| Full name | Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e.V. |
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| Nickname(s) | Die Roten (The Reds) Die Schwaben (The Swabians) |
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| Founded | September 9, 1893 | |||
| Ground | Mercedes-Benz Arena, Stuttgart (Capacity: 60,441) |
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| President | Gerd E. Mäuser | |||
| Director of sport | Fredi Bobic Jochen Schneider |
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| Coach | Bruno Labbadia | |||
| League | Bundesliga | |||
| 2010–11 | Bundesliga, 12th | |||
| Website | Club home page | |||
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Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart, is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club is best known for its football team. VfB Stuttgart play in the Bundesliga, the top league of German football. VfB Stuttgart has participated in all but two Bundesliga seasons. The team has won the national championship five times in total—most recently in the 2006–07 season—and the DFB-Pokal (German cup) three times.
The football team plays its home games at the Mercedes-Benz Arena, situated in the Neckarpark (sport and event location around and including the Cannstatter Wasen) sports complex. It is also famous for its talented reserve team, VfB Stuttgart II, which currently plays in the 3rd Liga, the highest division allowed for a reserve team, and also for its junior teams, which won the national U19 championships a record 10 times and the Under 17 Fußball-Bundesliga for 6 times.
VfB Stuttgart is a membership-based club and with 45.636 (as of: September 2011), VfB is the largest sports club in the state and the fifth largest in the country. In addition to the successes of the professional, amateur and youth football teams, athletes from the club's athletics department have won numerous titles and medals. The club also has departments for fistball, hockey, table-tennis and football referees. These five departments only compete at amateur level. The club also maintains a social department, the VfB-Garde.
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Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart was formed through 2 April 1912 merger of predecessor sides Stuttgarter FV and Kronen-Club Cannstatt following a meeting in the Concordia hotel in Cannstatt. Each of these clubs was made up of school pupils with middle class roots[1] who learned new sports such as rugby union and football from English pioneers. The first pioneer who introduced rugby in Stuttgart was William Cail in 1865.[2]
Stuttgarter Fußballverein was founded at the Zum Becher hotel in Cannstatt on 9 September 1893.[3] FV were initially a rugby club, playing games at Stöckach-Eisbahn before moving to Cannstatter Wasen in 1894. The rugby club established a football section in 1908. The team drew players primarily from local schools, under the direction of teacher Carl Kaufmann, and quickly achieved its first success; in 1909 they were runners-up to FSV 1897 Hannover in the national rugby final, losing 6–3.[4] Rugby was soon replaced by football within the club, as spectators found the game too complicated to follow.
In 1909 FV joined the Süddeutschen Fußballverband (Southern Germany Football Association),[5] playing in the second tier B-Klasse. In their second season FV won a district final against future merger partner Kronen-Klub Cannstatt before being defeated by FV Zuffenhausen in the county championship that would have seen the side promoted. They eventually advanced to the senior Südkreis-Liga in 1912.
Cannstatter Fußballklub was formed as a rugby club in 1890 and also quickly established a football team. This club was dissolved after just a few years of play and the former membership re-organized themselves as FC Krone Cannstatt in 1897 to compete as a football-only side.[6] The new team joined the Süddeutschen Fußballverband (SFV) as a second division club and won promotion in 1904. Cannstatt possessed their own ground, which still exists today as the home of TSV Münster.
Following the 1912 merger of these two clubs, the combined side played at first in the Kreisliga Württemberg and then in the Bezirksliga Württemberg-Baden, earning a number of top three finishes and claiming a title there in 1927. The club also made several appearances in the final rounds of the SFV in the late 20s and early 30s.
In 1933 the VfB moved into its home, the Neckar Stadium. The same year German football was re-organized under the Third Reich into sixteen top-flight divisions called Gauligen. Stuttgart played in the Gauliga Württemberg and enjoyed considerable success there, winning division titles in 1935, 1937, 1938, 1940, and 1943 before the Gauliga system collapsed part way through the 1944–45 season. The club had an intense rivalry with Stuttgarter Kickers throughout this period.
VfB's Gauliga titles earned the team entry to the national playoff rounds, with their best result coming in 1935 when they advanced to the final where they lost 4–6 to defending champions Schalke 04. After a third place result at the national level in 1937, Stuttgart was not able in subsequent appearances to advance out of the preliminary rounds.
After the war VfB continued to play first division football in the Oberliga Süd, capturing titles there in 1946, 1952, and 1954. The team also made regular appearances in the German championship rounds emerging as national champion in 1950 and 1952, and finishing as runner-up in 1953. In the 1950s, the club also twice won the German Cup (1954 and 1958). The team which won four titles in eight years was led by Robert Schlienz who had lost his left arm in a car crash. No player from Stuttgart had been selected for the team that won the 1954 FIFA World Cup though.
Due to international competition that led to disappointing results in the 1958 and 1962 FIFA World Cup, DFB introduced a single professional league in 1963. Stuttgart's consistently good play throughout the 1950s earned them a place among the sixteen clubs that would make up the original Bundesliga. The club, as an amateur organisation and due to proverbial Swabian austerity, hesitated to spend money, and some players continued to work in an everyday job. Throughout the balance of the decade and into the mid-70s the club would generally earn mid-table results. One of the few stars of the time was Gilbert Gress from Strasbourg.
In 1972–1973 the team qualified for the UEFA Cup for the first time and advanced to the semi-finals of the 1974 tournament where they were eliminated by eventual winners Feyenoord Rotterdam (1–2, 2–2).
VfB Stuttgart was in crisis in the mid 1970s, having missed new trends like sponsorship. Attempts to catch up with new levels of professionalism by spending money failed. Towards the end of the 1974–75 season, with the team in imminent danger of being relegated to Second Bundesliga, local politician Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder was elected as new president. Yet, a tie in the final game meant that VfB would be ranked 16th and lose its Bundesliga status. The first season in second league, considered the worst in its history, ended with VfB being ranked 11th, having even lost a home game against local rival SSV Reutlingen in front of only 1200 spectators.
With new coach Jürgen Sundermann and new talents like Karlheinz Förster and Hansi Müller, the team around Ottmar Hitzfeld scored hundred goals in 1976–77 and thus returned to top flight play after just two seasons.
The young team was popular for offensive and high-scoring play, but suffered from lack of experience. At the end of 1977–78, the VfB was ranked fourth, but the average attendance of over 53,000 set the league record until the 1990s. They made another UEFA Cup semi-final appearance in 1980 and delivered a number of top four finishes on their way to their first Bundesliga title – the club's third national title – in 1984, now under coach Helmut Benthaus.
In 1986, VfB lost the German Cup final 2–5 to Bayern Munich. In the 1989 UEFA Cup Final, with Jürgen Klinsmann in their ranks, they lost out to Napoli (1–2, 3–3) where Diego Maradona was playing at the time.
In 1991–92, the club clinched its fourth title, in one of the closest races in Bundesliga history, finishing ahead of Borussia Dortmund on goal difference. Internationally, they had been eliminated from UEFA Cup play that season (1991–92) after losing their second round match to Spanish side Osasuna (2–3). As national champions, the club qualified to play in the UEFA Champions League in 1992–93, but was eliminated in the first round by Leeds United after a tie-breaking third match in Barcelona which was required due to coach Christoph Daum having substituted a fourth non-German player in game two.
VfB did not qualify for any European competition again until 1997, by way of their third German Cup win, with coach Joachim Löw. They enjoyed a measure of success on their return, advancing to the 1998 European Cup Winners' Cup final in Stockholm, where they lost to Chelsea in what was the penultimate year of the competition. Only one player of the magic triangle, captain Krassimir Balakov, remained after Giovane Elber and Fredi Bobic left. Löw's contract was not renewed, he was replaced by Winfried Schäfer who in turn was sacked after one season.
However, Stuttgart's performance fell off after this as the club earned just mid-table results over the next two seasons despite spending money on the transfer market and for veterans like Balakov.
Due to high debts and the lack of results, Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder finally resigned from VfB in 2000 to take over offices at German Football Association, UEFA and FIFA. New president Manfred Haas had to renegotiate expensive contracts with players that seldom appeared on the field anyway. As in 1976, when MV had taken over, the team had to be rebuilt by relying on talents from the youth teams. The VfB has Germany's most successful program in the de:Deutsche Jugendmeisterschaft (Fußball).
Coach Ralf Rangnick had started a restructuring of the team that won the UI Cup, but the resulting extra strain of the UEFA cup participation ended in barely escaping from relegation in 2001 by clinching 15th spot. Rangnick was replaced by Felix Magath.
With players like Andreas Hinkel, Kevin Kurányi, Timo Hildebrand or Alexander Hleb earning themselves the nickname the young and wild, the club soon re-bounded and finished as Bundesliga runners-up in the 2002–03 season.
Thus, VfB qualified for their second Champions League appearance and, beating Manchester United and Rangers once and Panathinaikos twice, they advanced out of group play to the first knock out round where they were eliminated by their old nemesis Chelsea (0–1 and 0–0) (see also 2003–04 UEFA Champions League).
They continued to play as one of the top teams in the country, earning fourth and fifth place Bundesliga finishes, and again taking part in the UEFA Cup, but without great success. In addition, coach Magath and several players left for stronger clubs: Kevin Kurányi for Schalke 04, Philipp Lahm for Bayern Munich and Alexander Hleb for Arsenal.
Halfway through the disappointing 2005–06 season, Giovanni Trapattoni was sacked and replaced by Armin Veh. The new coach was designated as a stop-gap due to having resigned from Hansa Rostock in 2003 to focus on his family and having no football job since 2004 except coaching his home team Augsburg for a season. Supported by new manager Horst Heldt, Veh could establish himself and his concept of focusing on promising inexpensive players rather than established stars. Team captain Zvonimir Soldo retired, and other veterans left the team that slipped to ninth place and did not qualify for European competition for the first time in four years.
Despite early-season losses and ensuing criticism in 2006–07, including a 3–0 loss at home to Nuremberg, Veh managed to turn the collection of new players like Mexicans Pável Pardo, and Ricardo Osorio, and Brazilian Antônio da Silva and fresh local talents, including Mario Gómez, Serdar Tasci and Sami Khedira, into a strong contender that led the league on 12 November 2006 for the first time in two years. Stuttgart established themselves among the top five and delivered a strong challenge for the Bundesliga title by winning their final eight games. In the penultimate week on 12 May 2007, Stuttgart beat VfL Bochum 3–2 away from home, took the Bundesliga lead from Schalke 04 and secured a spot in the 2007–08 UEFA Champions League. After trailing 0–1 in the final match of the season against Energie Cottbus, Stuttgart came back to win 2–1 and claim their first Bundesliga title in 15 years. The victory celebrations in Stuttgart (250,000 people) even topped those of Germany's third place win over Portugal in the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
In addition, VfB had their first ever chance to win the double as they also reached the final of the German Cup for the first time since their victory there ten years former. Their opponents in the cup final in Berlin were Nuremberg, a team that had beaten them twice by 3 goals in regular season, 3–0 and 4–1, but last had won the cup in 1962. With the game level at 1–1 in the first half, Stuttgart's scorer Cacau was sent off. Nuremberg gained a 2–1 lead early in the second half, but the ten men of VfB managed to fight back and equalize. In the second half of extra time, with both teams suffering from exhaustion and the humid conditions, Nuremberg scored the winning goal.
The 2007–08 UEFA Champions League draw on 30 August 2007 paired the German champions with Spanish giants Barcelona, French champions Lyon and Scottish Old Firm side Rangers. Like in the 2003–04 Champions League season, Stuttgart's 2007–08 European campaign started with a match at Glasgow's Ibrox Park against Rangers. It ended in a 2–1 defeat. The second match at home against Barcelona was lost, too, 0–2, as well as the 3rd match, against Lyon at home, with the visitors coming out 2–0 winners from 2nd half strikes. Five defeats and just one win (over Rangers) meant the early exit on the European stage. In the league they managed to become 6th after a poor start. New Germany star Mario Gómez scored 19 goals.
Subsequently, UEFA Cup qualification was ensured in the summer by succeeding in the UEFA Intertoto Cup 2008.
The 2008–09 season, like the one before it, came off to a bad start. After matchday 14 in November, VfB was only 11th in the table. As a result, Armin Veh was sacked and replaced by Markus Babbel. After exiting the German FA Cup after a thrashing 1–5 defeat to FC Bayern Munich in January, things improved considerably and the team ended up third, with 2nd place just being missed after a loss to Bayern Munich on the last matchday. That meant the chance of making the Champions League again.
Internationally, VfB mastered the group stages of the 2008–09 UEFA Cup, but lost to Cup defenders FC Zenit Saint Petersburg in the round of the last 32 in February.
VfB went into the season with Mario Gómez gone, but Pavel Pogrebnyak arriving from FC Zenit and Alexander Hleb returning (on loan from FC Barcelona).
On the European level, VfB started the season with a huge success by qualifying for the group stage of the UEFA Champions League 2009-10. VfB entered that competition for the third time in six years (after 2003 and 2007) by defeating Romanian side FC Timisoara in the Champions League qualification "play-off round" on 18 and 26 August 2009. VfB were drawn into Group G against Spanish side Sevilla, Scottish champions Rangers, against whom they had also been drawn against in their previous two Champions League Group Stage appearances, and Romanian champions Unirea Urziceni. With two wins (one each against Rangers and Unirea), three draws (one each against all opponents) and a loss (to Sevilla) they managed 2nd spot in the group, thus qualifying for the round of the last 16, where they had to face title holders FC Barcelona in late winter. After a superb home game against Barça which VfB, however, did not manage to win (1–1), they were eliminated in a 4–0 rout at the Camp Nou.
In the 2009–10 German Cup, they didn't proceed further than the last 16 either, losing to second-tier side Greuther Fürth. That defeat came in the course of a disappointing first half of the 2009–10 Bundesliga season. As a consequence of slipping to 16th spot in December, young coach Markus Babbel was fired after matchday 15 and replaced by the more experienced Swiss Christian Gross. Under his tenure, VfB improved their situation domestically as well as internationally before the winter break. During that break, Thomas Hitzlsperger, Jan Simak and Ludovic Magnin left the club; Cristian Molinaro was loaned out from Juventus Turin. In the later half of the season, the team – as in 2008–09 – had a fantastic, almost unbroken, winning streak. As the best team of that second (return) round of the Bundesliga, the Swabians under Christian Gross climbed into the upper half of the table and, after a sensational rally, eventually managed to qualify for European football next season (i.e. the 2010–11 UEFA Europa League).
The home ground of VfB Stuttgart is the Mercedes-Benz Arena which was originally built in 1933. It lies close to the River Neckar on Bad Cannstatt's Mercedes-Straße near the new Mercedes-Benz Museum and Mercedes-Benz factory. After being renovated several times, the stadium can hold a maximum capacity of 55,896 spectators (50,000 for international matches). Unlike most other Bundesliga stadiums, the former Neckarstadion retains the traditional athletic track around the playing field despite intentions to convert it into a football-only stadium. As for the 1974 FIFA World Cup, Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion was one of the venues for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, hosting five preliminary round matches, a First Knockout Round match (England vs. Ecuador) and the third place play-off (Germany vs. Portugal). Since the 2008–09 season, the stadium was named the Mercedes-Benz-Arena, starting with a pre-season friendly against Arsenal on 30 July 2008.[7] The stadium is currently undergoing extensive restructuring and rebuilding as it is being converted into a pure football arena. As building work continues, the capacity is reduced to around 41,000, while the final capacity will reach 60,000 at the end of 2011 (projected).
The longest rivalry of VfB is the city rivalry with Stuttgarter Kickers (Die Roten/Reds against Die Blauen/Blues). However, the respective first teams of the two clubs haven't played each other since Kickers were relegated to the 2. Bundesliga in 1992. Thus, this derby has increasingly been overtaken in importance by the Baden-Württemberg-Derby between VfB and Karlsruher SC, KSC, for short. In this derby, old Badenian-Württembergian animosities are played out. The rivalry with Bavarian side FC Bayern Munich (Süd-/South Derby) is mainly one-sided, as VfB fans are angry at Bayern for buying some of Stuttgart's best players and coaches in recent years, such as Giovane Elber, Felix Magath and Mario Gómez.
Regional friendships exist between VfB and the South Württemberg side SSV Reutlingen (little brother of VfB) as well as with North Württembergers SpVgg Ludwigsburg. On a national level, supporters groups of VfB used to be closely connected with those of FC Energie Cottbus, 1. FC Saarbrücken, Bayer 04 Leverkusen and Eintracht Frankfurt. All of these supporter group friendships have been discontinued by today or are only maintained by few supporter groups.
In 2005, a cooperation treaty between VfB and Swiss Super League side FC St. Gallen was signed, especially with regard to the youth sectors of both clubs.
As of 1 January 2012. For recent transfers, see List of German football transfers summer 2011 and List of German football transfers winter 2011–12.
The club's current squad:[8]
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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For a list of notable players see List of VfB Stuttgart players
| Bruno Labbadia | Head coach |
| Eddy Sözer | Assistant coach |
| Andreas Menger | Goalkeeping coach |
| Christos Papadopoulos | Fitness coach |
Managers of the club since 1920:[9]
| Name | Period | Honors |
| Grünwald | 1920 | |
| Edward Hanney (1889–1964) | 1 July 1924 – January 1927 | Württemberg/Baden champions 1927 |
| Lajos Kovács (b. 1894) | September 1927 – 31 December 1929 | Württemberg champions 1929/30 |
| Emil Friz (1904–1966) | 1 January 1930 – 15 June 1930 | |
| Karl Preuß | 15 June 1930–1933 | |
| Willi Rutz (1907–1993) | July 1933–1934 | |
| Emil Gröner (b. 1892) | 1934–1935 | |
| Fritz Teufel (b. 1910) | 1935 – 30 June 1936 | German championship runners-up 1935, Gauliga Württemberg champions 1935 |
| Leonhard "Lony" Seiderer (1895–1940) | 1 July 1936 – 30 June 1939 | Gauliga Württemberg champions 1937, 1938 |
| Karl Becker (1902–1942) | March 1939 – April 1939 | |
| Josef Pöttinger (1903–1970) | 1 May 1939 – October 1939 | |
| Fritz Teufel | 1 July 1945 – 30 June 1947 | Oberliga Süd champions 1946 |
| Georg Wurzer (1907–1982) | 1 July 1947 – 30 April 1960 | German champions 1950, 1952, Runners-up 1953, Oberliga Süd champions 1952, 1954, German Cup 1954, 1958 |
| Kurt Baluses (1914–1972) | 1 May 1960 – 24 February 1965 | |
| Franz Seybold (1912–1978) | 25 February 1965 – 7 March 1965 | |
| Rudi Gutendorf (b. 1926) | 8 March 1965 – 6 December 1966 | |
| Albert Sing (1917–2008) | 7 December 1966 – 30 June 1967 | |
| Gunther Baumann (1921–1998) | 1 July 1967 – 30 June 1969 | |
| Franz Seybold | Juli 1, 1969 – 30 June 1970 | |
| Branko Zebec (1929–1988) | 1 July 1970 – 18 April 1972 | |
| Karl Bögelein (b. 1927) | 19 April 1972 – 30 June 1972 | |
| Hermann Eppenhoff (1919–1992) | 1 July 1972 – 1 December 1974 | |
| Fritz Millinger | 2 December 1974 – 13 December 1974 | |
| Albert Sing | 14 December 1974 – 30 June 1975 | |
| István Sztani (b. 1937) | 1 July 1975 – 31 March 1976 | |
| Karl Bögelein | 1 April 1976 – 30 June 1976 | |
| Hans-Jürgen Sundermann (b. 1940) | 1 July 1976 – 30 June 1979 | Bundesliga runners-up 1979 |
| Lothar Buchmann (b. 1936) | 1 July 1979 – 30 June 1980 | |
| Hans-Jürgen Sundermann | 1 July 1980 – 30 June 1982 | |
| Helmut Benthaus (b. 1935) | 1 July 1982 – 30 June 1985 | German champions 1984 |
| Otto Barić (b. 1932) | 1 July 1985 – 4 March 1986 | |
| Willi Entenmann (b. 1943) | 5 March 1986 – 30 June 1986 | German Cup runners-up 1986 |
| Egon Coordes (b. 1944) | 1 July 1986 – 30 June 1987 | |
| Arie Haan (b. 1948) | 1 July 1987 – 26 March 1990 | UEFA Cup runners-up 1989 |
| Willi Entenmann | 27 March 1990 – 19 November 1990 | |
| Christoph Daum (b. 1953) | 20 November 1990 – 10 December 1993 | German champions 1992 |
| Jürgen Röber (b. 1953) | 15 December 1993 – 25 April 1995 | |
| Jürgen Sundermann | 26 April 1995 – 30 June 1995 | |
| Rolf Fringer (b. 1957) | 1 July 1995 – 13 August 1996 | |
| Joachim Löw (b. 1960) | 14 August 1996 – 30 June 1998 | German Cup 1997, Cup Winners' Cup runners up 1998 |
| Winfried Schäfer (b. 1950) | 1 July 1998 – 4 December 1998 | |
| Wolfgang Rolff (b. 1959) | 5 December 1998 – 31 December 1998 | |
| Rainer Adrion (b. 1953) | 1 January 1999 – 2 May 1999 | |
| Ralf Rangnick (b. 1958) | 3 May 1999 – 23 February 2001 | |
| Felix Magath (b. 1953) | 24 February 2001 – 30 June 2004 | Bundesliga runners-up 2003 |
| Matthias Sammer (b. 1967) | 1 July 2004 – 3 June 2005 | |
| Giovanni Trapattoni (b. 1939) | 17 June 2005 – 9 February 2006 | |
| Armin Veh (b. 1961) | 10 February 2006 – 23 November 2008 | German champions 2007, German Cup runners-up 2007 |
| Markus Babbel (b. 1972) | 23 November 2008 – 6 December 2009 | |
| Christian Gross (b. 1954) | 6 December 2009 – 13 October 2010 | |
| Jens Keller (b. 1970) | 13 October 2010 – 12 December 2010 | |
| Bruno Labbadia (b. 1966) | 12 December 2010 – |
The season-by-season performance of the club since 1963:[10][11]
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