Stuttgart rise again

uefa.com charts the history of German Bundesliga runners-up VfB Stuttgart, to conclude our series of histories of the 16 clubs who have reached the group stage of the UEFA Champions League.

Golden era
Founded on 9 September 1893 as FV Stuttgart, the club adopted their current name in 1912 after merging with Kronen-Clubs-Cannstadt VfB - the VfB standing for Verein für Bewegungsspiele, or 'sports club'. Stuttgart have since evolved into one of the most popular clubs in Germany, enjoying their golden era in the early 1950s.

First title
Despite becoming a dominant regional force in the years before the second world war - initially under their first coach, the former English international Tom Hanney - it was not until 1950 that Stuttgart won their first national title. The rest of that decade was one of continued success for Stuttgart as they added a second championship in 1952 and two German Cups in 1954 and 1958.

European campaigns
Founder members of the German Bundesliga in 1963 (where apart from a two-year hiatus after being relegated in 1975 they have remained ever since), Stuttgart have since gone on to take part in 18 European campaigns - starting with the 1964/65 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.

Memorable period
As they became more experienced they reached two UEFA Cup semi-finals - in 1973/74 and in 1979/80, when VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach beat them 3-2 on aggregate. The 1980s, however, ushered in a memorable period for Stuttgart and with players including a young Jürgen Klinsmann they claimed their third league title in 1984.

Napoli triumph
Five seasons later, they reached their first European final, before losing to Diego Maradona's SSC Napoli in the UEFA Cup. The first leg in Italy ended 2-1 to Napoli, despite Stuttgart taking the lead, but the second match was all about the flair of the Bluerchiati, who established a 3-1 lead before a Stuttgart side featuring Guido Buchwald and Srecko Katanec salvaged a 3-3 draw, which reduced their losing deficit to a goal.

Champions again
Stuttgart carried over this success into the 1990s where they were Bundesliga champions again in 1992. Further silverware arrived in 1997 when Stuttgart won their third German Cup, and they followed that up by reaching their second European final the next season - only to lose 1-0 to Chelsea FC in the penultimate UEFA Cup Winners Cup final, Gianfranco Zola scoring the winning goal in Stockholm.

Intertoto route
However, the new millennium saw Stuttgart struggle and they only narrowly avoided relegation in 2001 in front of disappointing crowds at their 51,125-capacity Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion. They reached the 2000/01 and 2002/03 UEFA Cups by virtue of winning one of the UEFA Intertoto Cup 'finals', beating French sides AJ Auxerre and Lille OSC respectively.

Brilliant campaign
Stuttgart enjoyed a brilliant domestic campaign in 2002/03, finishing second behind big-spending FC Bayern München to qualify for the UEFA Champions League group stage for the first time. Coach Felix Magath, who joined in February 2001, was the man behind the success, and he signed a new contract until 2007 in June 2003 and also tied promising youngsters Kevin Kuranyi, Andreas Hinkel and Ioannis Amanatidis to new deals.