Hamburger SV III

Early years

Hamburger Sport-Verein (HSV) traces its origin to the merger of Der Hohenfelder Sportclub and Wandsbek-Marienthaler Sportclub on 29 September 1887 to form Sport-Club Germania Hamburg, usually referred to as SC Germania. This was the first of three clubs that merged on 2 June 1919 to create HSV in its present form. HSV in its club statute recognises the founding of SC Germania as its own date of origin. The other two clubs in the June 1919 merger were Hamburger FC founded in 1888 and FC Falke Eppendorf dating back to 1906. The merger came about because the three clubs had been severely weakened by the impact of the First World War on manpower and finance, and they could not continue as separate entities.

SC Germania was formed originally as an athletics club, and did not begin to play football until 1891, when some Englishmen joined the club and introduced it. SC Germania had its first success in 1896, winning the Hamburg-Altona championship for the first of five times. Germania player Hans Nobiling [de] emigrated to Brazil at the end of the 19th century, in the foundation of SC Internacional, the third oldest club of the country which became part of São Paulo FC, one of the major sports clubs of Brazil, in 1938 and SC Germânia of São Paulo, which later became EC Pinheiros.

Hamburger SC 1888 was founded by students on 1 June 1888. It later had links with a youth team called FC Viktoria 95 and, during World War I, was temporarily known as Viktoria Hamburg 88. SC Germania and Hamburger SC 1888 were among 86 clubs who founded the Deutscher Fußball-Bund (DFB; German Football Association) in Leipzig on 28 January 1900. FC Falke was founded by students in Eppendorf on 5 March 1906, but it was never a successful team and played in lower leagues.

The newly formed Hamburger SV contested in the 1922 national final against 1. FC Nürnberg, who were playing for their third consecutive title. The game was called off 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 off at 2–2 when Nuremberg were reduced to just seven players (two were injured, two had been sent off) and the referee ruled they could not continue. Considerable wrangling ensued over the decision. The DFB awarded the win to HSV, 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.

HSV's first success was achieved in the 1923 German football championship, when they won the national title against Union Oberschöneweide. They lost the title in 1924, losing the final to Nuremberg. They lifted the Viktoria again in 1928, when they defeated Hertha BSC 5–2 at the Altonaer Stadion in the final.

During the Third Reich, HSV had local success in the Gauliga Nordmark, also known as the Gauliga Hamburg, winning the league championship in 1937, 1938, 1939, 1941 and 1945. At national level the club was unsuccessful, with semi-final losses in 1938 and 1939 their best performances in this period. Its main rival in the Gauliga in those years was Eimsbütteler TV.

Post-war era

HSV's first post-war season was in the newly formed Stadtliga Hamburg, and they won its championship in 1946. The club also won the championship of the British occupation zone in 1947 and 1948, the only two seasons this competition was staged.

In May 1950, HSV became the first German team to tour the United States after World War II, and came away with a 6–0 record.

Playing in the Oberliga Nord after the resumption of league play in post-war West Germany in 1947, HSV became a dominant regional club. In 16 seasons from 1947 to 1948 to 1962–63, they won the Oberliga title 15 times, only posting an 11th-place finish in 1953–54. During this period, they scored over 100 goals in each of the 1951, 1955, 1961 and 1962 seasons. In 1953, the club's all-time leading goalscorer Uwe Seeler debuted. In nine seasons, he scored 267 goals in 237 Oberliga matches.

In 1956, HSV reached the DFB-Pokal final, but were beaten by Karlsruher SC. This was followed by losses in the finals of the national championship to Borussia Dortmund, in 1957, and Schalke 04, in 1958.

In 1960, HSV became German champions for the first time since 1928, defeating 1. FC Köln 3–2 in the championship final. Seeler, who scored twice in the final, was named West German Footballer of the Year.

As national champions, HSV represented West Germany in the 1960–61 European Cup. The club's first ever match in European competition was a 5–0 defeat of Swiss club Young Boys in Bern, with HSV winning the tie 8–3 on aggregate. In the quarter-finals, they beat English champions Burnley before being defeated by Barcelona at the semi-final stage in a playoff game after the scores were level over two legs. The crowd of 77,600 at the Volksparkstadion for the first leg against Barcelona remains the record attendance for a HSV home match.

Entry into the Bundesliga

Germany's first professional football league, the Bundesliga, was formed, with HSV one of 16 clubs invited to join that first season. Hamburger SV was the only original Bundesliga side to have played continuously in the top flight – without ever having been relegated – from when the league was formed in 1963, until they were relegated in the 2017–18 season, finishing in 17th place. They had shared that special status with Eintracht Frankfurt and 1. FC Kaiserslautern until 1996, and with 1. FC Köln until 1998. The Bundesliga celebrated its 40th anniversary on 24 August 2004 with a match between "The Dinosaur", as the club has been nicknamed due to its old age, and Bayern Munich, the league's most successful side.

In August 1963, HSV defeated Borussia Dortmund 3–0 at Hanover's Niedersachsenstadion to win the club's first DFB-Pokal. In the same month, the club played its first Bundesliga match, drawing 1–1 with Preußen Münster. HSV finished the Bundesliga's first season in sixth place, with Uwe Seeler scoring 30 goals to secure the Torjägerkanone. He was also named Footballer of the Year for the second time. The DFB-Pokal victory enabled HSV to play in the 1963–64 European Cup Winners' Cup, where they reached the quarter-final, falling to Lyon.

In 1967, HSV again reached the final of the DFB-Pokal where they were defeated 4–0 by Bayern Munich. HSV, however, were admitted to the following season's European Cup Winners' Cup, where they lost to Milan in the final.

In 1970, Seeler was named Footballer of the Year for the third time. He retired at the end of the 1971–72 season in front of 72,000 fans at the Volksparkstadion. He ended his career with 137 goals from 239 Bundesliga matches and 507 goals from 587 appearances in all competitions. In the same season, HSV played in the UEFA Cup for the first time, but were knocked out in the first round by Scottish side St Johnstone.

Golden era

In 1973, HSV won the first edition of the DFB-Ligapokal, beating Borussia Mönchengladbach 4–0 in the final. A year later, they reached the DFB-Pokal final, where they were beaten by Eintracht Frankfurt. In 1976, HSV reached another DFB-Pokal final, beating 1. FC Kaiserslautern 2–0 to win the trophy for the second time in the club's history. The following year, HSV achieved its first international success with a 2–0 win over Anderlecht in the final of the 1976–77 European Cup Winners' Cup. The club then signed English player Kevin Keegan from European champions Liverpool. After spending much of the previous decade in mid-table, HSV achieved their best Bundesliga position in 1974–75 by finishing fourth. The club bettered this in 1975–76, with a second-place finish. Keegan's first season there saw the club go down to tenth place, however, the player himself was named European Footballer of the Year.

In 1978, Branko Zebec was appointed trainer of HSV. The Yugoslav led the club to its first Bundesliga title in his first season in charge. Keegan top scored for die Rothosen, and was awarded the Ballon d'Or for a second successive year.

In the 1979–80 season, HSV returned to the European Cup for the first time since 1960–61. As had happened 19 years previously, HSV faced Spanish opposition in the semi-finals. After losing the first leg at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium 2–0, HSV beat six-time winners Real Madrid 5–1 at the Volksparkstadion to qualify for the final. HSV returned to Madrid to play Nottingham Forest in the final, where they were beaten 1–0. In the Bundesliga, HSV lost their title by two points, finishing in second place behind champions Bayern Munich.

In December 1980, HSV dismissed Zebec, who had been struggling with a drinking problem. His assistant Aleksandar Ristić was appointed caretaker for the remainder of the season and secured a second-place finish in the Bundesliga.

In 1981, Austrian coach Ernst Happel was appointed as Zebec's permanent replacement. In his first season, his HSV side regained the Bundesliga title, and reached the UEFA Cup final, where they lost 4–0 on aggregate to Sweden's IFK Göteborg.

Between 16 January 1982 and 29 January 1983, HSV went undefeated in the Bundesliga. The run stretched across 36 games and remained a Bundesliga record until November 2013, when it was broken by Bayern Munich.

A third Meisterschale followed at the end of the 1982–83 season, with HSV defending their title against local rivals Werder Bremen on goal difference. The same year, HSV defeated Juventus 1–0 in Athens to win the club's first European Cup.

In December 1983, HSV traveled to Tokyo where they faced South American champions Grêmio in the Intercontinental Cup. The Brazilian club took home the trophy, with a 93rd minute winning goal. Back home, they lost the league championship to VfB Stuttgart on goal difference.

Both 1984–85 and 1985–86 were low seasons for HSV, with the club finishing fifth and seventh respectively. In 1986, midfielder Felix Magath, who had played for the club for ten years and scored the winning goal in the 1983 European Cup Final, retired from professional football.

In 1986–87, HSV finished second in the Bundesliga and won a fourth DFB-Pokal, beating Stuttgarter Kickers 3–1 in the final at West Berlin's Olympiastadion. After this success, Ernst Happel left the club to return to Austria. He remains HSV's most successful trainer, with two Bundesliga titles, one DFB-Pokal and one European Cup.

Modern era

In the early 1990s, HSV fell in financial trouble. Thomas Doll was sold to Lazio for a then record 16 million Deutsche Marks in June 1991. On the pitch, meanwhile, the team was in decline. After a fifth-place finish in 1990–91, HSV finished in the bottom half of the Bundesliga in four consecutive seasons.

In October 1995, Felix Magath returned to HSV to become the club's trainer. The following month, Uwe Seeler also returned as the club president. Under the new regime, HSV finished fifth in the Bundesliga, securing European qualification for the first time in six years. The following season, HSV reached the semi-finals of the DFB-Pokal. In May 1997, however, Magath was fired after a 4–0 defeat to 1. FC Köln, with the team one place above the relegation zone. HSV eventually finished in 13th place under reserve team coach Ralf Schehr.

In 1997, HSV appointed Frank Pagelsdorf, who would coach the team for over four years, making him the longest serving trainer since Ernst Happel. A ninth-place finish in 1997–98 was followed by seventh in 1998–99 and third in 1999–2000, the team's best performance since 1986–87.

On 2 September 2000, the new Volksparkstadion was officially opened as the national team played its first 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifier, against Greece.

In 2000–01, HSV competed in the UEFA Champions League for the first time since the competition's expansion from the old European Cup. Their first match was a 4–4 draw against Juventus, with Tony Yeboah scoring the club's first Champions League goal. HSV failed to qualify for the second round, but managed a 3–1 win over Juventus in the return fixture at the Stadio delle Alpi.

In July 2003, HSV won its first trophy in 16 years with a 4–2 defeat of Borussia Dortmund in the DFB-Ligapokal final.

In August 2004, HSV lost in the early rounds of the DFB-Pokal by regional league side SC Paderborn. Referee, Robert Hoyzer, had accepted money from a Croatian gambling syndicate to fix the match, which he did, awarding two penalties to Paderborn and sending off HSV player Émile Mpenza.

Another third-place finish in 2005–06 saw HSV qualify for the Champions League for the second time. They finished bottom of Group G, with a solitary win against Russian club CSKA Moscow. In the league, the team was in 17th place going into the winter break, having won once in the league all season, leading to the dismissal of trainer Thomas Doll. Under new coach Huub Stevens, HSV advanced further away from the relegation zone and qualified for the UEFA Cup via a seventh-place finish and victory in the Intertoto Cup.^[] The following season, Stevens led the team to fourth place in the Bundesliga before leaving to take over at Dutch champions PSV Eindhoven. He was replaced by Martin Jol, who took HSV to the semi-finals of both the 2008–09 UEFA Cup and the 2008–09 DFB-Pokal, both of which die Rothosen lost to rivals Werder Bremen. In the league, they did not qualify for the Champions League on the final day of the season. In the summer of 2009, after only one season, Jol departed to become coach of Ajax.

Under new coach Bruno Labbadia, HSV reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup (now renamed the UEFA Europa League) for the second season in a row. However, a defeat in the away leg to Fulham, days after the firing of Labbadia, denied the club the opportunity to play in the final, which was held at its home stadium.

On 13 October 2011, Thorsten Fink was appointed as coach with the team in the relegation zone after losing six of their opening eight matches. In HSV's first nine games under Fink they were unbeaten, going into the winter break in 13th place. The team finished the season the season the season the season the season in 15hth position, avoiding by five points what would have been its first relegation. In 2012–13, HSV recorded a seventh-place finish. During the season, however, the team equaled the club's record Bundesliga defeat, losing 9–2 at the Allianz Arena to Bayern Munich.

Fink was replaced on 25 September 2013 by Bert van Marwijk, who in the same season was replaced by Mirko Slomka on 17 February 2014. Under Slomka, the club narrowly avoided its first relegation from the Bundesliga in May 2014, by defeating Greuther Fürth on the away goals rule in a play-off.

Hamburg once again changed managers due to a poor start of the season, firing Slomka in 2014. His successor Josef Zinnbauer held the job until March of said year and was replaced by interim coach Peter Knäbel, who was eventually replaced by returning Bruno Labbadia, who saved the club at the end of the season in the relegation play-off for the second year running against Karlsruher SC.^[] Labbadia achieved only two points in the first ten games of the 2016–17 season, and was replaced by Markus Gisdol, reached 20 points in 9 games from the 19th match day to the 28th match day. On the last match day, Hamburg avoided the relegation play-offs and stayed in the Bundesliga.

Relegation and missed promotions

In the 2017–18 Bundesliga, after a 3–1 defeat in the first round of DFB-Pokal against the third-division team VfL Osnabrück, HSV had two wins against FC Augsburg and 1. FC Köln. However, eight games followed without a win. At the end of the first half of the season, HSV was in second last place in the table. After two defeats in the first two games of the second half, coach Markus Gisdol was dismissed.^[] HSV hired Bernd Hollerbach, a former player of the club, as a new coach. After seven games without a win and a 6–0 defeat against Bayern Munich, he was also dismissed in 2018. A few days before the game against Bayern, the club announced the dismissal of CEO Heribert Bruchhagen. Frank Wettstein, CFO of the club, was appointed as the new CEO. On the day of his appointment, he dismissed the sports director Jens Todt. The club hired former successful HSV player Thomas von Heesen as a sports consultant until the end of season. For the last eight games in the 2017–18 Bundesliga, the club promoted the coach of Hamburger SV II, Christian Titz. In the Regionalliga Nord (fourth league), his team were the top of the table. With four wins and an offensively minded style of play, the coach convinced the club and received a two-year contract.

After the low season in the 2017–18 Bundesliga under three different coaches, a final day win over Borussia Mönchengladbach was not enough to escape relegation after Wolfsburg won against Köln 4–1. They were relegated to the 2. Bundesliga for the first time in the Bundesliga's 55-year history, causing riots by Hamburg supporters.

After the relegation Christian Titz was sacked in October 2018,^[] and replaced by Hannes Wolf. Hamburg did not gain promotion back to the Bundesliga, and failed to reach the playoffs, with a one-point difference between them and Union Berlin. The team reached the semi-finals of the 2018–19 DFB-Pokal, before being defeated by RB Leipzig 1–3 at home.

For the 2019–20 2. Bundesliga, their second year in the 2. Bundesliga, Wolf was laid-off^[] and was replaced by Dieter Hecking. They did not get a return to the Bundesliga by one-point, and they were eliminated in the second round of the 2019–20 DFB Pokal by Vfb Stuttgart 1–2 in extra time.

By again missing promotion, Hecking's contract was not extended.^[] For the 2020–21 season, Daniel Thioune was brought in as the new head coach from league rivals VfL Osnabrück. The season began with a 1–4 first-round knockout loss in the DFB-Pokal to 3. Liga club Dynamo Dresden. Despite this loss, HSV then started the season and won the first 5 games. After a subsequent winless streak of 5 games, 3 of which were lost in a row, the team stabilised again from matchday 11 and went undefeated until the winter break. HSV ended the season as first in the league table. From matchday 20 and onwards, HSV were again winless for 5 games. After 2 wins, another winless series of 5 games followed from matchday 27 and onwards, during which, the club drawed against Hannover 96 3–3. The club also lost to relegation candidates SV Sandhausen. Due to this development, Thioune was released at the beginning of May 2021, and replaced by the head of academy Horst Hrubesch for the final three games of the season. At that point, HSV were in third place with 52 points, five points from a spot guaranteeing direct promotion.

In the 2021–22 season, HSV reached promotion to reach the promotion playoff spot, finishing third on goal difference over Darmstadt 98. Once again, however, the season ended with HSV losing the Bundesliga's 16th place side Hertha Berlin 1–2 in the playoff, losing to a 0–2 home defeat, despite winning the first leg in Berlin.

In the 2022–23 season, their fifth season in the 2. Bundesliga, the club had the highest spectator average of any second-division club in Europe. During that season, Hamburger SV were in the top three places since matchday 6, and finished the year 2022 in second place. On the last matchday, HSV played an away match against SV Sandhausen, where they won 1–0, and as SSV Jahn Regensburg were leading 2–1 against second-place 1. FC Heidenheim, HSV were about to be promoted to Bundesliga. However during eleven minutes of stoppage time, Heidenheim scored two goals to finish top; hence, Hamburger SV had to play the promotion/relegation play-offs against VfB Stuttgart. They lost both legs, missing promotion to the top division for the fifth year in a row.