Hamburger SV

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 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…

HSV have the record in German football of having won the most regional titles, having won 31 regional titles. However, the regional titles do not count as a trophy or even as a title itself. Winning a regional title only guaranteed a club to battle, with other regional winning clubs, for the German Championship. 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. After the replay of the championship final in 1922 had to be abandoned due to the opponents no longer having enough players on the ground, the German Football Association (DFB) requested HSV to renounce the title, which the club did. During his first season with Hamburger SV (2000–01), Sergej Barbarez became the top scorer for his club with 22 goals and joint top scorer of the Bundesliga with Ebbe Sand. Until the 2017–18 season, HSV took pride in its status as the only club to have played continuously in the Bundesliga since its foundation. A large clock in the northwest corner of the Volksparkstadion marked the time, down to the second, since the league was founded on 24 August 1963.

Domestic

German Champions: Winners: 1923, 1928, 1960, 1978–79, 1981–82, 1982–83 Runners-up: 1923–24, 1956–57, 1957–58, 1975–76, 1979–80, 1980–81, 1983–84, 1986–87 DFB-Pokal: Winners: 1962–63, 1975–76,…