SV Babelsberg 03 - last updated on 1 August 2008
(Courtesy of Johnny Beaufays)
Club name: Sport Verein Babelsberg 03 e.V.
Foundation: October 1st 1903
City: Babelsberg
Colours: Blue and black
Website: www.babelsberg03.de
Honours:
Bezirksliga Potsdam-Sud - 1 (1981)
Bezirksliga Potsdam - 1 (1973)
NOFV-Oberliga Nord - 2 (1997, 2007)
Verbandsliga Brandenburg - 1 (1996)
A bit of history:
Playing as SV Nowawes the team earned promotion in 1935 to the first tier Gauliga Berlin-Brandenburg, one of sixteen top flight divisions formed in the re-organization of German football under the Third Reich. The club was relegated after just three seasons of play at that level never finishing better than eighth in their ten team division. The club returned to the Gauliga as SpVgg Potsdam in 1943 and earned third and fourth place finishes in the two years before the end of World War II.
Following the war, occupying Allied authorities ordered the dissolution of all organizations in the country, including sports and football associations. The former membership of SpVgg was re-organized as SG Karl Marx Babelsberg in 1948 in the Soviet-occupied eastern half of the country. On 1 August 1949, they merged with the local club SG Drewitz and the following year were re-named BSG Motor Babelsberg.
The side was a perennial second division team in East Germany's DDR-Liga with the exception of short spells in third tier competition in 1968-71, 1972-73, and 1980-81. The club's record in league play and in regular FDGB Pokal (East German Cup) tournament appearances was undistinguished. Just prior to German re-unification the team again slipped from second division play.
On 10 December 1991 Motor adopted the name Sportverein Babelsberg 03. They remained a lower division side in the united Germany until breaking through to the Oberliga Nordost-Nord (IV) in 1996. The team's budget increased tenfold in the period from 1996 to 1999. They immediately captured the division title there and won promotion to the Regionalliga Nordost (III). A second place finish in 2001 in what had become the Regionalliga Nord (III) advanced the club to the 2. Bundesliga. SV also played its first DFB-Pokal (German Cup) matches in 2000 and 2001, but was eliminated in the early going.
Babelsberg's turn in the second division was a short one. They finished at the bottom of the table and by 2003-04 had fallen all they way back to Oberliga Nordost-Nord (IV). The club declared bankruptcy in 2003 but managed to continue playing through the adoption of a creditor supported bankruptcy plan. SV fielded strong sides and earned several top three finishes until a division title returned the club to the Regionalliga Nord (III) for the 2007-08 campaign.
Club crests: (roll on the crest to get more informations)
SV Babelsberg 03
