Hamburger SV

Hamburger SV
Full nameHamburger Sport-Verein e.V.
Nickname(s)Die Rothosen (The Red Shorts)
Short nameHSV
Founded29 September 1887; 137 years ago (1887-09-29)
(as SC Germania)
2 June 1919; 105 years ago (1919-06-02)
(as Hamburger SV)
GroundVolksparkstadion,
Hamburg
Capacity57,000
PresidentMarcell Jansen
Sporting directorStefan Kuntz[1]
Head coachSteffen Baumgart
League2. Bundesliga
2023–242. Bundesliga, 4th of 18
Websitehsv.de
Current season
Active departments of
Hamburger SV
Football (men's) Football II (men's) Football III (men's)
Football (women's) Handball Rugby
Closed departments of
Hamburger SV
Futsal

Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (German: [ˈhambʊʁɡɐ ˈʃpɔʁtfɛɐ̯ˌʔaɪ̯n] ), commonly known as Hamburger SV (pronounced [ˈhambʊʁɡɐ ʔɛsˈfaʊ] ) or Hamburg (pronounced [ˈhambʊʁk] ), or HSV (pronounced [ˌhaːʔɛsˈfaʊ] ), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its football department. Though the current HSV was founded in June 1919 from a merger of three earlier clubs, it traces its origins to 29 September 1887 when the first of the predecessors, SC Germania, was founded.

HSV has won the German national championship six times, the DFB-Pokal three times and the former League Cup twice. The team's most successful period was from the mid-1970s until the mid-1980s when, in addition to several domestic honours, they won the 1976–77 European Cup Winners' Cup and the 1982–83 European Cup. The outstanding players of this period were Horst Hrubesch, Manfred Kaltz, and Felix Magath, all regulars in the West German National Team. To date, HSV's last major trophy was the 1986–87 DFB-Pokal. Up until the 2017–18 Bundesliga season, which found the team relegated for the first time in history, HSV's football team had the distinction of being the only team that had played continuously in the top tier of the German football league system since the founding of the club at the end of World War I. It was subsequently the only team that had played in every season of the Bundesliga since its foundation in 1963.

HSV play their home games at the Volksparkstadion in Bahrenfeld, a western district of Hamburg. The club colours are officially blue, white and black but the home kit of the team is white jerseys and red shorts. The team's most common nickname is "die Rothosen" (the Red Shorts). As it is one of Germany's oldest clubs, it is also known as der Dinosaurier (the Dinosaur). HSV have rivalries with Werder Bremen, with whom they contest the Nordderby, and Hamburg-based FC St. Pauli, with whom they contest the Hamburg derby.

HSV is notable in football as a grassroots-oriented organisation which places strong emphasis on youth development. The club had a team in the Women's Bundesliga from 2003 to 2012 but it was demoted to Regionalliga level because of financial problems. Other club sections include badminton, baseball, basketball, bowling, boxing, cricket, darts, ice hockey, field hockey, golf, gymnastics, handball, and cardiopulmonary rehabilitation exercises. These sections represent about 10% of the club membership. HSV is one of the biggest sports clubs in Germany with over 84,000 members total in all its sections,[2] and according to Forbes it is among the 20 largest football clubs in the world.[3]

  1. ^ "HSV Part Ways With Jonas Boldt, Stefan Kuntz Named New Board Member For Sport". 21 May 2024. Retrieved 5 June 2024.
  2. ^ HSV Supporters Club – graph shows "gesamt" (entire membership) as 70,000-plus Archived 29 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 25 October 2013.
  3. ^ Forbes Magazine – World's Most Valuable Football Clubs. Retrieved 25 October 2013.