The USV Potsdam Rugby is a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 rugby union

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 club from Potsdam

Potsdam

Potsdam is the capital city of the German federal state of Brandenburg and part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. It is situated on the River Havel, southwest of Berlin city centre....

, currently playing in the 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga North/East. It is part of a larger multi-sport club, the USV Potsdam, which also offers other sports like basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

, association football and tennis

Tennis

Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

 and consists of 19 departments.

USV Potsdam

The club was formed on 11 March 1949 as SG Landeshochschule Potsdam in what was than East Germany. It was later renamed to HSG PH Potsdam.

In 1990, with the imminent dissolution of East Germany, it became the HSG BLH Potsdam, to adopt its current name, USV Potsdam, in July 1991, reflecting its close ties with the University of Potsdam

University of Potsdam

The University of Potsdam is a German university, situated across four campuses in Potsdam, Brandenburg, including the New Palace of Sanssouci and the Park Babelsberg.- Profile :...

.

Rugby department

The club's rugby department was formed in 1988. However, rugby in Potsdam dates back to the 1950s. In 1963, a rugby department was formed at the Pädagogischen Hochschule Potsdam, which later joined local club Dynamo Potsdam. In 1988, students at the Pädagogischen Hochschule once more formed a rugby club, the RG 88 Potsdam. Once more, this team joined the local police sports club, the former Dynamo now being renamed PSV Potsdam.

In 1993, this team won promotion to the 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga North for the first time. In 1997, the rugby department then joined the university club USV, its current home.

The team earned promotion to the 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga North/East in 2005, the second tier of German club rugby, by winning its regional division of the Rugby-Regionalliga

Rugby-Regionalliga

The Rugby-Regionalliga is the third-highest level of Germany's Rugby union league system, organised by the German Rugby Federation. Its set below the 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga...

 and succeeding in the promotion round against Welfen Braunschweig und Hamburger RC

Hamburger RC

The Hamburger RC is a German rugby union club from Hamburg, currently playing in the 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga North/East.-History:The HRC was formed on 6 June 1950, under the leadership of Emil Creydt....

.

Finishing the first three seasons in this league in the lower half of the table, USV progressed to a third place in 2008-09. In the 2009-10 season, the club leads the league and has a good chance of earning promotion to the Rugby-Bundesliga

Rugby-Bundesliga

The Rugby-Bundesliga is the highest level of Germany's rugby union league system, organised by the German Rugby Federation.The league is predominantly amateur, with only two of the ten clubs in the league being professional outfits,the SC 1880 Frankfurt and Heidelberger RK.-History:The German rugby...

. The club however is trying to attract sponsorship to be able to afford competing at national level.

Recent seasons

Year	Division	Position
2003-04	Rugby-Regionalliga East (North) Rugby-Regionalliga The Rugby-Regionalliga is the third-highest level of Germany's Rugby union league system, organised by the German Rugby Federation. Its set below the 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga...  (III)	2nd
	North/East championship round	3rd
2004-05	Rugby-Regionalliga East A	3rd
	North/East championship round	3rd — Promoted
2005-06	2nd Rugby-Bundesliga North/East (II)	7th
2006–07	2nd Rugby-Bundesliga North/East	6th
2007–08 Rugby-Bundesliga 2007–08 The Rugby-Bundesliga 2007-08 was the 37th edition of this competition and the 88th edition of the German rugby union championship. The season went from 25 August 2007 to 31 May 2008, ending with the relegation final.-Overview:...	2nd Rugby-Bundesliga North/East	7th
2008–09	2nd Rugby-Bundesliga North/East	3rd
2009–10 Rugby-Bundesliga 2009–10 -Overview:The 2009-10 modus was somewhat different from the previous season. The competition had been expanded from nine to ten teams. It marks the first time since introduction of the single-division Bundesliga in 2001, that ten teams competed in the league. This change of modus was decided upon...	2nd Rugby-Bundesliga North/East	2nd
2010–11 Rugby-Bundesliga 2010–11 -Overview:The 2009-10 modus is identical to the previous season. However, the competition had been reduced from ten to nine teams, after the withdrawal of the ASV Köln Rugby during last season and no team from the 2nd Bundesliga accepting promotion. Like in 2008-09, the top four teams qualify for...	2nd Rugby-Bundesliga North/East	5th
2011–12	2nd Rugby-Bundesliga North/East

External links

Official club website Official website of the rugby department

• USV Potsdam Rugby team info at totalrugby.de