VfL Wolfsburg facts for kids
 |
||||
| Full name | Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V. (Sports club) Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg Fußball GmbH (Professional football club) |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Die Wölfe (The Wolves) Die Weißgrünen (The White and Greens) |
|||
| Founded | 12 September 1945 | |||
| Ground | Volkswagen Arena | |||
| Capacity | 30,000 | |||
| Owner | Volkswagen AG (of GmbH) | |||
| Managing directors | Peter Christiansen Michael Meeske Tim Schumacher |
|||
| Manager | Ralph Hasenhüttl | |||
| League | Bundesliga | |||
| 2020–21 | Bundesliga, 4th of 18 | |||
|
||||
Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., often called VfL Wolfsburg, is a German professional sports club. It is based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. The club started as a sports group for Volkswagen workers in the city. It is most famous for its football team. But it also has other sports like badminton, handball, and athletics.
The men's professional football team plays in the Bundesliga. This is the top football league in Germany. Wolfsburg has won the Bundesliga once, in the 2008–09 season. They also won the DFB-Pokal (German Cup) in 2015 and the DFL-Supercup in 2015.
The professional football part of the club is run by VfL Wolfsburg-Fußball GmbH. This company is fully owned by the Volkswagen Group. Since 2002, Wolfsburg's home stadium has been the Volkswagen Arena.
Contents
Club History: From Factory Team to Bundesliga Champions
How VfL Wolfsburg Started
The city of Wolfsburg was created in 1938. It was first called Stadt des KdF-Wagen. Its purpose was to house car workers who built the famous Volkswagen Beetle. The first football club linked to the car factory was BSG Volkswagenwerk Stadt des KdF-Wagen. This was a team for the factory workers. They played in a top league called Gauliga Osthannover in 1943–44 and 1944–45.
After World War II, a new club was formed on 12 September 1945. It was briefly known as VSK Wolfsburg. This team started playing in green and white, which are still VfL's colors today. A local youth coach, Bernd Elberskirch, had ten green jerseys. White bed sheets donated by people were sewn together to make shorts.
On 15 December 1945, the club faced a big problem. Almost all its players left to join 1. FC Wolfsburg. Only one player, Josef Meyer, stayed. He worked with Willi Hilbert to rebuild the team by signing new players. The new group chose the name VfL Wolfsburg. VfL stands for Verein für Leibesübungen, which means "club for physical exercises." Within a year, they won the local Gifhorn title. In November 1946, the club played a friendly match against Schalke 04. This game took place at the Volkswagen stadium. VfL Wolfsburg became the new team sponsored by the company.
Early Years and Moving Up
The club slowly improved in the years that followed. They won several amateur championships. But they struggled to get promoted from the playoffs. Finally, in 1954, they made it to the top league, Oberliga Nord. They won 2–1 against Heider SV. However, Wolfsburg found it hard in the top league. They almost got relegated every season. They were finally sent down in 1959.
When Germany's first professional football league, the Bundesliga, started in 1963, Wolfsburg was in the second division. They had just moved up from the third division. In the same year, they reached the German Amateur Championship Final, losing 0–1 to VfB Stuttgart Amat..
Second Division and Reaching the Bundesliga
Wolfsburg stayed in the second division for about twelve years. Their best result was finishing second in 1970. This allowed them to play in the promotion playoffs for the Bundesliga. But they did not play well and could not get promoted.
From the mid-1970s to the early 1990s, Wolfsburg played in the third division. They finished first in 1991 and 1992. After winning the promotion playoffs, the club moved up to the 2. Bundesliga for the 1992–93 season.
Wolfsburg continued to do well in the 1990s. The team reached the final of the German Cup in 1995. They lost 0–3 to Borussia Mönchengladbach. But then they moved up to the top league (Bundesliga) in 1997 after finishing second in their league.
Many people thought the club would quickly go back down. But Wolfsburg became a strong team in the middle of the Bundesliga table. In the 1998–99 season, under coach Wolfgang Wolf, Wolfsburg was in fifth place. They hoped to reach fourth place to play in the UEFA Champions League. They lost 6–1 to MSV Duisburg in the last game. Wolfsburg finished sixth with 55 points and qualified for the UEFA Cup. They also played in the Intertoto Cup in 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, and 2005. Their best run was in 2003, when they reached the final but lost to Italian team Perugia. After this, they had a few less successful seasons. They barely avoided relegation, finishing 15th in 2005–06 and 2006–07.
From 2008 to Today
For the 2007–08 season, the club hired Felix Magath as manager. He used to coach Bayern Munich. Under him, Wolfsburg finished fifth, which was their highest finish at the time. This also allowed them to play in the UEFA Cup for only the second time.
In the 2008–09 season, Magath led Wolfsburg to their biggest success. They won their first Bundesliga title! They beat Werder Bremen 5–1 on 23 May 2009. During this season, Wolfsburg won ten games in a row after the winter break. This equaled the longest winning streak in one Bundesliga season. They also became the only Bundesliga team to have two strikers score more than 20 goals each in one season. Brazilian Grafite scored 28 goals, and Bosnian Edin Džeko scored 26. Zvjezdan Misimović also set a record with 20 assists. Because they won the title, Wolfsburg qualified for the UEFA Champions League for the first time.
In the 2009–10 season, Wolfsburg fired their new coach Armin Veh after the winter break. The club was in tenth place. In the Champions League, they finished third in their group. They were behind Manchester United and CSKA Moscow. This meant they did not move on in the Champions League. Instead, they qualified for the Round of 32 in the UEFA Europa League. They beat Spanish team Villarreal 6–3 over two games. Then they beat Russian champions Rubin Kazan 3–2. But in the quarter-finals, they lost 3–1 to Fulham.
On 11 May 2010, Steve McClaren became the permanent head coach. He had just led Twente to their first Dutch title. He became the first English coach to manage a Bundesliga team. However, on 7 February 2011, McClaren was fired. Pierre Littbarski took over. Wolfsburg lost four out of five matches under him. They then fell into the relegation spots.
On 18 March 2011, Wolfsburg announced that Felix Magath would return as head coach and sporting director. This was almost two years after he led them to the Bundesliga title. He signed a two-year contract. Magath helped the club avoid relegation. But even though the club spent a lot of money, Magath only managed a mid-table finish in the 2011–12 season. After only five points in eight matches in the 2012–13 season, Magath left the club. Lorenz-Günther Köstner temporarily replaced him. On 22 December 2012, Dieter Hecking was appointed as Wolfsburg's new head coach.
On 2 February 2015, Wolfsburg bought German international forward André Schürrle from Chelsea for €30 million. With a stronger team, the club finished second in the 2014–15 Bundesliga behind Bayern Munich. This meant they automatically qualified for the 2015–16 Champions League group stage. On 30 May, the team won the 2015 DFB-Pokal Final 3–1 against Borussia Dortmund. This was the first German Cup victory in the club's history.
On 1 August 2015, Wolfsburg beat Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich in the 2015 DFL-Supercup on penalties. This was at the start of the 2015–16 season. At the end of the 2015 summer transfer window, Wolfsburg sold Kevin De Bruyne to Manchester City. He was the 2014–15 German Footballer of the Year. The transfer fee was reportedly €75 million, a record for the Bundesliga.
The 2015–16 season saw Wolfsburg finish in eighth place. In a Bundesliga match between Bayern and Wolfsburg, Robert Lewandowski scored five goals in nine minutes. In the Champions League, Wolfsburg reached the quarter-finals for the first time. They played against Real Madrid. Even though they had a two-goal lead from the first match, they lost 3–0 at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid and were eliminated.
In January 2017, Wolfsburg agreed to partner with the American team Chattanooga FC. This partnership includes women's football, youth development, and community work. The teams also talked about playing international friendly matches in the future.
Wolfsburg had a tough time in the 2016–17 season. They changed managers several times. They finished 16th in the Bundesliga with only 37 points. This put them in a playoff against Eintracht Braunschweig. Wolfsburg won 2–0 over two games to stay in the top league.
The 2017–18 season was also difficult. They finished 16th in the Bundesliga again. This meant another playoff, this time against Holstein Kiel. Wolfsburg won that game 4–1 over two matches.
In the 2018–19 season, Wolfsburg finished 6th in the Bundesliga. This allowed them to qualify for the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League.
In the draw for the Europa League third qualifying round, Wolfsburg played against Ukrainian team Desna Chernihiv. Wolfsburg won 2–0 at the AOK Stadion and moved to the play-off round. In the play-off round, they lost 2–1 against AEK Athens.
On 24 May 2022, Niko Kovač became Wolfsburg's new head coach. His contract was planned until June 2025, but it ended early in March 2024.
Home Stadium
Wolfsburg plays its home games at the Volkswagen Arena. This stadium can hold 30,000 fans. Before it was finished in 2002, Wolfsburg played at the 21,600-capacity VfL-Stadium. The Volkswagen Arena is mainly used for Wolfsburg's home games. It is also where they won their first Bundesliga title in the 2008–09 season. The amateur team and the women's football team have played at the new AOK Stadion since 2015. This stadium can hold 5,200 people. There is also a new VfL-Center with offices and training areas. The VfL-FußballWelt is an interactive exhibition about the club.
Honours
Domestic Titles
- Bundesliga:
- Winners: 2008–09
- Runners-up (Second Place): 2014–15
- DFB-Pokal (German Cup):
- Winners: 2014–15
- Runners-up (Second Place): 1994–95
- DFL-Supercup:
- Winners: 2015
Regional Titles
- Deutsche Amateurmeisterschaft:
- Runners-up (Second Place): 1963
- Amateuroberliga Niedersachsen-Ost (Second Division):
- Winners: 1952, 1954, 1963
- Regionalliga Nord (Second Division):
- Runners-up (Second Place): 1970
- Oberliga Nord (Third Division):
- Winners: 1991, 1992
- Runners-up (Second Place): 1976, 1978, 1988
- Lower Saxony Cup (Tiers 3–5):
- Winners: 1962, 2002, 2003
Youth Titles
- German Under 19 championship:
- Winners: 2010–11, 2012–13
- Runners-up (Second Place): 2007–08
- Under 19 Bundesliga North/Northeast:
- Winners: 2007–08, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13
- Under 17 Bundesliga North/Northeast:
- Winners: 2008–09, 2015–16
- Weifang Cup:
- Winners: 2015, 2017
Players
Current Squad
|
|
Players Out on Loan
|
|
Retired Numbers
- 19
Junior Malanda, midfielder (2013–15) – This number was retired to honor him after his death. - Starting from the 2019–20 season, Kevin Mbabu wore the number 19 to honor Malanda.
Women's Section
The women's team has achieved great success. They won three major titles in 2012–13: the Bundesliga, the DFB Pokal, and the UEFA Women's Champions League. They also won the Champions League again in 2014.
Coaching Staff
| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| Managing director |  Peter Christiansen |
| Sporting director |  Sebastian Schindzielorz |
| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| Manager |  Ralph Hasenhüttl |
| Assistant manager |  Craig Fleming Patrick Hasenhüttl |
| Goalkeeping coach | Pascal Formann |
| Athletic coach | Walter Gfrerer |
| Fitness coach | Jimmy Lohberg |
| Rehabilitation coach | Michele Putaro |
Record in Europe
Records and Statistics
Most Appearances
This list includes games played in all competitions.
| Rank | Player | Matches |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Maximilian Arnold |
420 |
| 2 |  Diego Benaglio |
323 |
| 3 | Marcel Schäfer |
285 |
| 4 | Koen Casteels |
275 |
| 5 |  Josuha Guilavogui |
265 |
| 6 | Robin Knoche |
226 |
| 7 |  Miroslav Karhan |
201 |
| 8 | Alexander Madlung |
194 |
| 9 |  Josué |
192 |
| 10 | Claus Reitmaier |
191 |
Top Scorers
This list includes goals scored in all competitions.
| Rank | Player | Goals |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Edin Džeko |
85 |
| 2 | Grafite |
75 |
| 3 |  Wout Weghorst |
70 |
| 4 |  Diego Klimowicz |
67 |
| 5 |  Andrzej Juskowiak |
49 |
| 6 | Bas Dost |
48 |
| 7 | Maximilian Arnold |
46 |
| 8 |  Martin Petrov |
38 |
| 9 |  Tomislav Marić |
33 |
| Ivica Olić |
Coaches
- Günter Mettke (1949–1954, player-coach)
- Ludwig Lachner (1954–55)
- Ernst Sontow (1955–56)
- Josef Kretschmann (1956–57)
- Ludwig Lachner (1957)
- Walter Risse (1957–58)
Imre Farkaszinski (1958–59)- Ludwig Lachner (1 July 1963 – 30 June 1966)
- Imre Farkaszinski (1 July 1966 – 31 December 1974)
- Fritz Schollmeyer (1 January 1975 – 29 April 1975)
- Günther Brockmeyer (April 1975)
- Paul Kietzmann (3 May 1975 – 28 November 1975)
Radoslav Momirski (2 December 1976 – 4 March 1978)- Imre Farkaszinski (March 1978 – Dec 1978)
- Henk van Meteren (Dec 1978 – April 1979)
- Wilfried Kemmer (April 1979 – Oct 1983)
- Imre Farkaszinski (Oct 1983 – June 1984)
- Wolf-Rüdiger Krause (July 1984 – June 1988)
- Horst Hrubesch (1 July 1988 – 30 June 1989)
- Ernst Menzel (July 1989 – June 1991)
- Uwe Erkenbrecher (1 July 1991 – 10 February 1993)
- Eckhard Krautzun (16 February 1993 – 4 April 1995)
- Gerd Roggensack (6 April 1995 – 22 October 1995)
- Willi Reimann (23 October 1995 – 17 March 1998)
- Wolfgang Wolf (23 March 1998 – 4 March 2003)
- Jürgen Röber (4 March 2003 – 3 April 2004)
- Eric Gerets (4 April 2004 – 29 May 2005)
- Holger Fach (1 July 2005 – 19 December 2005)
- Klaus Augenthaler (29 December 2005 – 19 May 2007)
- Felix Magath (1 July 2007 – 30 June 2009)
- Armin Veh (1 July 2009 – 25 January 2010)
- L-G. Köstner (interim) (25 January 2010 – 30 June 2010)
- Steve McClaren (1 July 2010 – 7 February 2011)
- P. Littbarski (interim) (8 February 2011 – 17 March 2011)
- Felix Magath (18 March 2011 – 25 October 2012)
- L-G. Köstner (interim) (25 October 2012 – 31 December 2012)
- Dieter Hecking (1 January 2013 – 17 October 2016)
- Valérien Ismaël (17 October 2016 – 26 February 2017)
- Andries Jonker (27 February 2017 – 17 September 2017)
- Martin Schmidt (18 September 2017 – 19 February 2018)
- Bruno Labbadia (20 February 2018 – 29 June 2019)
- Oliver Glasner (1 July 2019 – 26 May 2021)
- Mark van Bommel (1 July 2021 – 24 October 2021)
- Florian Kohfeldt (26 October 2021 – 15 May 2022)
- Niko Kovač (24 May 2022 – 17 March 2024)
- Ralph Hasenhüttl (17 March 2024 – present)
See also
In Spanish: VfL Wolfsburgo para niños
- Works team
