VfB Eppingen is a German association football club based in

Eppingen Eppingen () is a town in the district of Heilbronn in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The town has the second-largest population in the district. Eppingen lies in the Kraichgau, a hilly region in southwestern Germany, close to the conf ...

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...

with a membership of about 450 people.

History

The club has its roots in the sports club ''Turnverein 1865 Eppingen'' whose primary focus was gymnastics and formed a football side around 1910. At the end of World War I, footballers received some tutoring from an unlikely source in the form of an English officer in charge of prisoners-of-war locally. ''VfB Eppingen'' was established as a separate club devoted to football in 1921 and went on to win the local Gau title in 1925. ''Eppingen'' enjoyed a successful decade in the 1970s beginning with a 2.Amateur Liga Rhein-Neckar championship in 1973 and following up with

Amateurliga Nordbaden The Amateurliga Nordbaden was the highest football league in the region of the North Baden Football Association and the third tier of the German football league system from its inception in 1945 to the formation of the Oberliga Baden-Württemberg ...

titles in 1974 and 1979. A highlight of the club's history in this period was their 2:1 win over ''

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), or HSV (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its Association football, football department. Though the current HSV was founde ...

'' in the 1974–75 German Cup, commonly dubbed the " mother of all cup sensations", which was part of their run through first three rounds of the competition to the ''Achtelfinale'' (round of 16) where they were finally put out 0:2 by ''

Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen, Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, Werder are best known for their professional association foo ...

''.Die zehn größten Pokalsensationen
www.sportal.de: ''The ten greatest cup sensations'', published: 3 March 2009, accessed: 21 October 2011 Eppingen continued its cup run to the fourth round, where it lost to

. ''Eppingens series of regional league wins culminated in a rapid move up through the

Oberliga Baden-Württemberg The Oberliga Baden-Württemberg is the highest association football league in the States of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg and the Baden-Württemberg football league system. It is one of fourteen Oberliga (football), Oberligas in German footb ...

to the 2nd Bundesliga Süd for a single season in 1980–81, when the club finished second in the Oberliga, behind

VfB Stuttgart II VfB Stuttgart II is a German Association football, football team located in Stuttgart, currently playing in the 3. Liga. They are the German reserve football teams, reserve team of VfB Stuttgart. Until 2005 the team played under the name of VfB ...

. The club finished last in the 2nd Bundesliga and was relegated back to the Oberliga, where another straight relegation put the club back in the Verbandsliga Nordbaden. The team played one more season in the Oberliga Baden-Württemberg (III) in 1990–91. Since then, the club has been fluctuating between Verbandsliga and Landesliga. In 2003, the club fell as far as the tier-VII ''Bezirksliga'' but rebounded impressively, winning their division with 25 wins, five draws and no loss in 2003–04. After that, the club had been playing in the Landesliga, interrupted by two seasons in the Verbandsliga, before making another return to the Verbandsliga in 2013. Another relegation from the Verbandsliga meant ''VfB'' would return to the Landesliga in 2014 where it won a league championship in 2015–16 and was promoted.

Honors

The club's honours:

League

(III) ** Runners-up: 1980 *

(III) ** Champions: 1975 *

Verbandsliga Nordbaden The Verbandsliga Nordbaden is a German amateur football division administered by the Baden Football Association, one of the 21 German state football associations. Being the top flight of the Baden state association, the Verbandsliga is currently a ...

(IV) ** Champions: 1979, 1990 * Landesliga Rhein-Neckar (VII) ** Champions: 2013, 2016 ** Runners-up: 2005

Cup

North Baden Cup The North Baden Cup (German: ''Badischer Pokal'' or ''BFV-Pokal'') is one of the 21 regional cup competitions of German football. The winner of the competition gains entry to the first round of the German Cup. History The Cup was established in ...

** Winners: 1973, 1974

Recent seasons

The recent season-by-season performance of the club:Fussball.de – Ergebnisse
Tables and results of all German football leagues * With the introduction of the

Regionalliga A (, plural ) is a regional league in numerous Sports governing body, sports governing bodies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, usually located in the upper or middle tiers of the sports leagues. The term is often associated with the Germa ...

s in 1994 and the

3. Liga The 3. Liga is a professional association football league and the third division in Germany. In the German football league system, it is positioned between the 2. Bundesliga and the fourth-tier Regionalliga. The modern 3. Liga was formed for t ...

in 2008 as the new third tier, below the 2. Bundesliga, all leagues below dropped one tier.

References

External links

Official websiteVfB Eppingen profile at Weltfussball.deDas deutsche Fußball-Archiv
historical German domestic league tables {{DEFAULTSORT:Eppingen, Vfb Football clubs in Germany Football clubs in Baden-Württemberg Association football clubs established in 1921 1921 establishments in Germany 2. Bundesliga clubs Eppingen Sport in Stuttgart (region)