ASV Cham

The ASV Cham is a German association football club from the city of Cham, Bavaria. The club's most notable achievement was playing in the second division from 1950 to 1962.

History

The ASV Cham was formed as a gymnastics club in 1863, under the name of TV Cham, which joined the local Freiwillige Feuerwehr in 1869 and was not refounded until 1880. TV established a football department in 1919 and, in 1925, SC Olympia Cham merged with the club. The footballers went independent as FC Chambia Cham in 1927, but rejoined the club in 1930.

After the Second World War, TV was joined by another club, FC Cham, adopting the current name, ASV Cham. The new club almost immediately enjoyed some success, earning promotion to the Landesliga Bayern (II) in 1949 by winning its local Oberpfalz league and then coming first in the promotion round.

The 1949–50 season of the Landesliga was to be the last for the league as a new second division for the region, the 2nd Oberliga Sud, was to be formed. To qualify for this league, Cham had to finish in the top-five of the division, which it did, despite an equal win-loss record. After only one season in the Landesliga, the club had earned promotion to the 2nd Oberliga alongside 1. FC Bamberg, FC Bayern Hof, TSV Straubing and FC Wacker Munchen.

ASV was to become the second-longest serving club in this league, behind 1. FC Pforzheim, who played every season of it, and equal to SV Wiesbaden, who, like Cham played all but one.

In the first season of the new 2nd Oberliga, 1950–51, ASV achieved a very respectable fifth place, four points behind a promotion rank. The following season, the team only managed a 13th place but stayed well clear of the relegation ranks in points. The 1952–53 season saw a repeat of this result but this time, relegation was only avoided by four points. The 1953–54 and 1954–55 seasons saw the club continue to struggle but in 1955–56, it retur