Wormatia Worms
Encyclopedia
VfR Wormatia 08 Worms is a German association football club
that plays in Worms
, Rhineland-Palatinate. The club and its historical predecessors were regular participants in regional first division football competition right up until the formation of the national top-flight Bundesliga
in 1963. Today the team plays in the 4th tier Regionalliga West.
(I).
The combined side played in the Bezirksliga Rheinhessen-Saar
earning mid-table results. In 1927 it joined the Bezirksliga Main-Hessen
and enjoyed first and second place finishes in that league's Gruppe Hessen. German football was re-organized under the Third Reich into sixteen Gauligen, or upper class leagues, in 1933. Wormatia found themselves playing in the Gauliga Südwest (I) where it continued to play well, capturing the division title three times. The side was merged into Reichsbahn TuSV Worms in 1938 and then played on under that name. The Gauliga Südwest was broken up into a two divisions in 1941 and the club went to the Gauliga Hessen-Nassau where it played only a couple of seasons before the end of World War II and the collapse of league play.
The club re-emerged as VfR Wormatia Worms after the war and joined the Oberliga Südwest
(I) earning finishes in the upper half of the table in its first decade of play there, but only once advancing into the national championship rounds. That performance slipped somewhat in the years leading up to the formation of the Bundesliga
, Germany's first professional league, in 1963. In the late 1960's Wormatia became one of the first clubs to display advertising on its jerseys. Wormatia was seeded into the second division Regionalliga Südwest
(2.Bundesliga
after 1973) where, except for two seasons in the mid-1970s, the club played until 1981. The club's best results came in 1965 when it finished second and played in the Bundesliga promotion rounds and in 1979 when it earned a third place finish in the 2. Bundesliga.
The 1979 season was full of drama for Wormatia. At the mid-way point of the season the side led the 2.Bundesliga Süd as Herbst meisterschaft, or Fall champions. Their second round German Cup match against Hertha BSC Berlin
was called at 1:1 when the lights in Berlin's Olympiastadion failed and Worms then lost the subsequent re-match 0:2. The league championship remained within the club's grasp almost to the very last, but crucial points were lost in drawing two of the season's final three matches. All of this took place against a background of steadily growing financial problems.
After struggling to avoid relegation through several poor seasons, the team finally slipped to the tier III Amateur Oberliga Südwest
in 1982. A return to the 2.Bundesliga after a first place finish in 1986 was frustrated when the club was denied a license because of its weak financial state. Wormatia continued to play third division football until another financial crisis in 1994 drove them down to the Verbandsliga Südwest
(V). The team returned to the Oberliga Südwest (IV) 1998 and played there until 2008, when it qualified for the new Regionalliga West
(IV) formed after the introduction of the 3. Liga. Finishing on a relegation rank at the end of its first season there, the club was saved from being sent down by the withdrawal of 12th-placed FSV Oggersheim
from the league. Worms 2010-11 season ended with a 12th place result.
Germany
Albania
Algeria
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Independent State of Croatia
Equatorial Guinea
Early Modern France
Ghana
Greece
Italy
Kazakhstan
Poland
Russia
Senegal
Serbia
Spain
Sweden
Tunisia
Turkey
United States
Football in Germany
Association football is the most popular sport in Germany. The German Football Association is the sport's national governing body, with 6.6 million members organized in over 26,000 football clubs. There is a league system, with the 1. and 2. Bundesliga on top, and the winner of the first...
that plays in Worms
Worms, Germany
Worms is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Rhine River. At the end of 2004, it had 85,829 inhabitants.Established by the Celts, who called it Borbetomagus, Worms today remains embattled with the cities Trier and Cologne over the title of "Oldest City in Germany." Worms is the only...
, Rhineland-Palatinate. The club and its historical predecessors were regular participants in regional first division football competition right up until the formation of the national top-flight Bundesliga
Fußball-Bundesliga
The Fußball-Bundesliga is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of Germany's football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. It is contested by 18 teams and operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the 2. Bundesliga...
in 1963. Today the team plays in the 4th tier Regionalliga West.
History
SC Wormatia was formed on 23 May 1908 and re-named VfL Wormatia Worms in 1921 just before merging with VfR Wormatia Worms in 1922. VfR was the product of the 1919 merger of Union 08 and Viktoria 1912. Both VfL and VfR were playing in the Kreisliga HessenKreisliga Hessen
The Kreisliga Hessen was the highest association football league in parts of the German state of Hesse and parts of the Bavarian region of Palatinate as well as the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau from 1919 to 1923...
(I).
The combined side played in the Bezirksliga Rheinhessen-Saar
Bezirksliga Rheinhessen-Saar
The Bezirksliga Rheinhessen-Saar was the highest association football league in the German state of Saarland, the Rheinhessen part of the state of Hesse and parts of the Bavarian region of Palatinate and the Prussian Rhine Province from 1923 to 1927, when the league was replaced by the Bezirksliga...
earning mid-table results. In 1927 it joined the Bezirksliga Main-Hessen
Bezirksliga Main-Hessen
The Bezirksliga Main-Hessen was the highest association football league in the German state of Hesse and the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau from 1927 to 1933...
and enjoyed first and second place finishes in that league's Gruppe Hessen. German football was re-organized under the Third Reich into sixteen Gauligen, or upper class leagues, in 1933. Wormatia found themselves playing in the Gauliga Südwest (I) where it continued to play well, capturing the division title three times. The side was merged into Reichsbahn TuSV Worms in 1938 and then played on under that name. The Gauliga Südwest was broken up into a two divisions in 1941 and the club went to the Gauliga Hessen-Nassau where it played only a couple of seasons before the end of World War II and the collapse of league play.
The club re-emerged as VfR Wormatia Worms after the war and joined the Oberliga Südwest
Oberliga Südwest (1945-63)
The Oberliga Südwest was the highest level of the German football league system in the southwest of Germany from 1945 until the formation of the Bundesliga in 1963. It covered the two states of Rheinland-Pfalz and Saarland.-Overview:...
(I) earning finishes in the upper half of the table in its first decade of play there, but only once advancing into the national championship rounds. That performance slipped somewhat in the years leading up to the formation of the Bundesliga
Fußball-Bundesliga
The Fußball-Bundesliga is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of Germany's football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. It is contested by 18 teams and operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the 2. Bundesliga...
, Germany's first professional league, in 1963. In the late 1960's Wormatia became one of the first clubs to display advertising on its jerseys. Wormatia was seeded into the second division Regionalliga Südwest
Regionalliga Südwest (1963-74)
The Regionalliga Südwest was the second-highest level of the German football league system in the southwest of Germany from 1963 until the formation of the 2nd Bundesliga in 1974...
(2.Bundesliga
2. Fußball-Bundesliga
- Changes in division set-up :* Number of clubs: currently 18. From 1974 to 1981 there were two conferences, each of 20 teams. In 1981–91 it had 20...
after 1973) where, except for two seasons in the mid-1970s, the club played until 1981. The club's best results came in 1965 when it finished second and played in the Bundesliga promotion rounds and in 1979 when it earned a third place finish in the 2. Bundesliga.
The 1979 season was full of drama for Wormatia. At the mid-way point of the season the side led the 2.Bundesliga Süd as Herbst meisterschaft, or Fall champions. Their second round German Cup match against Hertha BSC Berlin
Hertha BSC Berlin
Hertha Berliner Sport-Club von 1892, commonly known as Hertha BSC or Hertha Berlin, is a German association football club based in Berlin. A founding member of the German Football Association in Leipzig in 1900, the club has a long history as Berlin's best-supported side...
was called at 1:1 when the lights in Berlin's Olympiastadion failed and Worms then lost the subsequent re-match 0:2. The league championship remained within the club's grasp almost to the very last, but crucial points were lost in drawing two of the season's final three matches. All of this took place against a background of steadily growing financial problems.
After struggling to avoid relegation through several poor seasons, the team finally slipped to the tier III Amateur Oberliga Südwest
Oberliga Südwest
The Oberliga Südwest is the highest regional football league for the Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland state of Germany. It is the fifth tier of the German football league system. It is one of eleven Oberligas in German Football, the 5th tier of the German football league system...
in 1982. A return to the 2.Bundesliga after a first place finish in 1986 was frustrated when the club was denied a license because of its weak financial state. Wormatia continued to play third division football until another financial crisis in 1994 drove them down to the Verbandsliga Südwest
Verbandsliga Südwest
The Verbandsliga Südwest is currently the 6th tier of the German football league system. Until the introduction of the 3rd Liga it was the 5th tier of the league system.-Overview:...
(V). The team returned to the Oberliga Südwest (IV) 1998 and played there until 2008, when it qualified for the new Regionalliga West
Regionalliga West
The Regionalliga West is the fourth tier of the German football league system since its introduction in 2008. It covers the states of Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland and North Rhine-Westphalia and is one of three leagues at this level, together with the Regionalliga Nord and the Regionalliga...
(IV) formed after the introduction of the 3. Liga. Finishing on a relegation rank at the end of its first season there, the club was saved from being sent down by the withdrawal of 12th-placed FSV Oggersheim
FSV Oggersheim
FSV 1913 Ludwigshafen-Oggersheim is a German association football club based in the Oggersheim district of Ludwigshafen, Rhineland-Palatinate. The club has advanced to the Regionalliga Süd following an Oberliga title win in 2007.-History:...
from the league. Worms 2010-11 season ended with a 12th place result.
Honours
- Bezirksliga Main-HessenBezirksliga Main-HessenThe Bezirksliga Main-Hessen was the highest association football league in the German state of Hesse and the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau from 1927 to 1933...
(I) champions: 1928, 1929, 1930, 1931 - Gauliga Südwest/MainhessenGauliga Südwest/MainhessenThe Gauliga Südwest/Mainhessen was the highest football league in the German state of Hesse,the Bavarian province of Palatinate, the Saarland and some parts of the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau from 1933 to 1941. From 1941, it also included parts of the occupied French region of Lorraine...
(I) champions: 1936, 1937, 1939 - Oberliga SüdwestOberliga Südwest (1945-63)The Oberliga Südwest was the highest level of the German football league system in the southwest of Germany from 1945 until the formation of the Bundesliga in 1963. It covered the two states of Rheinland-Pfalz and Saarland.-Overview:...
(I) runners-up: 1947, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1955 - Regionalliga SüdwestRegionalliga Südwest (1963-74)The Regionalliga Südwest was the second-highest level of the German football league system in the southwest of Germany from 1963 until the formation of the 2nd Bundesliga in 1974...
(II) runners-up: 1965 - Oberliga SüdwestOberliga SüdwestThe Oberliga Südwest is the highest regional football league for the Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland state of Germany. It is the fifth tier of the German football league system. It is one of eleven Oberligas in German Football, the 5th tier of the German football league system...
(III) champions: 1986 - Amateurliga SüdwestAmateurliga SüdwestThe Amateurliga Südwest was the highest football league in the region of the Südwest FA and the third tier of the German football league system from its inception in 1952 to the formation of the Oberliga Südwest and the Verbandsliga Südwest below it in 1978....
(III) champions: 1976, 1977 - Verbandsliga SüdwestVerbandsliga SüdwestThe Verbandsliga Südwest is currently the 6th tier of the German football league system. Until the introduction of the 3rd Liga it was the 5th tier of the league system.-Overview:...
(V) champions: 1998 - South West CupSouth West CupThe South West Cup is one of the 21 regional cup competitions of German football. The winner of the competition gains entry to the first round of the German Cup. It is limited to clubs from the Rheinhessen-Pfalz region of Rhineland-Palatinate, however, teams from the Fußball-Bundesliga and 2nd...
winners: 1976, 1988, 1992, 2007, 2009
Current squad
As of 8 August 2010Notable players
Germany
- Bernd JaymeBernd JaymeBernd Jayme is a German football coach and a former player, he is coaching the Goalkeepers of Wormatia Worms and played for .-Coaching career:...
- Marc KienleMarc KienleMarc Kienle is a German football coach and a former player. As of January 2010, he is managing the under-19 team of VfB Stuttgart. As a player, he spent 6 seasons in the Bundesliga with VfB Stuttgart and MSV Duisburg....
- Kenneth KronholmKenneth KronholmKenneth Kronholm is a German-American footballer.-Club career:He played 13 games for Fortuna Düsseldorf in the Regionalliga Nord. In 2007, he got transferred to FSV Frankfurt in the Regionalliga Süd. He then played for the reserve team of F.C. Hansa Rostock...
- Erwin Bradasch
- Matthias Dehoust
- Sven Jenner
- Oliver Schmitt
Albania
- Arijan Berisha
Algeria
- Adam Bouzid
Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Vahid Spago
Independent State of Croatia
- Duro Bozanović
- Sascha Ropić
- Slavko Stojanović
Equatorial Guinea
- Ben MangaBen MangaBienvenido “Ben” Manga Ubenga is an Equatoguinean football scout and former player. Manga played as a midfielder.-Career:Manga managed three scoreless Bundesliga appearances for Fortuna Düsseldorf in the 1995–96 season....
Early Modern France
- Claude Brancourt
Ghana
- Daniel AddoDaniel AddoDaniel Addo is a retired Ghanaian footballer who last played for King Faisal Babes, as a midfielder.-Club career:...
- Nana EshunNana EshunIsaac Nana Eshun is a retired Ghanaian professional football forward who played in Ghana and Europe.-International career:Eshun played for the Ghana national football team in Olympic qualifying matches....
Greece
- Georgios Karagiannis
Italy
- Giuliano Arcangioli
- Tommaso Fontana
- Mimmo Moretti
Kazakhstan
- Dimitri Mayer
Poland
- Christoph Kaczmarek
- Timo Ocwirk
Russia
- Aleksandr Nazarov
Senegal
- Seydou Sy
Serbia
- Slavko Svinjarević
Spain
- Jean-Pierre Rubio-Sanchez
Sweden
- Hans SelanderHans SelanderHans "Hasse" Selander is a former Swedish footballer.Hans played for Helsingborgs IF in Allsvenskan 1962–1968. Then he played for the minor club Upsala IF because of university studies. He then played for IK Sirius FK. In 1973–74 he played one season in the German Regionalliga with VfR Wormatia 08...
Tunisia
- Momo El-Haddadi
- Kamil Mouktar
Turkey
- Onur Çelik
- Özkan Cin
United States
- Max Graffy
Recent seasons
| Year | Division | Position |
| 1999–2000 | Oberliga Südwest Oberliga Südwest The Oberliga Südwest is the highest regional football league for the Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland state of Germany. It is the fifth tier of the German football league system. It is one of eleven Oberligas in German Football, the 5th tier of the German football league system... (IV) |
7th |
| 2000–01 | Oberliga Südwest | 16th |
| 2001–02 | Oberliga Südwest | 15th |
| 2002–03 | Oberliga Südwest | 3rd |
| 2003–04 | Oberliga Südwest | 3rd |
| 2004–05 | Oberliga Südwest | 8th |
| 2005–06 | Oberliga Südwest | 4th |
| 2006–07 | Oberliga Südwest | 3rd |
| 2007–08 | Oberliga Südwest | 3rd |
| 2008–09 | Regionalliga West Regionalliga West The Regionalliga West is the fourth tier of the German football league system since its introduction in 2008. It covers the states of Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland and North Rhine-Westphalia and is one of three leagues at this level, together with the Regionalliga Nord and the Regionalliga... (IV) |
16th |
| 2009–10 | Regionalliga West |
Former coaches
- Werner KernWerner KernWerner Kern is a German football coach, who is head of the youth department at FC Bayern Munich.After a career playing amateur football, Kern was appointed assistant manager of Bayern Munich in 1970, where he remained until 1977, serving during the club's golden era...
(1977–1978) - Slavko StojanovićSlavko StojanovićSlavko "Vavo" Stojanović is a former Croatian football goalkeeper.-Career:He started playing in his hometown clubs Udarnik and Proleter, the predecessors of today's NK Osijek, before moving to Belgrade, in 1951, to play in FK Partizan where he would play until 1960, winning three national Cups, in...
(1978–1980) - Josef Stabel (1981–1982)
- Demir HotićDemir HoticDemir Hotić , is a former Yugoslavian and Bosnian footballer.- Career :His most successful period was while he was playing in 1. FC Kaiserslautern, but he also played for 1...
(1997–1999) - Dirk Anders (2002–2004)
- Max Reichenberger (2004–2005)
- Alois SchwartzAlois SchwartzAlois Schwartz is a German former football player and now football manager.-Coaching career:...
(2005–2007) - Bernhard TraresBernhard TraresBernhard Trares is a retired German professional footballer, who played mainly as a central defender.-Playing career:...
(2007–2009) - Jürgen Klotz (2009)
- Sascha Koch (2009)