VfL Wolfsburg

VfL Wolfsburg

Full name	VfL Wolfsburg-Fußball GmbH
Nickname(s)	Die Wölfe (The Wolves)
Founded	1945
Ground	Volkswagen Arena Wolfsburg (Capacity: 30,000)
Chairman	Hans-Dieter Pötsch
Manager	Felix Magath
League	Bundesliga
2007/08	Bundesliga, 5th
Home colours Away colours

VfL Wolfsburg is a German sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, that currently plays in the country's first division Bundesliga.

History

A new team in a new city

The city of Wolfsburg was founded in 1938 as Stadt des KdF-Wagen to house autoworkers building the car which would later become famous as the Volkswagen Beetle. The first football club affiliated with the autoworks was known as BSG Volkswagenwerk Stadt des KdF-Wagen. This team played in the first division Gauliga Osthannover in the 1943-44 and 1944-45 seasons.

On September 12 1945, in the aftermath of World War II, a new club was formed and was known briefly as VSK Wolfsburg. This side began play in the green and white still worn by VfL today: local youth trainer Bernd Elberskirch had ten green jerseys at his disposal and white bed sheets donated by the public were sewn together by local women to make shorts.

On December 15 1945, the club went through a crisis that almost ended its existence when all but one of its players left to join 1. FC Wolfsburg. The only player remaining, Josef Meyer, worked with Willi Hilbert to rebuild the side by signing new players. Within a year this new group, now playing as VfL Wolfsburg, had captured the local Gifhorn title. In late November 1946, the club played a friendly against longtime powerhouse Schalke 04 at the stadium owned by the Volkswagen, emerging as the successor to BSG as the company sponsored side.

Postwar play

The club made slow but steady progress in the following seasons. They captured a number of amateur level championships, but were unable to advance out of the promotion playoffs until finally breaking through to the top tier Oberliga Nord in 1954 with a 2:1 victory over Heider SV. However, Wolfsburg struggled in the top flight, narrowly missing relegation each season until finally being sent down in 1959. When Germany's first professional football league – the Bundesliga – was formed in 1963, VfL was playing in the Regionalliga Nord (II) having just moved up from the Verbandesliga Niedersachsen (III).

Second division and advance to the Bundesliga

Wolfsburg remained a second division fixture over the next dozen years with their best performance being a second place finish in 1970. That finish earned the club entry to the promotion round playoffs for the Bundesliga where they performed poorly and were unable to advance. From the mid-70's through to the early 90's Die Wölfe played as a third division side in the Amateur Oberliga Nord. Consecutive first place finishes in 1991 and 1992, followed by success in the promotion playoffs saw the club advance to the 2.Bundesliga for the 1992-93 season.

VfL continued to enjoy some success through the 90's. The team advanced to the final of the German Cup in 1995 where they were beaten 0:3 by Borussia Mönchengladbach, but then went on to the top flight on the strength of a second place league finish in 1997.

Early predictions were that the club would immediately be sent back down, but instead, the Wolves developed into a mid-table Bundesliga side. They qualified for the Intertoto Cup in 2000, 2001, 2003, and 2004, enjoying their best run in 2003 by reaching the final where they lost to Italian side AC Perugia. Recently, there was little success for the club, with two 15th place finishes only narrowly avoiding relegation. For the 2007-08 season the club hired former Bayern Munich manager Felix Magath, with whom they managed to finish an astonishing 5th place at the end of the season and for the second time in the club's history, qualify for the UEFA cup.

Honours

Youth

• German Under 19 championship runners-up: 2008
• Under 19 Bundesliga North/Northeast champions: 2008

Recent seasons

Stadium

Wolfsburg play at the Volkswagen Arena, which seats a total capacity of 30,122 spectators.

Current squad

For recent transfers, see List of German football transfers summer 2008.

No. Position Player 1 GK Diego Benaglio 2 DF Cristian Zaccardo 3 DF Rodrigo Alvim 4 DF Marcel Schäfer 5 DF Ricardo Costa (vice-captain) 6 DF Jan Šimůnek 7 MF Josué (captain) 9 FW Edin Džeko 10 MF Zvjezdan Misimović 11 FW Caiuby 12 GK André Lenz 13 MF Makoto Hasebe 14 MF Jonathan Santana 15 MF Daniel Adlung 16 FW Mahir Sağlık 17 DF Alexander Madlung

No. Position Player 18 MF Jacek Krzynówek 19 MF Vlad Munteanu 20 DF Sascha Riether 21 GK Patrick Platins 22 MF Kevin Wolze 23 FW Grafite 24 FW Ashkan Dejagah 25 MF Christian Gentner 27 FW Alexander Esswein 31 DF Bernd Korzynietz (on loan from Arminia Bielefeld) 35 GK Marwin Hitz 37 DF Sergei Karimov 43 DF Andrea Barzagli DF Alex * FW Kamani Hill * GK Simon Jentzsch *

Note: Players marked with * are still under contract at Wolfsburg, but are not considered part of the first team squad anymore.

Players out on loan

No. Position Player MF Daniel Baier (on loan at FC Augsburg until June 2009) MF Alexander Laas (on loan at Arminia Bielefeld until June 2009) DF Christopher Lamprecht (on loan at 1. FC Kaiserslautern until June 2009) MF Cedric Makiadi (on loan at MSV Duisburg until June 2009) FW Mame Niang (on loan at Viking FK until December 2008) FW Sergiu Radu (on loan at 1. FC Köln until June 2009)

Women's section

Current squad

No. Position Player 1 GK Anne-Friederike Rißling 4 DF Lisa Eichholz 5 DF Stephanie Ende 6 DF Maren Tetzlaff 7 MF Annelie Brendel 8 MF Eve Chandraratne 9 FW Anna Blässe 11 FW Melissa Thiem 12 GK Verena Brammer 13 DF Juliane Höfler 14 DF Carolin Degethoff

No. Position Player 15 DF Franziska Unzeitig 16 DF Nicole Boroczinski 17 DF Sarah Freimuth 18 FW Shelley Thompson 19 MF Andrea Wilkens 20 MF Stephanie Bunte 21 MF Nathalie Bock 22 MF Britta Carlson (captain) 23 MF Navina Omilade 24 GK Nadine Richter 25 FW Martina Müller

Notable former players

External links

• Official site
• Abseits Guide to German Soccer
• Wolfsburg Forums (German)
• Wolfsburg fansite (German)
• Club statistics
• Team formations at Football-lineups

VfL Wolfsburg
The club | Players | Managers | Ladies Grounds: Volkswagen Arena | VFL Stadion
Fußball-Bundesliga · 2008-09 clubs
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim · Arminia Bielefeld · Bayer Leverkusen · Bayern Munich · VfL Bochum · Borussia Dortmund · Borussia Mönchengladbach · Eintracht Frankfurt · FC Energie Cottbus · Hamburger SV · Hannover 96 · Hertha BSC Berlin · Karlsruher SC · 1. FC Köln · FC Schalke 04 · VfB Stuttgart · Werder Bremen · VfL Wolfsburg
UEFA Cup 2008–09
Group stage Ajax • Aston Villa • Benfica • Braga • Club Brugge • Copenhagen • CSKA Moscow • Deportivo • Dinamo Zagreb • Feyenoord • Galatasaray • Hamburg • Heerenveen • Hertha BSC • Lech Poznań • Manchester City • Metalist Kharkiv • Milan • Nancy • NEC • Olympiacos • Paris Saint-Germain • Partizan • Portsmouth • Racing Santander • Rosenborg • Sampdoria • Schalke 04 • Sevilla • Slavia Prague • Spartak Moscow • Standard Liège • Stuttgart • Saint-Étienne • Tottenham Hotspur • Twente • Udinese • Valencia • Wolfsburg • Žilina Eliminated in the first round APOEL • Artmedia • Austria Wien • Baník Ostrava • Bellinzona • Beşiktaş • Borac Čačak • Borussia Dortmund • Brann • Brøndby • Cherno More • Dinamo Bucureşti • Everton • Hapoel Tel Aviv • Honka • Kalmar • Kaunas • Kayserispor • Levski Sofia • Litex Lovech • Marítimo • Moscow • Motherwell • Napoli • Nordsjælland • Omonia • Rapid Bucureşti • Red Bull Salzburg • Rennes • Slaven Belupo • Sparta Prague • St Patrick's Athletic • Timişoara • Unirea Urziceni • Vaslui • Vitória Guimarães • Vitória Setúbal • Wisła Kraków • Young Boys • Zürich
German Regionalliga Nord (IV) football clubs (2008-09)
Altona 93 | SV Babelsberg 03 | Türkiyemspor Berlin | Hertha BSC II | Chemnitzer FC FC Energie Cottbus II | Hallescher FC | Hamburger SV II | Hannover 96 II | Holstein Kiel | VfB Lübeck   FC Sachsen Leipzig | 1. FC Magdeburg | FC Oberneuland | VFC Plauen | FC Hansa Rostock II   SV Wilhelmshaven | VfL Wolfsburg II
German women's Fußball-Bundesliga clubs (2008-09)
SC 07 Bad Neuenahr · TSV Crailsheim · FCR 2001 Duisburg · SG Essen-Schönebeck 1. FFC Frankfurt · SC Freiburg · HSV Borussia Friedenstal · Hamburger SV FF USV Jena · FC Bayern Munich · 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam · VfL Wolfsburg
German Under 19 Bundesliga North/Northeast football clubs (2008-09)
Hertha BSC Berlin | 1. FC Union Berlin | Eintracht Braunschweig | SV Werder Bremen   Chemnitzer FC | FC Energie Cottbus | FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt | Hamburger SV | Hannover 96   FC Carl Zeiss Jena | VfL Osnabrück | FC Hansa Rostock | FC St. Pauli | VfL Wolfsburg
German Under 17 Bundesliga North/Northeast football clubs (2008-09)
Hertha BSC Berlin | Tennis Borussia Berlin | SV Werder Bremen | FC Energie Cottbus FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt | SC Concordia Hamburg | Hamburger SV | Hannover 96 | Holstein Kiel VfL Osnabrück | FC Hansa Rostock | FC St. Pauli | VfL Wolfsburg | Hertha Zehlendorf