- VfL Halle 1896
Football club infobox
clubname = VfL Halle
fullname = Verein für Leibesübungen Halle 1896 e.V.
nickname =
founded =July 16 ,1896
ground = Stadion am Zoo
capacity = 6,000
chairman = flagicon|Germany Volker Flemming
manager = flagicon|Germany Manfred Kampa
league =Verbandsliga Sachsen-Anhalt (VI)
season = 2007-08
position = 3rd
pattern_la1=|pattern_b1=|pattern_ra1=
leftarm1=0000dd|body1=0000dd|rightarm1=0000dd|shorts1=0000dd|socks1=0000dd
pattern_la2=|pattern_b2=|pattern_ra2=
leftarm2=ffffff|body2=ffffff|rightarm2=ffffff|shorts2=ffffff|socks2=ffffffVfL Halle is a German football club from the city of Halle,
Saxony-Anhalt .__TOC__
History
The oldest club in the city of Halle was founded as "Hallescher Fußballclub von 1896" on
July 16 ,1896 . "HFC" was one of a dozen clubs that formed the VMBV (Verbandes Mitteldeutscher Ballspielvereine or Federation of Middle German Football Teams) on December 16, 1900 and was a founding member of the DFB (Deutscher Fussball Bund or German Football Association) atLeipzig in January1900 .In
1909 the club was the first in the country to purchase its own grounds and onSeptember 10 ,1910 hosted "VfB Leipzig " in their new stadium facility. The club merged with "Kaufmännischen Turnverein Halle" on September 23 1919 to become "VfL Halle von 1896". The short-lived union ended in April the following year, but the club kept its new name. Throughout this period "Halle" enjoyed numerous successes, winning seven VMBV regional championships, as well as overall league titles in1917 and1919 .German football was reorganized under the
Third Reich in1933 into sixteen top-flight Gauligen. "VfL Halle" joined theGauliga Mitte in1937 and played first division football there until1944 , earning middling results. Play in the division ended with the advance of Allied armies into Germany asWorld War II drew to a close.In the aftermath of the war occupying authorities banned all organizations in the country, including sports and football clubs. In November
1946 the club was re-established as "SG Giebichenstein", becoming "SG Genossenschaften Halle" in May1949 , and "BSG Empor Halle" in1951 . The club played anonymously in the lower divisions ofEast German football over four-and-a-half decades, making only a single-season cameo appearance in the second division DDR-Liga in1981 -82.After
German reunification in1990 the team played in the seventh tier Berziksliga as "SV Empor Halle" where they won the division championship and earned promotion to the Landesliga Sachsen-Anhalt (VI). They re-claimed the name "VfL Halle" the following year and continued to play well, advancing through the Verbandsliga Sachsen-Anhalt (V) and Oberliga Nordost/Sud (IV) on their way to a breakthrough into the Regionalliga Nordost (III) in1999 .While the footballers put forward a decent effort it was not enough to stay up in the Regionalliga as the league went through restructuring. The following season the club was forced out of the Oberliga (IV) in spite of a sixth place finish because of financial difficulties. Today "VfL" plays in the Verbandsliga Sachsen-Anhalt (V).
External links
* [http://www.vflhalle96.de Official team site]
* [http://www.abseits-soccer.com/clubs/hallevfl.html Abseits Guide to German Soccer]
* [http://www.f-archiv.de/ Das deutsche Fußball-Archiv] historical German football league tables (in German)
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