Die Unaufsteigbaren! Will HSV ever return to the Bundesliga?
Hamburger SV once again missed out on promotion this season and after five years in the second division the question will have to be asked: What will it take for HSV to return to the Bundesliga?
Remember the famous clock in Hamburg’s Volksparkstadion? The same clock that stopped at 54 years, 261 days, 00 hours, 36 minutes, and 2 seconds in May 2018 when Hamburger SV were finally relegated. That is an unbelievable 19,985 days of Bundesliga membership. HSV were the final founding member never to be relegated, but it took another season for the clock to be finally removed from the Volkspark.
That was in 2019, just weeks after HSV had missed out on promotion to the Bundesliga after finishing fourth in their first-ever 2. Bundesliga campaign. A hiccup, many thought, because surely HSV would soon be back in the Bundesliga. It would be the unbelievable run of mishaps that sees one of Germany’s most prominent clubs still in the second division to the present day.
Indeed, we have gotten to the point where continuous jokes about HSV have run their course. Sure, we all laughed when Gladbach fans unveiled a banner on matchday 34 of the 2017/18 season that displayed a countdown throughout the game that finished at zero when HSV were officially relegated.
That day also came with the typical chaos that accompanied giant clubs like HSV being relegated. Smoke bombs were set off among HSV fans located in the famous Nordtribüne, and fans rioted in the stands. It would be easy to single out Hamburg fans here, but we have seen similar scenes when other giants like Hertha BSC, Schalke, or 1860 Munich were relegated.
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