Heider SV

Small town on the big stage

The team is known popularly as kleiner HSV (en: Little HSV), a play on the name of better known Hamburger SV. They represented the smallest town competing in top-flight German competition in the regional Oberliga Nord (I) in 1956–57 and 1960–61 against the likes of larger clubs including Hamburger SV, Hannover 96, Werder Bremen, and FC St. Pauli. The club's appearances in the top flight were brief, but they were enthusiastically supported, regularly drawing large crowds. The highlight of Heider SV's 1956–57 season was a 2–0 victory over Hamburger SV before a crowd of 12,000, an attendance record that still stands to this day. In 1951, 1953, and 1955, Heider SV took part in the country's amateur championship with their best result coming as an advance to the semi-finals in 1955 where they were lost 3–1 to Sportfreunde Siegen. The club also made failed attempts to return to Oberliga play in 1954, 1958, 1959, and 1962.

Post-Bundesliga

After the formation of the Bundesliga, Germany's first fully profession league, in 1963, Heider SV became part of the Amateurliga Schleswig-Holstein (III) after failing to qualify for the new Regionalliga Nord (II). The team did eventually win its way to the Regionalliga for a single season in 1968–69, and again for a four-season stint between 1970 and 1974. After slipping down through the Amateurliga, Heider SV became a fixture in fourth-tier play in the Landesliga Schleswig-Holstein (1975–78), the…

The club's honours:

Amateurliga Schleswig-Holstein (II) Champions: 1956, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1962, 1963 Verbandsliga Schleswig-Holstein (IV) Champions: 1983 Schleswig-Holstein Cup (Tiers III-V) Winners: 1979, 1982, 1995