SV Viktoria 01 Aschaffenburg is a German football club based in Aschaffenburg, Bavaria.

Even though Aschaffenburg is located in Bavaria, Viktoria Aschaffenburg historically played its football in the Hessenliga (V) and the associated Hessian leagues, rather than the Bayernliga (V), against clubs from closer, neighbouring cities. This also reflects in part the history of the region, not traditionally part of Bavaria. The nearby Bavarian club FC Bayern Alzenau has also played in the Hessenliga for the same reasons. After 67 seasons in Hesse, from 1945 onwards, the members of the club voted with an 80% majority to return to Bavaria from the 2012–13 season onwards.

History The club was formed on 24 June 1904 out of the merger of FC Aschaffenburg (6 August 1901) and FC Viktoria Aschaffenburg (12 April 1902). Renamed Sportverein Viktoria 01 Aschaffenburg on 3 June 1906 the united side played in the Kreisliga Odenwald, Kreisliga Nordmain, Kreisliga Südmain and Bezirksliga Main-Hessen (Gruppe Main) for a couple of seasons in the 1920s, changing leagues frequently.

In 1937 they briefly merged with Reichsbahn TuSpo Aschaffenburg to play as Reichsbahn-Viktoria Aschaffenburg, but were an independent side again by 1939. They made a late, short-lived appearance in top flight football in 1942, playing a single season in the Gauliga Bayern (Nord), one of sixteen premier divisions established in the 1933 re-organization of German football under the Third Reich.

Aschaffenburg returned to the top flight after World War II playing in the Oberliga Süd for two seasons in the late 40s and then through most of the 50s, competing against sides that would later go on to play in the Bundesliga, Germany's first top tier professional league, such as FC Bayern Munich, 1. FC Nürnberg, and VfB Stuttgart, in front of crowds of 16,000 to 19,000. Generally a lower table side whose best result was a fifth-place finish in 1956, a series of poor performances saw Aschaffenburg drop to tier III play in the Amateurliga Hessen/Amateur Oberliga-Hessen well before the formation of the Bundesliga in 1963.

The team's best performances came in the 1980s when they twice won the Oberliga Hessen title and promotion to 2. Bundesliga, where they played the 1985–86, 1986–87 and 1988–89 seasons. Through this period and into the early 90s Aschaffenburg made a half dozen appearances in the early rounds of DFB-Pokal (German Cup) play. The club's best cup performance came in 1988 when they eliminated then-Bundesliga side 1. FC Köln (1–0) in the second round before eventually going out in the quarterfinals against Werder Bremen (1–3).

A poor finish led to a move down to the fourth division play in the 1993–94 season. In 1995, the clubs under 19 side ended a remarkable series in German football. After 20 consecutive titles in the Under 19 Bayernliga (northern group) by the 1. FC Nürnberg, Viktoria finished this series, becoming only the second club to win this league. Viktoria's junior teams play in the Bavarian league system, unlike its senior team.

The side was relegated to Landesliga Hessen-Süd (V) for a single season in 2003–04 and have since returned to play in Oberliga-Hessen (IV).

A third-place finish in the Oberliga in 2007–08 meant the club became one of the four clubs from this league to gain entry in the Regionalliga Süd for the next season. After finishing 13th in the league in 2008–09, outside the relegation ranks, the club decided to return to the now-named Hessenliga due to financial reasons. Viktoria experienced a further drop at the end of the 2009–10 season when it was relegated to the tier-six Verbandsliga Hessen-Süd despite an eighth-place finish for financial reasons.

In this league, Viktoria came second in 2010–11 and qualified for the promotion round to the Hessenliga, where it succeeded. In November 2011, the members of the club voted for a return to the Bavarian league system after the club had played in Hesse since 1945. Alongside the senior team, the reserve side will also switch associations while the club's youth teams already play in Bavaria. The reasons for the switch were the easier qualification modus for the revamped Regionalligas for 2012, in Hesse the club needed to win the league while for Bavaria a ninth-place finish was adequate for promotion. Another reason was also the lesser requirements in regards to infrastructure for the new Regionalliga Bayern, an important factor for the recovering club who had just escaped insolvency in the previous year. A fourth-place finish in the Hessenliga in 2011–12 allowed the team to qualify for the new Regionalliga.

After a 15th place in the inaugural Regionalliga Bayern season Viktoria came second-last in the league in 2013–14 and was relegated from the league, now to the Bayernliga Nord, the northern division of the Bayernliga. The club won its division in 2014–15 and made an immediate return to the Regionalliga. It finished 15th in 2015–16 and had to enter the relegation play-off to defend its league place where it lost to SpVgg Bayern Hof and TSV 1860 Rosenheim and dropped back to the Bayernliga.

In 2018–19, the club enjoyed an excellent run in the Bavarian Cup, defeating 3. Liga club TSV 1860 Munich 3–2 at the semi-final stage, before eventually losing 3–0 to local rivals Würzburger Kickers in the final before a packed crowd of 6,033 at the Stadion am Schönbusch.

Honours

League 2. Oberliga Süd (II) Runners-up: (2) 1951, 1955 Hessenliga (III–V) Champions: (4) 1974, 1985, 1988, 1992 Runners-up: 2007 Bayernliga Nord (V) Champions: (2) 2015, 2018 Landesliga Hessen-Süd (V) Champions: 2004 Verbandsliga Hessen-Süd (VI) Runners-up: 2011

Cup DFB-Pokal Quarter-finals: 1987–88 Hessenpokal Winners: 1991 Runners-up: 2008 Bavarian Cup Runners-up: 2019

Youth Bavarian Under 19 championship Runners-up: (3) 1955, 1995, 2004 Bavarian Under 17 championship Runners-up: 2002 Bavarian Under 15 championship Winners: 1999

Recent seasons The recent season-by-season performance of the club: Year Division Tier Position 1999–2000 Hessenliga IV 6th 2000–01 Hessenliga 10th 2001–02 Hessenliga 10th 2002–03 Hessenliga 16th ↓ 2003–04 Landesliga Hessen-Süd V 1st ↑ 2004–05 Hessenliga IV 10th 2005–06 Hessenliga 10th 2006–07 Hessenliga 2nd 2007–08 Hessenliga 3rd ↑ 2008–09 Regionalliga Süd 13th ↓ 2009–10 Hessenliga V 8th ↓ 2010–11 Verbandsliga Hessen-Süd VI 2nd ↑ 2011–12 Hessenliga V 4th ↑ 2012–13 Regionalliga Bayern IV 15th 2013–14 Regionalliga Bayern 18th ↓ 2014–15 Bayernliga Nord V 1st ↑ 2015–16 Regionalliga Bayern IV 15th ↓ 2016–17 Bayernliga Nord V 2nd 2017–18 Bayernliga Nord 1st ↑ 2018–19 Regionalliga Bayern IV 10th 2019–21 Regionalliga Bayern 2nd 2021–22 Regionalliga Bayern 8th 2022–23 Regionalliga Bayern 5th 2023–24 Regionalliga Bayern 14th 2024–25 Regionalliga Bayern 15th 2025–26 Regionalliga Bayern 17th ↓

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. Also in 2008, the majority of football leagues in Hesse were renamed, with the Oberliga Hessen becoming the Hessenliga, the Landesliga becoming the Verbandsliga, the Bezirksoberliga becoming the Gruppenliga and the Bezirksliga becoming the Kreisoberliga.

↑ Promoted ↓ Relegated

Current squad

Recent managers Recent managers of the club:

Manager Start Finish Ernst Lehner Horst Heese April 1986 December 1986 Timo Zahnleiter 1 July 1989 30 June 1990 Werner Lorant 1 July 1990 30 June 1992 Rudi Bommer (player-coach) 1 July 1998 30 June 2000 Nenad Salov 1 May 2003 9 December 2006 Muhamed Preljevic 10 December 2006 27 March 2007 Manfred Allig 28 March 2007 30 June 2007 Andreas Möller 1 July 2007 30 June 2008 Ronny Borchers 1 July 2008 30 June 2009 Marco Roth 1 July 2009 30 June 2010 Peter Lack 1 July 2011 19 March 2012 Antonio Abbruzzese 20 March 2012 4 January 2013 Werner Dreßel 9 January 2013 23 April 2013 Antonio Abbruzzese 23 April 2013 5 May 2013 Julio Alvarez 5 May 2013 17 June 2013 Slobodan Komljenovic 17 June 2013 19 October 2015 Rudi Bommer 20 October 2015 4 December 2015 Jürgen Baier 23 December 2015 31 August 2016 Jochen Seitz 7 September 2016 30 June 2023

DFB Cup appearances The club has qualified for the first round of the German Cup six times: Season Round Date Home Away Result Attendance 1979–80 DFB-Pokal First round 24 August 1979 FSV Frankfurt Viktoria Aschaffenburg 2–0 1,500 1986–87 DFB-Pokal First round 30 August 1987 Viktoria Aschaffenburg Waldhof Mannheim 1–2 9,000 1987–88 DFB-Pokal First round 29 August 1987 Viktoria Aschaffenburg SG Wattenscheid 09 4–0 5,000 Second round 24 October 1987 Viktoria Aschaffenburg 1. FC Köln 1–0 12,000 Third round 13 February 1988 Hessen Kassel Viktoria Aschaffenburg 0–1 8,000 Quarter final 13 February 1988 Viktoria Aschaffenburg Werder Bremen 1–3 13,000 1989–90 DFB-Pokal First round 20 August 1989 Viktoria Aschaffenburg Karlsruher SC 2–6 3,500 1991–92 DFB-Pokal First round 1 August 1991 Viktoria Aschaffenburg none bye bye Second round 17 August 1991 VfL Wolfsburg Viktoria Aschaffenburg 4–3 aet 1,400 1992–93 DFB-Pokal First round 18 August 1992 Viktoria Aschaffenburg none bye bye Second round 12 September 1992 Viktoria Aschaffenburg VfL Osnabrück 0–6 900

References

Sources Grüne, Hardy (2001). Vereinslexikon. Kassel: AGON Sportverlag

External links

Official team site

Das deutsche Fußball-Archiv historical German domestic league results Viktoria Aschaffenburg profile at worldfootball.net