Wuppertaler SV (Germany)

Wuppertaler Sport-Verein e.V. is a football club from the German city of Wuppertal in North Rhine-Westphalia that was formed on July 8th 1954 following a merger of merger TSG Vohwinkel and SSV Wuppertal.

TSG Vohwinkel had been formed in 1880 as a gymnastics club, going on to play regional football and then progressing to the top level Oberliga West in 1947 before dropping down to 2. Oberliga West in 1950.

SSV Elberfeld emerged as a football club in 1905 and competed in the early rounds of the national championship in the early 1930’s. German football was divided into sixteen top flight Gauliga’s under Third Reich rule in 1933. SSV were placed in Gauliga Niederrhein.

The club played at level in 1936-37 and 1937-38 before being rechristened as SSV 04 Wuppertal and playing two more seasons at that level before being relegated in 1940. SSV had one further Gauliga campaign before eventually slipping down to 2. Oberliga West.

The merger in 1954 brought immediate dividends as the new side won the 2.Oberliga West title in 1954-55 to return to the Oberliga West; which was one of five top tier divisions. The team contained star players Horst Szymaniak and Austrian international Erich Probst.

Despite this Wuppertaler were relegated in 1957-58 before returning for the final Oberliga season of 1962-63. ‘Die Löwen’ went on a run in the DFB-Pokal, reaching the semi-finals before going out to Hamburger SV in front of 40,000 fans at Stadion am Zoo.

The following season saw the inaugural season of the Bundesliga, with WSV being placed in Regionalliga West; one of five second tier divisions. Their debut season saw the club finish as runners-up to Alemannia Aachen and then losing to FK Pirmasens in the play-offs.

The club didn’t finish outside the top seven positions, apart from in the 1967-68 when they finished just above the relegation places. Third place finishes in 1969-70 and 1970-71 were followed up with a title winning campaign in 1971-72.

The side went on to win all eight games in their play-off group to be promoted to the Bundesliga. A tremendous debut season ensued as Wuppertaler finished in fourth place with help from the goals of top scorer Günter Pröpper.

This led to qualifying for the 1973-74 UEFA Cup, where WSV went out in the first round to Ruch Chorzów. Pröpper did the business for a second successive season, but Wuppertaler just managed to avoid relegation in the league.

There would be no escape in 1974-75 as the side finished bottom of the table and were relegated to 2. Bundesliga Nord. Franz Gerber was the new scoring hero for the regulars of Stadion am Zoo in a consolidation season.

The goals of Rainer Budde just failed to propel the team to the play-offs in 1976-77, before Wuppertaler were relegated to third tier Oberliga Nordrhein amateur football at the completion of the 1979-80 season.

The club would spend the following twelve campaigns at that level before being promoted back to Regionalliga Nord in 2002-03 after being crowned champions of Oberliga Nordrhein. Four seasons of top eight finishes followed as Dirk Heinzmann and Gaetano Manno banged in the goals.

The club had changed its title in 2004 to Wuppertaler SV Borussia following a further merger with  Borussia Wuppertal. Borussia had been formed in 1976 through a merger of SV Germania, 1907 Wuppertal and VfL 1912 Wuppertal.

The 2007-08 campaign saw Wuppertaler reach the last eight of the DFB-Pokal; going out to eventual winners FC Bayern München in a match that was moved to the greater capacity of Arena AufSchalke in Gelsenkirchen.

A sixth place league finish led to a place in the newly formed 3. Liga for the 2008-09 season under head coach Uwe Fuchs after the sacking of Christoph John. The following season saw WSV relegated to Regionalliga West after a bottom place finish despite the goals of Jerome Assauer.

Christian Knappmann scored thirty times in 2011-12 before the club faced crisis in the summer of 2013. The title was changed back to Wuppertaler SV, while Alexander Eichner took control of the club from President Klaus Mathies.

It was announced that the club was bankrupt and were relegated to Oberliga Mittelrhein. Marvin Ellmann netted regularly to land WSV a third place finish in 2013-14 and then a runners-up berth the following campaign.

Ercan Aydoğmuş was top scorer in 2015-16 as Wuppertaler won the Oberliga Mittelrhein to return to Regionalliga West, where they finished in mid table in 2016-17 under the tutelage of Christian Britscho and then in the top eight in 2017-18. 

Christopher Kramer led the scoring in 2018-19 which ended in another mid table slot in which Adrian Alipour was head coach for most of the campaign. The 2019-20 season saw Wuppertaler hovering above the drop zone when the COVID-19 outbreak hated proceedings.

The club bosses were certainly busy as they employed Andreas Zimmermann as head coach. He was fired and replaced by Alexander Voigt in October 2019 who lasted until his resignation in the winter break with Pascal Bieler arriving in his place.

Wuppertaler SV will play in Regionalliga West in the 2020-21 season.

My visit

Wuppertaler SV 3 Borussia Mönchengladbach II 1 (Tuesday 8^th May 2018) Regionalliga West (att: 1,893)

I’d wanted to visit Wuppertal ever since reading accounts of the city’s Schwebebahn overhead railway and decent football stadium, so with a couple of days off work after fixture researching, I found the perfect opportunity.

It was a another hot morning when I attempted to get myself together, the day after Hendon’s heartbreaking Play Off Final defeat at Tooting against Dulwich Hamlet the previous day. Thankfully I’d done my planning and packed my bag over the weekend!

Stansted Airport was as busy as ever in the area where passengers await flight information. I got into a slight disagreement in the queue for Burger King as it appeared the system was deliberately transpiring against me. It served me right for my poor choice of food.

Thankfully the flight to Dortmund was slightly ahead of schedule and not particularly busy, meaning an empty middle seat as I grabbed the window pew. A smiling fraulein sat along from me. If only I could speak German.

Landing slightly ahead of time meant we just missed a bus to continue the journey. It was a steaming hot day but I daren’t go too far away from the stop. Eventually the 4pm bus arrived and deposited me at Holzwickede station.

The train I’d planned to catch was bang on time, but was then delayed on the journey to Wuppertal. I alighted earlier than planned at Wuppertal Oberbarmen as my excitement grew at seeing the monorail for the first time.

It really was a tremendous feat of engineering as pylons built into the banks of the River Wupper held up the tracks, with stations being built on bridges over the water. Click here to take a brief look at what it’s all about.

My €9 match ticket included the train ride from Holzwickede and my transport around Wuppertal. It really was value for money. I was like a little kid on Christmas morning as our train weaved along over the banks of the river before I jumped out at Adlerbrücke.

It was a brisk five minutes walk to Residenz Hotel Wuppertal; my resting place for the evening. My room was basic and had a strange aroma, but I hadn’t travelled all the way to western Germany to sit in a hotel. I freshened up and headed out.

There was time to walk along the main Friedrich-Engels-Allee to check out any potential bars for after the match. There appeared to be one or two possibilities including the Allee-Stübchen; a music pub open until midnight.

It was time to head back to the Schwebebahn. I was totally in awe of its magnificence as I boarded at Völklinger Straße for the journey over the city to Zoo/Stadion. Before heading inside the stadium next door I wanted to take a look at somewhere else first.

SC Sonnborn 07 looked to have a decent enough venue for local and regional football according to Google Maps. It was only five minutes away and I managed to take some photos. The visit can be read about here.

I cut through the adjoining car park and under the busy Sonnborner Ufer to walk along by the river before crossing by the station and heading to the entrance of Stadion Am Zoo. I was waved past the ticket selling booth to a courtyard with an impressive old building dominating the area.

I’d read in advance of the tight security at the ground and so it proved. I was required to show my passport along with my match ticket. Once through it required a climb up the steps to the top of the terracing where I was met with a mighty impressive sight.

Stadion Am Zoo had previously hosted Bundesliga football and it was easy to see how. It once had an athletics track around the pitch, but had been squared off at the ends with large open terracing raised at the front above the pitch.

The far side was set well back from the pitch with open seating backed by a large bank of open terracing, with a further section fenced off out of bounds behind that. The Zoo was over the wall in the top corner.

The Main Stand was an impressive structure with two levels of seating curving towards the pitch nearer the two corner flags. The far end behind the goal wasn’t open with ‘Die Lowen’ Ultras situating themselves at the other end.

The A4 size colour match programme was free from the ticket hut. It was time to eat and drink, with frikadelle, beer and bratwursts costing €3 each. The sun was still burning as we approached the 7pm kick off. I took up a position towards the back down the side.

This was the home of older WSV fans. They were enthusiastic and would have cause to break into chants throughout the first half, even though the match had nothing resting on it. I guess that was the reason for the small attendance?

I’d seen Wuppertaler in action at Wattenscheid earlier in the season, when they took part in a 0-0 draw in an absolutely awful match which coincided with me losing my passport and ending in a very costly outing. Surely this had to be better?

The hosts started out playing some nice passing football against Gladbach’s second string on a lush watered playing surface. They took the lead on nine minutes as Silvio Pagano was given acres of room in a wide position. His perfect cross was headed home by Christopher Kramer.

It should have been two shortly after when Borussia’s defence was all at sea. A fine pass sent Enes Topal straight through he beat the offside trap by starting his run in his own half. The visiting keeper Moritz Nicolas did well to stop his effort.

Kramer came close to converting a low cross, while Enzo Wirtz saw a shot go just over as WSV piled on the pressure. I began to wonder if the Borussia defenders had met each other before, such was their shambolic organisation.

Topal played a clever one two with Semir Saric around thirty yards out and broke through to slot past Nicolas to make it 2-0 ten minutes before the interval. It was the best that the team in all white could have possibly got away with; such was the pressure on them.

Four minutes later the Wuppertal support was even happier. A delightful pass inside the defenders from Sascha Schünemann sent Saric through to slot past Nicolas and add his namke to the score sheet.

Home keeper Sebastian Wickl had made two regulation stops from long range efforts in the first half, but they were to be busier after the break as Mönchengladbach regrouped and looked a far more competent outfit.

Wuppertaler took their collective feet off the pedal and apart from coming close from a free kick, they appeared to rest on their lead. Gladbach showed signs of attacking intent with nothing to lose. It was no real shock when substitute Ba-Muaka Simakala pulled a goal back on sixty four minutes.

The visitors continued to increase their forays. The home defenders suddenly looked like that they were hanging on. It meant that it was entertaining fare; at least in my neutral eyes. In the end the result was about right for a fine first half display.

There was a five minute wait for the Schwebebahn after the match. The platform was busy, but we somehow all fitted on the first train. I managed to stand right behind the driver to get a great view through the glass as we advanced. I loved it!

On the journey to the match I worked out that the area from Ohligsmühle was likely to be the busiest. It was a beautiful evening and many people sat outside bars and restaurants enjoying the weather and refreshments in the city centre. Unfortunately I then realised my programme had dropped out of my shorts; probably on the train?

However, I wanted something a little more down to earth and traditional as I didn’t intend hanging around for long. Im Kipchen on Kipdorf was just the job. It had quick service, music in the background and was inexpensive.

I’d had a hectic few days of sport and socialising and was feeling tired. I decided to head to the Hauptbahnhof and catch a normal train nearer home to get out at Unterbarmen. The walk back from there didn’;t offer any drinking opportunities. Allee-Stübchen was closed.

Instead I headed up the main road and ordered an excellent pizza at Pizzeria to go Wuppertal and sat outside with a couple of locals enjoying a bottle of beer while my meal cooked. I took my feed home for an early night and listened to the radio from back home.

The rest did me good as I awoke the following morning and headed back to Dortmund on three delayed trains to go round the magnificent Deutsches Fußballmuseum, which I’d spotted on the way to a match a couple of years previously.

I really couldn’t commend the Museum more. It featured so many aspects of the game; right from its foundation in England through to World War I and the truce game along with extensive features on international football, East Germany, women’s football and the domestic game.

I’d never seen so many exhibits and it offered stuff for fans of all ages. I spent just over two hours inside but could have quite easily doubled my time as I read from books, labels and watched videos; all of which had English subtitles.

The staff were overjoyed when I commented that it was the best football museum I’d ever been in. It knocked spots off the English version in Manchester and was only second to the Scottish FA version at Hampden Park in Glasgow. I couldn’t recommend it more.

Once done I had time to retrace old footsteps to enjoy a couple of excellent beers in Wenkers am Markt sat at the bar watching German Sky Sports with the doors and windows open watching the world go by before it was time to head back to the station and take the bus to the airport.

It’d been another fantastic short trip to a country that rarely disappoints.