User:Wiggy!/naming conventions

Commonly used conventions have emerged over time in the naming of German football clubs. While there is no hard and fast set of rules, the name of a German football club will typically include an acronym describing the type of organization it is, the name of the district, city or region the team is from and the year of the foundation of the club. It is not uncommon for a club that was formed out of a merger of two or more clubs to carry multiple acronyms or dates in its name.

Use of Dates
German football clubs commonly include their date of establishment as part of their name, as in Hannover 96, which was established in 1896. This practice is considered an important part of a club's identity for several reasons. Sides established prior to World War II are referred to as Traditionsvereins (en:traditional clubs), a term which carries some prestige and recognizes the long history of a club and its connections to the roots of football or other sport in Germany or within a particular city or region.

The cachet associated with an early founding date and the desire to preserve the heritage of a club leads to the practice of using the earliest or multiple dates where two or more clubs are merged.

The use of a date may also distinguish between similarly named clubs within a city, such as a successor to an earlier failed side.

Many German football clubs claim founding dates that precede the 1863 date accepted for the historical origin of the modern game in England. Football came to Germany from England and spread quickly throughout the country in the 1880s and 1890s, eventually leading to the formation of the Deutscher Fussball Bund (DFB, en:German Football Association) in 1901. At that time sport in Germany was dominated by gymnastics (de: Turnen) and a myriad of gymnastics clubs already existed. As football grew in popularity many of these Turnverein formed football departments and the dates that are part of the names of their current day successors, which include football clubs and multi-sport clubs, simply reflect these pre-football origins. This is further illustrated in the frequent appearance of the term Turn in names of many German clubs: Turn- und Sportverein München von 1860 (commonly TSV 1860 Munich) was founded as a gymnastics and fitness club in 1860, but did not play football until 1899.

Villages, Cities, Regions
Wuppertaler SV, St. Pauli, Bayern Munich

Common Nicknames
Eintracht, Borussia/Preussen, Viktoria, Britannia, Alemannia/Germania colours, Kickers, Britannia, Thor

Club Mergers
Wuppertaler SV

Wartime Naming Conventions
Kriegspielgemeinschaft, NTSG, Luftwaffe

Political and Religious Affiliations
Arbeiter, DJK, Rot-Sport

Ethnic Identity
English FC Dresden, Turkish clubs, Jewish clubs, Germans outside of Germany, former German territories, Germany/France