FFC Heike Rheine was a German women's football club based in

Rheine Rheine () is a city in the district of Steinfurt (district), Steinfurt in Westphalia, Germany. It is the largest city in the district and the location of Rheine Air Base. Geography Rheine is on the river Ems (river), Ems, about north of Münster ...

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 ...

. Heike Rheine was the first independent women's football club in Germany.

History

The club has its origins at the VfB Rheine. They had played on a local level until 1986 when Alfred Werner took over the head of the women's section. Two consecutive promotions in 1988 and 1989 took the club to the Regionalliga (West), then Germany's top football league for women. A second place in their first season 1989–90 qualified Heike Rheine for the newly founded

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

. In

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

and

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

they finished 3rd in their group of the league and reached the semifinals of the

cup A cup is an open-top vessel (container) used to hold liquids for drinking, typically with a flattened hemispherical shape, and often with a capacity of about . Cups may be made of pottery (including porcelain), glass, metal, wood, stone, pol ...

. In 1994 VfB Rheine merged with SG Eintracht Rheine, naming itself FC Eintracht Rheine. The following years Rheine repeatedly finished 4th in the league thus qualifying for the single-division Bundesliga at its introduction in 1997 while being runner-up in the cup the same year. On 10 March 1998, the women's section split from the club, becoming independent under the name FFC Heike Rheine. The club was relegated the same year, but managed re-promotion in the following year. In 2004 the club had its greatest success, finishing 3rd in the league and providing the league's top scorer Kerstin Garefrekes. At the end of the season Garefrekes left for 1. FFC Frankfurt. When other top players had left the club in the following years, Rheine was relegated to the 2. Bundesliga in 2007. The relegation triggered the leaving of further core players, leading to a second consecutive relegation in 2008. Rheine continued its decline, and after playing below the top two leagues for eight seasons the club dissolved on 30 September 2016.

Former players

Statistics

Defunct women's football clubs in Germany Defunct football clubs in North Rhine-Westphalia Association football clubs established in 1998 Association football clubs disestablished in 2016 1998 establishments in Germany 2016 disestablishments in Germany Women's football clubs in Germany Frauen-Bundesliga clubs {{Germany-footyclub-stub