertal and VfL 1912 Wuppertal. Like SSV, Germania was also the successor to an Elberfeld club – Germania Elberfeld – which took part in the preliminary rounds of the national finals in the early 30s. While "Borussia" quickly developed into a competitive side, they were not financially strong enough to support their ambition and joined forces with WSV in hopes of returning the city to football prominence. From supporter's side, the additional name Borussia has been constantly rejected, due to the club's history and identification issues. This controversy and the recent merger has been frequently discussed at annual meetings for almost nine years before the era of chairman Runge ended in 2013.
In the
The era after chairman Runge
At an annual meeting on 24 May 2013 the club's name returned to Wuppertaler SV. A new administrative board was formed by the 13 members of Initiative WSV 2.0 of which Alexander Eichner was a member of. President Klaus Mathies resigned from this position to allow a smooth transition and for Eichner to take over. At a
Recent seasons
Year | Division | Level | Position |
1999–2000 | Oberliga Nordrhein | IV | 1st |
2000–01 | Oberliga Nordrhein | 2nd | |
2001–02 | Oberliga Nordrhein | 2nd | |
2002–03 | Oberliga Nordrhein | 1st ↑ | |
2003–04 | Regionalliga Nord | III | 4th |
2004–05 | Regionalliga Nord | 5th | |
2005–06 | Regionalliga Nord | 8th | |
2006–07 | Regionalliga Nord | 5th | |
2007–08 | Regionalliga Nord | 6th | |
2008–09 | 3. Liga | 14th | |
2009–10 | 3. Liga | 20th ↓ | |
2010–11 | Regionalliga West | IV | 8th |
2011–12 | Regionalliga West | 5th | |
2012–13 | Regionalliga West | 15th ↓ | |
2013–14 | Oberliga Niederrhein | V | 3rd |
2014–15 | Oberliga Niederrhein | 2nd | |
2015–16 | Oberliga Niederrhein | 1st ↑ | |
2016–17[1] | Regionalliga West | IV | 11th |
2017–18 | Regionalliga West | 3rd | |
2018–19 | Regionalliga West | 10th | |
2019–20 | Regionalliga West | 13th | |
2020–21 | Regionalliga West | 12th | |
2021–22 | Regionalliga West | 3rd | |
2022–23 | Regionalliga West | 2nd |
Honours
The club's honours:
- Regionalliga West
- Champions: 1972
- Oberliga Nordrhein (IV)
- Champions: 1990, 1992, 2000, 2003
- Oberliga Niederrhein (V)
- Champions: 2016
- Lower Rhine Cup
- Winners: 1981, 1985, 1999, 2000, 2005, 2007, 2021
Fans
Despite the club's relative poor on field performance, the club draws big support. There are currently 18 supporter groups: Red Blue 1954, Treue Löwen, Die Wuppys 04, Die Falken, Teamgeist, Pflegestufe 4, Schwebende Jonges, Zooalarm Wuppertal, Red Blue Fanatics, Opus W, Sektion Gegengerade, Tradition 1954, Wupper-Piraten, WSV Fans Mittelrhein, Wupperlümmel's, Die Mecker Oppas, Wupperschlümpfe and Debakel Arrenberg.[2]
Many of the club's fans sympathise with
Current squad
- As of 19 September 2023[7]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Notable players
- Striker Günter "Meister" Pröpper (born 12 August 1941) played with Wuppertaler SV from 1970–79 and represents the club's golden era of the early 70s. His 52 goals in the club's 1971–72 campaign set a second division record that still stands. In 87 Bundesliga matches he scored 39 goals. After retiring he settled in Wuppertal and has remained associated with the club.
- Tasmania 1900 Berlin,
- World Cup 1954where Austria finished third. Probst scored six goals, tying him for second place with two other players among goalscorers at the competition.
- Alfred "Coppi" Beck, 1955–58, capped once for Germany when with FC St. Pauli.
- Erich Haase, 1956–68, played one international match for East Germany while with Turbine Halle.
- Waldemar Ksienzyk, 1992–94, played one international match for East Germany while with Dynamo Berlin.
- Erich Ribbeck, who later coached the German national team, started his career with SSV and later played with WSV. In his early days as a coach at Rot-Weiss Essen he used Günter Pröpper only rarely, which caused that player to move on to Wuppertaler SV.
- Esteghlal FC in 1973 and was capped 17 times for Iran.
- Thomas Litjens
- José Valencia
Track and field
SSV Wuppertal brought their track and field department to the 1954 union that formed Wuppertaler SV. Athletes from the club have competed in the European and World championships as well as the Olympics. Some notable athletes from the club are:
- Manfred Kinder, 400m-Runner, European Champion, Olympic medalist
- Maria Jeibmann, 400m-Runner, German champion
- Manfred Knickenberg, 100m-/200m-Runner, Olympic participant, European championship medalist, German champion
- Maren Collin, 100m-/200m-Runner, European championship runner-up, German champion
- Ruth Limbach, 100m-/200m-Runner, German championship runner-up (1949)
Former coaches
- Raymond Schwab (1954–1956)
- Edmund Conen (1956–1957)
- Walter Werner (1957)
- Jupp Schmidt (1957–1958)
- Emil Melcher (1958–1959)
- Willibald Kreß (1959–1961)
- Robert Gebhardt (1961–1965)
- Adi Preißler (1965–1967)
- Kuno Klötzer (1967–1968)
- Horst Buhtz (1968–1974)
- János Bédl (1974–1975)
- Diethelm Ferner (1975–1976)
- Herbert Burdenski (1976–1977)
- Erhard Ahmann (1977)
- Herbert Burdenski (1977–1978)
- Bernd Hoss (1978–1979)
- Rolf Müller (1979–1980)
- Heinz Lucas (1980)
- Rolf Müller (1980–1981)
- Kalli Hoffmann (1981–1982)
- Jonny Hey (1982–1983)
- Manfred Reichert (1983)
- Thomas Bartel (1983)
- Manfred Reichert (1983–1984)
- Detlef Pirsig (1984–1986)
- Günter Pröpper (1986)
- Rolf Müller (1986–1989)
- Dieter Tartemann (1989–1990)
- Wolfgang Jerat (1990–1992)
- Gerd Vom Bruch (1992–1993)
- Michael Lorkowski (1993–1994)
- Dieter Tartemann (1994)
- Werner Fuchs (1994–1996)
- Wolfgang Jerat (1996–1997)
- Ali Höfer (1997)
- Rudi Gores (1997–1999)
- Roman Geschlecht (1999)
- Frantisek Straka(1999–2001)
- Jonny Hey (2001–2002)
- Georg Kreß (2002–2004)
- Werner Kasper (2004)
- Uwe Fuchs (2005–2007)
- Wolfgang Jerat (1990–1992)
- Wolfgang Frank (2008)
- Christoph John (2008)
- Uwe Fuchs (2008–2010)
- Peter Radojewski (interim) (2010)
- Michael Dämgen (2010–2011)
- Karsten Hutwelker (2011)
- Hans-Günter Bruns (2011–2012)
- Jörg Jung (2012–2013)
- Peter Radojewski (2013)
- Reinhold Fanz (2013)
- Peter Radojewski (2013–2014)
- Thomas Richter(2014–2015)
- Stefan Vollmerhausen (2015–2018)
- Christian Britscho (2018)
- Adrian Alipour (2018–2019)
- Andreas Zimmermann (2019)
- Alexander Voigt (2019–2020)
- Pascal Bieler (2020)
- Alexander Voigt (2020)
- Björn Mehnert (2020–)
References
- ^ "Reviersport Information (in german)".
- ^ "Rot-Blau.com - Wuppertaler SV". www.rot-blau.com.
- ^ "Wuppertaler SV". www.abseits-soccer.com.
- ^ "Wuppertaler SV - Rot-Weiss Essen 24.11.2012". Ultras-Tifo.
- ^ "Rot-Weiss Essen - Wuppertal 17.03.2012". Ultras-Tifo.
- ^ "Wuppertaler SV - Alemannia Aachen 20.7.2014". Ultras-Tifo.
- ^ "Kader" (in German). Wuppertaler SV 1984. Retrieved 22 August 2023.
External links
- Official website
- Official Facebook site
- The Abseits Guide to German Soccer (Wuppertaler SV)
- The Abseits Guide to German Soccer (Borussia Wuppertal)