Stahl Riesa

Football club infobox
clubname = Stahl Riesa


fullname = Traditional Sport Association Stahl Riesa e. V.
nickname =
founded = 2003
ground = Nudelarena
capacity = 4,000
chairman =
manager =
league = Bezirksklasse Dresden, Staffel 4 (VIII)
season = 2007-08
position = 2nd
pattern_la1=|pattern_b1=|pattern_ra1=
leftarm1=0033FF|body1=0033FF|rightarm1=0033FF|shorts1=FFFFFF|socks1=0033FF
pattern_la2=|pattern_b2=|pattern_ra2=
leftarm2=0033FF|body2=0033FF|rightarm2=0033FF|shorts2=0033FF|socks2=0033FF

Stahl Riesa is a German football club playing in Riesa, Saxony.

History

The club was founded as "SC Riesa" in 1903 in the cellar of the local pub "Bodega" and was re-named "Riesaer SV" two years later. In 1917, they fused with "FC Wettin" and went on to play quietly as a local club until 1936 when they advanced to the "Gauliga Sachsen", one of sixteen divisions in the top flight of German football during the Third Reich. After World War II the club was dissolved and replaced by the "SG Riesa" in late 1945. Three years later the club developed an affiliation with the local steelworkers and came to be known as "BSG Stahl Riesa". The football team played independently of the sports club from 1952 to 1957 before rejoining the parent club. They climbed into the second division in 1955 and in 1968 they played their way into the top tier "DDR-Oberliga" for the first time. "Stahl" would spend sixteen of the next twenty seasons in the top level, but frequently struggled to avoid relegation. Their best finish came in the 1974-75 season when they finished sixth and just barely missed qualifying for the UEFA Cup tournament.

With German re-unification in 1990 the club took on the name "FC Stahl Riesa" but returned to its old name of "Riesaer SV" within a year. In an attempt to remain financially viable it absorbed other local clubs including "Riesaer SV Blau-Weiß" in 1996 and "SC Riesa-Röderau" (formerly "Chemie Riesa") in 1998. Initially seeded into the third division of the NOFV-Oberliga Süd, the club quickly slipped to play in the fifth division Landesliga Sachsen.

The new millennium brought another name change, this time back to "FC Stahl Riesa". Unfortunately, like many other clubs in the former East Germany, "Riesa" found it tough to keep going financially: in 2002 they filed for bankruptcy and the club was officially dissolved on June 30, 2003 for reason of insolvency. A handful of former coaches and players formed the "TSV Stahl Riesa", a successor club, that started play in the "2. Kreisklasse Riesa-Grossenhain (IX)" and has since worked its way up to the "Bezirksklasse Dresden (VII)".

Famous players

*Willi Arlt dressed 11 times to play for the national team between 1939 and 1942 and was Germany's youngest ever national team football player at age 17.
*Ulf Kirsten the best German footballplayer in the 90's start to play in Riesa when he was young

External links

* [http://www.tsv-stahl-riesa.de Official team site]
* [http://www.abseits-soccer.com/clubs/riesa.html The Abseits Guide to German Soccer]