Vereinigung Erzgebirge is all about history.
After entering the 68-acre property at 130 Davisville Road in Warminster, Pennsylvania, in suburban Philadelphia, you travel down a quarter-mile path toward the club’s headquarters. You’ll pass a forest, including three trees that original members planted when the organization was established as a social club in 1931. If you’re lucky, you might even see some deer grazing.
"It's pretty impressive," said Rob Oldfield, the club’s director of coaching and first-team coach.
You finally arrive at the clubhouse, complete with a banquet facility (for weddings and parties), and a beer garden that’s the focal point for the club's annual Oktoberfest celebrations. There’s a swimming pool nearby and several soccer fields -- all part of a club that arrived in the U.S. 93 years ago.
In 2002 Vereinigung Erzgebirge made history in the Open Cup, qualifying to the Tournament Proper for the first time. And now, after an over 20-year wait, the club is shaping to get back there. A recent win over 1977 Open Cup Runners-up United German Hungarians, amid the lush greenery of the club’s homebase, saw VE through to the Fourth and Final Qualifying Round of the 2024 edition.
Then to Now
What does Vereinigung Erzgebirge mean, you ask? Again, we need a little history lesson. The original members of the club come from Erzgebirge, a wooded region in Germany’s east where a low range of mountains of the same name rise over the Czech border. Vereinigung means union.
The organization's official logo, three pine trees on three hills, was taken from the town of Thalheim Erzgebirge, where many of the club founders were born. Needless to say, Vereinigung Erzgebirge is a mouthful to pronounce for many mere mortals, unless you’ve grown up with it. It’s the reason many fans simply refer to the club as VE.
"It's not that bad," Oldfield said with a laugh. "If you get one of the old German guys, they have a little more flair and accent on it."
