Forsaken BOCHUM

The club carries 1848 in its name from the founding of the Bochum gymnastics society from which it descends; football was taken up in 1911 and the present VfL was formed by a merger in 1938. Bochum have never won a major honour but spent decades as a Bundesliga fixture, reaching the German Cup final twice and the UEFA Cup quarter-final in 1997. The Ruhrstadion has been home since 1979.