Oldest football clubs
Dresden English Football Club was founded on 18 March 1874 and was the first association football club in Germany, and likely the first outside Great Britain. In 1874, over 70 members participated, primarily Englishmen working in Dresden, watched by hundreds of spectators. Another German club, 1860 Munich did not play football until 1899, although it has its origins in a gymnastics and fitness club formed in 1848 and reestablished in the year indicated by its name.
SpVgg Greuther Fürth
The origins of "SpVgg Fürth" are in the establishment on 23 September 1903 of a football department within the gymnastics club "Turnverein 1860 Fürth". The footballers went their own way as an independent club in November 1906, after they did not get enough support from "TV Fürth". The team played in the Ostkreisliga and took divisional titles there in 1912, 1913 and 1914 before moving on to participate in the Süddeutsche (South German) regional playoffs for the national championship round. Right from the beginning, there was a great rivalry between the SpVgg Fürth and the 1. FC Nürnberg, predicated on the historical rivalry between the two neighbouring cities. The club grew rapidly, and by 1914, it had 3,000 members and was the largest sports club in Germany. When the club built their own stadium, Sportpark Ronhof, in 1910, it was the biggest stadium of Germany at the time.