FC 08 Homburg


FC Homburg is a German association football club based in Homburg, Saarland. The club was founded on 15 June 1908 as Fussball Club Homburg by a group of seventeen young men at the local Hohenburg pub.

History

In February 1913 they were renamed Fussballverein Homburg and went on to take the local championship that season. By the mid-1920s the side was playing second-division football, but folded on 27 August 1936. A new multi-sport club known as VfL Homburg was formed 5 March 1937 out of a group of local sides that included Turnverein 1878 Homburg, Schwimmverein Homburg, Kraftsportverein Homburg, Boxclub Homburg, Tennis-Club Homburg, as well as the former membership of the defunct FV. The footballers again took up play in second-tier competition and failed in two attempts to win their way through the regional promotion playoff to the first division Gauliga Südwest.
After World War II, Allied occupation authorities dissolved all types of associations in Germany, including football clubs. The club was soon re-constituted as Sportverein Homburg and captured a division championship in the Amateurliga Saarland in 1948 before resuming the name FC Homburg in January 1949.
The Saarland was occupied by the French who made various efforts to see the state become independent of Germany or join France. In sport this was manifested as separate 1952 Olympic and 1954 World Cup teams for Saarland, the establishment of a short-lived football league for the state, and the German club 1. FC Saarbrücken playing in the French second division. Homburg played in the Saarland Ehrenliga from 1949 to 1951 as FC Homburg-Saar. By the time of the 1951–52 season the return of German teams to the German Football Association had been negotiated: the Ehrenliga faded away and by 1956 the independent Saarland Fussball Bund had re-joined the DFB.
A second Amateurliga Saarland title in 1957 advanced FC to the 2. Liga-Südwest and in December of that year they adopted the name FC 08 Homburg/Saar. The club was relegated to the Amateurliga in 1960 which had become a fourth-tier circuit by 1963.
In the late 1970s the team advanced to the quarter finals of the DFB-Pokal on two occasions, and on into the early 1980s moved frequently between third- and fourth-tier play. Then, in the second half of the decade, they enjoyed their greatest success. They played their way back to the second division and on into the Bundesliga in 1986. Homburg played two seasons there, were relegated, and returned for one final Bundesliga season in 1989–90 before beginning a gradual descent which would lead them to Oberliga Südwest where they play today.
The club had a moment of glory in 1991 when it beat FC Bayern Munich in Munich 4–2 after extra time in the first round of the 1991–92 DFB-Pokal. They were relegated from the 2. Bundesliga after the 1994–95 season.
Along the way the club had a couple of misadventures. In 1988, the DFB prohibited the team from wearing the sponsorship logo of a condom manufacturer on ethical and moral grounds. In 1998, they entered into an agreement with 1. FC Saarbrücken to loan players to that team to help ease Homburg's financial pinch. Despite this, in 1999, the club had a brush with bankruptcy that led to their being denied a license to play in the Regionalliga West/Südwest and demotion to the Oberliga Südwest. The club qualified for the 2006–07 German Cup and went out in the first round 1–2 to Bundesliga side VfL Bochum. Homburg was finally promoted to Regionalliga West after finishing atop the Oberliga Südwest ahead of FK Pirmasens on a goal differential of plus 2 in the 2009–10 season. Their Regionalliga cameo ended with a 17th place finish and a return to fifth tier play. Homburg immediately bounced back by capturing the Oberliga Südwest title and qualifying for the Regionalliga Südwest for 2012–13.

Honours

The club's honours:

League

Recent managers of the club:
ManagerStartFinish
Christian Hock14 November 201021 April 2011
Taifour Diane22 April 201130 June 2011
Christian Titz1 July 201110 April 2014
Sebastian Stache7 April 201421 April 2014
Robert Jung22 April 201430 June 2014
Jens Kiefer1 July 201414 April 2017
Jürgen Luginger17 April 2017Present

Recent seasons

The recent season-by-season performance of the club:
SeasonDivisionTierPosition
1986-871. BundesligaI16th
1987-881. BundesligaI17th ↓
1989-901. BundesligaI18th ↓
1999–2000Oberliga SüdwestIV3rd
2000–01Oberliga SüdwestIV4th
2001–02Oberliga SüdwestIV9th
2002–03Oberliga SüdwestIV12th
2003–04Oberliga SüdwestIV4th
2004–05Oberliga SüdwestIV4th
2005–06Oberliga SüdwestIV2nd
2006–07Oberliga SüdwestIV4th
2007–08Oberliga SüdwestIV7th
2008–09Oberliga SüdwestV2nd
2009–10Oberliga SüdwestV1st ↑
2010–11Regionalliga WestIV17th ↓
2011–12Oberliga SüdwestV1st ↑
2012–13Regionalliga SüdwestIV14th
2013–14Regionalliga SüdwestIV11th
2014–15Regionalliga SüdwestIV6th
2015–16Regionalliga SüdwestIV6th
2016–17Regionalliga SüdwestIV15th ↓
2017–18Oberliga Rheinland-Pfalz/SaarV1st ↑
2018–19Regionalliga SüdwestIV3rd

Current squad