VfB Marburg

VfB Marburg was established on 13 May 1905 as Marburger Fußball Club and in its first two years boasted over 100 members. In October 1908, the club changed its name to Verein für Bewegungsspiele 1905 Marburg as it began to include sports other than football.

In 1911, the footballers beat Bonner FV 6–0 and then 1. FC Nürnberg 5–2 on their way to capturing the first ever Akademikermeisterschaft with 1–0 victory over Holstein Kiel. The club finished as Hessian league champions before losing a re-match with Kiel in the Academic Championship. The club took part in the west German regional finals at the end of the 1912–13 season where they lost 7–1 to Union Düsseldorf.

During World War I the team suspended play until being re-established in February 1919. On 30 August 1925, they joined the Sportvereinigung Kurhessen Marburg to form Sportvereinigung VfB 05 Kurhessen. Following the 1933 reorganization of German football into 16 top-flight regional divisions under the Third Reich, the combined side became part of the Gauliga Hessen (I). They were sent down after a poor debut season in 1933–34, but were promoted back the following year. They were relegated again after two more seasons in the Gauliga before being forced to join TSV Marburg on 25 September 1937 to form VfL Marburg.[1]

VfL Marburg failed in their attempt to win their way back to the Gauliga in 1938. The outbreak of World War II eventually made it difficult and dangerous to travel across the country and competition became more local in character. The team later rejoined what had become the Gauliga Kurhessen for three seasons from 1941 until 1944.

Play was interrupted by World War II and the team briefly disappeared before again being reformed as VfL Marburg late in 1945. Their first post-war match took place 9 September 1945 and they rejoined regular league play the following season. In front of 5,000 spectators, the club won the regional cup by beating FSV Frankfurt 2–0 and advanced on to the Verbandsliga Hessen (II), where they played just a single season. They club remained competitive with the reserve side winning state titles in 1957 and 1959. The first team became a fixture in the Amateurliga Hessen (III), winning a division title there in 1960 and returning a number of upper table finishes before slipping back to the Landesliga in 1966. It was not until 1985 that they were again able to advance following a Landesliga Mitte (V) title. VfL Marburg played four seasons as a lower table side in the Amateuroberliga Hessen (IV), narrowly missing relegation thanks to a playoff win over SpVgg Dietesheim (4–0) in 1988 before slipping back to the Landesliga the following year.

VfB Marburg plays its home fixtures at the Stadion an der Gisselberger Straße which has a capacity of around 4,000 spectators. Friendlies against higher division clubs, as well youth team matches and cup games are usually held at the adjacent 12,000 capacity Georg-Gaßmann-Stadion.

The club's honours:

• Deutscher Akademikermeister (German Academic Champions):
  • Champions: 1911
• Oberliga Hessen (III)
  • Champions: 1959
• Verbandsliga Hessen-Mitte (VI)
  • Champions: 1985, 1990, 1992, 1999, 2009, 2023
  • Runners-up: 1997, 1998

The recent season-by-season performances of VfB Marburg:[2]

• 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. Also in 2008, a large number of football leagues in Hesse were renamed, with the Oberliga Hessen becoming the Hessenliga, the Landesliga becoming the Verbandsliga, the Bezirksoberliga becoming the Gruppenliga and the Bezirksliga becoming the Kreisoberliga.

Past (and present) players who are the subjects of Wikipedia articles can be found here.

• VfB Marburg (in German)
• VfB Marburg at Weltfussball.de (in German)