Kronen-Klub Cannstatt

Cannstatter Fußballklub was formed as a rugby club in 1890 and also quickly established a football team. This club was dissolved after just a few years of play and the former membership re-organized themselves as FC Krone Cannstatt in 1897 to compete as a football-only side.The new team joined the Süddeutschen Fußballverband (SFV) as a second division club and won promotion in 1904. Cannstatt possessed their own ground, which still exists today as the home of TSV Münster.

Following the 1912 merger of these two clubs, the combined side played at first in the Kreisliga Württemberg and then in the Bezirksliga Württemberg-Baden, earning a number of top three finishes and claiming a title there in 1927. The club also made several appearances in the final rounds of the SFV in the late 20s and early 30s.

Foundation to WWII

Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart was formed through 2 April 1912 merger of predecessor sides Stuttgarter FV and Kronen-Club Cannstatt following a meeting in the Concordia hotel in Cannstatt. Each of these clubs was made up of school pupils with middle class roots who learned new sports such as rugby union and football from English pioneers.
Historical logos of predecessor sides Stuttgarter FV 93 and Kronen-Club Cannstatt.

Stuttgarter Fußballverein was founded at the Zum Becher hotel in Cannstatt on 9 September 1893. FV were initially a rugby club, playing games at Stöckach-Eisbahn before moving to Cannstatter Wasen in 1894. The rugby club established a football section in 1908. The team drew players primarily from local schools, under the direction of teacher Carl Kaufmann, and quickly achieved its first success; in 1909 they were runners-up to FSV 1897 Hannover in the national rugby final, losing 6–3. Rugby was soon replaced by football within the club, as spectators found the game too complicated to follow.

In 1909 FV joined the Süddeutschen Fußballverband (Southern Germany Football Association), playing in the second tier B-Klasse. In their second season FV won a district final against future merger partner Kronen-Klub Cannstatt before being defeated by FV Zuffenhausen in the county championship that would have seen the side promoted. They eventually advanced to the senior Südkreis-Liga in 1912.

Stuttgart

Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart, is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, the capital of Baden-Württemberg. The club is best known for its football team, which has participated in all but two Bundesliga seasons. The team has won the national championship five times in total—most recently in the 2006–07 season—and the DFB-Pokal (German cup) three times.

The football team plays its home games at the Mercedes-Benz Arena, situated in the Cannstatter Wasen sports complex. It is famous for its talented reserve team, VfB Stuttgart II, which currently plays in the 3rd Liga, two divisions below the first team, in the highest division allowed for a reserve team.

VfB Stuttgart is a membership-based club and with 45.037 (as of: January 2009), VfB is the largest sports club in the state and the fifth largest in the country. In addition to the successes of the professional, amateur and youth football teams, athletes from the club's athletics department have won numerous titles and medals. The club also has departments for fistball, hockey, table-tennis and football referees. These five departments only compete at amateur level. The club also maintains a social department, the VfB-Garde.