After World War II , occupying Allied authorities banned most organizations in Germany, including sports and football clubs. The 36 teams of the first season of the post-war 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 , it had re-claimed their identity as Hertha BSC and earned a return to the top-flight. Tensions between the western Allies and the Soviets occupying various sectors of the city, and the developing Cold War , led to chaotic conditions for football in the capital.

Hertha was banned from playing against East German teams in the —50 season after taking on several players and a coach who had fled the Dresden club SG Friedrichstadt for West Berlin.

Through the s, an intense rivalry developed with Tennis Borussia Berlin. A proposal for a merger between the two clubs in was resoundingly rejected, with only three of the members voting in favour.

Being a major Berlin side, Hertha had fans in the entirety of Berlin, but following the division of the city, supporters in East Berlin found it both difficult and dangerous to follow the team.

In interviews with long-time supporter Helmut Klopfleisch, he described his difficulties as a supporter in East Berlin. Klopfleisch came from the district of Pankow and attending his first home match as a young boy in he became an instant supporter.

Despite this, he did not give up. The stadium was located close enough to the Berlin wall for the sounds from the stadium to be heard over the wall.

Thus, Klopfleisch and other supporters gathered behind the wall to listen to the home matches. When the crowd at the stadium cheered, Klopfleisch and the others cheered as well.

He was arrested and interrogated at numerous occasions. At the time of the formation of the Bundesliga in , Hertha was Berlin's reigning champion and so became an inaugural member of the new professional national league.

Through various machinations, this led to the promotion of SC Tasmania Berlin , which then delivered the worst-ever performance in Bundesliga history.

Hertha managed a return to the premier German league in —69 and developed a solid following, making it Berlin's favourite side. Hertha, however, was again soon touched by scandal through its involvement with several other clubs in the Bundesliga matchfixing scandal of 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. In spite of this, the team continued to enjoy a fair measure of success on the field through the s with a second place Bundesliga finish behind Borussia Mönchengladbach in —75 , [16] a semi-final appearance in the —79 UEFA Cup , [16] and two appearances in the final of the DFB-Pokal and Bundesliga , [17] where it would spend 13 of the next 17 seasons.

Hertha's amateur side enjoyed a greater measure of success, advancing all the way to the final of the DFB-Pokal in , where its run ended in a close 0—1 defeat at the hands of Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen.

Financial woes once more burdened the club in , as it found itself 10 million DM in debt. When Hertha was promoted in , it ended Berlin's six-year-long drought without a Bundesliga side, which had made the Bundesliga the only top league in Europe without representation from its country's biggest city and capital.

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 —04 season , but rebounded and finished fourth 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 overtake them for the spot on the final league matchday.

As a "thank-you" gesture, Werder sent the Hannover squad 96 bottles of champagne. In —07 , Hertha finished tenth after sacking manager Falko Götz on 11 April.

Hertha started the —08 season with new manager Lucien Favre , who had won the Swiss championship in and with Zürich. After a successful campaign in —09 season , finishing in fourth place and remaining in the title race up until the second to last matchday, the club had a very poor season in —10 season , finishing last in the Bundesliga and suffering relegation.

After spending the —11 season in the 2. Bundesliga, Hertha secured its return to the Bundesliga for —12 by winning 1—0 at MSV Duisburg with three matchdays to play in the season.

Hertha, however, finished 16th in the —12 Bundesliga and lost in the relegation playoff to Fortuna Düsseldorf to fall back to the 2.

In —13 , Hertha achieved promotion from the second division as champions for the second time in three seasons. On the opening day of the —14 season , the club beat Eintracht Frankfurt 6—1 at the Olympiastadion to top the Bundesliga table at the end of matchday 1.

At the halfway point of the —16 Bundesliga season , Hertha lay in third place, its highest position at the winter break since — The seventh-place finish meant the club secured Europa League football for the —17 season by the means of a third round play-off.

In the —17 Bundesliga season , Hertha enjoyed its best ever start to a Bundesliga season in terms of points won during the opening eight matches, losing just one match — away against Bayern Munich — and forcing a draw away against Borussia Dortmund.

Klinsmann was immediately replaced by Alexander Nouri as interim coach, which was planned until the end of the season.

Nouri's first game in charge was away to eventually relegated Paderborn, which Hertha won It was Nouri's first victory as a coach since departing Werder Bremen years earlier.

During his tenure at Ingolstadt, he failed to win a single game. Hertha continued to produce poor performances under Nouri.

They were thrashed at the Olympiastadion by fellow strugglers FC Köln before traveling away to also struggling Fortuna Düsseldorf. Within 45 minutes of the match kicking off Düsseldorf had taken a 3 goal lead, just as Köln had done the week before.

Despite the worrying signs Hertha again fell behind to Werder Bremen as they took a lead on Berlin the following weekend. Niklas Stark reduced the deficit before half time before Matheus Cunha equalised.

The home game against Werder Bremen was to be the last before a European wide shut down due to the outbreak of the Corona virus. The Hertha team had been making their way to the airport to fly to Sinsheim to play Hoffenheim the following week when the bus was asked to turned back following the decision to suspend all Bundesliga games until further notice.

During the isolation period, all clubs were suspended from matches as Europe tried to get the virus under control. Players were asked to train at home.

The players returned to training as each region in Germany began to alter restrictions. During this time, Alexander Nouri was dismissed by Hertha as interim coach.

He was replaced by Bruno Labbadia who took charge after football continued behind closed doors due to the Coronavirus outbreak. His first match in charge was a continuation of the season, away to TSG Hoffenheim.

Hertha won the game convincingly Next was the return fixture of the Berlin derby against Union Berlin. Labbadia's impressive start to management at Hertha continued as they gained a point in a draw away to RB Leipzig and a home victory over FC Augsburg.

The winning run came to an end at the hands of Freiburg. After the squad was hit by a series of injuries, Hertha's final victory of the season was at home to Bayer Leverkusen which they won and ensured Hertha would finish the season in 10th position.

This was followed by a succession of 4 defeats to stronger opponent, beginning with a loss to Eintracht Frankfurt and a narrow loss in Munich to champions Bayern in a game that needed to the Bavarians.

Hertha's struggles did not ease as the international break saw 13 of their squad travel to represent their nations in various competitions.

Hertha were 3rd highest in the league for number of internationals on duty behind Leipzig and Bayern.

Matteo Guendouzi, on loan from Arsenal and having been preparing to make his Hertha debut, was confirmed as Covid Positive upon return and forced to isolate for 10 days before being allowed to train again.

Hertha lost at home to Stuttgart, citing the lack of preparation an issue for the squad. Following the Stuttgart game and a second wave of the Coronavirus that has been rising across Germany, the decision was made to once again, play behind closed doors.

A strong performance against RB Leipzig away the following week was not enough to earn any points. Hertha were reduced to 10 men when referee Tobias Stieler produced two yellow cards in 4 minutes for Deyovasio Zeefuik.

Stieler's performance was widely criticised in the media including by Hertha sporting director Michael Preetz. The following week a strong performance against VfL Wolfsburg saw Hertha earn a point at home before a convincing win against a strong Augsburg team.

The game was followed by another international break and despite an excellent first half in the returning game against Borussia Dortmund, a heavy defeat followed.

Instead, the clubs followed the Berlin 'Infection protection ordinance' set out by the Berlin senate and regulated by the District health authorities, which stated outdoor events had a maximum capacity of people.

This allowed 4, Fans to attend Hertha's home matches against Frankfurt and Stuttgart and others such as the matchday teams and stadium employees.

Between the two games however, an increase in infections saw the ordinance altered to ban any singing from fans during the games. After the Stuttgart match, the games continued behind closed doors as the infection rate in Berlin continued to increase.

The stadium has a permanent capacity of 74, seats, [27] making it the largest stadium in Germany in terms of seating capacity and the second largest stadium in Germany, behind the Signal Iduna Park in Dortmund , in terms of total capacity.

For certain football matches, such as those against Bayern Munich , the capacity can be temporarily expanded.

This is made by the addition of mobile grandstand over the Marathon Arch. The extended capacity reached 76, seats in The stadium underwent major renovations twice, in and from to In the upgrades, the stadium received a partial roof.

It underwent a thorough modernization for the World Cup. In addition, the colour of the track was changed to blue to match Hertha's club colours.

In addition to Hertha's home games, Olympiastadion serves as one of the home grounds for the Germany national football team , and it hosts concerts, track and field competitions, and the annual DFB-Pokal final.

It was also the site for six matches of the World Cup, including the tournament final. Hertha played its matches on a sports field on the "Exer" on Schönhauser Allee in Prenzlauer Berg until This was the first home ground of Hertha.

Hertha then moved it matches to the Schebera-Sportplatz in the locality of Gesundbrunnen in The Stadion am Gesundbrunnen was built in the area in The stadium would be nicknamed "Die Plumpe" and had a capacity of 35,, of which 3, seated.

Hertha left the stadium when it joined the Bundesliga in Hertha returned to the site during the Regionalliga years from to The sale of the site in helped the club avoid bankruptcy.

Due to a lack of spectator interest, Hertha played its 2. Bundesliga and Amateurliga matches from to at the Poststadion. It was confirmed on 23 May that Hertha will continue to play its home matches at the Olympiastadion until On 30 March , Hertha announced its intentions to build a new 55, seater stadium, to be ready in when their contract to play at the Olympiastadion runs out.

The club noted many factors for this decision, one being that the Berlin side are the only club in the Bundesliga without a dedicated football stadium.

The preferred plans are that the new stadium is to be built within the Olympic Park, next to the Olympiastadion.

However, if that plan was rejected, they also have secondary plans for the stadium to be built in Brandenburg Park, Ludwigsfelde.

Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality. For the club's th birthday, Hertha fans elected the "Squad of the Century".

Missing out on a trend of promoting women's football, [36] Hertha became one of a decreasing number of major German football clubs left outside the top of women's football.

Several steps had been taken to develop women's football, but most of them ended up inconclusive. The change came in , when the club announced that it was to launch a cooperation in women's football with 1.

FC Lübars , a football club from the Berlin borough Reinickendorf and with decades of history in women's football.

In the long run, the club plans for the team of 1. FC Lübars now competes in the 2. Bundesliga of women's football. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Sports club of Berlin in Germany. Home colours. Away colours. Third colours. Retrieved 22 January Hertha BSC.

This entitled the club to take part in the promotion round to the 2. In Bremerhaven it held a 0—0 until four minutes from the end, seeing itself already in the second division but then OSC scored the winning goal and earned promotion on the away goal rule.

Its Berlin title qualified the club for the German amateur football championship , too, where it went all the way to the final and lost to ESV Ingolstadt.

The club continued to be a driving force in what was now renamed Amateur Oberliga Berlin, finishing in the top five all but once in the next twelve seasons.

In —82, another highlight followed, coming second in the league to Tennis Borussia Berlin , on equal points but falling nine goals short.

The team returned to the German amateur championship, where the FSV Mainz 05 proofed to strong in the semi-finals, winning both games. It drew Hertha BSC for the first round and, in front of 12, spectators, the score was two all after regular time but then the big Hertha scored two more goals and knocked the little Hertha out of the cup.

Little Hertha German: Kleine Hertha is the long-standing nickname of the club, [11] referring to the fact that Hertha BSC was always the bigger and more successful of the two Herthas.

The season after, the club came second in the league once more, this time to SC Charlottenburg , and earned another shot at the amateur championship but this time, the FC Bayern Munich II in the first round was as far as it went.

In , the club's under's finally took out the West German championship, beating southern powerhouse VfB Stuttgart 2—1 in the final with later German international Christian Ziege in Zehlendorf's line-up.

The year after, wealthy FC Bayern Munich managed to beat the amateur club's youth team on penalties only in the final.

From to , the Oberliga Berlin became the scene of Hertha's struggle with Reinickendorfer Füchse for the league championship but both times Reinickendorf won the upper hand.

Each time, Hertha only earned the right to compete for the amateur championship again and each time it lost in the first round.

FC Union Berlin in its short three-year existence and Zehlendorf managed only average performances. Nevertheless, it did qualify for the new tier-three Regionalliga Nordost in In a league full of former East German football powerhouses, the team struggled for four seasons before being relegated in The recent season-by-season performance of the club: [14] [15].

The following players developed through the club's youth system to become professionals: [16]. The club has qualified for the first round of the DFB-Pokal six times:.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. For other uses of "Hertha", see Hertha. Home colours. Away colours. Runde Weltfussball. Categories : Football clubs in Germany Football clubs in Berlin Steglitz-Zehlendorf Association football clubs established in establishments in Germany.

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Thomas Grunenberg. Verbandsliga Berlin. Female Ariane Hingst Inken Becher. DFB-Pokal —75 [17]. DFB-Pokal —76 [18]. DFB-Pokal —77 [19].