SAMSTAG 15:30

Founded: Jul 26, 1848
Club Members: 25,000
Nickname: Die Unabsteigbaren
Coach: Thomas Letsch
Captain: Anthony Losilla

Bundesliga.2 Champions: 4
​Western German Cup: 1

Website: www.vfl-bochum.de

VfL Bochum are one of the oldest sports associations in the world and their origins can be traced back to July 1848 when an article in the Märkischer Sprecher  - a local newspaper - called for a gymnastics club to be created. This led to the formation of 'Turnverein zu Bochum' on 19th February 1849 before being forcibly dissolved and banned by the Prussian monarchy in December 1851. After being re-constituted in 1860, it wasn't until 1904 that the club returned to their 1848 roots when it was renamed 'Turnverein zu Bochum, gegründet 1848' and, as more and more gymnasts began jumping off their pommel horses to kick leather balls about instead, a football department was added to the association in January 1911. On 1st April 1919, the club then joined forces with 'Spiel und Sport 08 Bochum' to form 'Turn- und Sportverein Bochum 1848' before its members went their seperate ways after splitting into 'Bochumer Turnverein 1848' (gymnastics department) and 'Turn-und Sportverein Bochum 1908' (football, track and field, handball, hockey and tennis departments) five years later. 

After the Nazi rise to power, football was restructured in Germany with the creation of the Gauliga in 1933 which funnelled clubs into 16 (later to become 18 following the Austrian Anschluß  in 1938) top-flight divisions and after winning the Bezirksliga Westfalen title in 1935, Turn-und Sportverein Bochum 1908 (TuS Bochum) joined the Gauliga Westfalen. The stay was a brief one however and they were relegated two years later. 

In 1938, the NSDAP Mayor of Bochum, Otto Piclum, decided that in order to strengthen his own position within the Nazi party, he needed the city to have their own "Starken Großverein" (roughly translated as 'Big Strong Club') and challenge local rivals FC Schalke 04 - widely regarded as the best side in the whole Reich. The Nazis preferred to merge small clubs into larger ones as it was seen as a sign of great unity and easier for propaganda purposes; and so Bochumer Turnverein 1848 and Turn-und Sportverein Bochum 1908 were forced to join up with another local club, SV Germania 1906 Bochum, to form the current-day VfL Bochum on 14th April 1938. The “Bochumer Anzeiger” newspaper praised the formation of the new football club, saying that now “we have a worthy representative for our father-city”.

VfL Bochum began life in the top-flight Gauliga Westfalen having taken Germania's place in the league but as Hitler's meglomania turned the war against Germany, football in the country became increasingly difficult due to player shortages, travel problems and damage to pitches from Allied bombing raids. In order to survive, the club became part of a wartime side called 'Kriegsspielgemeinschaft VfL 1848/Preußen Bochum' alongside local outfit Preußen 07 Bochum and although they fielded competitive sides, they were unable to challenge FC Schalke 04 for Westfalen supremacy and a distant runners-up spot in 1939 marked the combined club's high-water mark in the Gauliga era.

After the war, the allied forces ordered that all sports clubs had to disband and start again from scratch as part of a post-war policy of de-Nazification in occupied Germany. VfL duly reformed as the independent VfL Bochum 1848 (Preußen 07 Bochum returned to play in the lower amateur levels) and emerged from the 'Stunde null ' (zero hour) in the second-tier 2.Oberliga West. They captured the division title in 1953 to advance to the top-flight Oberliga West for a single season cameo before returning in 1956 for another go. The transistion from second-tier champions to 1st division underdogs was handled a little better this time and VfL enjoyed a five year stint in the top-flight before another relegation in 1961 saw them tumble down to the third-tier Amatuerliga Westfalen.

After missing the cut for the new Bundesliga in 1963, Bochum, still in the Amatuerliga Westfalen, began a steady rise through the leagues and won promotion to the Regionallia West in 1965 after a drawn play-off match against SpVgg Erkenschwick was decided in their favour on the toss of a coin !
After making an appearance in the 1968 DFB-Pokal final, where 1.FC Köln denied them what would have been their greatest achievement to date with a 4-1 win, Bochum eventually reached the Bundesliga in 1971 and settled down as a perennial mid-to-lower table club. There, they established a reputation as a difficult, workman-like team to play against and their fighting spirit kept them in the top-flight for the next 22 seasons - earning them the nickname Die Unabsteigbaren  (The 'Unrelegate-able' Ones). It also took them to another DFB-Pokal final in 1988 where Eintracht Frankfurt became the next to deny VfL cup glory.

Following relegation in 1993, Bochum were forced to ditch their idiosyncratic nickname as they became a classic example of what is known in Germany as a "Fahrstuhlmannschaft"  (elevator team) and have bounced between the top two divisions ever since. Unable to step out of the shadow cast by Ruhrpott giants Dortmund and Schalke, Bochum have never really challenged for major honours although a couple of fifth-place Bundesliga finishes in 1997 and 2004 brought UEFA Cup football to the Ruhrstadion for the first time. In 2021, the Ruhr Valley club returned to the Bundesliga for the first time since 2010 after securing the Bundesliga.2 title for the fourth time in their history.