The anniversary is coming! No matter how VfL Wolfsburg performs. At the end of the season, VfL had 25 years of Bundesliga football behind them! In one piece. Few of the current Bundesliga clubs can say that about themselves. In addition to Wolfsburg, only Leverkusen and Munich have never been relegated from the upper house. 25 years of the Bundesliga – before the anniversary comes, we’ll take you on a little journey through time. Match day after match day. In the last second division season.
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25 years – not a very big anniversary in many areas. Rather unusual in the Bundesliga. Exceptionally consistent. Because only eleven clubs from a total of 56 Bundesliga clubs since 1963 have played more than 25 seasons in a row in the upper house.
The little VfL Wolfsburg. For a long time he was number 5 in the north – behind Bremen, HSV, Braunschweig and Hanover. Feared in the upper league, but in the 2nd Bundesliga the team from Elsterweg was only six years of its history, in the Bundesliga the wolves were not known at all. Wolfsburg stood for Volkswagen. Period. Until it was with trainer Uwe Erkenbrecher, manager Peter Pander and officials like Wolfgang Heitmann or Manfred Aschenbrenner Visions gave and in 1992 again succeeded in promotion to the 2nd division.
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A single-digit position was the goal of VfL for the 1996/1997 season. A cautious and realistic approach after a troubled 18 months, in which only Gerd Roggensack led VfL into the 1995 cup final as the successor to Eckhard Krautzun, who had made it to the quarter-finals. The Semi-final 1-0 at the higher class 1. FC Köln with a goal from Siggi Reich remained the highlight under Roggensack. For promotion, he no longer led the team that had long been promoted.
Roggensack had already been replaced by ex-HSV professional Willi Reimann in October 1995 after a home 0: 5 against Bochum. The gnarled Hanseate was able to advance a well-known team on paper with his stoic manner, so that they remained unbeaten 14 times in a row in the second half of the 95/96 season. Then it went into a very special season.
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The 16th matchday of the second division season 1996/97
What was like that before: A little restlessness at VfL. Regional league tennis Borussia Berlin has big plans, contacts to Jens Keller are rumored, man-decker Jann Jensen even confirms a concrete offer. The contract extension talks with Willi Reimann seem to falter, because the day before the game there is still the message: Reimann extended until 1998, the contract is valid for the 1st and 2nd league. 50 volunteers, including Reimann and manager Peter Pander, cleared the place in the VfL stadium from a high blanket of snow the day before the game so that Uerdingen can tackle it.
The game: And suddenly the big sponsor is gone. Younger fans won’t know that the so-called Werkself actually existed twice. Because there was still Bayer Uerdingen. And this club had played 476 Bundesliga games and was in 26th place in the all-time Bundesliga table when Wolfsburg hadn’t even appeared in it. On November 29, 1996 was the turning point. Uerdingen, now trading as KFC Uerdingen and no longer heavily supported by the Bayer plant, came to Wolfsburg as a Bundesliga relegated only three points behind a promotion place as a promotion candidate. It had snowed heavily, from the Regionalliga downwards, all games had been canceled. A blanket of snow had formed again on Elsterweg, but the game was played in front of 2500 spectators in unpleasant weather. Uerdinger fans came to the break, in Santa Claus costumes they stood in the guest curve. Wolfsburg did not hand out any presents after three consecutive games without a win, played straightforward and clever on the snow-covered ground. Sven Ratke won many duels in midfield, Holger Ballwanz had KFC driver and ex-VfL captain Claus-Dieter “Pele” Wollitz under control, Michael Spies conducted, Piotr Tyszkiewicz scored. Uerdingen around today’s Schalke trainer Dimitrios Grammozis was well served, VfL was not in danger even after yellow-red for Roy Präger (65th). Curiosity at the end: The two WAZ reporters Jürgen Braun and Matthias Soiné stopped the Uerdingen team bus that had just left at a traffic light. The bus driver had forgotten Uerdingen’s chairman, who had tried desperately at the stadium to get someone on the bus on the cell phone.
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The statistics
VfL Wolfsburg – KFC Uerdingen 1: 0 (0: 0)
(29. Nov. 1996)
- VfL: Zimmermann – Maucksch, Jensen, Tomcic – Kapetanovic (46th Meißner), Spies, Ballwanz, Ratke (71st Deering), Dammeier – Präger, Tyszkiewicz (67th Probst).
- KFC: Bade – Peschke, Panadic, Rahner (46th Kühn) – Grammozis, Wedau (46th Thorup), Wollitz, Jüptner (78th Grauer), Straube – Nowotny, van Buskirk.
- Referee: Frey (Neu-Ulm). Viewers: 2500.
- Tor: 1: 0 (57.) Tyszkiewicz.
- Yellow cards: Spies, Tomcic, Präger – Rahner. Yellow Red: Embossed (65th).
- WAZ player of the game: Ballwanz.
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Table after the 16th match day of the second division season 1996/97
1. FC K’lautern ….. 31: 9..33
2. Mainz 05………..29:20..27
3. Hertha BSC…….24:15..26
4. VfL Wolfsburg..20: 11..26
5. Fortuna Cologne ….. 30: 20..24
6. St. Kickers……. 20:17..23
7. SV Meppen……20:18..23
8. VfB Leipzig ……. 28: 27..23
9. Carl Z. Jena……22:21..22
10. Uerdingen……..23:20..21
11. Unterhaching….12:12..21
12. Gütersloh ……… 17: 22..21
13. E. Frankfurt……21:25..19
14. Mannheim……..22:27..17
15. Zwickau…………16:22..16
15. RW Essen …….. 22: 37..16
17. Lübeck……………11:26..13
18. Oldenburg……..16:34..10
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In an AZ / WAZ series, we trace the path to promotion – follow it match day after match day parallel to the new Bundesliga season. We don’t yet know what the end of the season will be in 2021/22; all fans know what the end of the season in 1997 is. But some were still young then, some not even born.
You can take part in this journey through time. Feel free to send us emails if you also like photos (as files, please no originals; to [email protected]) with your special memories of games, or post them on the corresponding match day in the sports buzzer post that will appear at Facebook.
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