SSV Ulm 1846

Football club infobox
clubname = SSV Ulm 1846


fullname = Schwimm- und Sportverein Ulm 1846 e.V.
nickname = "Die Spatzen" (The Sparrows)
founded = 1846
ground = Donau-Stadion
capacity = 19,500
chairman = Katja Adler
manager = Marcus Sorg
league = Regionalliga Süd
season = 2007-08 | position = Oberliga Baden-Wurttemberg (IV), 3rd
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pattern_la2=|pattern_b2=|pattern_ra2=
leftarm2=ff0000|body2=ff0000|rightarm2=ff0000|shorts2=FF0000|socks2=ff0000

SSV Ulm 1846 is a German football club playing in Ulm, Baden-Württemberg as part of one of the country's largest and oldest sports clubs. Football is just one of more than twenty sports the club offers its nearly 12,000 members. The current club was formed out of the May 5, 1970 merger of "TSG Ulm " and "1. SSV Ulm".

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History

TSG Ulm

The older of the two sides that would ultimately form today's club was founded on April 12, 1846 as "Turnerbund Ulm" at roughly the same time that the first attempts were being made at codifying the rules of football in England and decades before the game would appear in a recognizable form in Germany. They had an on-again, off-again relationship with "Turnverein Ulm" through the 1850s. The football department became independent in 1926 as "Ulmer RSV" and in 1939 would merge with "Ulmer FV", and their old clubmates in "TB Ulm" and "TV Ulm", to form "TSG Ulm". Throughout this time the club played in local competition before joining the Gauliga Württemberg, one of sixteen top flight divisions formed in the 1933 re-organization of German football under the Third Reich, for the 1939/40 season. The club played there until the end of World War II. After the war they began play in the 2nd Oberliga Süd (II) and did well enough to make occasional advances to the Oberliga Süd (I) for short stays before falling back again. In 1963, with the formation of the Bundesliga, Germany's new top-flight professional league, "TSG Ulm" found itself in the Regionalliga Süd (II) for a couple of seasons before slipping to tier III and IV level play. In 1968 "RSVgg Ulm" became part of "TSG Ulm".

1. Ulm SSV

"1. SSV Ulm" was formed in 1928 and, after two seasons in the "Bezirksliga Bayern", joined the Gauliga Württemberg in 1933, well before their future partner, where they earned just mid-table finishes. After the war and leading up to their union with "TSG" they played as a third or fourth division side. Finally, in 1970, "1. SSV Ulm" merged with "TSG" to form the current club.

V Ulm 1846

At the time of the merger both clubs were playing football in the tier III Amateurliga Württemberg and would continue to do so for a nearly a decade. In 1980, the combined side advanced to the 2nd Bundesliga Süd and would spend six of the next ten years playing at that level where, except for a fifth place finish in 1982, their results were well down the table. After another decade in the level III Amateur Oberliga Baden-Württemberg and Regionalliga Süd "1846" would make an unexpected breakthrough after just one season in the 2nd Bundesliga with a third place finish that led to the club's promotion to the top-flight Bundesliga for the 1999-2000 season. Even though the issue was not decided until the last day of the season, "Ulm" could do no better than a sixteenth place finish and was returned to the second division. The 2000-01 season was an unqualified disaster for the club: they could manage only another sixteenth place finish and were sent back down to the Regionalliga Süd (III). They were then denied a license over the chaotic state of their finances which plunged the club all the way down to the fifth tier Verbandsliga Württemberg. "Ulm" have since worked their way back, to the Oberliga Baden-Württemberg (IV) in 2002, and the Regionalliga in 2008.

Honours

*German amateur champions: 1996
*Regionalliga Süd champions: 1998
*Oberliga Baden-Württemberg champions: 1979, 1982, 1983, 1986, 1993, 1994
*Amateurliga Württemberg champions: 1946(TSG), 1950(TSG), 1955(SSV), 1972, 1973, 1977, 1978

Recent seasons

External links

* [http://www.ssvulm1846.de Official club website]
* [http://www.ssvulm1846.com Official football team website]
* [http://www.abseits-soccer.com/clubs/ulm.html The Abseits Guide to German Soccer]