SV Viktoria 01 Aschaffenburg is a German football club based in Aschaffenburg, Bavaria. Even though Aschaffenburg is located in Bavaria, Viktoria Aschaffenburg historically played its football in the Hessenliga (V) and the associated Hessian leagues, rather than the Bayernliga (V), against clubs from closer, neighbouring cities. This also reflects in part the history of the region, not traditionally part of Bavaria. The nearby Bavarian club FC Bayern Alzenau has also played in the Hessenliga for the same reasons. After 67 seasons in Hesse, from 1945 onwards, the members of the club voted with an 80% majority to return to Bavaria from the 2012–13 season onwards. History The club was formed on 24 June 1904 out of the merger of FC Aschaffenburg (6 August 1901) and FC Viktoria Aschaffenburg (12 April 1902). Renamed Sportverein Viktoria 01 Aschaffenburg on 3 June 1906 the united side played in the Kreisliga Odenwald, Kreisliga Nordmain, Kreisliga Südmain and Bezirksliga Main-Hessen (Gruppe Main) for a couple of seasons in the 1920s, changing leagues frequently. In 1937 they briefly merged with Reichsbahn TuSpo Aschaffenburg to play as Reichsbahn-Viktoria Aschaffenburg, but were an independent side again by 1939. They made a late, short-lived appearance in top flight football in 1942, playing a single season in the Gauliga Bayern (Nord), one of sixteen premier divisions established in the 1933 re-organization of German football under the Third Reich. Aschaffenburg returned to the top flight after World War II playing in the Oberliga Süd for two seasons in the late 40s and then through most of the 50s, competing against sides that would later go on to play in the Bundesliga, Germany's first top tier professional league, such as FC Bayern Munich, 1. FC Nürnberg, and VfB Stuttgart, in front of crowds of 16,000 to 19,000. Generally a lower table side whose best result was a fifth-place finish in 1956, a series of poor performances saw Aschaffenburg drop to tier III play in the Amateurliga Hessen/Amateur Oberliga-Hessen well before the formation of the Bundesliga in 1963. The team's best performances came in the 1980s when they twice won the Oberliga Hessen title and promotion to 2. Bundesliga, where they played the 1985–86, 1986–87 and 1988–89 seasons. Through this period and into the early 90s Aschaffenburg made a half dozen appearances in the early rounds of DFB-Pokal (German Cup) play. The club's best cup performance came in 1988 when they eliminated then-Bundesliga