FC Gundelfingen

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FC 1920 Gundelfingen
logo
Full name FC 1920 Gundelfingen VfL e.V.
Founded 27 February 1921
Ground Schwaben Stadion
(Capacity 8,000)
Chairman Viktor Merenda
Manager Stefan Anderl
League Bezirksoberliga Schwaben (VII)
2007-08 10th
Team colours Team colours Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
 
Home colours
Team colours Team colours Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
 
Away colours

The FC Gundelfingen is a football club from Gundelfingen an der Donau, Bavaria, in Germany.

Contents

[edit] The years 1920-45

The history [1]of the club begun in 1920, when a handful of young men from Gundelfingen bought a football and formed the "Wald- und Wiesenclub". It is this occasion the club got its foundation date from since the true event happened on 27th of February 1920, when 20 football-enthusiasts formed the FC 1920 Gundelfingen at the "Gasthaus zum Kreuz". Shortly after, in December 1921, the footballers joined the TV 1863 Gundelfingen.

The club survived the turbulent days of 1923 with its hyper inflation, travelling to away matches on horse drawn carts, and went on to win its first title in 1924 when they won the C-Klasse and gained promotion to the B-Klasse. Despite struggling financially, the club became independent again this year on 1st of March and adopted new team colours, green and white. The year after saw another championship, now in the B-Klasse, but promotion had to be declined due to lack of finances.

In 1926, the FCG met for the first time with its local rival, the FC Lauingen, a two-all draw. The year 1928 brought another B-Klasse championship and this time the club accepted promotion and moved up to the A-Klasse. On the clubs tenth anniversary in 1930, it had 150 members.

While the early 1930s saw the return of financial problems for the club, two new clubs also formed in town, the DJK and ASV Gundelfingen, both taking members away from the FCG. The rise to power of the Nazis in 1933 saw the two new clubs being declared illegal but the FCG also found itself dictated a club chairman by the local NSDAP leader. On the football side of things, the club remained undistinguished in those years. A 0-9 cup defeat against BC Augsburg in 1937 being the only "highlight". Only in 1939 did success return when the club won the championship in the now Kreisklasse Nord, remained unbeaten in the promotion matches and gained entry to the Bezirksklasse Schwaben.

With the beginning of the 2nd World War the club only fielded a first team as, like everywhere else, young footballers were drafted to the army. With a reduced league program, the club still managed to perform rather well, defeating the FC Lauingen 9-2 in the 35th edition of the local derby. With difficultys, the club remained one of the few in Schwaben to carry out football games almost to the end of the war, mostly friendlys as few clubs then had players available.

[edit] The post 2nd World War years

The FC Gundelfingen applied and received a permission to play football matches from the allied occupation authorities shortly after the war and on 26th of August 1946 played its first post-war match, a friendly against the FC Lauingen, a 6-2 win for the FCG. Of the 119 members on the members roll in 1945, 42 were still away as prisoners of war, 28 had lost their lives and five were missing in action, leaving the club heavily depleted.

With the return of league football in 1946, the FCG found itself grouped in the 2nd division for Schwaben, the 2nd Schwäbische Liga. The club managed however to win the first ever Schwaben Cup in 1947. In 1948 the club built a new homeground and on 13th of June they played their last game at their long time home ground "Am Pflanzengarten".

In 1949, the FCG won its second cup title, in front of 20.000 spectators in Augsburg as a curtain raiser for the BC Augsburg versus VfB Stuttgart match in the Oberliga Süd.

The club now played in the 2nd Amateurliga Schwaben and won another Schwaben Cup title in 1955. In 1963, the FCG opened its new stadion, the Schwaben Stadion.

[edit] The years after 1963

With the reorganization of German football in 1963, most leagues either disappeared or were renamed. The 2nd Amateurliga Schwaben became the Bezirksliga Schwaben and from 1968 onwards was played in a northern and a southern group. The FCG belonged at first to the Bezirksliga, then the Bezirksliga Schwaben-Nord, which they managed to win in 1971. The club gained promotion to the Landesliga Bayern-Süd and remained there for the next 22 years, setting a league record. The club also started fielding a women's team.

In 1973, the club beat Luton Town 2-1 in a friendly in Gundelfingen. The Under-19 side won promotion to the A-Jugend Bayernliga Süd for the first time in 1976, the highest league for this age group in southern Bavaria and faced FC Bayern München and TSV 1860 München there.

The first couple of years in the Landesliga, the FCG establishes itself quite well, finishing 5th in 1974 and three more 6th places in the years after. The club survives the 1980s in the league, facing relegation trouble almost every year but with the start of the 90s, things take a sudden upturn.

Coming second in the Landesliga in 1990, 91 and 92, winning the Schwaben Cup for the 4th and 5th time in 1991 and 1992, the FCG found itself as the number three in Schwaben after the FCA and FC Memmingen. Qualifying for the German Cup, the FC Gundelfingen narrowly lost to Bayer Uerdingen 1-0 at home, in front of 4,500.

Play-off loses in 1990 to SpVgg Bayreuth (0-3) and 1991 to SpVgg Landshut (1-2) meant the club was kept out of the Bayernliga, but in 1993, promotion was finally and for the first time achieved. A 2-1 victory over BSC Erlangen and a 3-2 after penalties against TSV Eching put the club into the Bayernliga for the 1993-94 season.

The FCG also set an all-time record in the Landesliga Süd in 1991-92 when it only conceded 18 goals all season.

The second team also won promotion, from the A-Klasse Nord to the Bezirksliga Schwaben-Nord.

[edit] The Bayernliga years

The club managed to survive its first ever Bayernliga season with a 15th place and improved the two years after, coming in 11th and the 8th. In 1994, the club would have been relegated if it wasn't for the interception of the Regionalliga Süd, which meant six clubs from Bavaria were promoted and only one relegated.

1995 and 1996 saw the FC Gundelfingen being the best placed team from Schwaben in the Bayernliga, ahead of the FC Memmingen.

In 1997 however, the FCG could not avoid relegation, for the first time since the second world war. The club trailed the saving 14th place by ten points and went down.

The year after saw another relegation and the FCG was back in the Schwaben league system for the first time since 1971, finishing 17th in the Landesliga and dropping down to the Bezirksoberliga Schwaben. This league however they only belonged to for a season, coming second and returning to the Landesliga straight away.

Three good Landesliga Süd seasons followed with a 3rd place in 2002 standing out, only two points behind TSV Schwaben Augsburg in second place. Schwaben Cup win number six came in 2001, but 2003 saw the second relegation from the Landesliga to the Bezirksoberliga, finishing 17th again.

Since then, the FCG has been in the Bezirksoberliga, generally in the upper half of the table. The 2007-08 season however has seen the club struggle and at the winter break, stuck in 14th place and in relegation trouble. A successful spring campain meant the club managed to survive in the Bezirksoberliga, finishing 10th.

[edit] Overall tables

The FC Gundelfingen still ranks number two in the overall table of the Landesliga Bayern-Süd from 1963 to 2007, 403 points behind the Landesligas permanent fixture, TSV 1860 Rosenheim. The records for the FCG in the three leagues it has played in since 1971 are:

League Place Seasons Games Win Draw Lose GF GA Points
Bayernliga 69th 4 134 38 36 60 160 220 150
Landesliga Bayern-Süd 2nd 27 914 358 236 320 1523 1473 1310
Bezirksoberliga Schwaben 21st 5 152 71 39 42 247 172 252

Source:FC Gundelfingen overall tables. FC Gundelfingen website. Retrieved on 2007-12-16.

[edit] League positions (from 1968)

Year Division Position
1968 Bezirksliga Schwaben 10th
1969 Bezirksliga Schwaben-Nord 2nd
1970 Bezirksliga Schwaben-Nord 6th
1971 Bezirksliga Schwaben-Nord 1st ↑
1972 Landesliga Bayern-Süd 10th
1973 Landesliga Bayern-Süd 11th
1974 Landesliga Bayern-Süd 5th
1975 Landesliga Bayern-Süd 11th
1976 Landesliga Bayern-Süd 6th
1977 Landesliga Bayern-Süd 6th
1978 Landesliga Bayern-Süd 6th
1979 Landesliga Bayern-Süd 9th
1980 Landesliga Bayern-Süd 8th
1981 Landesliga Bayern-Süd 10th
1982 Landesliga Bayern-Süd 8th
1983 Landesliga Bayern-Süd 14th
1984 Landesliga Bayern-Süd 14th
1985 Landesliga Bayern-Süd 7th
1986 Landesliga Bayern-Süd 10th
1987 Landesliga Bayern-Süd 12th
1988 Landesliga Bayern-Süd 13th
Year Division Position
1989 Landesliga Bayern-Süd 13th
1990 Landesliga Bayern-Süd 11th
1991 Landesliga Bayern-Süd 2nd
1992 Landesliga Bayern-Süd 2nd
1993 Landesliga Bayern-Süd 2nd ↑
1994 Oberliga Bayern 15th
1995 Oberliga Bayern 11th
1996 Oberliga Bayern 8th
1997 Oberliga Bayern 16th ↓
1998 Landesliga Bayern-Süd 17th ↓
1999 Bezirksoberliga Schwaben 2nd ↑
2000 Landesliga Bayern-Süd 7th
2001 Landesliga Bayern-Süd 6th
2002 Landesliga Bayern-Süd 3rd
2003 Landesliga Bayern-Süd 17th ↓
2004 Bezirksoberliga Schwaben 6th
2005 Bezirksoberliga Schwaben 3rd
2006 Bezirksoberliga Schwaben 10th
2007 Bezirksoberliga Schwaben 4th
2008 Bezirksoberliga Schwaben 1oth
2009 Bezirksoberliga Schwaben

Source:FC Gundelfingen final tables. FC Gundelfingen website. Retrieved on 2007-12-16.

[edit] Local rivals

The FC Lauingen is the number one rival for the club, being only a few kilometres away. The two teams have however not played in the same league now since 1987. Their last competitive meeting was in the Schwaben Cup in 2005-06 when the FCG won 2-0.

[edit] Support

Playing in the Bezirksoberliga Schwaben in 2007-08, the club averages 230 spectators for a homegame after eight rounds. While seemingly low, this is actually the second highest for the league [2].

[edit] Website

The club's official website offers a wealth of information on past and present players and coaches. It also contains the final league tables for every league they played in since 1971. Also, for all the three leagues FCG has played in since then, Bayernliga, Landesliga and Bezirksoberliga, it has overall tables from the founding of those leagues to 2007. The website is only in German.

[edit] Honours

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ History of the FC Gundelfingen, publisher:FC Gundelfingen accessed: 16 December 2007
  2. ^ FC Gundelfingen fan site: Zuschauertabelle, Publisher: Benny Kahlau, accessed: 16 December 2007
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