Foundation
The city of Wolfsburg was established on 1 July 1938 under the name Stadt des KdF-Wagens bei Fallersleben to accommodate workers for the newly constructed Volkswagen factory, which was intended to produce the KdF-Wagen—later known as the Volkswagen Beetle. The adjacent factory and town were part of a broader initiative to create an affordable car for the German populace during the Third Reich.[4]
The first football club associated with the Volkswagen plant was BSG Volkswagenwerk Stadt des KdF-Wagen, a typical works team of the era. This team competed in the Gauliga Osthannover, the top division of regional football, during the 1943–44 and 1944–45 seasons.[5]
Following the end of World War II, a new club was formed on 12 September 1945, initially named VSK Wolfsburg. The team adopted green and white as its colors, a tradition that continues to this day. According to club lore, local youth coach Bernd Elberskirch provided ten green jerseys, and white shorts were fashioned from donated bed sheets sewn by local women.
On 15 December 1945, the club faced a significant setback when all but one of its players left to join the newly formed ''1. FC Wolfsburg''. The sole remaining player, Josef Meyer, collaborated with Willi Hilbert to rebuild the team by recruiting new members. The reorganised club adopted the name VfL Wolfsburg, with VfL standing for Verein für Leibesübungen, which translates to "Club for Physical Exercise."[6]
Within a year, VfL Wolfsburg secured the local Gifhorn championship. In late November 1946, the club played a friendly match against the prominent Gelsenkirchen team Schalke 04 at the Volkswagen-owned stadium, marking its emergence as the company's officially supported team.
Postwar play
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. Wolfsburg, however, 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, Wolfsburg was playing in the Regionalliga Nord (II), having just moved up from the Verbandsliga Niedersachsen (III), reaching the German Amateur Championship Final that same year (0–1 vs. VfB Stuttgart Amat.).
Second division and advance to the Bundesliga
Wolfsburg remained a second division team[7] 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[8] and were unable to advance. From the mid-1970s through to the early 1990s, Wolfsburg 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.[9]
Wolfsburg continued to experience 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.
Despite their recent promotion, Wolfsburg developed into a mid-table Bundesliga side. In the 1998–99 season, Wolfsburg, under Wolfgang Wolf, were holding onto the fifth spot in the 33rd round of fixtures, and they had hopes of making fourth place, to gain UEFA Champions League participation.
Bundesliga title and cup success
Ahead of the 2007–08 Bundesliga season, Wolfsburg appointed former Bayern Munich manager Felix Magath. The club finished fifth, their highest league position at the time, and qualified for the UEFA Cup for only the second time.
Under Magath, Wolfsburg achieved the greatest success in the club's history by winning the 2008–09 Bundesliga, sealing the title with a 5–1 victory over Werder Bremen on 23 May 2009. The team recorded ten consecutive league wins after the winter break, equalling the Bundesliga record for a single season. Strikers Grafite and Edin Džeko each scored more than 20 league goals, while Zvjezdan Misimović provided 20 assists.[10] The title secured Wolfsburg's first qualification for the UEFA Champions League.
The following season, Wolfsburg dismissed head coach Armin Veh during the winter break with the club tenth in the league. In the 2009–10 UEFA Champions League, they finished third in their group behind Manchester United and CSKA Moscow, entering the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League, where they reached the quarter-finals before being eliminated by Fulham.
Instability and rebuilding
Wolfsburg subsequently entered a period of sporting instability marked by relegation battles and frequent managerial changes. On the final matchday of the 2016–17 Bundesliga season, defeat to Hamburger SV dropped the club from 15th to 16th place.[13] Wolfsburg retained their Bundesliga status by defeating regional rivals Eintracht Braunschweig 2–0 on aggregate in the relegation play-offs.[14] The following season brought further upheaval. Head coach Andries Jonker was dismissed in September 2017 and replaced by Martin Schmidt, who resigned in February 2018. Bruno Labbadia took charge and guided the club into the relegation play-offs once again, where Wolfsburg defeated Holstein Kiel 4–1 on aggregate to remain in the Bundesliga.[15]
Ahead of the 2018–19 Bundesliga season, Jörg Schmadtke was appointed managing director for sport, with former Wolfsburg captain Marcel Schäfer becoming sporting director.[16]
