Viktoria Aschaffenburg


SV Viktoria 01 Aschaffenburg is a German football club based in Aschaffenburg, Bavaria.
Even though Aschaffenburg is located in Bavaria, Viktoria Aschaffenburg historically played its football in the Hessenliga and the associated Hessian leagues, rather than the Bayernliga, against clubs from closer, neighbouring cities. This also reflects in part the history of the region, not traditionally part of Bavaria. The nearby Bavarian club FC Bayern Alzenau has also played in the Hessenliga for the same reasons. After 67 seasons in Hesse, from 1945 onwards, the members of the club voted with an 80% majority to return to Bavaria from the 2012–13 season onwards.

History

The club was formed on 24 June 1904 out of the merger of FC Aschaffenburg and FC Viktoria Aschaffenburg. Renamed Sportverein Viktoria 01 Aschaffenburg on 3 June 1906 the united side played in the Kreisliga Odenwald, Kreisliga Nordmain, Kreisliga Südmain and Bezirksliga Main-Hessen for a couple of seasons in the 1920s, changing leagues frequently.
In 1937 they briefly merged with Reichsbahn TuSpo Aschaffenburg to play as Reichsbahn-Viktoria Aschaffenburg, but were an independent side again by 1939. They made a late, short-lived appearance in top flight football in 1942, playing a single season in the Gauliga Bayern, one of sixteen premier divisions established in the 1933 re-organization of German football under the Third Reich.
Aschaffenburg returned to the top flight after World War II playing in the Oberliga Süd for two seasons in the late 40s and then through most of the 50s, competing against sides that would later go on to play in the Bundesliga, Germany's first top tier professional league, such as FC Bayern Munich, 1. FC Nürnberg, and VfB Stuttgart, in front of crowds of 16,000 to 19,000. Generally a lower table side whose best result was a fifth-place finish in 1956, a series of poor performances saw Aschaffenburg drop to tier III play in the Amateurliga Hessen/Amateur Oberliga-Hessen well before the formation of the Bundesliga in 1963.
The team's best performances came in the 1980s when they twice won the Oberliga Hessen title and promotion to 2. Bundesliga, where they played the 1985–86, 1986–87 and 1988–89 seasons. Through this period and into the early 90s Aschaffenburg made a half dozen appearances in the early rounds of DFB-Pokal play. The club's best cup performance came in 1988 when they eliminated then-Bundesliga side 1. FC Köln in the second round before eventually going out in the quarterfinals against Werder Bremen.
A poor finish led to a move down to the fourth division play in the 1993–94 season. In 1995, the clubs under 19 side ended a remarkable series in German football. After 20 consecutive titles in the Under 19 Bayernliga by the 1. FC Nürnberg, Viktoria finished this series, becoming only the second club to win this league. Viktoria's junior teams play in the Bavarian league system, unlike its senior team.
The side was relegated to Landesliga Hessen-Süd for a single season in 2003–04 and have since returned to play in Oberliga-Hessen.
A third-place finish in the Oberliga in 2007–08 meant the club became one of the four clubs from this league to gain entry in the Regionalliga Süd for the next season. After finishing 13th in the league in 2008–09, outside the relegation ranks, the club decided to return to the now-named Hessenliga due to financial reasons. Viktoria experienced a further drop at the end of the 2009–10 season when it was relegated to the tier-six Verbandsliga Hessen-Süd despite an eighth-place finish for financial reasons.
In this league, Viktoria came second in 2010–11 and qualified for the promotion round to the Hessenliga, where it succeeded. In November 2011, the members of the club voted for a return to the Bavarian league system after the club had played in Hesse since 1945. Alongside the senior team, the reserve side will also switch associations while the club's youth teams already play in Bavaria. The reasons for the switch were the easier qualification modus for the revamped Regionalligas for 2012, in Hesse the club needed to win the league while for Bavaria a ninth-place finish was adequate for promotion. Another reason was also the lesser requirements in regards to infrastructure for the new Regionalliga Bayern, an important factor for the recovering club who had just escaped insolvency in the previous year. A fourth-place finish in the Hessenliga in 2011–12 allowed the team to qualify for the new Regionalliga.
After a 15th place in the inaugural Regionalliga Bayern season Viktoria came second-last in the league in 2013–14 and was relegated from the league, now to the Bayernliga Nord, the northern division of the Bayernliga. The club won its division in 2014–15 and made an immediate return to the Regionalliga. It finished 15th in 2015–16 and had to enter the relegation play-off to defend its league place where it lost to SpVgg Bayern Hof and TSV 1860 Rosenheim and dropped back to the Bayernliga.

Honours

League

The recent season-by-season performance of the club:
YearDivisionTierPosition
1999–2000HessenligaIV6th
2000–01HessenligaIV10th
2001–02HessenligaIV10th
2002–03HessenligaIV16th ↓
2003–04Landesliga Hessen-SüdV1st ↑
2004–05HessenligaIV10th
2005–06HessenligaIV10th
2006–07HessenligaIV2nd
2007–08HessenligaIV3rd ↑
2008–09Regionalliga SüdIV13th ↓
2009–10HessenligaV8th ↓
2010–11Verbandsliga Hessen-SüdVI2nd ↑
2011–12HessenligaV4th ↑
2012–13Regionalliga BayernIV15th
2013–14Regionalliga BayernIV18th ↓
2014–15Bayernliga NordV1st ↑
2015–16Regionalliga BayernIV15th ↓
2016–17Bayernliga NordV2nd
2017–18Bayernliga NordV1st ↑
2018–19Regionalliga BayernIV10th

↑ Promoted↓ Relegated

Current squad

Recent managers

Recent managers of the club:
ManagerStartFinish
Ernst Lehner
Horst HeeseApril 1986December 1986
Timo Zahnleiter1 July 198930 June 1990
Werner Lorant1 July 199030 June 1992
Rudi Bommer 1 July 199830 June 2000
Nenad Salov1 May 20039 December 2006
Muhamed Preljevic10 December 200627 March 2007
Manfred Allig28 March 200730 June 2007
Andreas Möller1 July 200730 June 2008
Ronny Borchers1 July 200830 June 2009
Marco Roth1 July 200930 June 2010
Peter Lack1 July 201119 March 2012
Antonio Abbruzzese20 March 20124 January 2013
Werner Dreßel9 January 201323 April 2013
Antonio Abbruzzese23 April 20135 May 2013
Julio Alvarez5 May 201317 June 2013
Slobodan Komljenovic17 June 201319 October 2015
Rudi Bommer20 October 20154 December 2015
Jürgen Baier23 December 2015Present

DFB Cup appearances

The club has qualified for the first round of the German Cup six times:
SeasonRoundDateHomeAwayResultAttendance
1979–80 DFB-PokalFirst round24 August 1979FSV FrankfurtViktoria Aschaffenburg2–0
1986–87 DFB-PokalFirst round30 August 1987Viktoria AschaffenburgWaldhof Mannheim1–2
1987–88 DFB-PokalFirst round29 August 1987Viktoria AschaffenburgSG Wattenscheid 094–0
1987–88 DFB-PokalSecond round24 October 1987Viktoria Aschaffenburg1. FC Köln1–0
1987–88 DFB-PokalThird round13 February 1988Hessen KasselViktoria Aschaffenburg0–1
1987–88 DFB-PokalQuarter final13 February 1988Viktoria AschaffenburgWerder Bremen1–3
1989–90 DFB-PokalFirst round20 August 1989Viktoria AschaffenburgKarlsruher SC2–6
1991–92 DFB-PokalFirst round1 August 1991Viktoria Aschaffenburgnonebye
1991–92 DFB-PokalSecond round17 August 1991VfL WolfsburgViktoria Aschaffenburg4–3 aet
1992–93 DFB-PokalFirst round18 August 1992Viktoria Aschaffenburgnonebye
1992–93 DFB-PokalSecond round12 September 1992Viktoria AschaffenburgVfL Osnabrück0–6