VfL Halle

The HWG-Stadion am Zoo has belonged to VfL Halle 1896 since September 1910. That plot, still known locally by the old name Sportplatz am Zoo, now holds 8,200 spectators.

A merger in 1919 with Kaufmännischer Turnverein Halle gave the club its current name, VfL Halle von 1896; the merger itself unwound a year later, but the name stuck.

Its best football came early: two Central German Championships, in 1917 and 1919. The modern era has been rougher. Restructuring pushed the club out of the Regionalliga Nordost in 2000, and financial trouble forced a withdrawal from the Oberliga the following year, dropping VfL Halle as far as the sixth tier before it worked its way back up to the Oberliga in 2009.

Derby day in Halle means Hallescher FC, and the "Halle gegen Halle" fixture still carries more weight locally than the table does. Under its own colours, blue and red, VfL Halle 96 goes into the 2025/26 season in the NOFV-Oberliga Süd, the fifth tier.