SAMSTAG 15:30

Founded: Sep 3, 1997
Club Members: 1,062
Coach: Manuel Rost
Captain: Lukas Cichos

NOFV Oberliga / Staffel Süd: 2
Verbandsliaga Sachsen Anhalt: 1

Website: www.vfbgermaniahalberstadt.de

The original FC Germania Halberstadt was formed in 1900 and established themselves as the dominant team in the Gauliga Harz - lifting the title on 15 occasions between 1914 and 1933. As a major locomotive centre, Halberstadt was a prime target for allied bombers during World War 2 but despite the appalling conditions and lack of infrastructure in the shattered city, a new football team - SG Halberstadt Altstadt - emerged from the ashes in 1947. When two ideological opposites partitioned and the new East German regime took direct control of the state’s footballing activities two years later, the city’s team was re-formed as BSG Reichsbahn Halberstadt before being renamed BSG Lokomotive Halberstadt in 1950 in recognition of Halberstadt being a major rail hub and their players technically becoming railway employees.

 

For the next forty years, Lokomotive Halberstadt played largely in the third-tier DDR-Bezirksliga although the 1970’s were a decade of relative success as they were promoted into the second-tier on three separate occasions. The club’s most famous player is Jürgen Sparwasser, who went on to lift the European Cup Winners Cup with 1. FC Magdeburg and represent East Germany on 53 occasions. When the two German national sides met in the politically-charged Bruderduell  during the group stages of the 1974 World Cup, Sparwasser became a national hero when he scored the only goal in the 77th minute to secure an historic victory for East Germany. 

 

After reunification in 1990, the club was renamed Eisenbahnersportverein (ESV) Halberstadt and spent two seasons in the fourth-tier Verbandsliga Sachsen-Anhalt before slipping into the Landesliga Sachsen-Anhalt in 1992. Formed as a sports club for railway workers, by 1994 the number of its members who actually worked in the railway industry had fallen to just 18% and, as a result, the club lost its affiliation with the Association of Railway Sports Clubs. The prefix 'ESV' was therefore dropped and VfB (Verein für Breitensport ) added instead along with the year '1949'. At the same time, the footballing branch of the club split away and called itself FC Germania Halberstadt 1900, in reference to the pre-war heritage of the club. Common sense eventually prevailed however and on 3rd September 1997, the two clubs - VfB Halberstadt 1949 and FC Germania Halberstadt 1900 - joined forces to form VfB Germania Halberstadt.

 

Over the last thirty years the club has steadily risen up the pyramid of German football and after starting off in the seventh-tier, the Halberstädter  played most of the 1990s in the sixth-tier before winning promotion to the fifth-tier Oberliga Nordost / Staffel Süd in 2003. A title win in 2011 then secured a berth in the fourth-tier Regionalliga Nordost where, with the exception of a season, Germania have played ever since.

 

The club's high-water mark has been two appearances in the DFB-Pokal in the past five years on account of their opponents in both the 2017 and 2019 Sachsen-Anhalt Pokal finals (1.FC Magdeburg and Hallescher FC) having already qualified for the national cup through their league position. Unfortunately for Germania however, Bundesliga opposition in the form of SC Freiburg and 1.FC Union Berlin were waiting for them and both campaigns ended, predictably, in the first round.