VfB Auerbach is a German football club

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...

 from the city of Auerbach

Auerbach

Auerbach, a German language generic toponym coming from Aue  + Bach, meaning "floodmeadow brook", can refer to:-In Germany:*Auerbach, Erzgebirgskreis, in the Erzgebirgskreis district, Saxony...

, Saxony

Saxony

The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....

. The club also has a tennis department.

History

The association was founded as the Auerbacher Fußball Club on 17 May 1906 making it the second-oldest side in Vogtland

Vogtland

The term Vogtland refers to a region reaching across the German free states of Bavaria, Saxony and Thuringia and into the Czech Republic . The name of the region contains a reference to the former leadership by the Vögte of Weida, Gera and Plauen, which translates approximately to advocates or lord...

. They won their first title in the second class Gau Vogtland, part of the VMBV (Verband Mittledeutschland Ballspiel Verein or Federation of Central German Ballgame Clubs), in 1908. AFC was officially registered on 20 June 1913 and after World War I on 18 April 1919, with the introduction of departments for athletics

Athletics (track and field)

Athletics is an exclusive collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking. The most common types of athletics competitions are track and field, road running, cross country running, and race walking...

, tennis, and winter sports re-made itself as the sportsclub VfB Auerbach 1906.

In the aftermath of World War II occupying Allied authorities ordered the dissolution of existing organizations in the country, including sports and football clubs. In the fall of 1945 the club was re-established as the football department of Sport- und Kultur-Kartell Auerbach i.V.. A new sportsclub known as BSG KWU Auerbach was created out of SuKK Auerbach in 1949 and re-named BSG Einheit Auerbach on 6 January 1951. BSG was an unheralded local side in and out of the lower division Berziksliga Karl-Marx-Stadt (today Chemnitz) in East Germany. In 1989, shortly before the end of the DDR-era BSG was the largest sports club in Auerbach with departments for bowling

Bowling

Bowling Bowling Bowling (1375–1425; late Middle English bowle, variant of boule Bowling (1375–1425; late Middle English bowle, variant of boule...

, boxing

Boxing

Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...

, fencing

Fencing

Fencing, which is also known as modern fencing to distinguish it from historical fencing, is a family of combat sports using bladed weapons.Fencing is one of four sports which have been featured at every one of the modern Olympic Games...

, gymnastics, hiking

Hiking

Hiking is an outdoor activity which consists of walking in natural environments, often in mountainous or other scenic terrain. People often hike on hiking trails. It is such a popular activity that there are numerous hiking organizations worldwide. The health benefits of different types of hiking...

, roller skating

Roller skating

Roller skating is the traveling on smooth surfaces with roller skates. It is a form of recreation as well as a sport, and can also be a form of transportation. Skates generally come in two basic varieties: quad roller skates and inline skates or blades, though some have experimented with a...

, tennis, and table tennis

Table tennis

Table tennis, also known as ping-pong, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight, hollow ball back and forth using table tennis rackets. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net...

.

The club returned to its roots after German re-unification when it was re-established as VfB Auerbach and continued to play in what was now the sixth division Berzirksliga Chemnitz. By the mid-90s they were playing in the Landesliga Sachsen

Landesliga Sachsen

The Sachsenliga, formerly referred to as Landesliga Sachsen, is the sixth tier of the German football league system and the highest league in the German state of Saxony,...

 (V), and after three second place finishes (1996, 2001, 2002), finally captured the division title in 2003 to earn promotion to the NOFV-Oberliga Süd

NOFV-Oberliga Süd

The NOFV-Oberliga Süd is the fifth tier of the German football league system in the southern states of former East Germany. Until the introduction of the 3rd Liga in 2008, it was the fourth tier of the league system. It covers the German states of Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia and Saxony...

(IV) where they compete today as a lower to mid-table side.

Stadium

The club plays in the VfB Stadion built in 1921. It has a capacity of 5,000 and after renovations features 750 seats (1993) and floodlighting (1995).

External links

• Official team site
• Abseits Guide to German Soccer
• Das deutsche Fußball-Archiv historical German football league tables (in German)
• eufo.de European football club profiles