VfB Stuttgart

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

VfB Stuttgart was formed through a 2 April 1912 merger of Stuttgarter FV and FC Krone Cannstatt. Stuttgarter FV was founded on 9 September 1893 as a rugby club, establishing a football section in 1908. FC Krone Cannstatt was formed in 1897 as a football-only side. The club moved to Neckar Stadium in 1933. VfB won Gauliga titles in 1935, 1937, 1938, 1940, and 1943, reaching the national final in 1935. After World War II, they won national championships in 1950 and 1952, and DFB-Pokal titles in 1954 and 1958. They were an original Bundesliga club in 1963. Under president Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder, the club was relegated in 1975 but returned after two seasons. They won the Bundesliga in 1983–84 and 1991–92, and reached the 1989 UEFA Cup final and the 1998 European Cup Winners' Cup final.

In Their Own Story

The team's journey includes dramatic highs and lows across decades of German football restructuring. In 1974–75, they made a stunning run to the quarter-finals of the German Cup, only to fall to Borussia Dortmund. A decade later, they reached the first round again in 1980–81 before exiting. The most memorable cup moment came in 2000–01 when they defeated Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt 6–1 in the first round; however, their reward was a second-round draw against their own parent club, VfB Stuttgart's first team, resulting in a 3–0 defeat. On the league front, after spending eight seasons in the 3. Liga as a mid-to-lower table side since qualifying in 2008, they suffered relegation to the Regionalliga Südwest at the end of the 2015–16 season. The team returned to the top level of reserve football in 2024 for the 3. Liga season, moving their home games from the Robert-Schlienz-Stadion to the WIRmachenDRUCK Arena in Aspach.

Reader's Guide

The football team plays its home games at the MHPArena in the Neckarpark near the Cannstatter Wasen. The second team, VfB Stuttgart II, plays in the 3. Liga. The club has over 100,000 members and is the largest sports club in Baden-Württemberg and the eighth-largest football club in Germany. It has departments for fistball, field hockey, track and field, table tennis, and football referees, all at amateur level, plus an esports department and a social department, the VfB-Garde.

Did You Know?

• VfB Stuttgart's junior teams have won the national under-19 championships a record ten times and the national under-17 championships seven times.
• The club's 1950s title-winning team was led by Robert Schlienz, who had lost his left arm in a car crash.
• VfB Stuttgart has won the UEFA Intertoto Cup a record two times.