TSG Backnang 1919

The TSG Backnang was formed on 9 May 1846 as a gymnastics club.

Independently from this club, the FV Backnang formed in 1919 as a football club.[2] It existed as such until the end of the Second World War, when the occupation authorities banned all pre-war sport associations and new ones had to be formed. In Backnang, the Sportvereinigung Backnang was formed, which included a number of pre-war associations, including the footballers. Eventually, the club returned to the original name of the gymnastics club, TSG.

The club did not break through to the higher reaches of German football until 1965, when it earned promotion to the tier-three Amateurliga Nordwürttemberg, where it finished fifth in its first season.[3] The year after, the TSG came second in the league, behind the VfB Stuttgart Amateure, the second team of VfB which was not entitled to promotion to the professional Regionalliga Süd. It was therefore TSG Backnang who took their place in the promotion round, where the team finished first on equal points with the Offenburger FV. In a promotion decider, TSG won 1–0 and earned promotion to the second division.[4]

On 21 November 1967, the club separated into four independent departments, one of them the football department. The reason for this was the promotion of the football team to the Regionalliga, a professional league, which had financial and legal implications for the club that the other departments did not want to carry.[5] TSG only lasted for one season on the professional level, finishing second-last and being relegated back to the Amateurliga again.[6] It came third in its first season back in the Amateurliga in 1968–69, after this it became a mid-table side in the league in the following seasons. After a number of good years, the TSG finished 16th in the league in 1976 and was relegated to the fourth tier.[7]

After this, TSG Backnang disappeared into the lower amateur leagues until 1983, playing in the Landesliga Württemberg-Staffel 1 (V), when it achieved promotion to the tier-four Verbandsliga Württemberg. It played at this level for nine seasons, before being relegated again, without truly coming close to promotion to the Oberliga Baden-Württemberg. In 1991, the club won the Württemberg Cup, beating SSV Reutlingen 1–0. After a three-year absence, it returned to the Verbandsliga in 1995, played there for three years, after which they were relegated again.

TSG made one more return to the Verbandsliga for the 2003–04 season but was relegated again immediately. After that, the club played in the Landesliga Württemberg-Staffel 1 as an upper table side until winning the league in 2014 and earning promotion back to the Verbandsliga.

The club is famous for having a single ultra, named Nico.

The club's honours:

The recent season-by-season performance of the club:[8][9]

• 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.

• Official team site
• Das deutsche Fußball-Archiv historical German domestic league tables (in German)