The FC Kray is a German

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club from the Kray suburb of

Essen Essen () is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and Dortmund, as well as ...

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

. The club's greatest success has been to earn promotion to the tier four

Regionalliga West The Regionalliga West is a German professional football division administered by the German Football Association#Western Germany, Western German Football Association based in Duisburg. It is one of the five German regional football associations. ...

in 2012, and again in 2014.

History

FC Kray was formed in 1987 in a merger of DJK Kray, formed in 1909, and VfL Kray, formed 1931. At the time of the merger DJK played at Kreisliga level while VfL played above that level, in the Bezirksliga, passing on this league membership to the new club. The new club won the Bezirksliga in its first season, was promoted to the

Landesliga Niederrhein The Landesliga Niederrhein is the second highest amateur football league in the Lower Rhine region which is part of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and since 2012 the sixth tier of the German football league system. It operates in two groups wh ...

and won this league, too, the following year, in 1989. FC Kray played in the tier four Verbandsliga Niederrhein from 1989 to 1993 before dropping back to the Landesliga. FC Kray took until 2000 to return to the Verbandsliga after another Landesliga title. In 2003 the club was relegated from the Verbandsliga again, under unfortunate circumstances. FC Kray had come thirteenth in the league which nominally was enough for survival but

Oberliga Nordrhein The Oberliga Nordrhein was the highest Football League in the region of Nordrhein which is part of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia from 1978 to 2008. In its last season, it was one of nine Oberligas in German football, the 4th tier of the Ge ...

club Rheydter SV declared insolvency and took up its right for a new start in the Verbandsliga, condemning FC Kray to relegation. FC Kray returned to the Landesliga and made a number of attempts to return to the Verbandsliga, but at times also struggling against relegation to the Bezirksliga. In 2010–11 the club won a somewhat surprising Landesliga championship and finally returned to the Verbandsliga. FC Kray won this league in its first season back and would have normally been promoted to the Oberliga. However, changes to the German football league system at the end of this season meant that the club jumped instantly from the sixth to the fourth tier and entered the

for 2012–13 instead. The team was unsuccessful at this level, came last and was relegated in 2013. It played in the

Oberliga Niederrhein The Oberliga Niederrhein () is a German amateur football division administered by the German Football Association#Western Germany, Football Association of the Lower Rhine, one of the 21 German state football associations. Being the top flight of th ...

, the former Verbandsliga, for a season, finished runners-up and was promoted again after the league champions, SV Hönnepel-Niedermörmter, declined promotion to the Regionalliga. The club spend two seasons at Regionalliga level before being relegated again in 2015–16.FC Kray
fussball.de, accessed: 18 September 2014

Honours

The club's honours: *

** Runners-up: 2014 * Verbandsliga Niederrhein ** Champions: 2012 *

1 ** Champions: 1989, 2000, 2011

Recent seasons

The recent season-by-season performance of the club:Das deutsche Fußball-Archiv
Historical German domestic league tables, accessed: 18 September 2014Fussball.de – Ergebnisse
Tables and results of all German football leagues, accessed: 18 September 2014 *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.

Key

References

External links

*
Official team site
*
Das deutsche Fußball-Archiv
historical German domestic league tables {{DEFAULTSORT:Kray, Fc Football clubs in Germany Football clubs in North Rhine-Westphalia Association football clubs established in 1987 1987 establishments in West Germany Sport in Essen