The Sportfreunde Ricklingen is a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

association football club In association football, a football club (or association football club, alternatively soccer club) is a sports club that acts as an entity through which association football teams organise their sporting activities. The club can exist either as ...

from the Ricklingen suburb of

Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...

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

Regionalliga Nord The Regionalliga Nord () is the fourth tier of the German football league system in the states of Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, Bremen and Hamburg. It is one of five leagues at this level, together with the Regionalliga Bayern, Regionalliga N ...

in 1996, where it played for three seasons. The club has also made two appearances in the first round of the

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal (), also known as the German Cup in English language, English, is a German knockout Association football, football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competiti ...

, the German Cup.

History

The club was formed in 1906 as the Freie Turner Ricklingen. The club was outlawed by the Nazis in 1933 but reformed in 1945, now under the current name Sportfreunde Ricklingen. In 1958 the club won promotion to the highest football league in Lower Saxony, the tier two Amateur-Oberliga Niedersachsen and played at this level until 1964 when the league was reduced from two to one division. A period of three decades followed in which Ricklinge did not play at the highest level of Lower Saxony football.Historic German football league tables
Das Deutsche Fussball Archiv, accessed: 1 February 2015 The team's second rise began in 1993 with promotion to the tier four Verbandsliga Niedersachsen. It finished sixth in the league in 1993–94 which qualified it for the new

Oberliga Niedersachsen/Bremen The Oberliga Niedersachsen/Bremen was the fourth tier of the German football league system in the north of Germany, existing from 1994 to 2004. It covered the states of Lower Saxony and Bremen. With the re-formation of the Oberliga Nord in 2004, t ...

which was established when 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 were re-formed as the new third tier of the league system in 1994. ''Sportfreunde'' came fourth in the Oberliga in its first season there but won the league the season after and won promotion to the

. In this era the club also took part in the first round of the DFB-Pokal on two occasions, in 1992–93 and 1993–94, reaching the third round in its first appearance. ''Sportfreunde'' played at Regionalliga level for three seasons, with an eleventh place in 1996–97 as its best result. The team's results declined after this and the club was relegated from the Regionalliga again in 1999. It was relegated from the Oberliga the season after when it came only sixteenth and found itself in the western division of the Verbandsliga Niedersachsen for 2000–01 where it finished one rank above a relegation spot. The following season it came only seventeenth in the Verbandsliga and was relegated from this league, too.Regionalliga Nord tables and results
Weltfussball.de, accessed: 1 February 2015 Sportfreunde Ricklingen has since fallen as far as the tier eight Kreisliga Hannover but success in the Kreisliga promotion round in 2014 took ''Sportfreunde'' back to the Bezirksliga where it lasted for two seasons before dropping back down again.Sportfreunde Ricklingen at Fussball.de
accessed: 1 February 2015

Honours

The team's honours: *

** Champions: 1996 * Landesliga Hannover ** Champions: 2003 ** Runners-up: 2006 * Lower Saxony Cup ** Winners: 1992, 1993

Recent seasons

The recent season-by-season performance of the club: * With the introduction of the

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. Between 2006 and 2010 the Landesliga Hannover was renamed Bezirksoberliga Hannover.

References

External links

Official club website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ricklingen, Sportfreunde Football clubs in Germany German workers' football clubs Football clubs in Lower Saxony Association football clubs established in 1906 1906 establishments in Germany Sport in Hanover Organisations based in Hanover