GERMAN CHAMPION 1914, 1926, 1929
This storied club hadn't really seen the good days since the Weimar Republic.
Fuerth is a young club that has very old roots.
This new club was really only founded in 1996, as the old SpVgg Fürth (founded 1903, German champ 1914, 1926, 1929) and the village club TSV Vestenbergsgreuth did the "fusion" and became SpVgg Greuther Fürth
The original club was founded back in 1903, and soon made soccer quite successful in the club and region. Coached by Englishman Sir William Towley, Spvgg won it's first title in 1914, defeating VfB Leipzig in double overtime. However, it was during the Weimar Republic days that Fürth had it's best years. In 1923, they made it to the semi-finals. In 1926, they won the "Viktoria", by defeating Hertha BSC 4-1. The next year, Hertha knocked them out in the semifinals. In 1929, once again they met and defeated Hertha in the finals (3-2). The last hurrah was 1931, when - you guessed it - Hertha knocked them out. (Ironically, the other Franken based club, rivals 1.FC Nürnberg, also had their greatest success in this period, winning 5 titles during the Weimar years.) Fürth remained a power until the Nazi-era, when they were a strong, but never top club. After the war, they contined to remain OK, but never really threatened to break into the top flight.
Most of the famed players in Fuerth's history played either in the early years or the 1950s, when two players, Karl Mai and Herbert Erhardt were on the German World Cup winning squad of 1954. Erhardt was the most decorated Fürther, with some 49 caps while playing for the club. Overall, some 21 Fürth players were capped for Germany. However, the most famous SpVgg Fuerth alum is probably Henry Kissinger, who was a long time member before emigrating to the United States.
After a long stay at the 2nd Division-level, in the 1980s things began to unravel, and the club slipped into obscurity. By the time of the merger, the club had recovered from the worst, but was still struggling.
TSV Vestenbergsgreuth
This small village team had some remarkable success for it's short life. Actually, the club, founded in 1974, still exists, but all the soccer players left to join SpVgg Fürth in the merger of 1996. Aside from some suprisingly decent league results, their main claim to fame was a sensational 1-0 DFB-Cup win over Bayern Müchen in 1995, clearly one of the largest upsets in the history of soccer. but it was no complete fluke as TSV advanced a couple more rounds before finally losing to VfL Wolfsburg only on penalty kicks. Among the "stars" of this scrappy little team was Harry Koch, who would soon sign with Kaiserslautern and go on to a decent Bundesliga career.
The merger, which some wiseguys no doubt claimed should have been named TSV Fürther Vestenbergsgreuth, due to the village team's greater success in recent years, actually turned out to be excellent for the soccer players. The new club was runner up in the Regionalliga Süd, and gained immediate promotion to the 2.Liga.
Since then, Fürth has established itself as a force in the 2.Liga, and has come knocking at the door of the top flight on several occasions. However, they have yet to give any indication that they can make the next jump.
Fullname | Spielvereinigung Greuther Fürth e.V.
City |
Fürth (Bayern),
pop: 112,000 (2002).
Vestenbergsgreuth is a small village nearby, Pop: 1,311 (2003)
| Address |
Laubenweg 60, 90765 Fürth | Phone: 0911/97 67 68-0, Fax 0911/97 67 68-15 e-mail: info@greuther-fuerth.de Colors |
Green shirt with white trim, white shorts, green socks.
| Nickname |
| Stadium |
Playmobil-Stadion. Capacity: 15,500 (5,000 covered seats, 4,500
others.) | The stadium was previously know as the Ronhof. It was built in 1910, and capacity maxed out to 32,000. In 1983, saddled with debts, Fürth sold the stadium to a local businessman, Horst Brandstätter of PlayMobil. He intended to tear it down and eventually build apartments, but when fortunes rose after the merger, decided to renovate instead. Vestenbergsgreuth played in the Am Schwalbenberg, capacity 6,000 until the merger. Tickets |
Priced from 8-20 euros. (2004)
| Supporters |
Averaged about 7,800 in 2004 (2.Liga).
| Friends |
|
Foes |
As Fürth, the main enemy has to be nearby Nürnberg. The latter
could probably care less about their country bumpkin cousins.
| Heroes |
| Zeroes |
| Beer |
Co sponsors include
Bitburger and
Erdinger .
Tucher-Pils,
a well known regional brew, was a sponsor in earlier years.
|
Pub Grub |
| The Net |
Official site at
www.Greuther-Fuerth.de It's an excellent effort, with a wealth of
historical data, one of the best on the web.
| |
SpVgg Fürth 1963-64 (III) Regionalliga Süd 9th 1964-65 (III) Regionalliga Süd 8th 1965-66 (III) Regionalliga Süd 4th 1966-67 (III) Regionalliga Süd 3rd 1967-68 (III) Regionalliga Süd 7th 1968-69 (III) Regionalliga Süd 7th 1969-70 (III) Regionalliga Süd 8th 1970-71 (III) Regionalliga Süd 7th 1971-72 (III) Regionalliga Süd 14th 1972-73 (III) Regionalliga Süd 9th 1973-74 (III) Regionalliga Süd 10th 1974-75 (II) 2.Liga Süd 15th 1975-76 (II) 2.Liga Süd 10th 1976-77 (II) 2.Liga Süd 8th 1977-78 (II) 2.Liga Süd 6th 1978-79 (II) 2.Liga Süd 4th 1979-80 (II) 2.Liga Süd 7th SpVgg Fürth TSV Vestenbergsreuth 1980-81 (II) 2.Liga Süd 14th (IV) Landesliga-Mitte 9th 1981-82 (II) 2.Liga 14th (IV) Landesliga-Mitte 12th 1982-83 (II) 2.Liga 18th (IV) Landesliga-Mitte 10th 1983-84 (III) Am.Oberliga Bayern 5th (IV) Landesliga-Mitte 13th 1984-85 (III) Am.Oberliga Bayern 6th (IV) Landesliga-Mitte 4th 1985-86 (III) Am.Oberliga Bayern 4th (IV) Landesliga-Mitte 3rd 1986-87 (III) Am.Oberliga Bayern 18th (IV) Landesliga-Mitte 1st 1987-88 (IV) Landesliga-Mitte 3rd (III) Am.Oberliga Bayern 2nd 1988-89 (IV) Landesliga-Mitte 3rd (III) Am.Oberliga Bayern 3rd 1989-90 (IV) Landesliga-Mitte 3rd (III) Am.Oberliga Bayern 4th 1990-91 (III) Landesliga-Mitte 1st (III) Am.Oberliga Bayern 10th 1991-92 (III) Am.Oberliga Bayern 3rd (III) Am.Oberliga Bayern 2nd 1992-93 (III) Am.Oberliga Bayern 2nd (III) Am.Oberliga Bayern 4th 1993-94 (III) Am.Oberliga Bayern 6th (III) Am.Oberliga Bayern 8th 1994-95 (III) Regionalliga Süd 3rd (III) Regionalliga Süd 5th 1995-96 (III) Regionalliga Süd 8th (III) Regionalliga Süd 6th SpVgg Greuther Fürth 1996-97 (III) Regionalliga Süd 2nd 1997-98 (II) 2.Liga 9th 1998-99 (II) 2.Liga 8th 1999-00 (II) 2.Liga 7th 2000-01 (II) 2.Liga 5th 2001-02 (II) 2.Liga 5th 2002-03 (II) 2.Liga 5th 2003-04 (II) 2.Liga 9th 2004-05 (II) 2.Liga 5th 2005-06 (II) 2.Liga 5th 2006-07 (II) 2.Liga 5th 2007-08 (II) 2.Liga 6th 2008-09 (II) 2.Liga 5th 2009-10 (II) 2.Liga 11th 2010-11 (II) 2.Liga 4th 2011-12 (II) 2.Liga
(c) Abseits Guide to Germany : www.abseits-soccer.com