On May 21st, 1977, VfB Stuttgart secured their first promotion to the Bundesliga. 40 years later to the day, the Cannstatt Boys again won promotion back to the top-flight. We’ve been looking back on a season, which ended in VfB achieving their ultimate goal.
1 – During the course of the 2016/2017 season, VfB scored one goal from a directly converted free-kick. Alexandru Maxim was on target on match-day 30 in the top-of-the-table clash with 1. FC Union Berlin to intermittently make it 1-0. The game finished 3-1 for Hannes Wolf’s men.
2 - Carlos Mané was on target in his debut in the shirt with the infamous red hoop. During the 4-0 home win over SpVgg Greuther Fürth, the Portuguese attacker scored in the 2nd and 4th minutes.
3 – On match-day 12, Simon Terodde netted a hat-trick in the home game against Arminia Bielefeld – earning VfB a 3-1 victory and three further points.
4 - Simon Terodde took on the responsibility from the penalty-spot on four occasions, leaving the respective keeper without a chance four times!
5 – Five wins in a row – VfB achieved the feat twice during the second half of the campaign (Matchday 18 -22 and 28 – 32).
6 – The Mercedes-Benz Arena was filled to capacity six times in the past season. VfB Stuttgart thus set a new ‘2. Bundesliga’ record, with an average of over 50,000 spectators per home game.
7 - Provider: Carlos Mané, Emiliano Insua and Daniel Ginczek each provided seven assists for their team mates in 2016/2017.
8 – VfB left the field of play away from home as winners eight times in the past season – such as here in their first away game of the campaign at SV Sandhausen.
9 – VfB avoided conceding in nine of their matches – thus nine clean-sheets for Mitch Langerak.
10 – The Wasenelf won ten games in the first half of the season.
11- Clever changes: On eleven occasions during this season, VfB players came from the bench to score – such as Daniel Ginczek here in the 1-1 with VfL Bochum.
12 – The Cannstatt Boys scored twelve headed goals throughout the season – no other team was more successful in the air.
13 – VfB were victorious in 13 of the 17 home games. Hannes Wolf’s men remained unbeaten at home in the latter half of the season (seven wins, six draws).
14 – In their run of victories between match-days 28 and 32, VfB scored a total of 14 goals. Two of those goals were scored by Takuma Asano in the derby clash with Karlsruher SC.
15 – VfB took top-spot in the table for the first time on match-day 15 – taking up that position at the end of a total of 15 match-days.
16 – In the second half of the season, VfB conceded just 16 goals – in the first half of the campaign that figure was 21.
17 - Daniel Ginczek is the player introduced most often as a substitute this season. The 26-year-old came off the bench on 17 occasions, often generating a telling impulse and proving decisive as a goal-scorer and provider.
18 - Berkay Özcan and Josip Brekalo were both 18 years old upon making their first team debuts for VfB. They were the youngest players to feature in 2016/2017 for the Cannstatt Boys.
19 and 20 - Julian Green was on target in the 20th minute of match-day 19, to make it 2-0 against Fortuna Düsseldorf. It was the attacker’s first goal in the jersey with the infamous red hoop. The goal was also VfB’s 200th in the club’s ‘2. Bundesliga’ history.
21 - VfB celebrated taking all three points a total of 21 times throughout the campaign.
22 – The Cannstatt Boys conceded 22 goals away from home…
23 - …but with 23 goals scored, VfB had a positive goal-difference on away turf.
24 – Touching the average: At 24 years old, Matthias Zimmermann met almost the exact average age of VfB’s implemented squad throughout the course of the campaign – Average age 24,5 years.
25 - Simon Terodde was top-scorer in the '2. Bundesliga' for the second season in succession. Only Angelo Vier and Artur Wichniarek had previously managed the feat in the unified second-flight.
26 – VfB took to the pitch 26 times in the white shirts with the infamous red hoop. The Cannstatt Boys made six appearances in red and two in grey.
27 - Marcin Kaminski scored his debut goal for VfB on match-day 27 in the club’s away game at TSV 1860 München.
28 – The Cannstatt Boys notched up a tally of 28 points away from home in 2016/2017. No other team proved more successful on their travels. VfB’s highest-scoring away win was a 4-0 victory at FC Erzgebirge Aue in December.
29 – The number 29 was a positive one for VfB in the latter half of the season. On January 29th and again on April 29th, the Wasenelf won their respective away games at St. Pauli (1-0) and Nürnberg (3-2). The picture above depicts Florian Klein celebrating his last-minute winner in Nuremberg together with his team mates.
30- VfB scored 30 of their 63 goals this season before the winter break.
31 – At 31 years old, Christian Gentner and Tobias Werner are the oldest players in the VfB squad.
32 – The Cannstatt Boys picked up 32 points in the first half of the season – in the second half of the campaign they increased that tally to 37.
33 – The side in the shirts with the infamous red hoop scored 33 goals in the second half of the season. The 33rd and last goal of the latter half of the campaign was fittingly scored by the club’s number 33 - Daniel Ginczek.
34 - Mitch Langerak was between the posts in all 34 of VfB’s league games in 2016/2017 – and the Australian international didn’t miss a single minute! The keeper was closely followed in the appearance statistics by Emiliano Insua and Christian Gentner. The Argentine missed just 14 minutes in 34 appearances. In the same number of appearances, the captain missed out on 158 minutes.