VfL Bochum II

VfL Bochum 1848 FG e. V. II

Full name	Verein für Leibesübungen Bochum 1848 Fußballgemeinschaft eingetragener Verein II
Ground	Lohrheide-Stadion
Ground Capacity	16,233
Head coach	Dimitrios Grammozis
League	Regionalliga West (IV)
2013–14	14th
Website	Club home page
Home colours Away colours

VfL Bochum II (formerly known as VfL Bochum Amateure or VfL Bochum U-23) is the reserve team of German football club VfL Bochum.

The team has made two appearances in the first round of the DFB-Pokal, in 1984–85 and 2005–06. Since 2008 the team has been playing in the tier four Regionalliga West. The team is intended to be the final step between Bochum's youth setup and the first team, and is usually made up of promising youngsters between the age of 18 and 23, with a few veteran players drafted in to provide experience.

History

The team first made an appearance in the highest football league in Westphalia, the Verbandsliga Westfalen, in 1975 but failed to qualify for the new Oberliga Westfalen in 1978 and had to remain in the Verbandsliga until 1982 when a league championship took it up to Oberliga level.^[1]

Between 1982 and 1999 the team predominately played in the Oberliga, only interrupted by stints back in the Verbandsliga in 1988–89 and from 1993 to 1997. After its return to the Oberliga in 1997 the team was a much stronger side, winning the league in 1999 and moving up to the Regionalliga West/Südwest for a season. It played in the Oberliga again from 2001 to 2008, finishing runners-up on three occasions but not quite able to move back up to the Regionalliga again.^[1][2]

In 2008 a third place allowed the team qualification to the new Regionalliga West where it has played since, finishing fourteenth in five out of six seasons between 2008 and 2014.^[3]

The team also made two appearances in the German Cup, reaching the second round in 1984–85 when it lost to VfB Stuttgart and the first round in 2005–06, when it lost to Erzgebirge Aue.^[4][5]

In March 2015 the club announced that it would withdraw its reserve side from competition at the end of the 2014–15 season to concentrate on its youth teams instead.^[6]

Honours

The team's honours:

• Oberliga Westfalen
  • Champions: 1999
  • Runners-up: 2001, 2003, 2005
• Westphalia Cup
  • Runners-up: 2005

Recent seasons

The recent season-by-season performance of the club:^[7][8]

• With the introduction of the Regionalligas in 1994 and the 3. Liga in 2008 as the new third tier, below the 2. Bundesliga, all leagues below dropped one tier. In 2000 all clubs from the disbanded Regionalliga West/Südwest from North Rhine-Westphalia joint the Regionalliga Nord, in 2008 these clubs left the league again to join the new Regionalliga West.

Stadium

Since the 2008–09 season VfL Bochum II play at the Lohrheide-Stadion in Bochum-Wattenscheid.

Players

Current squad

As of 20 January 2015 Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Marius Weeke 2 DF Rubin Fechner 3 DF Tolga Cokkosan 4 DF Kevin Brümer 5 DF Phil Spillmann 6 MF Sinan Kurt 7 MF Ridvan Balci 8 MF Gianluca De Meo 10 MF Christian März 11 FW Moritz Göttel 12 GK Robin Benz 13 FW Shpetim Sulejmani

No. Position Player 14 FW Laurynas Kulikas 15 MF Gazi Siala MF Aymen Arfaoui 18 DF Norman Jakubowski 19 MF Rouven Tünte 20 MF Michaël Maria 21 MF Julian Bluni 22 MF David Zajas 23 MF Joshua Forbes 24 MF David Niepsuj 28 DF Joel Reinholz 29 MF Julian Stock

Coaches

Current staff

As of 6 January 2015

Head coaches since 1994

References

External links

• Official site
• Profile at fussballdaten.de
• Profile at weltfussball.de