Rot-Weiß Lüdenscheid
Encyclopedia
Rot-Weiß Lüdenscheid is a German association football club
playing in Lüdenscheid
, North Rhine-Westphalia
.
Rot-Weiß enjoyed its greatest success between 1977 and 1981 when it played in the 2.Bundesliga Nord. However, the team consistently flirted with relegation, and after the 2.Bundesliga Nord and Süd were merged into a single, smaller division in 1974, RWL found itself in the third division Oberliga Westfalen. The club bounced up and down between the third and fourth divisions until last relegated in 1997.
After a 13th place finish in 2005–06 in the Vebandesliga Westfalen (IV), Lüdenscheid was relegated to the Landesliga Westfalen (V).
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...
playing in Lüdenscheid
Lüdenscheid
Lüdenscheid is a town in the Märkischer Kreis district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the Sauerland region. Lüdenscheid is seat of the administration of the Märkischer Kreis district...
, North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous state of Germany, with four of the country's ten largest cities. The state was formed in 1946 as a merger of the northern Rhineland and Westphalia, both formerly part of Prussia. Its capital is Düsseldorf. The state is currently run by a coalition of the...
.
History
The origins of the club go back to the formation of the Luedenscheider Fußball-Klub in 1908. In the aftermath of World War I, a number of local sides went through a series of mergers. Late in 1918 LFK merged with FC Preußen 09 and SV Luedenscheider 1910 to form VfB Lüdenscheid 08. In 1919, Ballspielverein Lüdenscheid and FC Fortuna 1910 formed another predecessor side called RSV Höh 1910. These two clubs then entered into a short-lived union with Lüdenscheid Turn-Verein 1861. RSV left this union in 1920, and VfB followed in 1924, taking on the name Sportfreunde 08. Finally, in 1971, RSV and Sportfreunde merged to form the present club.Rot-Weiß enjoyed its greatest success between 1977 and 1981 when it played in the 2.Bundesliga Nord. However, the team consistently flirted with relegation, and after the 2.Bundesliga Nord and Süd were merged into a single, smaller division in 1974, RWL found itself in the third division Oberliga Westfalen. The club bounced up and down between the third and fourth divisions until last relegated in 1997.
After a 13th place finish in 2005–06 in the Vebandesliga Westfalen (IV), Lüdenscheid was relegated to the Landesliga Westfalen (V).