SSV Reutlingen 05

SSV Reutlingen 05 is a German association football club from Reutlingen, Baden-Wurttemberg.

History

The club was founded as FC Arminia Reutlingen and was renamed SV Reutlingen 1905 in 1910. The club fused with 1. Schwimmverein 1911 to form the current side in 1938.

Reutlingen became a decent regional side in the years after World War II, two second-place finishes in the Oberliga (I) in 1950 and 1955 being the highlight, and earned a place in the second tier Regionalliga Sud in 1963 when Germany's new top flight professional league, the Bundesliga, was formed. After a second-place finish in their division in 1965, SSV took part in the Bundesliga promotion rounds, where they faced Bayern Munich and Borussia Monchengladbach for the right to make their Bundesliga debut. Reutlingen were held to a 1–1 draw against Monchengladbach on their home ground, but were crushed 7–0 away, and finished a point behind them in their group.

Reutlingen continued to play second division football until the early 1970s when they dropped into the Amateur Oberliga Baden-Wurttemberg (III), briefly even falling to fourth-tier Verbandsliga Wurttemberg. They spent most of the next two-and-a-half decades at the third level before playing their way back to the second tier on the strength of a first-place finish in their division that began with a sixteen-game winning streak to open the season. Their three-year adventure in the 2. Bundesliga ended in 2003 after the team was penalised six points for financial irregularities the previous year. They were then denied a licence to play in the third division Regionalliga Sud and were forced down to Oberliga Baden-Wurttemberg (IV).

The team finished in first place in the Oberliga Baden-Wurttemberg in 2005–06 and returned to the Regionalliga Sud (III) for the 2006–07 season. SSV remained in the third division for two years, narrowly missing promotion into the newly formed 3. Liga at the end of the 2007–08 campaign. Without a place in this new national league, the Null