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
[edit]| 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
[edit]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
[edit]Wuppertaler SV, St. Pauli, Bayern Munich
Common Nicknames
[edit]Eintracht, Borussia/Preussen, Viktoria, Britannia, Alemannia/Germania colours, Kickers, Britannia, Thor
Club Mergers
[edit]Wuppertaler SV
East German Naming Conventions
[edit]Wartime Naming Conventions
[edit]Kriegspielgemeinschaft, NTSG, Luftwaffe
Political and Religious Affiliations
[edit]Arbeiter, DJK, Rot-Sport
Ethnic Identity
[edit]English FC Dresden, Turkish clubs, Jewish clubs, Germans outside of Germany, former German territories, Germany/France