Hertha BSC

Olympiastadion (Capacity: 74.500)

Hertha BSC - Fortuna Düsseldorf (1:2) (Relegation, 10. May 2012)
1:0 R. Hubnik (19.), 1:1 T. Bröker (64.), 1:2 A. Ramos (og.)(71.)

Attendence: 68.041
Cost: 10 Euro
Programme: Offizielles Stadionmagazine von Hertha BSC (1 Euro)

Packed train as usual on the way to the ground

That's our stop

Looking at the stadium from outside the gates

Plenty of security today

One day we will be in the Ostkurve

The Ostkurve showing support

Teams entering the pitch

Düsseldorf fans let off a few flares

Free kick for Düsseldorf

View of the pitch

Kicking off the second half

Düsseldorf celebrating the winning goal

Final score for the first leg

CLUB HISTORY: (abseits guide to soccer) Hertha, founded in 1892, is the most popular Berlin based club and the flagship of Berlin soccer. It was actually founded by four teenagers in the Wedding district as BFC Hertha 92. Since they were not yet of age, they had to get their uncle to be the Club president. They took their name from a steamship called Hertha, whose smokestack happened to be painted blue and white. By 1905, the first major success: winning the city championship. Despite continued success, the club was still financially poor, and their ground was sold out from under them. (Guess that made them "homeless".) In 1920 however, they merged with Berliner Sport Club. This new squad was built around goalkeeper Paul Gelhaar and wonderful forward Hannes Sobek. In 1925, they made their appearance in the German semi-finals, losing in overtime to FSV Frankfurt. Next season, they got to the championship, losing 4-1 to Fürth. 1926/27/28/29 they were again in the finals, losing all. Finally in 1930, they edged Holstein Kiel 5-4, with Hans Ruch scoring the winner in the 87th minute, The next year they defended their title, when Sobek scored twice as they beat 1860 München 3-2. However, they were to be edged out by Minerva Berlin in the league the following year, and were unable to defend their title. Hertha would end up as the 2nd ranked team on points of the Weimar era, 1920-33, behind only 1.FC Nünberg. In the 3rd Reich, results were not as strong for Hertha, as they ranked only 21st, with only 3 Gauliga titles to show. The post-WWII years saw mostly mediocre results, but a spurt at the end of the 1950s allowed them to sneak into the new league that would take Germany to footballing heights. As founding member of the Bundesliga, Hertha was again a power in the 1970s, highlight being reaching the semifinals of the UEFA Cup in 1979. Things started downhill then, eventually leading to several years of Bundesliga exile. Bottom was reached in 1986, when Hertha fell out of the 2.Liga and dropped down to the Amateur Oberliga Berlin. Attendance dribbled down to an average below 1,800, from a club that had averaged 44,000 back in 1971. To make matters worse, Hertha crashed in the promotion rounds, and the Oberliga had to be repeated. Hertha popped back into the Bundesliga in 1990, but in that horrible season, they finished dead last. Berlin was once again plunged into darkness. In fact, with the collapse of the GDR, BFC Dynamo quickly became a non-factor as well. This probably made berlin the largest city in the world without 1st division representation. Perhaps the sole highlight was in 1993, when the amateur squad reached the finals of the DFB Cup, losing 0-1 to Bayer Leverkusen. Finally, the "run" ended in 1997, when Hertha managed 3rd in the 2.Liga, and gained promotion. With Hertha now back in the Bundesliga, and major financial backing, fans and the media looked for this Berlin club to regain it's status as a powerhouse. The 1998-99 season turned out to be a wonderful surprise for Hertha. The team got off to a decent start, and battled all the way, qualifying for the Champions League. Michael Preetz won the scoring title, becoming the first Hertha player ever to do so. The next season was expected to be even better, but the team never seemed to live up to potential in the league. Nevertheless, they qualified for the UEFA Cup, and had a nice run in the Champions League. Combine that with an average attendance of some 55,000, Berlin soccer was back on top. Hertha seems to have justified the optimism with several decent finishes, although the ambition to challenge for the title looks still a bit remote. The recent squads have been built around Brazilian playmaker Marcelinho, who may turn out to be the best Brazilian ever to never pull on the yellow jersey. When he was let go, the club began to flounder again. Once again, the great potential was unrealized, and the Berlin fans continued to suffer...In 2009, coach Lucien Favre put together a squad that displayed minimalist football, but seemed to grind out results. They led the table at times, and certainly challenged for the title and Champions League. But in the end, they were bitchslapped by last place Karlsruhe on the final week, and missed an opportunity for 2nd. A good season, at least for the Berlin fans. However, 2010 proved to be an absolute disaster. The club and fans were expecting a title run, but instead they sucked and finished a sensational dead last.

HONOURS:
League:
* German Champions: 2
+ Winners: 1930, 1931
+Runners-up: 1926, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1975
* 2nd Bundesliga Champion: 2
+ 1990, 2011
* Oberliga Berlin Champions: 8
+ 1925, 1926, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1930, 1931, 1933
* Gauliga Berlin-Brandenburg Champions: 3
+ 1935, 1937, 1944
* Brandenburg football champions: 12
+ 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, 1992, 2004
* DFB-Pokal: 0
+ Runners-up: 1977, 1979, 19931
* Intertoto Cup: 4
+ 1971, 1973, 1976, 1978

STADIUM HISTORY: (wiki) The Olympiastadion (Olympic Stadium) is a sports stadium in Berlin. There have been two stadiums on the site: the present facility, and one that is called the Deutsches Stadion which was built for the aborted 1916 Summer Olympics. Both were designed by members of the same family, the first by Otto March and the second by his son Werner March. The current Olympiastadion was originally built for the 1936 Summer Olympics in the southern part of the Reichssportfeld (today Olympiapark Berlin). During World War II, the area suffered little damage. After the war, the British military occupation used the northern part of the Reichssportfeld as its headquarters until 1994. From 1951 to 2005, the Olympischer Platz had a giant antenna transmitting for all the portable radios in Berlin. Aside from its use as an Olympic stadium, the Olympiastadion has a strong footballing tradition. Historically, it is the ground of club Hertha BSC. It was also used for 3 matches in the 1974 FIFA World Cup. It hosted six matches, including the final, in the 2006 FIFA World Cup and was renovated for that reason. The German Cup final match is held each year at the Olympiastadion. The stadium sees use in other sports as well; at one point it held the world record for the attendance of a baseball game, thought to be over 110,000.