 | |||
| Full name | Rot Weiß Lüdenscheid e. V. | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname | Die Reds | ||
| Founded | 17 October 1908; 117 years ago (1908-10-17) | ||
| Ground | Nattenberg Stadion | ||
| Capacity | 19,000 | ||
| League | Bezirksliga Westfalen 5 (VIII) | ||
| 2015–16 | 2nd | ||
Rot-Weiß Lüdenscheid is aGerman association football club playing inLüdenscheid,North Rhine-Westphalia.
The origins of the club go back to the formation of theLuedenscheider Fußball-Klub in 1908. In the aftermath of World War I, a number of local sides went through a series of mergers. Late in 1918LFK merged withFC Preußen 09 andSV Luedenscheider 1910 to formVfB Lüdenscheid 08. In 1919,Ballspielverein Lüdenscheid andFC Fortuna 1910 formed another predecessor side calledRSV Höh 1910. These two clubs then entered into a short-lived union withLüdenscheid Turn-Verein 1861.RSV left this union in 1920, andVfB followed in 1924, taking on the nameSportfreunde 08. Finally, in 1971,RSV andSportfreunde merged to form the present club.
Rot-Weiß enjoyed its greatest success between 1977 and 1981 when it played in the 2. Bundesliga Nord. However, the team consistently flirted with relegation, and after the 2. Bundesliga Nord and Süd were merged into a single, smaller division in 1974,RWL found itself in the third divisionOberliga Westfalen. The club bounced up and down between the third and fourth divisions until last relegated in 1997.
After a 13th-place finish in 2005–06 in theVerbandsliga Westfalen (IV),Lüdenscheid was relegated to theLandesliga Westfalen (V). In 2009 it dropped out of the Landesliga as well and now plays in the tier eight Bezirksliga Westfalen.
RWL plays its home matches in the Nattenberg Stadion, built in 1972, which has a capacity of 19,000 (2,234 seats).
