VfB Königsberg was a German association football club from the city of Königsberg,

East Prussia East Prussia ; german: Ostpreißen, label=Low Prussian; pl, Prusy Wschodnie; lt, Rytų Prūsija was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1871 ...

. The team played its home games at the Sportplatz des Vereins für Bewegungs Spiele near the

Maraunenhof Maraunenhof was a suburban quarter of northern Königsberg, Germany. Its territory is now part of the Leningradsky District of Kaliningrad, Russia. History The estate Maraunenhof, originally Maraunen, was located in the forest west of the Obe ...

Stadtgärtnerei, aside from 1940 to 1941 when they played at the Sportplatz am Friedländer Tor between

Haberberg Unterhaberberg Oberhaberberg Haberberg was a mostly residential quarter of southern Königsberg, Germany. Its territory is now part of the Moskovsky District of Kaliningrad, Russia. History The hill Haberberg located south of Hintere Vorsta ...

and Rosenau. __TOC__

History

The club was established on 7 July 1900 as ''Fußball-Club Königsberg'', later being renamed ''VfB Königsberg'' in 1907. The team dominated play in the local city league and the regional Baltenverband between 1907 and 1932, capturing two dozen championships, and advancing to the national level playoffs on several occasions. ''VfBs best result there came in 1923 when they won their way to the semi-finals before being eliminated 2:3 by eventual champions ''

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its football section. Though the current HSV was founded in June 1919 from a merger of thre ...

''. Following the 1933 reorganization of German football into sixteen top flight divisions (''

Gauligen A Gauliga () was the highest level of play in German football from 1933 to 1945. The leagues were introduced in 1933, after the Nazi takeover of power by the National Socialist League of the Reich for Physical Exercise. Name The German word '' ...

'') under the

Third Reich Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

, ''VfB'' joined the Gauliga Ostpreußen in the 1933–34 season. The club fielded strong sides but could not do better than to earn a number of second place finishes until finally capturing the divisional title in 1940. That was the start of an unbroken string of five Gauliga Ostpreußen titles from 1940 to 1944. ''VfB'' subsequently took part in the national playoffs rounds from 1942 to 1944. In 1942 the club advanced as far as the quarterfinals where they were defeated 1:2 by '' Blau-Weiß 90 Berlin''. The team also participated in play for the Tschammerpokal, the predecessor to today's

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considered ...

(German Cup), in 1935 and 1940–43. Their furthest advance in the tournament ended ignominiously with an 0:8 quarterfinal loss at the hands of eventual cupwinners '' Dresdner SC'' in 1940.Grüne, Hardy (1996). Vom Kronprinzen bis zur Bundesliga. Kassel: AGON Sportverlag The Gauliga Ostpreußen did not have a 1944–45 season as World War II overtook the region. The Königsberg club disappeared in 1945 following the conflict when the city was annexed by the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

and renamed

Kaliningrad Kaliningrad ( ; rus, Калининград, p=kəlʲɪnʲɪnˈɡrat, links=y), until 1946 known as Königsberg (; rus, Кёнигсберг, Kyonigsberg, ˈkʲɵnʲɪɡzbɛrk; rus, Короле́вец, Korolevets), is the largest city and ...

Ice hockey

In addition to its football side, the club had an

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice ...

section which qualified for, but did not participate in, national playoff rounds in 1927 and 1928. In 1931 the team finished as vice-champions to the ''Berliner Schlittschuhclub''.

Honours

* Königsberg champions: 1904, 1905, 1906, 1907, 1908, 1909, 1911, 1912, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925 * Baltic football champions: 1908, 1909, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1928, 1929, 1930 * Gauliga Ostpreußen champions: 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Konigsberg, Vfb Football clubs in Germany Association football clubs established in 1900 Association football clubs disestablished in 1945 Defunct football clubs in former German territories Ice hockey teams in Germany Sport in Königsberg Multi-sport clubs in Germany

History

Ice hockey

Honours

See also

References