Sportfreunde Oesede

Sportfreunde Oesede (officially: Sportfreunde Oesede – Georgsmarienhütte e.V.) is a German football club based in Georgsmarienhütte, Lower Saxony. The club's first team played in the highest amateur league of Lower Saxony between 1953 and 1958 and participated in the DFB-Pokal once.

History
The club was founded in 1921 and only played at the local level until the end of World War II. In 1949, Sportfreunde were among the founding members of the then third-class Amateurliga 2 (Amateur League 2). In 1953, the team won the championship and gained promotion to the Amateuroberliga Niedersachsen-West (Upper Amateur League of Lower Saxony West). Two years later, the club achieved its best placement of this era, finishing seventh. This period ended in 1958 with the club's relegation as the last-placed team.

Until the dissolution of the Amateurliga Niedersachsen (Amateur League of Lower Saxony) in 1964, Sportfreunde played in the Amateurliga 8. The qualification for the newly created Verbandsliga West (Regional League West) was missed, and the club had to continue playing in the Bezirksliga Osnabrück (District League Osnabrück). It was not until 1974 that Sportfreunde gained promotion to the Verbandsliga West. After four years, they were relegated back to the district level, before qualifying for the Bezirksliga Weser-Ems Süd (District League Weser-Ems South) in 1979. Two years later, Sportfreunde were relegated to the Bezirksklasse (District Class).

After finishing as runners-up in 1983, the club managed to gain promotion to the Bezirksliga (District League) the following year. There, the became runners-up in 1985, narrowly missing out on promotion. A year later, they finished as runners-up again, this time behind the second team of VfB Oldenburg. In 1988, under coach Herbert Mühlenberg, the club finally gained promotion to the Bezirksoberliga Weser-Ems (District Premier League Weser-Ems), before earning a further promotion to the fifth-tier Landesliga West (State League West) the following year. In 1992, the team narrowly missed out on the league title under coach Vitomir Rogoznica. Two years later, Sportfreunde qualified for the Oberliga Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony Premier League). Also in 1994, the team first won the district cup with a 4:2 win against Amisia Papenburg and later the Niedersachsencup. This qualified them for the DFB Pokal. In front of 13,000 spectators at the Osnabrücker Bremer Brücke, Sportfreunde, coached by former international player Erwin Kostedde, lost 1:6 in the first round to Bundesliga club Karlsruher SC.

In the 1995/96 season, Sportfreunde reached their sporting zenith with fourth place in the Lower Saxony League West. A year later, there was a major break when the board was no longer willing to finance high-paying football. Halfway through the season, the entire team was given permission to change clubs. With just twelve points and 113 goals conceded, Sportfreunde were relegated as bottom of the table in the 1996/97 season and were relegated to the lower division in the following 1997/98 regional league season, in which the team remained winless. After being relegated for the third time in a row, Sportfreunde Oesede finally reached the district league in 1999. The low point of the 1998/99 district league season was a 0:11 defeat at TV Dinklage. But in 2001, Sportfreunde were runners-up in the district league behind Eintracht Neuenkirchen, but failed in the promotion round against BV Essen. One year later, the team was promoted to the district league, which was followed in 2003 by promotion to the Weser/Ems regional league.

The team only narrowly missed out on a third promotion in a row, but Sportfreunde Oesede finished third in the 2003/04 season, two points behind champions VfL Oldenburg. Five years later, the team was relegated from the league, which had since been renamed the Bezirksoberliga Weser/Ems, and voluntarily withdrew to the Kreisliga Osnabrück-Land, Group South. The reason for this was the departure of almost the entire team. The previous second team of Sportfreunde became the new first team.