LFC Berlin

LFC Berlin
Full name	Lichterfelder Football Club Berlin 1892 e. V.
place	Berlin-Lichterfelde
Founded	March 20, 1892
Dissolved	30th of June 2013
Club colors	black White Red
Stadion	Lichterfelde stadium
Top league	Regionalliga Berlin
successes	Berlin champion 2006
home Away

The Lichterfelder FC Berlin 1892 e. V. , LFC Berlin for short , was a football club from Berlin-Lichterfelde . The club recently had around 1,200 members and with almost 800 children and young people playing in over 40 teams each year, it was Germany's largest youth football division. The performance teams of LFC Berlin were represented in the divisions of the DFB regional association NOFV , the Oberliga Nord and the women's regional league . On July 1, 2013, the club and BFC Viktoria 1889 became part of FC Viktoria 1889 Berlin .

history

1892 to 1988 - The predecessor clubs of the LFC Berlin

Founding years

The origin of the LFC Berlin goes back to the FV Brandenburg 1892 , which was founded on March 20, 1892. On June 18, 1912, FC Lichterfelde 12 was founded , whose coat of arms with the 3 lights on the field has significantly shaped the coat of arms of today's club. With the Lichterfelder Sport-Union 1951 e. V. , LSU for short , was finally founded on February 15, 1951, the third and most successful pre-club of the LFC.

1951 to 1965 - The rapid rise of LSU

LSU logo

When LSU was founded in 1951, Lichterfelde 12 was the most successful club from Lichterfelde and played for many years in the Berlin Amateur League, the second highest division in West Berlin.

In the very first year, LSU was able to move up from the lowest of the five Berlin leagues at that time and leave district competitor Brandenburg 92 behind. In the following season, LSU almost managed to march through to the next higher league, but they had to admit defeat in the relegation games and only made promotion in 1959.

With the relegation of Lichterfelde 12 from the amateur league and the rise of Brandenburg 92 in the following years, all three clubs competed in a league for the first time in the 1961/62 season. It should also remain the only season, because LSU made it to the Berlin Amateur League that year.

LSU played successfully in the top half of the table in the following three years and, in the 1964/65 season, benefited from a restructuring in the German league system with a 6th place, made the jump into the new Regionalliga Berlin and thus into paid football.

1965 to 1971 - Disillusionment at LSU and the merger to form BraLi

BraLi logo

After a very good start with two wins in what was then the second-highest German division and the lead in the table in the meantime, it quickly became clear in the course of the first season that LSU was only concerned with staying up in the regional league . With a 13th place you could still celebrate the non-relegation in the 1965/66 season, but in the following year the Lichterfelder went back down to the amateur league, which they could not keep in 1967/68 and thus passed through to the A-class has been.

But not much has come together at the other two clubs in recent years. So on June 4, 1971, the first merger of two Lichterfeld clubs took place. FV Brandenburg 1892 and FC Lichterfelde 12 joined forces to form the Brandenburg-Lichterfelde Football Association , or BraLi for short , in order to increase the level of play and to create better organizational structures.

1971 to 1978 - LSU and BraLi in lockstep

Both clubs, BraLi and LSU, were now facing a fresh start, with LSU being classified as higher. But they played against relegation at LSU for the next two years, but were able to avoid it. BraLi, on the other hand, achieved a respectable 4th place in the A-Class in the second year after the merger, which was repeated in the following season 1973/74. Due to the introduction of the 2nd Bundesliga , this placement was sufficient for promotion to the Berlin amateur league. Two years later, LSU was to follow suit.

In 1975, however, another success story was to begin. BraLi recognized the signs of the times and for the first time registered a women's and girls' team to play.

BraLi and the LSU team, which was promoted in 1976, played successfully in the amateur league in the following two years and jointly made it to the Berlin amateur league in the 1977/78 season . As last year's semi-finalist in the Berliner Landespokal , LSU was also the first Lichterfeld club to take part in the DFB-Pokal in 1977/78, but had to lose in the first main round after a draw in the first game in the replay against Alemannia Plaidt.

1978 to 1988 - 10 years of the amateur league and the merger to form VfB Lichterfelde

With the rise you had now arrived in the amateur upper league Berlin , the highest Berlin and third highest German division and met the big rival from the Berlin main district of Steglitz, the BFC Preussen , who in the following years the amateur upper league and the Berlin State Cup should dominate.

The first season should be groundbreaking for both teams in this league. LSU was able to assert itself from the start and achieved a good 5th place in the first season and even played for the championship in the second year, but gambled it away with a defeat on the last matchday and thus the opportunity to participate in the relegation round to the 2nd Bundesliga and was only runner-up behind the Prussians. BraLi, however, was immediately drawn into the relegation battle and finally had to go down after two years of service.

After BraLi's relegation to the amateur league, now known as the state league, LSU had only one district neighbor as a competitor, BFC Preussen, which was able to repeat the Berlin double of championship and cup victory in 1981. In the following years, however, both teams played only in the middle of the league, with the exception of the 1984 season when LSU was able to play through to the Berlin Cup final, but lost to the later Bundesliga club Blau-Weiß 90 Berlin .

It was not until 1986 that the BraLi team managed to climb back up to the amateur league and take part in the Berlin championship in 1986/87, but it was only to be a one-year interlude. Due to a lack of budgets, LSU was also drawn into the relegation battle for the first time in many years, so that BraLi and LSU had initial talks about a merger during the season.

Through the renewed descent of BraLi, the talks were accelerated, because the league affiliation of LSU would allow the new Lichterfelder large club to play in the Oberliga Berlin in the future. But the 1987/88 season should not go as hoped. LSU had to relegate to the fourth division for the second time after ten years of membership in the amateur league and after 1968. Now all hope was on BraLi, who played for a long time in the national league for promotion, but ultimately only finished third and thus just missed promotion to the top division. Thus the VfB Lichterfelde 1892 e. Founded on June 2nd, 1988 . V. start in the regional league.

1988 to today - The LFC Berlin (initially VfB Lichterfelde)

1988 to 1998 - The fall of the wall and its consequences

VfB logo

In the first year after the merger, the new club managed to achieve its goal and move up to the Berlin upper house. The same was achieved by the women's team, which from then on played in the Association League Berlin.

The 1989/90 season ended positively for the teams, because both men and women were able to convince with good placements in their leagues. But this season was positively overshadowed by a more important event, the fall of the Berlin Wall. When reunification followed the following year, it was clear that there would be changes in German football and for VfB Lichterfelde.

1991/92 the first season took place under the new regional association NOFV . For many clubs from Berlin there was a novelty and for the first time they had to leave the borders of Berlin for some away games. For example, VfB's trips took the men to 1. FC Magdeburg and Energie Cottbus and the women to Hansa Rostock and Turbine Potsdam .

In the following two years the club was able to hold the NOFV-Oberliga Mitte for men , but unfortunately the women's team had to be withdrawn after the 1992/93 season in the newly founded Women's Regionalliga Nordost for financial reasons and henceforth started again in the Verbandsliga Berlin . With the reintroduction of the men's regional league, this time as the third division, VfB Lichterfelde had to compete in the fourth division for the first time since the merger. But they continued to play on a supraregional level in the NOFV-Oberliga Nord and that in the first two years quite successfully, but also with a lot of bad luck. In 1994/95 and 1995/96 they were both runner-up and missed promotion to the regional league by a very short margin, but in the following years they sank into the league's mediocrity.

Nevertheless, they made the leap to the Berlin Cup final in the 1997/98 season and met the newly promoted to the 2nd Bundesliga , Tennis Borussia . Despite the defeat in the final, the VfB Lichterfelde were very happy because, due to the rise of TeBe, they qualified for the DFB Cup for the first time after LSU in 1977 . VfB was also lucky to get a top club from the Bundesliga with FC Schalke 04 and therefore had to play the game in the Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark . 4,500 spectators appeared for this game and got to see a 6-0 defeat, as expected, with fields of lights that were still not attached.

1998 to 2004 - Through the ages

In the same year VfB began to think about restructuring the club. For the first time in history, a president was up for election. Rainer Rotter initially refused, but two years later took over the office of President. When he took office, some changes should take place in and around the association.

The first plan was to build the Rotter Sport Casino , which was completed on June 8, 2001 and has since served as a sports restaurant with events and a VIP lounge for home games. Subsequently, a merger with another South Berlin club was planned, but this failed because the boards of both clubs could not agree.

Now VfB had to and wanted to break new ground in order to optimize the work of the board and to make the club popular across the region. As a first step, the organization of the association was restructured by installing the first full-time employees in the office and thinking about a name change.

It was not until the 2002/03 season that there were sporting events worth mentioning again. The women's team was able to celebrate its return to the Verbandsliga Berlin, after having had to compete even lower-class for a few years. But there were not only positive things to report, because in the following year the men's team had to say goodbye after ten years of membership in the fourth-class NOFV-Oberliga Nord and take the aisle down and compete in the Verbandsliga Berlin .

Now the club was facing a new sporting start and this also symbolized the renaming of the club to Lichterfelder FC Berlin 1892 e. V. on June 7, 2004.

2004 to 2013 - relegation battle in the fifth division and merger

Already in the first season after the renaming, the club was able to celebrate its first successes. With the Berlin championship in 2005, the women managed to return to the third-class women's regional league , after the team had been withdrawn from this league in 1993. But the gentlemen did not want to be inferior either. Exactly one year after the women’s championship, the men were also allowed to call themselves Berlin champions and thus rose again to the NOFV-Oberliga Nord in 2006 after a two-year absence .

Favored by the successes, the restructuring of the association was pushed further and the construction of a new office planned, which should enable professional work for the full-time and volunteer employees. On August 31, 2007, the official inauguration of the new LFC Berlin office, the Rotter Sport-Center , in which the multi-disciplinary club TuS Lichterfelde has also been given premises for management.

Due to the league reform of the DFB and the introduction of the 3rd division , the LFC Berlin has been playing in the now only fifth class NOFV Oberliga Nord since the 2008/09 season.

The women's regional league team won the Berlin State Cup in the 2009/10 season and thus qualified for the DFB Cup the following season. After a surprising 2-1 victory against second division club 1. FFC Recklinghausen , LFC Berlin got a dream ticket. The Champions League winner Turbine Potsdam was a guest in the second round of the DFB Cup . As expected, they lost the game 8-0, but this was the greatest success in the history of women's football after promotion to the regional league.

In the 2011/12 season, LFC Berlin took part in the NOFV Oberliga for the 20th time and has been an integral part of this league with the exception of two years. The season turned out to be a disaster. The club was penultimate in the table with only five points despite 22 goals scored. Only because of the voluntary withdrawal of the sixth SV Germania 90 Schöneiche in the Brandenburg League , the Lichterfelder did not have to relegate.

In March 2013, in a season in which the club would have been relegated as the 14th of 16 participants, it was announced that a merger with BFC Viktoria 1889 is planned for the 2013/14 season . The new club would compete under the name FC Viktoria 1889 Berlin , keep the previous venues of both clubs and continue to refer to their successes. The aim of the merger is to create a large club that is to advance to number three in Berlin football behind Hertha BSC and 1. FC Union Berlin . In May, the members of both associations each approved the merger, which was completed on July 1, 2013. Since the BFC Viktoria was promoted in the past season in contrast to the relegation of the merger partner as one of the relay champions of the Oberliga Nordost in the Regionalliga Nordost , the new club will compete in the fourth-class regional league in the 2013/14 season .

Men's

Greatest successes

Affiliation 2nd league - Regionalliga Berlin 1965/66 *, 1966/67 * Vice-
champion NOFV-Oberliga Nord 1995, 1996
Berlin champions 2006
Berlin vice-champions 1980 *

DFB-Pokal 1st main round 1977/78 * (2: 2 and 1: 3 against Alemannia Plaidt), 1998/99 (0: 6 against FC Schalke 04 )
finalist in the Berlin State Cup 1984 *, 1998

* as the Lichterfelder Sport-Union

Former players

• Lars Christopher Vilsvik (2006-2010), was Norwegian Cup winner 2010 with Strømsgodset IF , current national player of Norway
• Michél Mazingu-Dinzey (1992–1994), played 33 times for the Congolese national team and played 167 games in the 1st and 2nd Bundesliga
• Wolfgang Matthies (1990–1992), goalkeeping legend of 1. FC Union Berlin ended his playing career with LFC Berlin

Women

Placements in recent years

season	League (class)	space	S.	U	N	Gates	difference	Points	Berlin State Cup
2004/05	Association League Berlin (4)	1.	21st	1	4th	71:12	59	64
2005/06	NOFV Women's Regional League (3)	6th	8th	4th	10	31:33	−2	28
2006/07	NOFV women's regional league	7th	7th	4th	11	38:38	0	25th	final
2007/08	NOFV women's regional league	7th	7th	6th	9	20:23	−3	27
2008/09	NOFV women's regional league	4th	13	3	6th	49:21	28	42	Round of 16
2009/10	NOFV women's regional league	3.	14th	4th	4th	58:24	34	46	Cup winners
2010/11	NOFV women's regional league	4th	13	1	6th	40:19	21st	40	Semifinals
2011/12	NOFV women's regional league	3.	15th	3	4th	70:24	46	48	2nd round
Note: Playing times with a green background indicate an ascent, while playing times with a red background indicate a descent.

Greatest successes

Berlin champions 2005

DFB-Pokal women : 2nd main round 2010/11 (2: 1 against 1. FFC Recklinghausen , 0: 8 against Turbine Potsdam )
Berlin cup winner 2010
Berlin cup finalist 1989, 2007

youth

Awards

Sepp Herberger Prize 1990, 2003
Dresdner Bank Green Belt 2004
Bronze Star of Sports 2006, 2008
"Teamplayer" campaign by LSB Berlin 2008

Former youth players

• Patrick Breitkreuz , current Energie Cottbus player
• Steve Breitkreuz , current player at FC Erzgebirge Aue
• Felicio Brown Forbes , current player at Arsenal Tula
• Shervin Radjabali-Fardi , currently without a club

Stadion

The Lichterfelder FC plays its home games at the Lichterfelde stadium in Berlin-Lichterfelde . The stadium has 4,300 seats, 800 of which are covered and 1,000 are uncovered.

Construction of the stadium, inaugurated on June 16, 1929, began in 1926. The cost at that time was 1.3 million Reichsmarks. The showpiece of the facility is the main grandstand with a cantilevered iron construction and the roof, which is curved in a semicircle. From 1933 to 1945 the facility was known as the Adolf Hitler Stadium and was used as a training facility during the 1936 Olympic Games . During the Second World War, the stadium was badly damaged. After the end of the war, the playing area was used as a potato field. It was not until April 1952 that all damage was repaired.

At the beginning of the 1980s, the entire system was renovated for five million DM and a floodlight system was installed. A modern synthetic membrane followed in the 1990s.

During the 2006 World Cup in Germany, the stadium was intended as a training facility for Brazil and Croatia. The official World Cup turf was laid. Because of the expected large number of fans, the Brazilian national team decided not to take part in the training sessions at the Lichterfelde stadium and instead trained on the Hertha BSC site. The Swedish national team, however, trained on June 29, 2006 as part of the World Cup in the Lichterfeld stadium.

On March 23, 2007, the stadium was sold out for the first time since the war during a friendship game against Hertha BSC .

literature

• Board of Directors of VfB Lichterfelde 1892 e. V. (Hrsg.): Festschrift for the 100th anniversary of VfB Lichterfelde 1892 e. V.
• Annual overview LSU / VfB Lichterfelde / LFC Berlin 1951-2006 . In: LFC Berlin 1892 e. V. (Ed.): LFC News, Vol. 32, edition 3/2006 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Ulrich Brüggemann, Christoph Schulte-Kaubrügger: Two clubs. A future. (PDF) BFC Viktoria 1889 eV, March 2, 2013, accessed on March 15, 2013 . 
2. ↑ Sebastian Stier: A new large association for Berlin. In: Der Tagesspiegel . March 2, 2013, accessed May 14, 2013 . 
3. ↑ Viktoria members vote for Fusion  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . viktoria-berlin.de, May 24, 2013.  
4. ↑ LFC votes for merger with Viktoria . lfc-berlin.de, May 28, 2013