Hamburger SV

Hamburger SV is a German football club based in Hamburg. They are one of the country's oldest, most well known and best performing clubs with the unique distinction of having played continuously in top-flight German football since the end of World War I.

History

Early years

Hamburger SV can trace its roots as far back as the September 29, 1887 merger of Der Hohenfelder Sportclub and Wandsbek-Marienthaler Sportclub to form Sports Club Germania. The current club was formed as Hamburger Sport-Verein in 1919 through the union of three city teams severely weakened by World War I: Sports Club Germania; Hamburger FC (1888); and FC Falke (1906). The club colours were the Hanseatic red and white in honour of the City of Hamburg, with the blue and black of the oldest of the founding clubs, Germania, being used on the team crest. It is through Germania, that HSV can lay a claim to being the oldest team in the country. However, other clubs may dispute that honour, as Germania was formed originally as an athletics club and did not begin to play football until 1891 when a half dozen Englishmen joined the club, bringing with them their enthusiasm for the game.

The newly formed HSV quickly became competitive and contested the 1922 national final against 1. FC Nürnberg, who were playing for their third consecutive title. The game was called on account of darkness after three hours and ten minutes of play, drawn at (2:2). The re-match also went into extra time, and in an era that did not allow for substitutions, that game was called at (1:1) when Nürnberg was reduced to just seven players and the referee ruled they could not continue. Considerable wrangling ensued over the decision. The DFB (Deutscher Fussball Bund or German Football Association) awarded the win to Hamburger SV but urged them to refuse the title in the name of good sportsmanship – which they grudgingly did. Ultimately, the Viktoria trophy was not officially presented that year.

The club's first umblemished success on the pitch came in 1923 when they won the national title against Union Oberschöneweide. They failed to defend in 1924 against Nürnberg, but lifted the Viktoria again in 1928. Playing in the Oberliga Nord after the resumption of league play in postwar Germany, Hamburg became a frighteningly dominant regional club. In sixteen seasons from 1947-48 to 1962-63 they laid claim to the Oberliga title fourteen times, only losing to St. Pauli in 1948-40 on goal differential and posting an uncharacteristic 11th place finish in 1953-54. During this period they scored over 100 goals in each of the 1951, 1955, 1961 and 1962 seasons. However, national titles were harder to come by. Their last championship in 1928 was followed by a long drought not broken until 1960, after losing final appearances in 1957 and 1958.

Entry into the Bundesliga

Soon after, Germany's first professional football league, the Bundesliga, was formed and HSV was one of sixteen clubs invited to join that first season. Hamburger SV currently holds the distinction of being the only original Bundesliga side to have played continuously in the top flight – without ever having been relegated – since the formation of the league in 1963. They had shared that special status with Eintracht Frankfurt and 1. FC Kaiserslautern until 1996, and with 1. FC Köln until 1998. Altogether, forty-eight other sides have come and gone since the league's inception. The Bundesliga celebrated its 40th anniversary on August 24, 2004 with a match between "The Dinosaur", as the club has been affectionately nicknamed, and Bayern Munich, the league's most successful side. What is even more remarkable is a related, but less well-known, distinction HSV holds: they have played in the country's top flight league continuously since 1919, never having experienced relegation.

In the mid-70s HSV began a brilliant run that saw them capture numerous honours. In 1976 they won the German Cup and followed up the next year with a Cup Winners' Cup. The took their first Bundesliga championship in 1979, fell just two points short behind Bayern Munich in 1980, and then won consecutive championships in 1982 and 1983. '83 also brought a European Champions' Cup with a (1:0) win over Juventus F.C., followed by another German Cup in 1987.

In August 2004, HSV was upset in the early rounds of the German Cup by regional league side Paderborn. The match became one of the most infamous in recent football history when it was discovered that referee, Robert Hoyzer, had accepted money from a Croatian gambling syndicate to fix the match. The resulting scandal became the biggest in German football in over thirty years, and was an embarrassment to the country as it prepared to host the 2006 World Cup.

Honours

Hamburg's three Bundesliga championships entitle the club to display one gold star of the "Verdiente Meistervereine". Under the current award system their pre-Bundesliga championships are not recognized and so they are not entitled to the second star of a five-time champion.

In addition to the championships listed below Hamburger SV has a claim to the 1922 title which was never "officially" awarded due to the circumstances of the game and bureaucratic stumbling by the DFB.

German Champions: 1922 (not awarded), 1923, 1928, 1960
German Champions (Bundesliga): 1979, 1982, 1983
German Cup: 1963, 1976, 1987
German League Cup: 1973, 2003
European Champions Cup: 1983
European Cup Winners' Cup: 1977
UEFA Intertoto Cup: 2005

Team trivia

A visit to the club's homepage reveals a clock that tallies up the time – down to the second – that Hamburg has spent in the Bundesliga.

HSV went undefeated between January 16, 1982 January 29, 1983 - a string of 36 games that still stands as a Bundesliga record.

Hamburg became the first German team to tour the United States after the Second World War in May of 1950 and came away with a 6-0 record.

Stadium

The club plays its home games in the AOL Arena (capacity: ~55,480 – 46,000 seats, 10,000 standing) which was originally opened in 2000 as the new Volksparkstadion. The first Volksparkstadion was opened in 1953 and had been a venue for the 1974 FIFA World Cup and EURO 88. The AOL Arena is a UEFA UEFA 5 star stadiums which certifies it to host UEFA Cup and UEFA Champions League finals. The stadium will be the site of four group matches and a quarterfinal in the upcoming 2006 World Cup hosted by Germany and will be known as FIFA World Cup Stadium Hamburg during the event.