ASV Herzogenaurach

ASV Herzogenaurach

Full name	Allgemeiner Sportverein Herzogenaurach e.V.
Founded	1919
Ground	ASV Sportplatz
Chairman	Elke Sowa
Manager	Dieter Hacker
League	A-Klasse Erlangen/Pegnitzgrund (X)
2018–19	B-Klasse Erlangen/Pegnitzgrund (XI), 2nd (promoted)
Home colours Away colours

The ASV Herzogenaurach is a German association football club from Herzogenaurach, a suburb of the city of Nuremberg, Bavaria.

The history of the club is strongly intertwined with the local sports equipment manufacturer Adidas, then just a local company and sponsor of the ASV and its rivalry to 1. FC Herzogenaurach, which was sponsored by another local company, Puma.^[1][2]

History

Early years

Formed in 1919 under the name Sportclub Pfeil, it changed its name to Freie Union and later, after the Second World War, to ASV Herzogenaurach.^[3] During the Nazi era, the club was outlawed and disbanded due to its unionist and working-class background.^[4]

Rise

The club existed as a local amateur side until the mid-1960s, when a championship in the A-Klasse Mittelfranken-Gruppe 3 (VI) in 1966 earned it promotion to the Bezirksliga Mittelfranken-Nord (V). Another promotion followed in 1968, after a championship in the Bezirksliga. Entering the Landesliga Bayern-Mitte for the 1968–69 season, the club was offered a sponsorship by the Puma AG. Seeing an opportunity to gain wider recognition, Adidas however moved in instead, becoming the main sponsor of the club. Puma was already since November 1967^[5] a sponsor of the clubs local rival, the FC Herzogenaurach.^[6] The rivalry between Puma and Adidas, which is in truth the rivalry of the two brothers who owned the companies then, Rudolf Dassler and Adolf Dassler, predates the rivalry of the two football clubs, stretching back to 1948.^[7]

Through the influence of Adidas, the club managed to gain the current German champion, FC Bayern Munich, for a friendly, which was played on 23 July 1969 in front of 6,000 spectators, a 1–9 defeat for the ASV.

In the Landesliga, the club met its local rival once more, the FCH having earned promotion to the league in 1966.^[8] The first season there together, ASV finished fourth while the FC came third, the clubs being separated by one point.^[9] The season after, the FC won the league and earned promotion to the Amateurliga Bayern (III) while the ASV came third.^[10] The ASV had to wait another two seasons to do the same and win the league and promotion in 1972.^[11]

Bayernliga years

While the FC had enjoyed two good seasons in the highest league in the state, it did not so well when the ASV joined it there and with a third place in 1972–73, the Adidas-club finished above the Puma-team for the first time in years.^[12]

The 1973–74 season became the most successful for the club to date. It won the Amateurliga Bayern title while its local rival found itself relegated from the league.^[13] Due to a restructuring of the German football league system however, the five Regionalligas were replaced by the two 2. Bundesligas, no promotion from the third to the second tier was available that season.^[14] The right to play in the German amateur football championship instead was only a small consolidation and the club was knocked-out by the SSV Reutlingen in the quarter-finals.^[15]

The club managed to attract the FC Bayern Munich for another friendly however and on 29 July 1974, 7,000 spectators saw the Bavarian champion earn a 2–2 draw against Bavaria's most successful club.^[14]

The 1974–75 season saw another respectable performance, finishing fourth in the league.^[16] After this, the club went into decline, having to play against relegation, which became a fact in 1977, the year its local rival FC earned its return to the Amateurliga Bayern.^[17] While the FCH managed to stay in Bavaria's highest amateur league until 1981, the ASV could not achieve to return to it. Instead, it was left with a large debt from its Bayernliga years and hopes to finally pay off the last of it in 2008.^[18]

The late 1970s also saw the rise of two promising young footballers in Herzogenaurach who went to school together. Günter Güttler, who played for the ASV and later joined FC Bayern Munich and Lothar Matthäus, who played for the FC and became Germany's most capped footballer. Matthäus could not play for the ASV even though it had at that time the better under-19's side, because his father worked for Puma.^[19]

Decline

Back in the Landesliga Bayern-Mitte, the ASV tried hard to regain Amateurliga Bayern status, finishing second three times in a row in 1978, 1979 and 1980. The first two times, it missed out on top-spot by only one point, in 1979 to local rival FC.^[20] After this, the club declined further and was never in contention for the Landesliga title again. The FC didn't fare much better, fluctuating between Landesliga and Bezirksliga after its final relegation form the now Amateur-Oberliga Bayern in 1981. By 1989, both Herzogenaurach clubs had left the Landesliga for good.

The ASV lost its Landesliga status in 1987, when a player revolt over unpaid travel expenses made it lose its complete team and it had to field its youth side instead.^[18] The club declined rapidly and was handed down all the way to the lowest division, the C-Klasse. Sponsor Adidas had by then mostly withdrawn its support, too.

A small revival followed in 1998, when the club briefly rose to the local Kreisliga again but it could not sustain this level and was promptly relegated again.

The club played in the A-Klasse Erlangen/Pegnitzgrund (X) in 2008–09, the lowest level of play in the region, and finished third in this league in 2008–09.^[21] Its old rival the 1. FC Herzogenaurach had fallen down not quite as far in the league system, playing one level above in the Kreisliga Erlangen/Pegnitzgrund (IX) in 2008–09.^[22]

In 2009–10, ASV won its league and earned promotion to the Kreisklasse, where it met FCH once more. While its rival earned promotion in 2010–11, ASV was a distant last in the league and relegated.

The old rivalry between the two clubs may have lost some of its punch, as has the local rivalry between the two sports brands. The town of Herzogenaurach is certainly not as divided any more as it once was.^[23] In March 2007, a merger of the three local clubs was even discussed, the ASV and FC together with the SC Nord should form one club which would then be capable to reach Regionalliga level.^[24]

The rivalry of the two companies, and with it to some extent the local football club issue, gained some international attention during the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, when a number of international news organisations picked up on it.^[25]

By 2014 the club had fallen to new lows, dropping to the B-Klasse Erlangen/Pegnitzgrund 1, a league where 12 out of 15 teams were reserve sides but also included another former Bayernliga club, the BSC Erlangen.^[26]

Honours

League

• Amateurliga Bayern (III)
  • Champions: 1974
• Landesliga Bayern-Mitte (IV)
  • Champions: 1972
  • Runners-up: (3) 1978, 1979, 1980
• Bezirksliga Mittelfranken-Nord (V)
  • Champions: 1968
• A-Klasse Erlangen/Pegnitzgrund 2
  • Champions: 2010

Recent seasons

The recent season-by-season performance of the club:^[27][28]

Season	Division	Tier	Position
2003–04	A-Klasse Erlangen Forchheim-Süd	X	4th ↑
2004–05	Kreisklasse West Erlangen/Forchheim	IX	14th ↓
2005–06	A-Klasse Pegnitzgrund	X	11th
2006–07	A-Klasse Erlangen/Pegnitzgrund		7th
2007–08	A-Klasse Erlangen/Pegnitzgrund		4th
2008–09	A-Klasse Erlangen/Pegnitzgrund	XI	3rd
2009–10	A-Klasse Erlangen/Pegnitzgrund 2		1st ↑
2010–11	Kreisklasse Erlangen/Pegnitzgrund 1	X	15th ↓
2011–12	A-Klasse Erlangen/Pegnitzgrund 1	XI	13th
2012–13	A-Klasse Erlangen/Pegnitzgrund 2	X	7th
2013–14	A-Klasse Erlangen/Pegnitzgrund 2		16th ↓
2014–15	B-Klasse Erlangen/Pegnitzgrund	XI	5th
2015–16	B-Klasse Erlangen/Pegnitzgrund		6th
2016–17	B-Klasse Erlangen/Pegnitzgrund		2nd ↑
2017–18	A-Klasse Erlangen/Pegnitzgrund 1	X	15th ↓
2018–19	B-Klasse Erlangen/Pegnitzgrund	XI	2nd ↑

• With the introduction of the Bezirksoberligas in 1988 as the new fifth tier, below the Landesligas, all leagues below dropped one tier. With the introduction of the Regionalligas in 1994 and the 3. Liga in 2008 as the new third tier, below the 2. Bundesliga, all leagues below dropped one tier. With the establishment of the Regionalliga Bayern as the new fourth tier in Bavaria in 2012 the Bayernliga was split into a northern and a southern division, the number of Landesligas expanded from three to five and the Bezirksoberligas abolished. All leagues from the Bezirksligas onwards were elevated one tier.

↑ Promoted

↓ Relegated

ASV versus FC

The Herzogenaurach derby in the Bayernliga and Landesliga:

Season	League	Teams	Home	Away
1968–69	Landesliga Bayern-Mitte	ASV Herzogenaurach – 1. FC Herzogenaurach	1–0	1–5
1969–70	Landesliga Bayern-Mitte	ASV Herzogenaurach – 1. FC Herzogenaurach	0–1	1–0
1972–73	Amateurliga Bayern	ASV Herzogenaurach – 1. FC Herzogenaurach	1–3	2–0
1973–74	Amateurliga Bayern	ASV Herzogenaurach – 1. FC Herzogenaurach	0–1	2–0
1978–79	Landesliga Bayern-Mitte	ASV Herzogenaurach – 1. FC Herzogenaurach	1–2	2–2
1981–82	Landesliga Bayern-Mitte	ASV Herzogenaurach – 1. FC Herzogenaurach	1–1	2–2
1982–83	Landesliga Bayern-Mitte	ASV Herzogenaurach – 1. FC Herzogenaurach	2–2	4–2
1984–85	Landesliga Bayern-Mitte	ASV Herzogenaurach – 1. FC Herzogenaurach	2–2	4–2

• Source: Manfreds Fussball Archiv Archived 1 August 2015 at the Wayback Machine Tables and results of the Bavarian amateur leagues

Former players

The club had a couple of players in its ranks who later played in the Bundesliga, the most well-known of those being:^[29]

• Dietmar Beiersdorfer, played for Hamburger SV and Werder Bremen^[30]
• Günter Güttler, (until 1980), played for FC Bayern Munich, 1. FC Nürnberg, Waldhof Mannheim, FC Schalke 04^[31][32]

References

1. Rein fußballerisch betrachtet (in German) Article on the Herzogenaurach football rivalry and the involvement of Adidas and Puma, publisher: Die Zeit online, published: 2000. Retrieved 7 November 2008
2. 50 Jahre Bayerischer Fussball Verband (in German) 50-year anniversary book of the Bavarian FA, published: 1996, page: 215. Retrieved 7 November 2008
3. ASV Herzogenaurach website: Club history – Sportplatzlegenden Archived 5 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine (in German), author: Christian Dotterweich. Retrieved 7 November 2008
4. FC Herzogenaurach club history – the 1930s^{[permanent dead link‍]} (in German). Retrieved 7 November 2008
5. FC Herzogenaurach club history – the 1960s^{[permanent dead link‍]} (in German). Retrieved 7 November 2008
6. ASV Herzogenaurach website: Club history – adidas wird Sponsor Archived 5 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine (in German), author: Christian Dotterweich. Retrieved 7 November 2008
7. The Town that Sibling Rivalry Built, and Divided Archived 22 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine Deutsche Welle, author: Kyle James, published: 3 July 2006. Retrieved 7 November 2008
8. Das deutsche Fussball Archiv Table of the Landesliga Mitte 1966–67. Retrieved 7 November 2008. (in German)
9. Das deutsche Fussball Archiv Table of the Landesliga Mitte 1968–69. Retrieved 7 November 2008. (in German)
10. Das deutsche Fussball Archiv Table of the Landesliga Mitte 1969–70. Retrieved 7 November 2008. (in German)
11. Das deutsche Fussball Archiv Table of the Landesliga Mitte 1971–72. Retrieved 7 November 2008. (in German)
12. Das deutsche Fussball Archiv Table of the Amateurliga Bayern 1972/73. Retrieved 7 November 2008. (in German)
13. Das deutsche Fussball Archiv Table of the Amateurliga Bayern 1973/74. Retrieved 7 November 2008. (in German)
14. ASV Herzogenaurach website: Club history – 1973/74 die Highlights im Verein Archived 5 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine (in German), author: Christian Dotterweich. Retrieved 7 November 2008
15. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP WEST-GERMANY '73–'74 Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 7 November 2008
16. Das deutsche Fussball Archiv Table of the Amateurliga Bayern 1974/75. Retrieved 7 November 2008. (in German)
17. Das deutsche Fussball Archiv Table of the Amateurliga Bayern 1976/77. Retrieved 7 November 2008. (in German)
18. ASV Herzogenaurach website: Club history – Heute schuldenfrei und in der A-Klasse Archived 5 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine (in German), author: Christian Dotterweich. Retrieved 7 November 2008
19. Rein fußballerisch betrachtet – Puma vs. Adidas: Eine schlammige Geschichte (in German) Article on the Herzogenaurach football rivalry and the involvement of Adidas and Puma, publisher: Die Zeit online, published: 2000. Retrieved 7 November 2008
20. Das deutsche Fussball Archiv Table of the Landesliga Mitte Bayern 1978/79. Retrieved 7 November 2008. (in German)
21. A-Klasse Erlangen/Pegnitzgrund Table 2008-09 Fussball.de. Retrieved 7 November 2008
22. Kreisliga Erlangen/Pegnitzgrund Table 2008-09 Fussball.de. Retrieved 7 November 2008
23. The Town that Sibling Rivalry Built, and Divided – Lost its punch Archived 22 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine Deutsche Welle, author: Kyle James, published: 3 July 2006. Retrieved 7 November 2008
24. FC Herzogenaurach website^{[permanent dead link‍]} (in German) article on a proposed merger of the city's football clubs, publisher: Fränkischer Tag, published: 13 March 2007. Retrieved 7 November 2008
25. BATTLE OF THE BOOTS The Independent, author: Ruth Elkins, published: 24 April 2006. Retrieved 8 November 2008
26. B-Klasse Erlangen/Pegnitzgrund 1 fupa.net, accessed: 16 September 2014
27. Das deutsche Fußball-Archiv (in German) Historical German domestic league tables
28. Fussball.de – Ergebnisse Archived 7 December 2011 at the Wayback Machine (in German) Tables and results of all German football leagues
29. ASV Herzogenaurach website: Club history – ASV Herzogenaurach: Anlauf- und Ablegestelle für Profis Archived 5 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine (in German), author: Christian Dotterweich. Retrieved 7 November 2008
30. Dietmar Beiersdorfer profile at Weltfussball.de. Retrieved 7 November 2008
31. Internetlexikon der Clubspieler – Günter Güttler profile at Fussballdaten.de. Retrieved 7 November 2008
32. Günter Güttler biography (in German) Retrieved 7 November 2008

External links

• Official team site Archived 3 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine
• Das deutsche Fußball-Archiv historical German domestic league tables (in German)
• 1.FC Herzogenaurach – Spielklassen 1916 – 2006^{[permanent dead link‍]} (in German) FC Herzogenaurach website – History 1916 to 2006