TSV Kottern

TSV Kottern is a German association football club from Kottern in Kempten, Bavaria.

History

The team was established on 15 September 1925 as Freier Fusballclub Kottern as a worker's sports club. The club was broken up as politically undesirable under the Nazi regime and the membership became part of Turn- und Sportverein Kottern, founded in 1874, as that association's football department. The side played in the senior local level A-Klasse competition throughout the 30s and on into the mid-40s.

Following World War II Kottern played in the Kreisliga Schwaben-Sud where they won a title in 1947 but could not accept promotion due to the bad transport situation in the post war days, making travelling to away games very difficult. They won a second title in 1953 and advanced to the Landesliga Bayern (III), the top-level competition in the state, where they played from 1954 to 1963, with the exception of the 1959–60 season. German football was re-structured with the formation of the Bundesliga in 1963, and TSV was sent down to the Bezirksliga Schwaben-Sud (V), where the club remained in the coming seasons. Kottern found itself relegated to the A-Klasse Sud in 1970 and 1978 but both times returned to the Bezirksliga shortly after.

In October 1971, the club TSV Kottern merged with the TSV St. Mang to form TSV Kottern-St. Mang.

The club became part of the newly formed Bezirksoberliga Schwaben (VI) in 1987, and after slipping briefly in 1990, returned to capture the division in 1993 and win promotion to the Landesliga Bayern-Sud (V) for a three-season turn.

For the 2007–08 season, Kottern was back in the Bezirksoberliga and found itself struggling in the relegation zone. The club terminated its manager, Uwe Zenkner, on 3 December 2007 and hired Bernd Kunze in the hope of improving its situation, the move paying off with a ninth-place finish at the end of season. Another Bezirksoberliga title in 2010 took the club back to the Landesliga.

At the end of the 2011–12 season the