VfB StuttgartVfB Stuttgart owns something almost no other German club can claim: a badge that is easier to recognise than to describe. The red chest ring on a white shirt, known as the Brustring, first appeared, according to available sources, on 30 August 1925 and has defined the club ever since. Its exact origins remain unclear; it seems to have been the simplest way of displaying the red and white colours that the club statutes had always prescribed. Supporters know their side as Die Roten or Die Schwaben.
The club's roots go back to 9 September 1893, when the Stuttgarter Fußballverein was founded, initially as a rugby club. The present VfB was created on 2 April 1912 through a merger with Kronen-Club Cannstatt. The 1950s brought a golden era: a side led by captain Robert Schlienz, who had lost his left arm in a car accident, won the German championship in 1950 and 1952 and the German Cup in 1954 and 1958. VfB was a founding member of the Bundesliga in 1963 and won the league in 1983/84, 1991/92 and 2006/07. That makes five national titles, plus four German Cups, the latest in 2025 with a 4-2 win over Arminia Bielefeld in Berlin.
The most famous European chapter is the 1989 UEFA Cup final. A team managed by Arie Haan, featuring a young Jürgen Klinsmann, met the Napoli of Diego Maradona. Napoli won the first leg 2-1 in Naples on 3 May, and the return in Stuttgart on 17 May finished 3-3, giving the Italians a 5-4 aggregate victory. Eight years later, under Joachim Löw, in his first head-coaching job, VfB reached the final of the Cup Winners' Cup, losing 1-0 to Chelsea in Stockholm to a goal by Gianfranco Zola. That team was driven by the celebrated trio of Giovane Elber, Fredi Bobic and Krassimir Balakov, nicknamed the 'magic triangle'.
The club plays in the Bad Cannstatt district, at a ground opened in 1933 and known for decades as the Neckarstadion. On 22 November 1950 it hosted Germany's first international after the Second World War, a win over Switzerland in front of 97,553 spectators, still the stadium's record attendance. Another key figure in the club's tradition is Helmut Benthaus, coach of the 1984 title-winning side. Today VfB combines historical weight with ambition: in 2023/24 it finished as Bundesliga runners-up with a club-record 73 points.
