VfL Wolfsburg

logo
Full name	Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg
Nickname(s)	Die Wölfe (Wolves) Radkappen (Wheel Covers)
Founded	September 12, 1945; 66 years ago  (1945-09-12)
Ground	Volkswagen Arena (Capacity: 30,000)
Owner	Volkswagen AG
President	Dr. Francisco Javier García Sanz
Manager	Felix Magath
League	Bundesliga
2011–12	Bundesliga, 8th
Website	Club home page
Home colours Away colours colours
Current season

VfL Wolfsburg is a professional German association football club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, who play in the Bundesliga football competition. Wolfsburg have won the Bundesliga once in their history, in the 2008–09 season, and were DFB-Pokal runners-up in 1995. The current head coach is Felix Magath. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of Wolfsburg and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Volkswagen Group.^[1][2]

History[link]

A new team in a new city[link]

The city of Wolfsburg was founded in 1938 as Stadt des KdF-Wagen to house autoworkers building the car which would later become famous as the Volkswagen Beetle. The first football club affiliated with the autoworks was known as BSG Volkswagenwerk Stadt des KdF-Wagen, a works team. This team played in the first division Gauliga Osthannover in the 1943–44 and 1944–45 seasons.

On 12 September 1945, in the aftermath of World War II, a new club was formed and was known briefly as VSK Wolfsburg. This side began play in the green and white still worn by VfL today: local youth trainer Bernd Elberskirch had ten green jerseys at his disposal and white bed sheets donated by the public were sewn together by local women to make shorts.

On 15 December 1945, the club went through a crisis that almost ended its existence when all but one of its players left to join 1. FC Wolfsburg. The only player remaining, Josef Meyer, worked with Willi Hilbert to rebuild the side by signing new players. The new group adopted the moniker VfL Wolfsburg, VfL standing for Verein für Leibesübungen. This can be translated as "club for gymnastics" or "club for exercises." Within a year they captured the local Gifhorn title. In late November 1946, the club played a friendly against longtime Gelsenkirchen powerhouse Schalke 04 at the stadium owned by Volkswagen, emerging as the successor to BSG as the company sponsored side.

Postwar play[link]

The club made slow but steady progress in the following seasons. They captured a number of amateur level championships, but were unable to advance out of the promotion playoffs until finally breaking through to the top tier Oberliga Nord in 1954 with a 2–1 victory over Heider SV. However, Wolfsburg struggled in the top flight, narrowly missing relegation each season until finally being sent down in 1959. When Germany's first professional football league – the Bundesliga – was formed in 1963, VfL was playing in the Regionalliga Nord (II) having just moved up from the Verbandesliga Niedersachsen (III).

Second division and advance to the Bundesliga[link]

Wolfsburg remained a second division fixture over the next dozen years with their best performance being a second place finish in 1970. That finish earned the club entry to the promotion round playoffs for the Bundesliga where they performed poorly and were unable to advance. From the mid-1970s through to the early 1990s Die Wölfe played as a third division side in the Amateur Oberliga Nord. Consecutive first place finishes in 1991 and 1992, followed by success in the promotion playoffs saw the club advance to the 2. Bundesliga for the 1992–93 season.

VfL continued to enjoy some success through the 1990s. The team advanced to the final of the German Cup in 1995 where they were beaten 0–3 by Borussia Mönchengladbach, but then went on to the top flight on the strength of a second place league finish in 1997.

Early predictions were that the club would immediately be sent back down, but instead, the Wolves developed into a mid-table Bundesliga side. In the 1998–99 season, Wolfsburg under Wolfgang Wolf, was holding the fifth place in the 33rd fixture, and they had hopes to reach the 4th place, and the UEFA Champions League participation. Losing 6–1 away to Duisburg in the final fixture, the Wolves finished in the 6th place with 55 points, and qualified to the UEFA Cup. They qualified for the Intertoto Cup in 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2005, enjoying their best run in 2003 by reaching the final where they lost to Italian side AC Perugia. This was followed by a couple of seasons of little success for the club when only narrowly avoiding relegation with two 15th place finishes in the 2005–06 and 2006–07 season.

2008–present[link]

Wolfsburg against Borussia Dortmund in May 2009

For the 2007–08 season the club hired former Bayern Munich manager Felix Magath, with whom they managed to finish an astonishing 5th place at the end of the season, the highest finish for the club at the time. This also enabled the Wolves to qualify for the UEFA Cup, for only the second time in their history.

In the 2008–09 season, under Magath, Wolfsburg claimed their biggest success by winning their first Bundesliga title after defeating Werder Bremen 5–1 on 23 May 2009. During this campaign, Wolfsburg equalled the longest winning streak in one Bundesliga season with 10 successive victories after the winter break. They also became the only team in the Bundesliga to have had two strikers scoring more than 20 goals each in one season, with Brazilian Grafite and Bosnian Edin Džeko achieving this feat in their title-winning season, scoring 28 and 26 respectively. As a result of their title win, Wolfsburg qualified for the UEFA Champions League for the first time in their history.

In the 2009–10 season, Wolfsburg dismissed their newly-appointed trainer Armin Veh after the winter break, due to lack of success, with the club sitting tenth in the league. In the Champions League they came third in their group, behind Manchester United and CSKA Moscow, losing the chance for a place in the competition's successive round. As a result, they qualified for the Round of 32 phase of the UEFA Europa League. They defeated Spanish side Villareal 6–3 on aggregate, and Russian champions Rubin Kazan 3–2. In the quarter finals they were however, beaten 3–1 by eventual finalists Fulham.

On 11 May 2010, the permanent head coach's position was filled by former England manager Steve McClaren. After having guided Twente to their first ever Dutch title he was rewarded by becoming the first ever English coach to be given the chance to manage a Bundesliga side. On 7 February 2011 it was announced that McClaren had been sacked and that Pierre Littbarski would be taking over.^[3] However, Wolfsburg lost for fourth time in five matches under him and they finally slipped into the relegation places.

On 18 March 2011, Wolfsburg confirmed that Felix Magath would return as head coach and sporting director, almost two years since he led them to the Bundesliga title and just two days after being fired from his position at Schalke 04. He signed a two-year contract with the club.^[4]

Honours[link]

Senior[link]

• Bundesliga:
  • Winners (1): 2008–09

• DFB-Pokal:
  • Runners-up (1): 1994–95

• German Amateur Football Championship:
  • Runners-up (1): 1963

• Regionalliga Nord (II):
  • Runners-up (1): 1970

• Amateuroberliga Niedersachsen-Ost (II):
  • Winners (3): 1952, 1954, 1963

• Oberliga Nord (III):
  • Winners (2): 1991, 1992, 2009, 2010
  • Runners-up (3): 1976, 1978, 1988

Youth[link]

• German Under 19 championship
  • Runners-up (1): 2008

• Under 19 Bundesliga North/Northeast
  • Winners (1): 2008

• Under 17 Bundesliga North/Northeast
  • Winners (1): 2009

Stadium[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Wolfsburg play at the Volkswagen Arena, which seats a total capacity of 30,000 spectators. Volkswagen Arena is a multi-purpose stadium in Wolfsburg, Germany and serves as the home stadium for 2008/09 Bundesliga champions VfL Wolfsburg. The Volkswagen Arena finished construction in 2002. Before completion, VfL Wolfsburg played their home games at the 20,500 capacity VfL-Stadium, where the amateur squad still plays. Currently the stadium is used mostly for the home games of VfL Wolfsburg, and is the site where they won their first Bundesliga title in the 2008-2009 season. Elton John, Anastacia and Bonnie Tyler performed their songs in the Volkswagen Arena

Players[link]

First team squad[link]

For recent transfers, see List of German football transfers summer 2011 and List of German football transfers winter 2011–12.

As of 3 January 2012.

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

No. Position Player 1 GK Diego Benaglio 2 DF Patrick Ochs 3 DF Felipe Lopes 4 DF Marcel Schäfer 6 MF Slobodan Medojević 7 MF Josué 8 FW Vieirinha 10 MF Thomas Hitzlsperger 11 MF Hasan Salihamidžić 12 GK André Lenz 13 MF Makoto Hasebe 15 MF Christian Träsch (captain) 17 DF Alexander Madlung 18 FW Mario Mandžukić 19 FW Rasmus Jönsson 20 MF Petr Jiráček 21 FW Kevin Scheidhauer 22 MF Mateusz Klich

No. Position Player 23 DF Marco Russ 24 MF Ashkan Dejagah 25 DF Chris 26 DF Hrvoje Čale 27 MF Maximilian Arnold 28 MF Ibrahim Sissoko 29 MF Jan Polák 30 MF Yohandry Orozco 31 DF Robin Knoche 32 MF Sebastian Schindzielorz 33 FW Patrick Helmes 34 DF Ricardo Rodríguez 35 GK Marwin Hitz 36 DF Bjarne Thoelke 37 MF Ferhan Hasani 39 DF Michael Schulze 40 FW Sebastian Polter 44 FW Giovanni Sio

Players out on loan[link]

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

No. Position Player DF Simon Kjær (at Roma) DF Sotirios Kyrgiakos (at Sunderland) DF Peter Pekarik (at Kayserispor) MF Tuncay Şanlı (at Bolton Wanderers) MF Diego (at Atlético Madrid) MF Tolga Ciğerci (at Borussia Mönchengladbach)

No. Position Player MF Thomas Kahlenberg (at Evian) MF Koo Ja-Cheol (at Augsburg) FW Srđan Lakić (at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim) FW Caiuby (at FC Ingolstadt 04) FW Nassim Ben Khalifa (at BSC Young Boys) FW Akaki Gogia (at FC Augsburg)

VfL Wolfsburg II squad[link]

Manager: Alexander Strehmel

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

No. Position Player 1 GK Marcelo Salinas Paulino 2 DF Michael Schulze 3 MF Patrick Bauder 4 MF Julian Klamt 5 DF Alexander Klitzpera 7 MF Kevin Wolze 8 FW André Fomitschow 9 FW Mike Könnecke 10 MF Philipp Kreuels 11 FW Sebastian Polter 12 FW Fabian Klos 14 FW Mario Petry 15 DF Rico Schlimpert

No. Position Player 16 MF Rüdiger Ziehl 17 MF Akaki Gogia 18 MF Burak Altıparmak 19 DF Maximilian Ahlschwede 20 DF Bjarne Thölke 21 GK Tobias Krull 22 MF Nico Granatowski 23 DF Rafael Czichos 26 GK Jonas Deumeland 30 DF Robin Knoche 32 MF Sebastian Schindzielorz 35 DF Dennis Riemer

Women's section[link]

Coaching staff[link]

Notable former players[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Abseits Guide to German Soccer
• VfL Wolfsburg Community (German)
• Club statistics
• Team formations at Football-lineups

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: VfL Wolfsburg

Shinji Kagawa
香川真司

Kagawa with Borussia Dortmund in 2011
Personal information
Full name	Shinji Kagawa
Date of birth	(1989-03-17) 17 March 1989 (age 23)
Place of birth	Kobe, Japan
Height	1.72 m (5 ft 7 1⁄2 in)[1]
Playing position	Attacking Midfielder Winger
Club information
Current club	Borussia Dortmund
Number	23
Youth career
2001–2005	FC Miyagi
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2006–2010	Cerezo Osaka	125	(55)
2010–	Borussia Dortmund	49	(21)
National team‡
2006–2008	Japan U19[2]	4	(0)
2007	Japan U20[2]	2	(0)
2008	Japan U23[2]	3	(0)
2008–	Japan	30	(10)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 5 May 2012 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 30 November 2011

Shinji Kagawa (香川 真司, Kagawa Shinji^?) (born 17 March 1989) is a Japanese footballer who plays for Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund in Germany and Japanese national football team.

Club career[link]

Kagawa started playing football in his primary school years. He joined Kobe NK Football Club from 1999 to 2001, and FC Miyagi Barcelona in Sendai from 2001 to 2005.^[3] Cerezo Osaka noticed his talent and signed him at the age of 17. He was the first player in Japan to sign a professional contract before graduating high school, except players promoted from youth teams of the J. League clubs.^[4] In 2007, he gained a regular position but the club missed the promotion to the J. League Division 1.

By mid-2010, Kagawa was represented with a sports agency run by retired German professional footballer Thomas Kroth, which ultimately handled his transfer to Borussia Dortmund.

Borussia Dortmund[link]

2010–11[link]

Kagawa celebrates winning the Bundesliga with Borussia Dortmund in 2011

In the summer of 2010, Kagawa transferred from Cerezo to Borussia Dortmund for €350,000. The relatively modest cost of the transfer was because of a release clause in Kagawa's contract with Cerezo, which allowed him to leave the club cheaply if he had an opportunity to play in Europe.^[5]

On 23 August 2010, he made his debut appearance in the German Bundesliga, starting for his new club Borussia Dortmund. After scoring his first two competitive goals for the club in the Europa League qualifying tie against Qarabağ, he continued this form with his first goal in the Bundesliga match against Wolfsburg, which Dortmund won 2–0.^[6] In the Revierderby against archrival Schalke 04, which Dortmund won 3–1, Kagawa said pre-match that he would score two goals, he then went on to score twice, making him one of the fans' favorites.^[7]

Kagawa missed half of the Bundesliga season because of an injury he picked up on international duty, but managed to score eight goals in 18 appearances. His strong effort in the first half of the season helped his side finish as champions of the Bundesliga and he was even named in the Bundesliga Best XI.^[8]

2011–12[link]

Kagawa was back in time for the start of the 2011–12 Bundesliga campaign and quickly found his way back into the starting line-up. Kagawa scored his first goal of the new Bundesliga season on 18 September, coming in a disappointing 2–1 loss to Hannover 96, as Dortmund gave up two goals in the last three minutes.^[9] On 22 October, Kagawa opened the scoring in the seventh minute as Dortmund crushed 1. FC Köln 5–0 in front of 80,200 home fans at the Signal Iduna Park.^[10] Kagawa scored again on 5 November, as Dortmund brushed aside Wolfsburg 5–1 and moved within two points of league leaders Bayern Munich. Kagawa scored a late consolation against Arsenal in a 2–1 loss in the group stage of the Champions League.

On 28 January 2012, Kagawa scored twice in Dortmund's 3–1 win against Hoffenheim. Kagawa scored the only goal of the game against Werder Bremen on 17 March, heading in a pass from İlkay Gündoğan in the eighth minute.^[11] Kagawa scored two goals in Dortmund's 6–1 thrashing of Cologne on 25 March, keeping Dortmund five points ahead of Bayern in the title race.^[12] Kagawa also scored a goal and provided an assist for Borussia Dortmund, against rivals Bayern Munich in the 2011–12 DFB-Pokal Final.

International career[link]

Kagawa played as a member of the Japan national under-20 football team in the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup held in Canada.^[13]

In 2008 he was also selected to play as a member of the Japanese team for the 2008 Summer Olympics.^[14] On 24 May 2008 he made his senior international debut in a friendly Kirin Cup match. Japan won the match against Côte d'Ivoire 1–0. He was not selected in Takeshi Okada's final 23 squad for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. In September 2010 he scored the only goal of the game in Japan's 1–0 win over Paraguay in Yokohama.^[15] It took Kagawa five months to rehab his injury from the AFC Asia Cup. He returned in Dortmund's final game as a substitute in the 87th minute.

2011 AFC Asian Cup[link]

He was included in the 2011 AFC Asian Cup by coach Alberto Zaccheroni.^[16] In the quarterfinals against Qatar, he scored two goals. The game ended 3–2, a win for Japan.^[17] In the semi-final against South Korea, Kagawa broke his metatarsal bone^[18] and missed the final where Japan beat Australia after extra-time.

Career statistics[link]

Club[link]

Statistics accurate as of match played 12 May 2012^[19][20]

¹Includes Emperor's Cup and DFB-Pokal.

²Includes UEFA Europa League qualification, UEFA Europa League and UEFA Champions League.

³Includes J. League Cup and DFL-Supercup.

International[link]

As of 29 February 2012

National team Year Apps Goals Japan U18 2007 3 1 Japan U19 2006 2 0 2008 6 2 Total 8 2 Japan U20 2007 6 0 Japan U23 2008 6 1 Japan 2008 6 1 2009 4 1 2010 7 1 2011 11 6 2012 2 1 Total 30 10

International appearances and goals # Date Venue Opponent Result Goal Competition 2006 2 November Sree Kanteerava Stadium, Bangalore Iran U19 1–2 0 2006 AFC Youth Championship / Japan U19 9 November Yuva Bharati Krirangan, Kolkata South Korea U19 2–2 0 2006 AFC Youth Championship / Japan U19 2007 17 January Valentine Sports Park, Sydney China PR U18 5–0 1 2007 Australian Youth Olympic Festival / Japan U18 18 January Valentine Sports Park, Sydney Australia U18 3–3 0 2007 Australian Youth Olympic Festival / Japan U18 20 January Valentine Sports Park, Sydney South Korea U17 0–1 0 2007 Australian Youth Olympic Festival / Japan U18 22 March Estadio do Moura Atletico Clube, Moura Jordan U20 0–1 0 Friendly[21] / Japan U20 24 March Estádio Municipal 25 de Abril, Penafiel Cape Verde U20 2–1 0 Friendly[21] / Japan U20 25 March Complexo Desportivo Fernando Mamede, Beja Portugal U20 0–3 0 Friendly[21] / Japan U20 2 June Stade Perruc, Hyères France U21 1–5 0 2007 Toulon Tournament / Japan U20 7 July Royal Athletic Park, Victoria Nigeria U20 0–0 0 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup / Japan U20 11 July Royal Athletic Park, Victoria Czech Republic U20 2–2 0 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup / Japan U20 2008 21 January Qatar SC Stadium, Doha Egypt U19 3–0 1 2008 Qatar International Friendship Tournament / Japan U19 23 January Qatar SC Stadium, Doha Germany U19 4–2 1 2008 Qatar International Friendship Tournament / Japan U19 28 January Qatar SC Stadium, Doha China PR U19 2–1 0 2008 Qatar International Friendship Tournament / Japan U19 30 January Qatar SC Stadium, Doha Poland U19 6–1 0 2008 Qatar International Friendship Tournament / Japan U19 27 March National Olympic Stadium, Tokyo  Angola 1–1 0 Friendly[22] / Japan U23 1. 24 May Toyota Stadium, Toyota  Côte d'Ivoire 1–0 0 2008 Kirin Cup 2. 2 June International Stadium Yokohama, Yokohama  Oman 3–0 0 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification 3. 14 June Rajamangala Stadium, Bangkok  Thailand 3–0 0 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification 24 July Home's Stadium Kobe, Hyogo Australia U23 (Olympic) 2–1 1 Friendly[23] / Japan U23 (Olympic) 29 July National Olympic Stadium, Tokyo Argentine U23 (Olympic) 0–1 0 Friendly[24] / Japan U23 (Olympic) 7 August Tianjin Olympic Center Stadium, Tianjin United States U23 (Olympic) 0–1 0 2008 Summer Olympics / Japan U23 (Olympic) 10 August Tianjin Olympic Center Stadium, Tianjin Nigeria U23 (Olympic) 1–2 0 2008 Summer Olympics / Japan U23 (Olympic) 13 August Shenyang Olympic Stadium, Shenyang Netherlands U23 (Olympic) 0–1 0 2008 Summer Olympics / Japan U23 (Olympic) 4. 9 October Niigata Stadium, Niigata  United Arab Emirates 1–1 1 Friendly[25] 5. 15 October Saitama Stadium 2002, Saitama  Uzbekistan 1–1 0 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification 2 November Prince Mohamed bin Fahd Stadium, Dammam Iran U19 4–2 0 2008 AFC U-19 Championship / Japan U19 4 November Prince Mohamed bin Fahd Stadium, Dammam Saudi Arabia U19 1–1 0 2008 AFC U-19 Championship / Japan U19 6. 13 November Home's Stadium Kobe, Hyogo  Syria 3–1 0 Friendly[26] 2009 7. 20 January KKWing Stadium, Kumamoto  Yemen 2–1 0 2011 AFC Asian Cup qualification 8. 28 January Bahrain National Stadium, Isa Town  Bahrain 0–1 0 2011 AFC Asian Cup qualification 9. 4 February National Olympic Stadium, Tokyo  Finland 5–1 1 Friendly[27] 10. 27 May Nagai Stadium, Osaka  Chile 4–0 0 2009 Kirin Cup 2010 11. 2 February Ōita Stadium, Oita  Venezuela 0–0 0 Friendly[28] 12. 11 February National Olympic Stadium, Tokyo  Hong Kong 3–0 0 2010 East Asian Football Championship 13. 14 February National Olympic Stadium, Tokyo  South Korea 1–3 0 2010 East Asian Football Championship 14. 4 September International Stadium Yokohama, Yokohama  Paraguay 1–0 1 Friendly[29] 15. 7 September Nagai Stadium, Osaka  Guatemala 2–1 0 Friendly[30] 16. 8 October Saitama Stadium 2002, Saitama  Argentina 1–0 0 Friendly[31] 17. 12 October Seoul World Cup Stadium, Seoul  South Korea 0–0 0 Friendly[32] 2011 18. 9 January Qatar SC Stadium, Doha  Jordan 1–1 0 2011 AFC Asian Cup 19. 13 January Qatar SC Stadium, Doha  Syria 2–1 0 2011 AFC Asian Cup 20. 17 January Ahmed bin Ali Stadium, Al Rayyan  Saudi Arabia 5–0 0 2011 AFC Asian Cup 21. 21 January Al-Gharafa Stadium, Doha  Qatar 3–2 2 2011 AFC Asian Cup 22. 25 January Al-Gharafa Stadium, Doha  South Korea 2–2 0 2011 AFC Asian Cup 23. 10 August Sapporo Dome, Sapporo  South Korea 3–0 2 Friendly[33] 24. 2 September Saitama Stadium 2002, Saitama  North Korea 1–0 0 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification 25. 7 September Pakhtakor Markaziy Stadium, Tashkent  Uzbekistan 1–1 0 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification 26. 7 October Home's Stadium Kobe, Kobe  Vietnam 1–0 0 Friendly 27. 11 October Nagai Stadium, Osaka  Tajikistan 8–0 2 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification 28. 11 November Pamir Stadium, Dushanbe  Tajikistan 4–0 0 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification 2012 29. 29 February Toyota Stadium, Toyota  Uzbekistan 0–1 0 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification 30. 23 May Shizuoka Stadium, Fukuroi  Azerbaijan 2–0 1 Friendly