All across the world there are cities that live for the weekend so they can watch their football team again. Well in this new series we'll be taking a look at some of the greatest football cities and their clubs in much more detail. For the first instalment we've decided to look at a city with two truly unique and different clubs, that for the first time in a long time are competing at the same level.
The city in question is Hamburg in the North of Germany. It's a huge port city on the Elbe river, close to the Danish border but it's famous for its vibrant neighbourhoods and bustling nightlife. On top of that, the city played host to The Beatles for a while, who played their first gigs their before returning to Liverpool and the Cavern Club later on.
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If we're going to talk football though, there's only one place to start and that is with the city's eponymous club, Hamburger SV. Der Dino (The Dinosaur) were a powerhouse in the mid 1970's and early 1980's, and not just in German football. The club was formed all the way back in 1887 when it was known as SC Germania and although the club's colours are blue, white and black their home kit has always been a white shirt with red shorts which earnt them their other nickname "die Rothosen" or the Red Shorts.
Hamburger were German champions twice in the 1920's and then once again in 1960 before they were entered into the newly founded Bundesliga in 1963. Der Dino immediately began to excel after that, winning it's first DFB Pokal that year. However, it would take the club until the mid 70's to start replicating that success again with the club clinching their second DFB Pokal in 1976, having narrowly missed out on the league title.
They had their first European success in 1977 when they won the European Cup Winners Cup and they followed it up by signing Kevin Keegan from Liverpool that summer. Der Dino had a disappointing season in Keegan's first year at the club but he clinched the Ballon d'Or despite Hamburger's tenth place finish. Keegan would come back the next year and win it again but this time Der Dino would also win their first Bundesliga title.
HSV dismissed manager Branko Zebec in 1980, who had been struggling with a drinking problem, and in 1981 they appointed legendary manager Ernst Happel as his permanent replacement. Happel would go on to win back to back Bundesliga titles in 1982 and 1983 going on a 36 game unbeaten run, which was a record that stood until 2013 when Bayern Munich beat it. He also clinched another DFB Pokal in 1987 but really Happel's greatest achievement was going one better than his predecessor and winning the European Cup in 1983, beating Juventus 1-0 thanks to a goal from another club legend Felix Magath. Der Dino had previously made the final in 1980 but lost 1-0 to Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest.
Since then, the club has laboured though and the cup success in 1987 was Hamburger's last piece of silverware. In fact, the last thing the supporters had to cling to was the fact they were the only club to have never been relegated from the Bundesliga and there was even a clock in the stadium that honoured that great tradition. Despite some difficulties in the 1990's and 2000's, players like
Son Heung Min,
Rafael van de Vaart and
Jerome Boateng had impressed the fans at Volksparkstadion and helped to keep them in the league.
That was until 2018 when the clock stopped and the club was finally relegated to the 2.Bundesliga for the first time in their history, causing the HSV fans to riot. They are yet to get back to Germany's top flight and many now look at them as sleeping giants.
Der Dino have a fierce rivalry with nearby neighbours Werder Bremen and historically they played most of their derby games against them. However, there is another side in Hamburg that are now on a level playing field with Der Dino.
St Pauli are that team and they are a fascinating case of a modern football club. Whilst teams like Brentford and Midtjylland have embraced the influence of statistics on the modern game, St Pauli are a club who have a heavy focus on politics. They were founded in 1910 and whilst it took a long time to grow their fanbase, the team's fans have been known for their heavy identification with left wing politics since the 1980's.
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That's when Kiezkicker's transition into a "Kult" club began. Part of the reason for this transition was the location of the club's ground in the dock area of Hamburg near to the city's infamous Reeperbahn, which is home to the red light district and most of Hamburg's night life. In the 1980's the club banned right wing demonstrations from its stadium in an era when fascist hooliganism was rife in Europe, becoming the first club to do so. They also began attracting activist fans who were involved in the punk scene to create a party atmosphere at home games. The club has even ironically named the suites in the stadium "Separees" as a nod to the "Chambres Separees" used by sex workers in the nearby red light district.
Kiezkicker adopted the skull and crossbones as an unofficial logo as a sign of rebellion, with it still being brandished among members of the ultras in the stands today. St Pauli are also very active in the community having saved the club from administration before and in the world raising money for charitable causes, including clean water initiatives in Africa and Cuba.
On the pitch though, the club hasn't been massively special during its 110 year history. St Pauli have only been in the Bundesliga on three occasions and the longest spell they spent there was just two seasons. On top of that, as we previously alluded to the club has been in financial peril on a number of occasions either being saved by the fans or relegated as a result so their list of famous alums is short with
Max Kruse at the top.
However, for maybe the first time in the two clubs' history they are both at a very similar level in the 2.Bundesliga. In fact, St Pauli won the first of this season's clashes 3-2 in the Hamburg derby and sit top of the league, six points clear of second. Hamburger meanwhile, are down in 7th but only three points away from 2nd which could set up a huge promotion battle between Hamburg's two clubs.
Keep your eyes on 2.Bundesliga for the rest of this year, it could get very interesting.
