Wolfsburg History

Description

VfL Wolfsburg is a football club, based in Wolfsburg Lower Saxony in North West Germany that was founded in 1938. The club was first called BSG Volkswagenwerk Stadt des KdF-Wagen. The Volkswagen Beetle factory was started in the city of Wolfsburg which was then called Stadt des KdF-Wagen. The football club was started mainly as a form of activity for the auto workers of the factory.

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History | Intertoto Cup | Team Profile | Honors | [+]Add

History

On 12 September 1945, the club was renamed as VSK Wolfsburg. In December 1945, the club was thrown in turmoil when all the players except one player Josef Meyer quit the club and joined a rival club 1 FC Wolfsburg. However, all was not lost when Josef Meyer along with Willi Hilbert began scouting around for local talent and recruited some players with potential. The only problem was that some of these men had never played football before. The new club was then named VfL Wolfsburg. They lost their first match against a British army side by 0-8, but within a year the team had captured its first title as Gifhorn champions. Later that year, the club became a Volkswagen sponsored team.
The club’s colors are green and white and have remained the same from the very beginning. There is an interesting story as to how the club got its colors. It seems that the local trainer Bernd Elberskirch already had ten green jerseys. White bed sheets denoted by the public were then stitched by local women into shorts. The town of Wolfsburg also made green and white its official colors and that has made every fan very proud. Though the club was initially only a men’s team, it grew rapidly and by 1945, it had six men’s teams, five youth teams, and four school teams. All in all, there were 632 members. A huge contribution was made by Günther Brockmeyer, who joined in 1948 and was on the club board for over forty years. Another person who contributed immensely to the club’s growth was Albert Sulewski.
The wolves as the team is called are one of the most popular teams of German football. After the war, the club struggled unable to break into the top league. However, it was an uphill task and the club narrowly missed being relegated each year. In 1959, they suffered the ignominy of being relegated. When the Germany’s first professional football league, the Bundesliga, was formed in 1963, the club was playing in the second division having just moved from the third. In 1970, they were placed second and that was their best performance.
On 12 September 1945, the club was renamed as VSK Wolfsburg. In December 1945, the club was thrown in turmoil when all the players except one player Josef Meyer quit the club and joined a rival club 1 FC Wolfsburg. However, all was not lost when Josef Meyer along with Willi Hilbert began scouting around for local talent and recruited some players with potential. The only problem was that some of these men had never played football before. The new club was then named VfL Wolfsburg. They lost their first match against a British army side by 0-8, but within a year the team had captured its first title as Gifhorn champions. Later that year, the club became a Volkswagen sponsored team.
The club’s colors are green and white and have remained the same from the very beginning. There is an interesting story as to how the club got its colors. It seems that the local trainer Bernd Elberskirch already had ten green jerseys. White bed sheets denoted by the public were then stitched by local women into shorts. The town of Wolfsburg also made green and white its official colors and that has made every fan very proud. Though the club was initially only a men’s team, it grew rapidly and by 1945, it had six men’s teams, five youth teams, and four school teams. All in all, there were 632 members. A huge contribution was made by Günther Brockmeyer, who joined in 1948 and was on the club board for over forty years. Another person who contributed immensely to the club’s growth was Albert Sulewski.
The wolves as the team is called are one of the most popular teams of German football. After the war, the club struggled unable to break into the top league. However, it was an uphill task and the club narrowly missed being relegated each year. In 1959, they suffered the ignominy of being relegated. When the Germany’s first professional football league, the Bundesliga, was formed in 1963, the club was playing in the second division having just moved from the third. In 1970, they were placed second and that was their best performance.

On 12 September 1945, the club was renamed as VSK <a href='/Teams/VfL_Wolfsburg'>Wolfsburg</a>. In December 1945, the club was thrown in turmoil when all the players except one player Josef Meyer quit the club and joined a rival club 1 FC Wolfsburg. However, all was not lost when Josef Meyer along with Willi Hilbert began scouting around for local talent and recruited some players with potential. The only problem was that some of these men had never played football before. The new club was then named VfL Wolfsburg. They lost their first match against a British army side by 0-8, but within a year the team had captured its first title as <a href='/Teams/Gifhorn'>Gifhorn</a> champions. Later that year, the club became a Volkswagen sponsored team.<br />The club’s colors are green and white and have remained the same from the very beginning. There is an interesting story as to how the club got its colors. It seems that the local trainer Bernd Elberskirch already had ten green jerseys. White bed sheets denoted by the public were then stitched by local women into shorts. The town of Wolfsburg also made green and white its official colors and that has made every fan very proud. Though the club was initially only a men’s team, it grew rapidly and by 1945, it had six men’s teams, five youth teams, and four school teams. All in all, there were 632 members. A huge contribution was made by Günther Brockmeyer, who joined in 1948 and was on the club board for over forty years. Another person who contributed immensely to the club’s growth was Albert Sulewski.<br />The wolves as the team is called are one of the most popular teams of German football. After the war, the club struggled unable to break into the top league. However, it was an uphill task and the club narrowly missed being relegated each year. In 1959, they suffered the ignominy of being relegated. When the <a href='/Teams/Germany'>Germany</a>’s first professional football league, the Bundesliga, was formed in 1963, the club was playing in the second division having just moved from the third. In 1970, they were placed second and that was their best performance. <br />

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Intertoto Cup

The club did not do particularly well from the seventies till the nineties and they were only a third class side. Their best performance was during 1991 and 1992 when after having being declared first and winning their promotion playoffs, the club advanced to the 2 Bundesliga for the 1992–93 seasons for the first time. Their performance improved marginally in 1995 when the team was in the final of the German Cup. They were beaten 0-3 by Borussia Mönchengladbach. In 1997, they went to the top league after having finished second in the second division. Though critics predicted that the team would be relegated, it went from strength to strength and even qualified for the UEFA Intertoto Cup from 2000–04.

The club was in the news frequently in 2005 and some of it was for negative reasons. Andres D'Alessandro and Juan Carlos Menseguez were under the cloud for doping. Both players had taken a vitamin supplement which had contained Creatin, without the knowledge of medical staff. They were cleared when a drug test proved negative. The team has now a new coach in Felix Magath for the 2007 season and hopes to perform better. The team now stands at the eleventh position in the current season. The team won their last match 4-0 against Borussia Dortmund on 15 December 2007 while playing on their home ground Volkswagen Arena. The captain of the team Marcelinho is very happy with team’s performance and is very confident that the team will attain greater heights in the second half of the season.

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Team Profile

Full name: VfL Wolfsburg-Fußball GmbH
Nickname(s): Wolves
Founded: 1945
Ground: Volkswagen-Arena, Wolfsburg (Capacity 30,000)
Kit sponsor: Nike
Chairman: Hans-Dieter Pötsch
Manager: Felix Magath
League: Bundesliga

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Honors

1 German amateur league runners-up (1963)
1 Integration into second division (1974)
1 Promotion to second division (1976)
2 Oberliga Nord league title (1991, 1992)
1 Promotion to second division (1992)
1 German FA Cup finalist against Borussia M’Gladbach (1995)
1 Promotion to the Bundesliga (1997)
1 UEFA Cup third round (1998/99)
1 Qualification for Intertoto Cup (2000–04)

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Squad

Name	Position	Fans
Marcel Schäfer	Defense	4
Fabian Johnson	Defense	4
Thomas Kahlenberg	Midfield	7
Diego Ribas da Cunha	Midfield	190
Edinaldo Batista Libânio	Offense	27
Josué Anunciado de Oliveira	Midfield	4
Mario Mandžukić	Offense	37
Simon Kjær	Defense	8
Arne Friedrich	Defense	35
Alexander Madlung	Defense	0
Ashkan Dejagah	Offense	5
Makoto Hasebe	Midfield	11
Diego Benaglio	Goal	9
André Lenz	Goal	0
Marwin Hitz	Goal	0
Cicero Santos	Midfield	0