Karlsruher FV

Karlsruher FV is a German association football club that plays in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg. Established on 17 November 1891, KFV was a founding member of the German Football Association (Deutscher Fussball-Bund) in 1900 and is the oldest still existing football club in Southern Germany. The club was one of the leading German football clubs before the First World War. The team went on to capture the national championship in 1910 with a 1–0 victory over Holstein Kiel, but lost the final in 1905 and 1912. The KFV claimed the Southern German football championship from 1901 to 1905 and from 1910 to 1912. After a financial collapse and a resulting disqualification from league operations in 2004, the club continued its activities in 2007. History Early prominence KFV co-founder Walther Bensemann established Internationaler FC Karlsruhe, the first football team in south Germany, in 1889. This club became part of KFV in 1894. He also had a hand in founding the Frankfurter Kickers a predecessor side to Eintracht Frankfurt. As well, Bensemann established kicker, Germany's first football magazine. KFV was one of Germany's most successful sides in the years before the First World War. The club captured the South German title eight times from 1901 to 1912, leading to national final appearances in 1905, 1910, and 1912. KFV figures in the strange story of Germany's first national championship in 1903 which was won by VfB Leipzig in a 7–2 victory over DFC Prague. The Karlruhers were scheduled to play a semi-final match against Prag in Leipzig, but cancelled their travel plans when they received a telegram – allegedly from the German Football Association (Deutscher Fussball Bund or German football Association) – indicating that the game had been rescheduled. Prag was awarded a win by forfeit when their opponents failed to show, and so made an uncontested advance to the final in spite of vehement protests by KFV. It has never been discovered who sent the telegram and people from Karlsruhe still search to this day to find who was responsible. Even Günter Grass wrote about this incident in his book My Century. Denied a place in the national final, Karlsruhe did manage to arrange to challenge Leipzig the following year in a match representing the contest that might have been, but lost the game 3–7. KFV also played a key role in the incomplete national final of 1904.