Hertha BSC

Hertha BSC

Full name	Hertha Berliner Sport-Club von 1892 e.V.
Nickname(s)	Die Alte Dame (The Old Lady) The Blue-Whites
Founded	25 July 1892
Ground	Olympic Stadium, Berlin (Capacity: 74,500)
President	Werner Gegenbauer
Manager	Michael Preetz
Coach	Markus Babbel
League	2.Bundesliga
2009–10	Bundesliga, 18th (relegated)
Home colours Away colours Third colours
Current season

Hertha Berliner Sport-Club von 1892 (commonly known as Hertha BSC or Hertha Berlin) is a German football club based in Berlin. A founding member of the German Football Association in Leipzig in 1900, the club has a long history as Berlin's best-supported side and competes in the 2. Bundesliga as of 2010–11.

History

Early years

The club was formed in 1892 as BFC Hertha 92, taking its name from a steamship with a blue and white smokestack.^[1][2] One of the four young men who founded the club had taken a day trip on this ship with his father. The name Hertha is a variation on Nerthus referring to fertility goddess from Germanic mythology.

Hertha performed consistently well on the field, including a win in the first Berlin championship final in 1905.^[1] In May 1910, Hertha won a friendly match against Southend United F.C., which was considered significant at the time as England was where the game originated and English clubs dominated the sport.^[1] However, their on-field success was not matched financially^[2] and in 1920 Hertha merged with the well-heeled club Berliner Sport-Club to form Hertha Berliner Sport-Club.^[1][2] The new team continued to enjoy considerable success in the Oberliga Berlin-Brandenburg, while also enduring a substantial measure of frustration. The team played its way to the German championship final in six consecutive seasons from 1926 to 1931, but were only able to come away with the title in 1930 and 1931^[1] with BSC leaving to become an independent club again after the combined side's first championship. Even so, Hertha emerged as the Germany's second most successful team during the inter-war years.^[2]

Play under the Third Reich

German football was re-organized under the Third Reich in 1933 into sixteen top-flight divisions, which saw Hertha playing in the Gauliga Berlin-Brandenburg. The club continued to enjoy success within their division, regularly finishing in the upper half of the table and capturing the divisional title in 1935, 1937, and 1944.^[2] However, they faded from prominence, unable to advance out of the early rounds of the national championship rounds.^[2] Politically, the club was overhauled under Hitler, with Hans Pfeifer, a Nazi party member being installed as president.^[1][3]

Postwar play in divided Berlin

After World War II, occupying Allied authorities banned most organizations in Germany, including sports and football clubs. Hertha was re-formed late in 1945 as SG Gesundbrunnen and resumed play in the Oberliga Berlin - Gruppe C. The thirty-six teams of the first season of the postwar Oberliga Berlin were reduced to just a dozen the next year and the club found itself out of first division football and playing in the Amateurliga Berlin. By the end of 1949, they had re-claimed their identity as Hertha BSC Berlin and earned a return to the top-flight.

Tensions between the western Allies and the Russians occupying various sectors of the city, and the developing Cold War, led to chaotic conditions for football in the capital. Hertha was banned from play against East German teams in the 1949-50 season after taking on several players and a coach who had fled the Dresden club SG Friedrichstadt for West Berlin.^[1] A number of sides from the eastern half of the city were forced from the Oberliga Berlin to the newly established DDR-Liga beginning with the 1950-51 season.

Through the 50's an intense rivalry developed with Tennis Borussia Berlin. A proposal for a merger between the two clubs in 1958 was resoundingly rejected, with only three of the 266 members voting in favour.^[1]

Entry to the Bundesliga

At the time of the formation of the Bundesliga in 1963, Hertha was Berlin's reigning champion and so became an inaugural member of the new professional national league.^[4] In spite of finishing clear of the relegation zone, the team was demoted after the 1964-65 season following attempts to bribe players to play in the city under what had become decidedly unpleasant circumstances after the erection of the Berlin Wall.^[4] This caused something of a crisis for the Bundesliga which wanted for political reasons to continue to have a team in its ranks representing the former capital.^[5] Through various machinations this led to the promotion of SC Tasmania 1900 Berlin, which then delivered the worst-ever performance in Bundesliga history.^[5] Hertha managed a return to the premier German league in 1968-69 and developed a solid following making it Berlin's favorite side.^[6]

However, Hertha was again soon touched by scandal through its involvement with several other clubs in the Bundesliga match fixing scandal of 1971. In the course of an investigation of Hertha's role, it was also revealed that the club was 6 million DM in debt. Financial disaster was averted through the sale of the team's former home ground.^[6]

In spite of this, the team continued to enjoy a fair measure of success on the field through the 70's with a second place Bundesliga finish behind Borussia Moenchengladbach in 1974-75,^[6] a semi-final appearance in the 1979 UEFA Cup,^[6][2] and two appearances in the final of the German Cup (1977 and 1979).^[6] The following season saw the fortunes of the team take a turn for the worse as they were relegated to 2.Bundesliga^[7] where they would spend thirteen of the next seventeen seasons.

Plans in 1982 for a merger with Tennis Borussia Berlin, SpVgg Blau-Weiß 1890 Berlin and SCC Berlin to form a side derisively referred to as FC Utopia never came to fruition.^[7] Hertha slipped as low as the third tier Amateur Oberliga Berlin where they spent two seasons (1986-87 and 1987-88).^[7][2] Two turns in the Bundesliga (1982-83^[7] and 1990-91^[2]) saw the team immediately relegated after poor performances. Hertha's amateur side enjoyed a greater measure of success, advancing all the way to the final of the German Cup in 1993 where their run ended in a close 0:1 defeat at the hands of Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen.^[2][8]

Following the fall of the Berlin Wall, Hertha became a popular side in East Berlin as well. Two days after the wall come down, 11,000 East Berliners attended Hertha's match against SG Wattenscheid.^[8] A fan friendship with 1. FC Union Berlin developed, and a friendly match between the two attracted over 50,000 spectators.^[8]

Financial woes once more burdened the club in 1994 as it found itself 10 million DM in debt.^[8] The crisis was again resolved through the sale of real estate holdings in addition to the signing of a new sponsor and management team.^[9] By 1997 Hertha found its way back to the Bundesliga^[9] where they have generally managed to finish in the upper third of the slate. When Hertha was promoted in 1997, it ended Berlin's six-year-long drought without a Bundesliga side which made the Bundesliga the only top league in Europe without representation from the country's biggest city and capital.^[2]

Recent History

Two years in a row, Hertha's opening Bundesliga fixture was against Eintracht Frankfurt.

Most recently, bright spots for the side have been a continuous string of appearances in international play in the UEFA Cup and the UEFA Champions League beginning in the 1999 season, and the signing of players such as Sebastian Deisler and Brazilian international Marcelinho, named the Bundesliga's player of the year in May 2005. Hertha has also invested heavily in its own youth football academy, which has produced several players with Bundesliga potential.

The team was almost relegated in the 2003–04 season, but rebounded and finished 4th the following season, but missed out on the Champions League after they were held to a draw on the final day by Hannover 96, which saw Werder Bremen over take them for the spot on the final day. As a thank-you gesture, Werder sent the Hannover squad ninety-six bottles of champagne. In 2005–06 the Herthaner finished 6th, and qualified for the UEFA Cup by defeating FK Moskva in the Intertoto Cup but stopped at the first round of the UEFA Cup by Odense BK. In 2006–07 Hertha finished 10th after sacking manager Falko Götz at April 11th. Hertha started the 2007–08 season with a new manager, Lucien Favre from the Swiss Champions of 2006 and 2007, FC Zürich. They finished 10th again, but started in the first qualification round of the UEFA Cup via the Fair Play Ranking with Danish club FC Nordsjælland, and Premier League side Manchester City. After a successful campaign in 2008–09 season, finishing in fourth place and remaining in the title race up until the second to last matchday, they have had a very poor season in 2009–10 and finished at the very bottom of the Bundesliga.

Seasons since returning to the Bundesliga

Stadium

The Berlin Olympic Stadium

Hertha BSC plays its matches in Berlin's Olympiastadion. The facility has a capacity of 74,500, making it the second-largest stadium in Germany behind Borussia Dortmund's Westfalenstadion (82,932, including ~67,000 seats).

The stadium hosts the annual German Cup final and was also the site for six matches of the 2006 FIFA World Cup including the tournament final.

From 1904, Hertha's home ground was the Plumpe in the city's Wedding (Gesundbrunnen) district. A stadium was built there in 1923 with a capacity of 35,000 (3,600 seats). The club left the stadium when it joined the Bundesliga in 1963. The sale of the site in 1971 helped the club avoid bankruptcy.

Players

For recent transfers, see List of German football transfers summer 2010 and List of German football transfers winter 2009–10.

Current squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Maikel Aerts 2 DF Christian Lell (2nd vice-captain) 3 DF Levan Kobiashvili (1st vice-captain) 4 DF Roman Hubník 5 DF Andre Mijatović (Captain) 6 DF Christoph Janker 7 MF Daniel Beichler 8 MF Pál Dárdai 9 FW Adrián Ramos 10 MF Raffael 12 DF Ronny 13 FW Nikita Rukavytsya 14 DF Sebastian Neumann 15 MF Sascha Bigalke

No. Position Player 16 FW Rob Friend 17 FW Valeri Domovchiyski 18 MF Peter Niemeyer (on loan from Werder Bremen) 19 FW Pierre-Michel Lasogga 20 MF Patrick Ebert 21 GK Sascha Burchert 22 DF Kaká 23 MF Fanol Perdedaj 24 DF Shervin Radjabali-Fardi 25 MF Lennart Hartmann 26 DF Nico Schulz 28 MF Fabian Lustenberger 30 MF Andreas Neuendorf 31 GK Marco Sejna

Players out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 33 FW André Lima (on loan at Fluminense until 31 December 2010)

Hertha BSC II squad

Top goalscorers As of 30 June 2008 Rank Player Caps[10] Goals 1 Michael Preetz 234 84 2 Erich Beer 253 83 3 Lorenz Horr 240 75 4 Marcelinho 155 65 5 Marko Pantelić 88 38 6 Erwin Hermandung 192 34 Karl-Heinz Granitza 73 8 Wolfgang Gayer 98 30 9 Alex Alves 81 27 10 Arno Steffenhagen 132 26 Holger Brück 261 12 Franz Brungs 84 24 Wolfgang Sidka 184 14 Kurt Müller 77 20 15 Erwin Kostedde 26 16 Pál Dárdai 243 Nando Rafael 70 18 Bernd Gersdorff 85 15 Andreas "Zecke" Neuendorf 157 20 Detlef Szymanek 40 14 Gerhard Grau 157 Yildiray Bastürk 71 Only Bundesliga caps and goals are included. Source: herthabsc.de

Most capped players Pál Dárdai is Hertha's most capped player As 9 March 2010 Rank Player Hertha Career Caps 1 Pál Dárdai 1997– 366 2 Dick van Burik 1997–2007 296 3 Arne Friedrich 2002–2010 279 4 Michael Preetz 1996–2003 278 5 Andreas Schmidt 1993–2008 276 6 Josip Šimunić 2000–2009 275 7 Gábor Király 1997–2004 252 8 Michael Hartmann 1994–2005 230 9  Eyjólfur Sverrisson 1995–2003 214 10 Christian Fiedler 1993–2009 210 11  Andreas "Zecke" Neuendorf 2001–2007 2010– 195 12 Marcelinho 2001–2006 193 13 Malik Fathi 2003–2008 148 14  Marko Pantelić 2006–2009 139 15 Marko Rehmer 1999–2005 137 16 Gilberto 2004–2008 115 Sixten Veit 1995–2001 18 Bart Goor 2001–2004 114 19 Sofian Chahed 2003–2009 113 René Tretschok 1998–2003 Source: transfermarkt.de

Coaches

Current staff

As of 28 August 2010^[11]

Markus Babbel	Head coach
Rainer Widmayer	Assistant coach
Christian Fiedler	Goalkeeping coach
Henrik Kuncho	Fitness coach

Coaches since 1963

Friedhelm Funkel was the last Bundesliga coach of Hertha BSC

No.	Coach	from	until	League
1	Jupp Schneider	01/07/1963	09/03/1965	Bundesliga
2	Gerhard Schulte	09/03/1965	30/06/1966	Bundesliga and Regionalliga
3	Helmut Kronsbein	01/07/1966	13/03/1974	Regionalliga and Bundesliga
4	Hans Eder	17/03/1974	30/06/1974	Bundesliga
5	Dettmar Cramer	01/07/1974	09/07/1974	Bundesliga
6	Hans Eder	10/07/1974	16/07/1974	Bundesliga
7	Georg Kessler	17/07/1974	30/06/1977	Bundesliga
8	Kuno Klötzer	01/07/1977	28/10/1979	Bundesliga
9	Hans Eder	28/10/1979	26/12/1979	Bundesliga
10	Helmut Kronsbein	27/12/1979	30/06/1980	Bundesliga
11	Uwe Klimaschewski	01/07/1980	30/06/1981	2. Bundesliga
12	Georg Gawliczek	01/07/1981	10/12/1983	2. Bundesliga and Bundesliga
13	Martin Luppen	11/12/1983	30/06/1984	2. Bundesliga
14	Uwe Kliemann	01/07/1984	11/11/1985	2. Bundesliga
15	Hans Eder	11/11/1985	31/12/1985	2. Bundesliga
16	Rudi Gutendorf	01/01/1986	18/04/1986	2. Bundesliga
17	Jürgen Sundermann	19/04/1986	08/10/1988	2. Bundesliga and Oberliga (III)
18	Werner Fuchs	08/10/1988	13/11/1990	2. Bundesliga and Bundesliga
19	Pál Csernai	13/11/1990	12/03/1991	Bundesliga
20	Peter Neururer	13/03/1991	28/05/1991	Bundesliga
21	Karsten Heine	28/05/1991	30/06/1991	Bundesliga
22	Bernd Stange	01/07/1991	20/08/1992	2. Bundesliga
23	Günter Sebert	20/08/1992	20/10/1993	2. Bundesliga
24	Uwe Reinders	20/10/1993	20/03/1994	2. Bundesliga
25	Karsten Heine	20/03/1994	31/12/1995	2. Bundesliga
26	Jürgen Röber	01/01/1996	06/02/2002	2. Bundesliga and Bundesliga
27	Falko Götz	06/02/2002	30/06/2002	Bundesliga
28	Huub Stevens	01/07/2002	04/12/2003	Bundesliga
29	Andreas Thom	04/12/2003	31/12/2003	Bundesliga
30	Hans Meyer	01/01/2004	31/05/2004	Bundesliga
31	Falko Götz	28/06/2004	10/04/2007	Bundesliga
32	Karsten Heine	11/04/2007	31/05/2007	Bundesliga
33	Lucien Favre	01/06/2007	28/09/2009	Bundesliga
34	Friedhelm Funkel	02/10/2009	30/06/2010	Bundesliga
35	Markus Babbel	01/07/2010		2. Bundesliga

Source: herthabsc.de

Honours

League

• German Champions: 2
  • Winners: 1930, 1931
  • Runners-up: 1926, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1975
• 2nd Bundesliga Champion: 1
  • 1990
• Oberliga Berlin Champions: 8
  • 1925, 1926, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1930, 1931, 1933
• Gauliga Berlin-Brandenburg Champions: 3
  • 1935, 1937, 1944
• Brandenburg football champions:
  • 1906, 1915, 1917, 1918, 1925-31, 1933

Cup

• DFB-Ligapokal: 2
  • Winners: 2001, 2002
  • Runners-up: 2000
• Berliner Landespokal: 13
  • Winners: 1920, 1924, 1928, 1929, 1943, 1958, 1959, 1966, 1967, 1976¹, 1987, 1992¹, 2004¹
• DFB-Pokal: 0
  • Runners-up: 1977, 1979, 1993¹
• Intertoto Cup: 4
  • 1971, 1973, 1976, 1978

Note 1: Reserve Team

Youth

• German Under 17 championship
  • Champions: 2000, 2003, 2005
  • Runners-up: 1991
• Under 19 Bundesliga North/Northeast
  • Champions: 2005, 2006
• Under 17 Bundesliga North/Northeast
  • Champions: 2008

UEFA ranking

Current Club Ranking^[12]

• 72 FC København
• 73 Deportivo La Coruña
• 74 Lazio Roma
• 75 Lokomotiv Moscow
• 76 Hertha BSC
• 77 Sparta Praha
• 78 Celta de Vigo

References

External links

• Official website
• Abseits Guide to German Soccer
• Hertha Berlin statistics
• Hertha Berlin formations at football-lineups