Berliner SV

Football club infobox
clubname = Berliner SV


fullname = Berliner Sport Verein 1892 e.V.
nickname = Die Störche (Storks)
founded = 1892
ground = Stadion Wilmersdorf
capacity = 1,000
chairman = Peter Witte
manager = Carsten Köhn
league = Bezirksliga Berlin, Staffel 3
season = 2007-08
position = 13th
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pattern_la2=_blackshoulders | pattern_b2=_red_stripes | pattern_ra2=_blackshoulders
leftarm2= FF0000 | body2= | rightarm2= FF0000 | shorts2= | socks2= FF0000

Berliner SV 92 is a German football club from the district of Wilmersdorf in Berlin. "BSV" is one of the country's oldest clubs and was a founding member of the DFB (Deutscher Fussball Bund or German Football Association) in 1900.

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History

The club was founded as "Berliner Thor- und Fussball Club Britannia" in 1892 and fielded both football and cricket teams, which alongside rugby were English sports becoming popular in continental Europe at the time. The team began to appear in the city's top flight competition in 1899.

National championship denied

"BTuFC Britannia" was scheduled to appear in the 1904 national final against VfB Leipzig, regarded at the time as a weaker side despite being the country's defending champion. However, the match was never played. "Britannia" had earlier defeated "Karlsruher FV" 6:1 in a game played in Berlin. "KFV" protested the result because the match had not been played at a neutral venue as required under league rules. The DFB cancelled the final match which was to be held in Kassel and the Viktoria trophy was not awarded that year.

Berliner SV

After World War I the club merged with "BFC Fortuna" and dropped its name association with wartime foe Britain to become "Berliner SV 92". The team played as a mid-table side in the Verbandsliga Berlin-Brandenburg/Oberliga Berlin-Brandenburg throughout the 20s and into the early 30s. After the re-organization of German football into sixteen top flight divisions under the Third Reich in 1933, "BSV" appeared in the Gauliga Berlin-Brandenburg. They won divisional titles in 1936 and 1938 before being relegated in 1941. Upon their return to first division football in the 1942-43 season "BSV" immediately claimed another divisional championship, followed by being on the way to a fourth title in the war-shortened 1944-45 season. In each case the club was unable to advance beyond the preliminary round of the national playoffs.

After World War II most organizations in Germany, including sports and football clubs, were ordered disbanded by occupying Allied forces. "BSV" was re-formed as "SG Wilmersdorf" and resumed play in the Berlin league in 1945 where they won Gruppe A and then took the league title in a four team playoff. The Berlin league became the Oberliga Berlin (I) the next season and "Wilmersdorf" earned two consecutive second place finishes. The club took on its old name for the 1948-49 season and as "Berliner SV" went on to capture divisional titles in 1949 and 1954 before once again going out early in the national playoffs.

The team did not seriously challenge again through the late 50s and early 60s. When the Bundesliga, Germany's new professional football league, was formed in 1963, the club found itself playing in the second division Regionalliga Berlin. 1974 brought the beginning of a slide that would see the team descend through the Amateurliga Berlin (III) to the Landesliga Berlin (IV) by the end of the decade. By the turn of the millennium "BSV" was playing seventh division football in the Bezirksliga Berlin. Today the team plays in the Landesliga Berlin-1 (VI).

Trivia

* Thorball or torball was a German word in use in the 1890s and early 1900s for the sport of cricket. Several early clubs playing the new "English" games of football, rugby, and cricket incorporated it into their name. The term never caught on and did not enter into common usage, soon being abandoned by sports clubs. Today torball may be used to refer to a form of football played by the blind or vision-impaired.

Honours

*Gauliga Berlin-Brandenburg champions: 1936, 1938, 1943, 1945 ("championship not completed")
*Oberliga Berlin-Brandenburg champions: 1949, 1954
*Amateurliga Berlin (III) champions: 1971
*Bezirksliga Berlin (VII) champions: 2004

External links

* [http://www.fussball.bsv92.de/ Official team site]
* [http://www.abseits-soccer.com/clubs/bsv92.html Abseits Guide to German Soccer]
* [http://www.f-archiv.de/ Das deutsche Fußball-Archiv] historical German football league tables (in German)