SAMSTAG 15:30

Founded: Nov 13, 1930
Club Members: 6,000
Nickname: Die Salzachstadter 
Coach: Robert Berg
Captain: Christoph Schulz

Regionalliga Süd: 1
Bayernliga: 1
Landesliga Bayern Süd: 1
2. Amateurliga Oberbayern A: 1
Bezirksliga Oberbayern Ost: 2

Website: www.wacker1930.de

A virtual recluse of an entity after spending most of their history in the complicated lower league system of German football, Wacker's origins can be traced back to 1922 when members of a gymnastics club - 'Turnverein Burghausen' - broke ranks from their parent association to form their own club as interest in the new English game gained traction. With their autonomy secured, the nascent 1.FC Burghausen spent their formative years playing in local championships before a merger with a sports society formed by workers at the local 'Wacker Chemie AG' chemical factory led to the creation of a new club called SV Wacker Burghausen on 13th November 1930.
 

The union paid almost immediate dividends as the combined side captured the East Bavarian championship title in 1933 before securing promotion to the district Bezirksliga a year later. Despite being able to call on the talents of rising star Sepp Lindenmayer and early German international Eugen Kling however, Wacker were relegated back to the Kreisliga in 1937 before the allies brought Hitler's 'Thousand Year Reich' to an end in 1945. As football across Germany struggled to get its breath back after the war, Wacker returned to action in 1946 by winning promotion to the Kreisliga A (the highest amateur league in the region at the time) despite a lack of materials, manpower and money to repair their ground which had been used as a POW camp during the conflict.

Another Kreisliga title was lifted in 1965 before a 3-1 play-off victory that year over MTV Ingolstadt (the precursor of today's FC Ingolstadt 04) earned promotion to the Landesliga Süd where they became an almost permanent fixture over the next few decades - spending all but five seasons in the division until 1993 when Kurt Niedermayer led the club to the title and promotion to the fourth-tier Bayernliga with a 2-0 final day win over nearest challengers FC Gundelfingen. Momentum was building and another promotion followed a couple of years later when SV secured a berth in the third-tier Regionalliga Süd. In just eight years, Niedermayer had transformed the club by taking them from an unspectacular performer in local football circles to an established Regionalliga side before calling time in 2000 to take up the reigns as a youth coach at former club Bayern München.

Despite Neidermayer's departure however, there was still optimism that the club could make a push for Bundesliga.2 but a poor start to the season saw his successor Rainer Hörgl quickly replaced by former Gerrman international Rudi Bommer. League form continued to be disappointing though and only a 1-1 draw against 1.FC Schweinfurt on the last day of the 2000-01 season saved them from a return to the fourth-tier. The following season though, having finally managed to steady the ship, Bommer guided Wacker to the Regionalliga Süd title and an historic promotion to Bundesliga.2 as Burghausen, with a population of just 18,000, became one of the smallest towns to have ever hosted professional football in Germany.

Despite being perennial relegation candidates, Wacker managed to hold their own in the German second tier - even after Bommer's departure to TSV 1860 München in 2004 - as slightly above-average performances were coaxed from a slightly below-average team before relegation finally came at the end of the 2006-07 campaign.

On 6th August 2007, a stadium record attendance of 11,582 saw Wacker take on Bayern München in the opening round of the DFB-Pokal and a second half Thomas Neubert goal put Die Salzachstadter on course to send the likes of Philipp Lahm, Franck Ribéry and Bastian Schweinsteiger tumbling out of the competition. Miroslav Klose's late equaliser and a 4-3 penalty shoot-out win however sent Germany's trophy hoovering machine on their way to lifting a 14th DFB-Pokal trophy that season thanks to Luca Toni's extra-time winner against Borussia Dortmund in the Berlin final.

For Wacker, 2008 saw the creation of the 3.Liga as the lowest professional division in Germany and, as part of the league restructure, a 7th place Regionalliga Süd finish that year was enough to see them 'promoted' to the new competition. Life in the Dritte Liga was a struggle though and after a despondent campaign in 2008-09 which saw them finish rock-bottom of the table, only the forced withdrawal of Kickers Emden who were on the brink of bankruptcy saved Wacker from relegation to the newly created Regionalliga Bayern. They narrowly avoided relegation again the following year before a tumultuous season with 'Enfant terrible'  Mario Basler as coach ended with yet another stay of execution in 2011 - this time because of Rot Weiss Ahlen's insolvency. In the end though, there's only so many times that you can cheat fate if you repeatedly court disaster and there was no reprieve in 2014 when the club finally dropped into the fourth-tier Regionalliga Bayern.

Relegation also brought financial pressures after banking on 3.Liga football to survive and in 2017, with average attendances struggling around the 1,200 mark, managing director Florian Hahn put in place a restructuring plan to walk the club back from the cliff edge which included a return to amateur status. With their financial future secured (for now at least), Wacker have managed to regain their footing in the Regionalliga Bayern and came close to bringing professional football back to this corner of Bavaria with a third-place finish in the 2020-21 'Geisterspiele ' season.