Atlas Delmenhorst

Atlas Delmenhorst is a German association football club from the city of Delmenhorst, Lower Saxony. They will play in the Regionalliga Nord in the 2020-21 season after winning promotion from the Oberliga Niedersachsen last season.

The club's greatest success has been to earn promotion to the tier three Regionalliga Nord in 1995, where it played for three seasons. The club has also made two appearances in the DFB-Pokal, the German Cup, first in 1980–81 and then again in 2019-20.

The club, formed in a merger in 1973, folded in 2002 after declaring insolvency but was reformed a decade later in 2012.

History

SV Atlas Delmenhorst was formed on 13 July 1973 when three local Delmenhorst clubs, FC Roland, VSK Bungerhof and SSV Delmenhorst, merged with the support of local building equipment manufacturer Atlas Weyhausen GmbH. The new club took up the stadium of SSV, built in 1930, the Stadion an der Dusternortstrase, as its home ground as FC Roland's was too small and VSK neither had a football team nor a stadium.

The new club quickly rose through the league system, winning promotion to the tier four Landesliga Niedersachsen in 1975. Atlas won this league as a freshly promoted side and moved up to the tier three Oberliga Nord for the 1976–77 season. The club played for six seasons in the league until 1983 when an eighteenth place finish meant relegation again. In between the club finished as high as fourth place in the league in 1979–80. It also made a single appearance in the DFB-Pokal for 1980–81, reaching the fourth round, eliminating 2. Bundesliga sides Rot-Weis Oberhausen and Kickers Offenbach on the way before being knocked-out by Borussia Monchengladbach.

Atlas was back in the highest league of Lower Saxony, the tier four Verbandsliga, from 1983 to 1986, taking out league titles in 1984 and 1986. It failed to win promotion to the Oberliga in 1984 but succeeded in 1986. After two difficult Oberliga seasons the club was relegated back to the Verband