Wormatia Worms
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| Wormatia Worms | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Verein für Rasensport Wormatia Worms e.V. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Founded | 1922 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Ground | Wormatia-Stadion | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Capacity | 16,500 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| League | Oberliga Sudwest (IV) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2004-05 | Oberliga Sudwest, 8th | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Wormatia Worms is a German football club that plays in Worms, Rheinland-Pfalz.
SC Wormatia was formed on May 23, 1908 and re-named VfL Wormatia Worms in 1921 just before merging with VfR Wormatia Worms in 1922. Vfr had been formed from the 1919 merger of Union 08 and Viktoria 1912.
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 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 Süd 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. Wormatia was seeded into the second division Regionalliga Sud (2.Bundesliga after 1973) where, except for two seasons in the mid-70's, 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 '79 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 still play there today.
[edit] Team trivia
- In the late 60's Wormatia became one of the first clubs to display advertising on its jerseys.
