A club that I would like to talk about is Hamburg SV. Hope you enjoy it!
 |
| Hamburg SV Logo |
Brief Overview
One of the biggest and oldest clubs in Germany. Hamburg was officially founded in 1887 under the name SC Germania. However, the name changed in 1919 to become Hamburg SV (Sports Verein is for Sports Club).
Hamburg’s fierce rivals are Werder Bremen (Nordderby) and St. Pauli (Hamburg derby).
Since the German First Division became the Bundesliga in 1963, Hamburg is the only team in Germany that has never been relegated since the inception of the new name. A famous digital clock in their 57,000-seats stadium is still counting the years, days, minutes and seconds of their time in the top flight. The club came very close to resetting that clock to zero when they faced relegation playoffs in 2014 and 2015, but barely escaped relegation on both occasions.
 |
| The famous Hamburg clock in Volksparkstadion |
Golden Era
Undoubtedly, the most successful period of the club came in the late 70’s and early 80’s. New manager Rudi Gutendorf had one condition if he were to become manager of Hamburg, which was bringing in English forward Kevin Keegan. Keegan arrived in the summer of 1977 after winning the European Cup with Bob Paisley’s Liverpool that year.
Hamburg players were still loyal to their former coach Kuno Klötzer, whom they won the European Cup Winners’ Cup with in 1977. They weren’t very keen on Gutendorf and his new boy Keegan and thought Keegan was an unnecessary addition to the team.
"They boycotted me from that moment on, along with the president eventually." Gutendorf said.
 |
| Kevin Keegan (left) with ousted manager Rudi Gutendorf |
Under the leadership of German winger Felix Magath, the players revolted to oust Gutendorf. After 3 months in charge, Gutendorf was forced to leave.
Two years later in 1979, Gutendorf became the manager of Australia. He holds the record of managing the highest number of national teams; 18 in total.
Hamburg won their first Bundesliga title in 1979 (4th overall) and Keegan won two Ballon d’Or trophies in 78’ and 79’.
After Keegan left to Southampton in 1980, their next major signing was bringing in Austrian coach Ernst Happel in 1981. Happel was a well-established, experienced and successful coach who won the European Cup (now Champions League) in 1970 with Feyenoord, and reached the 1978 World Cup Final with Cruyff-less Netherlands, only to lose to Mario Kempes’ Argentina.
Happel won 2 Bundesliga titles with Hamburg (82’ & 83’). During that period he led Hamburg to remain undefeated for almost a year, stretching the run to 36 games, a record then. The record was broken by Pep Guardiola’s Bayern Munich in November 2013.
 |
| Ernst Happel, the most successful manager in Hamburg history. |
Hamburg’s most historic achievement was winning the European Cup in 1983, when they faced Giovanni Trapatoni’s Juventus which was filled with superstars like Michel Platini, Dino Zoff, Marco Tardelli, Paulo Rossi and others. The final took place in Athens and Hamburg won 1-0 thanks to a 9th minute goal by, yes you guessed it, none other than Felix Magath, the leader of the revolution that ended Gutendorf’s reign.
 |
| Felix Magath lifts the European Cup. |
Now?
After Happel left in 87’, Hamburg were never able to reach the highs of that golden period. Their last title was in Happel’s last year at the club, which was the German Cup (DFB-Pokal Cup).
Hamburg lie now in 16th place in the Bundesliga with 10 points, hoping to finish the year without having to fear of resetting their clock back to zero, which now stands at 53 years, 113 days, 22 hours, 16 minutes, 43 seconds, and counting…
