FC 08 Homburg

In February 1913 they were renamed Fussballverein Homburg and went on to take the local championship that season. By the mid-1920s the side was playing second-division football, but folded on 27 August 1936. A new multi-sport club known as VfL Homburg was formed 5 March 1937 out of a group of local sides that included Turnverein 1878 Homburg, Schwimmverein Homburg, Kraftsportverein Homburg, Boxclub Homburg, Tennis-Club Homburg, as well as the former membership of the defunct FV. The footballers again took up play in second-tier competition and failed in two attempts (1938, 1941) to win their way through the regional promotion playoff to the first division Gauliga Südwest.

After World War II, Allied occupation authorities dissolved all types of associations in Germany, including football clubs. The club was soon re-constituted as Sportverein Homburg and captured a division championship in the Amateurliga Saarland (III) in 1948 before resuming the name FC Homburg in January 1949.

Historical chart of FC Homburg league performance

The Saarland was occupied by the French who made various efforts to see the state become independent of Germany or join France. In sport this was manifested as separate 1952 Olympic and 1954 World Cup teams for Saarland, the establishment of a short-lived football league for the state, and the German club 1. FC Saarbrücken playing in the French second division. Homburg played in the Saarland Ehrenliga from 1949 to 1951 as FC Homburg-Saar. By the time of the 1951–52 season the return of German teams to the German Football Association had been negotiated: the Ehrenliga faded away and by 1956 the independent Saarland Fussball Bund had re-joined the DFB.

A second Amateurliga Saarland title in 1957 advanced FC to the 2. Liga-Südwest (II) and in December of that year they adopted the name FC 08 Homburg/Saar. The club was relegated to the Amateurliga in 1960 which had become a fourth-tier circuit by 1963.

In the late 1970s the team advanced to the quarter-finals of the DFB-Pokal on two occasions, and on into the early 1980s moved frequently between third- and fourth-tier play. Then, in the second half of the decade, they enjoyed their greatest success. They played their way back to the second division and on into the Bundesliga in 1986. Homburg played two seasons there, were relegated, and returned for one final Bundesliga season in 1989–90 before beginning a gradual descent which would lead them to Oberliga Südwest (IV) where they play today.

The club had a moment of glory in 1991 when it beat FC Bayern Munich in Munich 4–2 after extra time in the first round of the 1991–92 DFB-Pokal.[2] They were relegated from the 2. Bundesliga after the 1994–95 season.

Along the way the club had a couple of misadventures. In 1988, the DFB prohibited the team from wearing the sponsorship logo of a condom manufacturer on ethical and moral grounds. In 1998, they entered into an agreement with 1. FC Saarbrücken to loan players to that team to help ease Homburg's financial pinch. Despite this, in 1999, the club had a brush with bankruptcy that led to their being denied a license to play in the Regionalliga West/Südwest (III) and demotion to the Oberliga Südwest (IV). The club qualified for the 2006–07 German Cup and went out in the first round 1–2 to Bundesliga side VfL Bochum. Homburg was finally promoted to Regionalliga West after finishing atop the Oberliga Südwest ahead of FK Pirmasens on a goal differential of plus 2 in the 2009–10 season. Their Regionalliga cameo ended with a 17th place finish and a return to fifth tier play. Homburg immediately bounced back by capturing the Oberliga Südwest title and qualifying for the Regionalliga Südwest (IV) for 2012–13.

The club's honours:

Recent managers of the club:[3]

Manager	Start	Finish
Christian Hock	14 November 2010	21 April 2011
Taifour Diane	22 April 2011	30 June 2011
Christian Titz	1 July 2011	10 April 2014
Sebastian Stache	7 April 2014	21 April 2014
Robert Jung	22 April 2014	30 June 2014
Jens Kiefer	1 July 2014	14 April 2017
Jürgen Luginger	17 April 2017	30 June 2020
Matthias Mink	1 July 2020	17 February 2021
Joti Stamatopoulos	18 February 2021	8 March 2021
Timo Wenzel	9 March 2021	23 April 2023
Sven Sökler	24 April 2023	30 June 2023
Danny Schwarz	1 July 2023	-

The recent season-by-season performance of the club:[4][5][6]

• With the introduction of the Regionalligas in 1994 and the 3. Liga in 2008 as the new third tier, below the 2. Bundesliga, all leagues below dropped one tier. In 2012, the number of Regionalligas was increased from three to five with all Regionalliga West clubs from the Saarland and Rhineland-Palatinate entering the new Regionalliga Südwest.

As of 25 August 2023[7]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  GER Jakob Mayer (on loan from Bayern Munich II) 12 GK  GER Tom Kretzschmar 28 GK  GER Niklas Knichel 3 DF  GER Dennis Lippert 4 DF  GER Felix Weber 5 DF  GHA Raphael Akoto 6 DF  GER Tim Stegerer 8 DF  GER Max Dombrowka 22 DF  GER Benjamin Kirchhoff 25 DF  GER Lukas Hoffmann 26 DF  GER Tim Steinmetz 30 DF  GER Michael Heilig 32 DF  GER Reber Kazik 7 MF  GER Arman Ardestani 10 MF  GER Luke Quirin

No. Pos. Nation Player 11 MF  GER Markus Mendler 13 MF  GER Philip Hoffman 17 MF  KOS Fanol Përdedaj 18 MF  GER Dominic Smith 20 MF  GER Mike Gilcher 24 MF  GER Nico Theisinger 27 MF  GER Ivan Knezovic 29 MF  GER Mart Ristl 31 MF  GER Nicolas Jorg 9 FW  GER Phil Harris 16 FW  GER Angelos Stavridis (on loan from 1. FC Kaiserslautern) 19 FW  GER David Hummel 22 FW  GER Patrick Weihrauch 23 FW  GER Fabian Eisele

• Official website (in German)
• The Abseits Guide to German Soccer
• FC 08 Homburg at Weltfussball.de
• Das deutsche Fußball-Archiv historical German domestic league tables (in German)