User:Wiggy!/naming conventions

Commonly used conventions have emerged over time in the naming of German football clubs. While there is no hard and fast set of rules, the name of a German football club will typically include an acronym describing the type of organization it is, the name of the district, city or region the team is from and the year of the foundation of the club. It is not uncommon for a club that was formed out of a merger of two or more clubs to carry multiple acronyms or dates in its name.


Organizational Acronyms

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Acronymn German English Notes Example
1. Erster First often used by the first club established in a city 1. FC Nuremberg
II Zwei Second Reserve teams, placed behind the clubs name VfB Stuttgart II
Am. Amateure Amateur Reserve teams of professional clubs, since the mid-2000's supersided by the use of II behind the clubs name Bayern Munich Amateure
AK Athletik Klub Athletic Club Grazer AK
ASV Allgemeiner Sportverein General Sports Association ASV Durlach
ASV Arbeiter Sportverein Worker's Sports Association common in the 1920s until worker's clubs were banned for political reasons in 1933 under the Nazi regime
ATSV Arbeiter Turn- und Sportverein Worker's Gymnastics and Sports Association common in the 1920s until worker's clubs were

banned for political reasons in 1933 under the Nazi regime ||

BC Ballspiel-Club Ballgame Club
BSC Ballspiel-Club Ballgame Club
BSG Betriebssportemeinschaft Company Sports Community used in the former East Germany by sports clubs associated with a workplace
BV Ballspielverein Ballgame Association BV Borussia Dortmund
Club Club commonly used in place of the German term Klub in imitation of teams in England where modern football originated
DFC Deutscher Fußball-Club German Football Club historically, to denote an ethnically German club in regions of mixed population
DJK Deutscher Jugend Kraft German Youth Agency a Catholic sports association in Germany
DSV Deutscher Sportverein German Sports Association historically, to denote an ethnically German club in regions of mixed population
ESV Eisenbahner Sport Verein Railworker's Sports Association
e.V. eingetragener Verein registered association a standard legal designation that follows a club's name, typically used to identify an amateur (i.e non-professional) club
FC Fußball-Club Football Club FC Bayern München
FK Fußball-Klub Football Club
FSC Fussball Sport-Club Football Sport Club
FSV Fussball Spielverein Football Game Association
FSV Fussball Sportverein Football Sport Association
FT Frei Turnerschaft Free Gymnastics common in the 1920s until worker's clubs were banned for political reasons in 1933 under the Nazi regime
FV Fußballverein Football Association
GmBH Gesellschaft mit beschräntker Haftung limited company or incorporation a standard legal designation that follows a club's name, typically used to identify a professional club
KSG Kriegsspielgemeinschaft Wartime Games Community in use during WWI and WWII
KV Kriegsvereinigung Wartime Association in use during WWI and WWII
LSV Luftwaffe Sportverein Air Force Sports Association in use during WWII
MTV Männer Turn-Verein Men's Gymnastics Association many German football clubs originated as gymnastics clubs
NSTG Nationalsozialistische Turngemeinde National Socialist Gymnastics Community A designation commonly used under the Nazi regime in occupied territories during World War II.
OSC Olympischer Sport-Club Olympic Sports Club
RSV Rasensportverein Field Sport Association
SB Sport Bund Sports Federation
SC Sport-Club Sports Club SC Freiburg
SG Sportgemeinschaft Sports Community
SK Sport-Klub Sports Club
SF Sportfreunde Sportfriends sometimes also abbreviated as Spfr.
Spfr. Sportfreunde Sportfriends sometimes also abbreviated as SF
SGV Sport- und Gesangsverein Sport and Singing Association
SpVgg Spielvereinigung Game Union SpVgg Greuther Fürth
SSV Spiel- und Sportverein Game and Sports Association
STC Sport- und Turn-Club Sport and Gymnastics Club
SuS Spiel- und Sport Game and Sport
SV Sportverein Sports Association Hamburger SV
Thorball Thorball Cricket a term created as a German-language replacement for the English word Cricket, although never widely adopted, it was used by some of the country's earliest clubs Berliner TuFC Elf
TBV Turn- und Ballspielverein Gymnastics and Ballgame Association
TSC Turn- und Sport-Club Gymnastics and Sports Club
TSF Turn- und Sportfreunde Gymnastics and Sportfriends
TSG Turn- und Sportgemeinde Gymnastics and Sports Community
TSG Turn- und Sportgemeinschaft Gymnastics and Sports Community TSG Hoffenheim
TSV Turn- und Sportverein Gymnastics and Sports Association TSV 1860 München
TuFC Thor- und Fussball Club Cricket and Football Club in use by early Berlin-based clubs
TuRa Turn- und Rasensport Gymnastics and Field Sports
Turn- Gymnastics many German football clubs originated as gymnastics clubs
TuS Turn- und Sportclub Gymnastics and Sports Club TuS Koblenz
TuSpo Turn- und Sportclub Gymnastics and Sports Club
TV Turnverein Gymnastics Association
VfB Verein für Bewegungsspiele Association for Movement Games VfB Stuttgart
Vgg Vereinigung Union
VfL Verein für Leibesübungen Association for Physical Exercise VfL Wolfsburg
VfR Verein für Rasensport Association for Field Sports
VfR Verein für Rasenspiele Association for Field Games VfR Mannheim
VSG Volkssport Gemeinschaft People's Sports Community
ZSG Zentrale Sportgemeinschaft Central Sports Community

Use of Dates

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German football clubs commonly include their date of establishment as part of their name, as in Hannover 96, which was established in 1896. This practice is considered an important part of a club's identity for several reasons. Sides established prior to World War II are referred to as Traditionsvereins (en:traditional clubs), a term which carries some prestige and recognizes the long history of a club and its connections to the roots of football or other sport in Germany or within a particular city or region.

The cachet associated with an early founding date and the desire to preserve the heritage of a club leads to the practice of using the earliest or multiple dates where two or more clubs are merged.

The use of a date may also distinguish between similarly named clubs within a city, such as a successor to an earlier failed side.

Many German football clubs claim founding dates that precede the 1863 date accepted for the historical origin of the modern game in England. Football came to Germany from England and spread quickly throughout the country in the 1880s and 1890s, eventually leading to the formation of the Deutscher Fussball Bund (DFB, en:German Football Association) in 1901. At that time sport in Germany was dominated by gymnastics (de: Turnen) and a myriad of gymnastics clubs already existed. As football grew in popularity many of these Turnverein formed football departments and the dates that are part of the names of their current day successors, which include football clubs and multi-sport clubs, simply reflect these pre-football origins. This is further illustrated in the frequent appearance of the term Turn in names of many German clubs: Turn- und Sportverein München von 1860 (commonly TSV 1860 Munich) was founded as a gymnastics and fitness club in 1860, but did not play football until 1899.

Villages, Cities, Regions

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Wuppertaler SV, St. Pauli, Bayern Munich

Common Nicknames

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Eintracht, Borussia/Preussen, Viktoria, Britannia, Alemannia/Germania colours, Kickers, Britannia, Thor

Club Mergers

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Wuppertaler SV

East German Naming Conventions

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Wartime Naming Conventions

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Kriegspielgemeinschaft, NTSG, Luftwaffe

Political and Religious Affiliations

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Arbeiter, DJK, Rot-Sport

Ethnic Identity

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English FC Dresden, Turkish clubs, Jewish clubs, Germans outside of Germany, former German territories, Germany/France