Welcome to the Soccer Tavern, where we’re discussing the history, culture, and philosophy of the beautiful game. My name is Dave and in this video, we’re talking about the history of Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg, also known as VfL Wolfsburg. Pull up a seat and let’s start the discussion.
VfL Wolfsburg is located in the central part of the city of Wolfsburg. Wolfsburg is located in the northern, central part of Germany. The club currently play in the Bundesliga and its home ground is the Volkswagen Arena, which opened in 2002 and holds about 30,000 people.
Origin
We can’t talk about the club’s history without discussing the city of Wolfsburg’s history. The city was officially founded on July 1, 1938. It was planned by the Nazis as a place for workers at a new car plant to be built in the city. The initial name of the city was ‘Stadt des KdF-Wagens bei Fallersleben’ which meant city of the Kdf-Wagens by Fallersleben. Kdf-Wagens was Volkswagen’s first company name.
The initial plans for the city only ended up being about 10% completed due to the outbreak of WWII. After the war, the city was officially renamed to Wolfsburg in May of 1945. Wolfsburg came from the name of a 13th-century castle located in the city.
Now let’s discuss the club’s founding. On September 12, 1945 a group of 11 men and 1 woman founded the ‘Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg’. The name meant ‘club for physical activities Wolfsburg’ and it was chosen because the founders didn’t want to commit to only 1 sport. The club members played many different sports.
At the time, sporting goods were tough to find in Germany, so a club member happened upon 10 green kit tops. The wives of club members sewed shorts out of bed sheets and these are the reasons why the club’s colors became green & white.
Nickname(s)
Wolfsburg has 2 nicknames: die Wölfe and die Grün-Weißen.
Die Wölfe means the Wolves in English. It comes from the city’s name.
And die Grün-Weißen nickname means the green-whites. It comes from the club’s kit colors, which we’ve already shared the story of how it got them.
Crest
The current Wolfsburg crest has been used since 2002, but I want to briefly discuss an older crest first. This crest was used by Wolfsburg starting in the 1950s. The W obviously stands for Wolfsburg, but it was specifically designed & shaped to depict the towers of the Wolfsburg castle, where the city gets its name.
So now that we know why the W is shaped the way that it is, let’s talk about the current crest. You’ll notice that the same shape is used for the W, but the turret tops have been removed. This was unpopular with fans who didn’t like that the reference to the castle was removed.
Additionally, the circle is open at the top, which is supposed to signify the club striving towards the top of German soccer.
Important Events
Wolfsburg went through a middling existence for most of its early years. It fluctuated between the amateur and professional 2nd & 3rd divisions from its creation until the late 1980s and early 1990s. Finally, the club started to put together decent results in consecutive years, and broke through from the 3rd division in to the 2. Bundesliga after the 1991-1992 Oberliga Nord season. Wolfsburg entered a 4-team group stage after the season and finally on June 13, 1992 officially won the group and clinched promotion to the 2. Bundesliga. The club hasn’t been lower than the 2nd division since this date and it hasn’t been relegated since 1977.
The club was incredibly close to relegation only 1 season later and I’d like to discuss that as our next important event. The club had clinched safety from relegation on the last matchday of the season, June 6, 1993, when it beat Fortuna Düsseldorf 2-1 on the road. Even though the club clinched safety from a sporting perspective, the club was in a bad financial position and was nearly denied a playing license for the 2. Bundesliga’s 1993-1994 season. Only hours before the deadline in the summer of 1993, local individuals, who supported the club, put up over half a million Deutschmarks to ensure the club wouldn’t be relegated. This was critical for the club’s survival in professional soccer.
The third event I’d like to highlight happened on June 11, 1997. On this date, Wolfsburg met Mainz 05 on the final day of the 2. Bundesliga season. Both sides knew the winner of the match would secure automatic promotion to the Bundesliga if they won, so tensions could not have been higher. Mainz took an early 1-0 lead, but Wolfsburg roared to life and made it 3-1 before halftime. Mainz fought back to make it 3-3 before the 60th minute, but Wolfsburg scored 2 more goals, conceded a late one, and held on for a 5-4 victory. The thrilling match meant Wolfsburg qualified for the Bundesliga and the first division for the first time in the club’s history.
The 4th event I’d like to discuss is the club’s amazing Bundesliga title in 2009. On May 23, 2009, Wolfsburg destroyed Werder Bremen 5-1 to clinch the title ahead of Bayern Munich. It was the club’s first ever major trophy and an amazing year for the club. Strikers Edin Dzeko and Grafite scored a combined 54 goals with the club’s playmaker Misimovic registering 20 assists. It was the greatest season in club history.
And the final event I’d like to mention is the club winning its second major trophy, the DFB Pokal in 2015. The final occurred on May 30, 2015 in Berlin with Wolfsburg facing Borussia Dortmund. Dortmund jumped out to an early lead, but Wolfsburg scored 3 goals in 16 minutes to win the match 3-1. It was the club’s first and so far only DFB Pokal victory and a glorious day for the club.
Supporters
At time of recording, the club has 118 official Fan Clubs.
Additionally, German soccer is famous for clubs having Torhymne or goal songs. For some reason, Wolfsburg’s Torhymne is the song ‘Rama Lama Ding Dong’. While catchy, I have no idea why this is the club’s goal song, but it has been the celebration song since at least 2012 and likely many years before then.
Noteworthy Players
I’m going to highlight 5 players in detail here and briefly mention 2 others.
Siegfried “Siggi” Reich joined his hometown club of VfL Wolfsburg in 1991 after beginning his professional career in 1981 with Borussia Mönchengladbach. When Reich joined, Wolfsburg were still in the amateur divisions, but Reich helped the club qualify for the 2. Bundesliga in 1992. He’d play for the club in 162 matches, scoring 89 goals and was instrumental in establishing the club in the professional 2. Bundesliga. Reich was one of the most famous players for the club during this time.
Roy Präger played for VfL Wolfsburg for 4 seasons between 1995-1999 and then for another 3 seasons from 2002-2005. Präger was a striker with Wolves and played in both the 2. Bundesliga and Bundesliga with the club. He’s thought of very fondly by Wolfsburg supporters after playing more than 150 games.
Krzysztof Nowak was an incredibly talented playmaker for Wolfsburg beginning in 1998. He was a Polish international player with 10 caps. His promising career was unfortunately cut short in February of 2001. Nowak was diagnosed with ALS and he unfortunately passed away in 2005 because of the disease. Before passing, he started the Krzysztof Nowak Foundation to help find a cure for ALS and VfL Wolfsburg is still heavily involved with the charity.
Martin Petrov is widely considered one of the best players to ever play for the club. Petrov once scored all 4 Wolfsburg goals in a 4-3 victory over Mainz 05. He was a Bulgarian International player and was with Wolfsburg for 133 matches from 2001-2005. His performances attracted the attention of Atlético Madrid and he’d go on to play for a handful of other clubs in England, Spain, and Bulgaria. Likely the best performances of his career came at Wolfsburg where he’s still fondly remembered.
And the 5th player I’d like to highlight is likely the most talented pure striker in the club’s history, Edin Džeko. Džeko joined Wolfsburg in 2007 after being the 2nd top scorer in the Czech league. He had begun his career as a midfielder and was deemed not good enough, but a change of club and a move to striker proved to be incredible for the young player. In Džeko’s first season at Wolfsburg, he led the club into qualifying for the UEFA Cup, now known as the Europa League. He followed that up with his legendary 2008-2009 season that won Wolfsburg the Bundesliga. His standout performances for Wolfsburg attracted a then club record transfer to Manchester City in January of 2011. Džeko has had an incredible career and is one of the most underrated central strikers of his generation. His career breakout came while at Wolfsburg and he is a club legend.
Additionally, for personal reasons, I want to mention Claudio Reyna & Kevin De Bruyne. Claudio Reyna was a great US men’s national team player in the 1990s and 2000s. He’s not a Wolfsburg legend, but he became the first American to captain a European club while with Wolfsburg which is why I wanted to mention him.
And I believe Kevin De Bruyne is the best attacking midfielder in the world right now. De Bruyne currently plays for Manchester City in England, but spent a year and a half with Wolfsburg from winter 2014 to summer 2015. In his only full season with the club, he was named German player of the year and set a new Bundesliga record with 21 assists. De Bruyne helped Wolfsburg win the club’s only DFB Pokal. He’s so impressive to watch when he’s healthy and I needed to highlight him here.
Noteworthy Managers
I’m going to highlight 5 managers in this section.
The first manager I’d like to talk about is Imre Farkaszinski. He took over as manager of the club for 1 season 1958-1959, but couldn’t help the club avoid relegation. He’d return in 1966 and would manage the club for 9 more years. He’d have 2 other interim stints with the club in 1978 & 1983 and though his time with the club didn’t result in any trophies or much glory, the sheer length of his time as manager made him worthy of mention.
The next manager I’d like to discuss is Wolfi Krause. He managed Wolfsburg from 1984 to 1988 while the club was still in the 3rd division. Though Krause couldn’t lead the club out of the division, he developed an attractive style of play and laid the foundation for the club to eventually gain promotion to the 2. Bundesliga in the early 1990s.
The 3rd manager I’d like to highlight is Wolfgang Wolf. I am not making that name up. Wolfgang Wolf managed Wolfsburg for 5 seasons. Not only was he perfectly named to manage the club, he did an admirable job for the club in its early Bundesliga years. He guided Wolfsburg to respectable top half Bundesliga finishes and reached the 3rd round of the UEFA Cup, now called Europa league. Wolf managed the club from 1998 to 2003 and will go down in the history books as the greatest name to fit with a club ever.
The 4th manager I’d like to mention is Felix Magath. In his first period with Wolfsburg, Magath took over in 2007, led the club to a decent 5th place finish that season, before accomplishing the miraculous and winning the Bundesliga in the 2008-2009 season. Unfortunately, before the season was over, Magath agreed to a 4 year contract with another Bundesliga club, Schalke 04. The man should have been a legend at Wolfsburg, but this decision left an understandably bad taste in Wolfsburg supporters’ mouths. Magath would return in the spring of 2011 but left the club again in October 2012 after a terrible start to the season. Magath deserves mention in this section but is not thought of as fondly as he could have been by Wolfsburg fans.
And the final manager I’d like to talk about is Dieter Hecking. Hecking took over Wolfsburg on a permanent basis after the mess that Magath had left the club in in 2012. He’d ensure a mid-table finish that season before impressive finishes of 5th, 2nd, and 8th place. The 2nd place finish was in the 2014-2015 season when Wolfsburg also won the DFB Pokal. It was a truly remarkable season for the club. Unfortunately, the 2016-2017 season didn’t start well for the club and Hecking was fired. Even with the poor start, Hecking managed Wolfsburg in 165 matches, averaging 1.75 points per match. Those were very respectable numbers and made him worthy of highlighting in this section.
Rivals
Similar to clubs like Hoffenheim & RB Leipzig, Wolfsburg doesn’t have any true rivals because of the club’s ownership structure. The Bundesliga has rules intended to encourage majority ownership of clubs by supporters and any clubs that circumvent these ownership rules are largely derided by opposition supporters. Hannover 96 would be the closest thing to a rival.
The cities of Wolfsburg and Hannover are located in the German state of Lower Saxony. The two are about 60 miles apart and have met in the Bundesliga many times. Hannover supporters don’t acknowledge Wolfsburg as a true rival, which I’ve already highlighted, but this deserves mention.
Eintracht Braunschweig also deserves a quick mention. The two clubs play in stadiums less than 25 miles apart, but amazingly they’ve only met a handful of times since the Bundesliga was formed in 1963. If the two clubs meet in meaningful competitions in the future, this has the potential to grow into a rivalry, though Braunschweig and Hannover are already bitter rivals.
What do you think? Who are Wolfsburg’s current rivals and who could you see a rivalry developing with in the future? Let us know in the comments section.
Stats & Records
The stats and records we’re about to discuss are as of December 2019, which is when we are recording this video.
VfL Wolfsburg has played 23 seasons in the top flight in its history.
The club has 2 major trophies.
- 1 Bundesliga title (2009)
- 1 DFB Pokal (2015)
Wolves’ record appearance holder is Diego Benaglio with 321 first team appearances.
The club’s record goalscorer is Wilfried Kemmer with 237 first team goals.
Wolfsburg’s record transfer purchase was Julian Draxler from FC Schalke on August 31, 2015 for ~€43M.
And the club’s record transfer sale was Kevin De Bruyne to Manchester City FC in England on August 30, 2015 for ~€76M.
And 1 last interesting fact about the club:
Wolfsburg was involved in the first ever penalty shootout in the DFB Pokal’s history on December 23, 1970. The DFB had just instituted the penalty rule for the competition and after Schalke and Wolfsburg drew in both legs of their matchup, the match went to penalties. Though Schalke won 4-2, it was an historic moment in German soccer for Wolfsburg.
So there you have it… a bit of history on Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg. Let’s continue the discussion in the comments section below the video.
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