VfL Bochum (Germany)

Vfl Bochum or Verein für Leibesübungen Bochum 1848 Fußballgemeinschaft, to give them their full title, is a football club from North Rhine-Westphalia who were formed in 1848.

The club is one of the oldest sporting organisations in Germany, having been formed after an advert in a local paper called for the creation of a gymnastics club. The club, originally called Turnverein zu Bochum, had a short ban for political reasons but soon reformed. In 1911, it introduced a football section to the club.

Several splits and mergers took place over the next couple of decades before the Nazi Party enforced Bochumer Turnverein 1848, as the club was now known, to merge with Turn-und Sport Bochum 1908 and Sportverein Germania Vorwarts Bochum 1906 to form VfL Bochum in 1938.

TuS Bochum had previously won promotion from the Bezirksliga in 1934-35 to join Germania in Gauliga Westfalen, one of sixteen regional top-flight leagues in operation during the era under the Third Reich, before TuS dropped down again in 1936-37. 

During World War II, with player and facility shortages taking effect, VfL joined forces with Preussen 07 Elberfeld to form Kriegsspielgemeinschaft VfL 1848/Preußen Bochum in 1943 before both went their own way once the conflict ended. Bochum were placed in Gruppe II of 2. Oberliga West, one of several national second tiers for 1949-50. 

This was before the side won a streamlined league title in 1953-53 to go up to the top-flight Oberliga West before being relegated in 1954-55. The team regathered and won back their status at the first attempt under coach Emil Melcher.

Fourth place with Herbert Widmayer in charge was achieved in 1958-59 before another relegation came along in 1960-61. The Bundesliga was introduced in 1963-64, with Bochum’s previous league finish meaning a place in the third-level Verbandsliga Westfalen. The team took the Gruppe 2 title in 1964-65 before defeating SpVgg Erkenschwick on penalties in the play-offs to secure promotion.

The team put in a couple of top-five finishes before reaching the DFB-Pokal, German Cup final in 1967-68, where the team coached by Hermann Eppenhoff lost 4-1 to 1. FC Köln with Karl-Heinz Böttcher scoring the consolation goal.

Coach Hermann Eppenhoff led Bochum to the Regionalliga West title in 1970-71 and again the following season prior to a successful play-off campaign securing a place in the Bundesliga, which would see a stay of nearly twenty years with the club being given the nickname of Die Unabsteigbaren, The Unrelegatables.

The goals of Hans Walitza helped the team to set a solid base as Heinz Höher took over as coach in 1972. The team then continually put together finishes in the bottom third of the table, and on occasions came close to relegation. The clubs' Stadion an der Castroper Straße, which had been the original home of TuS Bochum, needed redevelopment to meet the modern demands of top-flight football. 

The Ruhrstadion was built in stages on the same site between 1976 and 1979. Helmuth Johannsen took over as coach for a couple of years from 1979 before being replaced by Rolf Schafstall. Kurt Pinkall was involved in the side that put a few consecutive mid-table finishes together at the back end of 70’s and into the new decade.

The goals of Christian Schreier helped Bochum stave off relegation in 1983-84 before Stefan Kuntz took over as lead talisman to steady the ship while Hermann Gerland was appointed as coach in 1986. His team would reach the 1987-88 DFB-Pokal final, where the side captained by Lothar Woelk lost 1-0 to Eintracht Frankfurt.

As well as football, the sports club has upwards of 5,000 members with sections for athletics, badminton, basketball, dance, fencing, gymnastics, handball, hockey, swimming, table tennis, tennis and volleyball. Uwe Leifeld was the Ruhrstadion hero in 1988-89 for Franz-Josef Tenhagen’s team before he was replaced by Reinhard Saftig, who was at the helm in 1989-90 as the drop was beaten by a win over 1. FC Saarbrücken in the play-offs.

Holger Osieck coached the team for a season before being replaced by Jürgen Gelsdorf. Uwe Wegmann’s goals couldn’t save Bochum from relegation in 1992-93, but they were enough to help his side return at the first attempt as 2. Bundesliga champions.

However, their top-flight stay lasted just twelve months. Klaus Toppmöller was in charge as he took his team straight back up again before a fifth-place Bundesliga finish in 1996-97. The team was demoted once more in 1998-99, while a turbulent period saw several short-term coaching appointments.

The goals of Achim Weber helped Bochum back up in 1999-00 as second-tier runners-up before dropping straight back down in bottom place. The appointment of coach Peter Neururer in 2001, who led the team back up in 2001-02 as the yo-yo effect continued, with Thomas Christiansen leading the scoring.

The strike duo of Vahid Hashemian and Peter Madsen helped the team to fifth in 2003-04 before they suffered another relegation a year later. Marcel Koller took over as coach as Bochum were crowned as 2. Bundesliga champions in 2005-06 as Edu and Zvjezdan Misimović scored the goals.

Theofanis Gekas was the Bundesliga top scorer in 2006-07 as his side finished in eighth. Stanislav Šesták scored regularly after that before Bochum dropped down again in 2009-10. Heiko Herrlich was appointed before Friedhelm Funkel’s team missed out on promotion in the play-offs against Borussia Mönchengladbach in 2010-11.

Andreas Bergmann took over team affairs prior to Neururer returning for a second spell, with Gertjan Verbeek replacing him in 2014 as Simon Terodde led the forward line. Ismail Atalan was the head trainer for much of 2017, followed by caretaker appointments before the arrival of Robin Dutt.

Lukas Hinterseer scored the goals in 2017-18, another season that ended without hope of promotion or threat of relegation. It would be the same in the 2019-20 Coronavirus hit campaign as Thomas Reis took over as trainer while Silvère Ganvoula scored the goals. The team won the title in 2020-21 through the goals of Simon Zoller and Robert Zulj.

The side consolidated, with Thomas Letsch arriving as the new head trainer during the 2022-23 campaign. In the relegation playoffs twelve months later, Bochum overcame a 3-0 home defeat to win by the same margin in the away leg to Fortuna Düsseldorf before securing safety after winning the penalty shootout, under trainer Heiko Butscher.

Peter Zeidler took charge in 2024-25, being replaced by Dieter Hecking as the team was relegated. David Siebers was given the trainer's job in the summer of 2025.

VfL Bochum will compete in the 2. Bundesliga in the 2025-26 season.

My visit

VfL Bochum 2 Fortuna Dusseldorf 0 (Friday 18th February 2011) 2 Bundesliga (att: 24,100)

On the back of our successful lads weekend in Germany the previous year, the second edition was arranged for February 2011. Crusher was missing from the year before, but Carl and Colm were back. We set off on the early Friday flight from Luton to Dortmund so that we could fit in some Friday night football. 

Many second-tier Bundesliga games kick off at 6pm on Fridays to help avoid bigger games in the way of attendance and for TV. I had booked the tickets for just 11 Euros each for the terracing weeks in advance. We had a wander to the Westfalenstadion in Dortmund on arrival and struck gold in obtaining tickets for their game the following day, when we had been previously told it was a sell-out. 

After a few celebratory beers around the market square and a brief siesta back at the hotel, we set off for Dortmund station in readiness for our tea-time commute. The train service to Bochum was frequent and took just over ten minutes. 

Unfortunately, it took us that long to work out how to get the correct group ticket out of the machine. The ticket clerks would not sell them over the counter. We eventually worked it out and bought a ticket for around 12 Euros to cover the three of us. Before long, we were at an extremely noisy Bochum station. 

It was quickly obvious that this was a big game and Düsseldorf had a large following. We went for a walk to where I’d been advised was the main drinking area. Once again, the message board on the internet guide to football grounds had come up with some useful suggestions. However, the area seemed more suited to later at night for the weekend people.

 

We tried to get the beers in one traditional place, but the bar staff seemed oblivious to our requests. The jury was out on whether this was deliberate or they were simply all hammered! We went downstairs on the square to board a tram. Now I’d been on many tubes to Wembley, so I was well versed in the sardine treatment, but these trams were really packed. 

Indeed, it was so full we ran through every other stop after the central station. We emerged above ground outside the RewirpowerSTADION or Ruhrstadion to give it its pre-sponsored name. The streets were mobbed as I tried to find out where I needed to collect the tickets from. I was sent around under the Main Stand while Carl and Colm waited for me. I eventually fought my way back, and we found the correct gate.

There was just time to buy a beer and go upstairs with it before we tried to find a place on the already busy terracing. Each block was fenced off so that only so many tickets could be issued for each section, thus making it safe. English authorities, please take note!  We managed to get up into the top corner, which offered a decent view. 

Some youngsters were using the dividing fence as a climbing frame, which would have been no problem if they didn’t have flags on sticks, and they’d have been in control of their feet. Several of us were continually prodded. I could see Colm was wondering when I’d lose my rag, but I acted like the perfect guest. The fans in the central section were making a real noise, led by cheerleaders, as seemed to be the vogue. 

They faced the crowd with loud hailers, getting the crowd chanting and singing. The away fans had a section of standing down the side and then seats behind the far goal. We reckoned there were about 5,000 of them in Bochum’s highest gate of the season of 24,100.

The home side took the lead with an Elfmeter penalty, after the ref atoned for not giving a certainty earlier by taking the earliest possible opportunity to point to the spot. Marcel Maltritz sent the keeper the wrong way to start off the jingles, and the home fans chanted the scorer’s home name after the PA man shouted out his Christian name. 

They got involved in Germany, but I found it a bit too choreographed and plastic to be honest.

Bochum were up near the top of the league before kick-off, and they sealed a deserved victory with a deflected shot from Ümit Korkmaz on the hour mark. We slowly filed out at the end and decided to walk back into town down the steep main road. I’m glad we didn’t walk to the ground! 

The roads were packed full of fans, some of whom were so drunk that they really didn’t know what was happening. There was a huge police presence determined to get as many fans as possible back to the railway station. We went the other way through the cordon, and after some helpful advice from a restaurateur, we found a traditional drinking house. 

That gave me the first chance to look through the thick match magazine, which had cost just €1. We got settled for a couple of hours, enjoying the company of a rather extroverted man from Frankfurt who said he loved Merseyside! before heading back through the still noisy streets to the railway station in time for a few beers back in Dortmund before calling it a night.