Arminia Hannover
Encyclopedia
SV Arminia Hannover is a German association football club
based in Hanover
, Lower Saxony
.
, advanced as far as the quarterfinals of the German Championship, where they were ousted by the eventual winners Fortuna Düsseldorf
. During the Third Reich, the club played in the Gauliga Niedersachsen
, later the Gauliga Südhannover-Braunschweig, generally as a top of the table side without winning another local championship.
For the most part, the club played second tier ball through the 1950s and 1960s with their best performances a pair of first place finishes in the Regionalliga Nord in 1966 and 1967. An amateur championship in 1975 led Arminia to four seasons in the 2.Bundesliga Nord. They barely managed to hang on each year until finally slipping to the Amateur Oberliga Nord (III) in 1980. The side faded away over the next two decades, playing a roughly even number of seasons in tiers III and IV, until they were relegated from the now-defunct Oberliga Nord (IV) in 2007. In 2008–09 they played in the Niedersachsenliga (West, V) but were relegated again.
In June 2010, though, they managed to come back by winning the Bezirksoberliga
(District Premier League) title and successfully competing in the relegation/promotion play-offs. So Arminia plays in the new Niedersachsenliga (V) in 2010–11.
Football in Germany
Association football is the most popular sport in Germany. The German Football Association is the sport's national governing body, with 6.6 million members organized in over 26,000 football clubs. There is a league system, with the 1. and 2. Bundesliga on top, and the winner of the first...
based in Hanover
Hanover
Hanover or Hannover, on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony , Germany and was once by personal union the family seat of the Hanoverian Kings of Great Britain, under their title as the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg...
, Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany...
.
History
The club was founded in 1910 as FC Arminia Hannover and merged with Rugby-Verein Merkur in 1918, becoming SV Arminia-Merkur. Two years later they re-named themselves SV Arminia Hannover and captured the North German title. Through the 1920s and 1930s the club grew to include a number of other sports, but the football side did not earn any significant result, apart from the 1932–33 season when the club, under the English coach William TownleyWilliam Townley
William "Billy" Townley, , was an English football player and coach.He scored the first hat-trick in the history of the FA Cup final, but his lasting legacy is defined as an important pioneer of the game in Germany and as a journeyman coach on the continent.-Playing career:Townley's career as a...
, advanced as far as the quarterfinals of the German Championship, where they were ousted by the eventual winners Fortuna Düsseldorf
Fortuna Düsseldorf
' is a German association football club based in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, currently playing in the second tier of German league football, the 2. Fußball-Bundesliga...
. During the Third Reich, the club played in the Gauliga Niedersachsen
Gauliga Niedersachsen
The Gauliga Niedersachsen was the highest football league in the Prussian Province of Hanover and the German states of Bremen, Brunswick, Schaumburg-Lippe and Oldenburg from 1933 to 1945...
, later the Gauliga Südhannover-Braunschweig, generally as a top of the table side without winning another local championship.
For the most part, the club played second tier ball through the 1950s and 1960s with their best performances a pair of first place finishes in the Regionalliga Nord in 1966 and 1967. An amateur championship in 1975 led Arminia to four seasons in the 2.Bundesliga Nord. They barely managed to hang on each year until finally slipping to the Amateur Oberliga Nord (III) in 1980. The side faded away over the next two decades, playing a roughly even number of seasons in tiers III and IV, until they were relegated from the now-defunct Oberliga Nord (IV) in 2007. In 2008–09 they played in the Niedersachsenliga (West, V) but were relegated again.
In June 2010, though, they managed to come back by winning the Bezirksoberliga
Bezirksoberliga Hannover
The Landesliga Hannover, called the Bezirksoberliga Hannover until 2010, is the sixth tier of the German football league system and the second highest league in the German state of Lower Saxony...
(District Premier League) title and successfully competing in the relegation/promotion play-offs. So Arminia plays in the new Niedersachsenliga (V) in 2010–11.