Hertha Berliner Sport-Club von 1892 (commonly Hertha Berlin or HerthaBSC) is a German football club based in Berlin. A founding member of the German Football Association in Leipzig in 1900, the club has a long history as Berlin'sbest-supported side and competes today in the first division Bundesliga.
Entry to the Bundesliga
At the time of the formation of the Bundesliga in 1963, Hertha was Berlin's reigning champion and so became an inaugural member of the new professional national league. In spite of finishing clear of the relegation zone, the team was demoted after the 1964-65 season following attempts to bribe players to play in the city under what had become decidedly unpleasant circumstances after the erection of the Berlin Wall. This caused something of a crisis for the Bundesliga which wanted for political reasons to continue to have a team in its ranks representing the former capital.
Through various machinations this led to the promotion of Tasmania 1900 Berlin, which then delivered the worst-ever performance in Bundesliga history. Hertha managed a return to the premier German league in 1968-69 and developed a solid following making it Berlin's favorite side.
However, Hertha was again soon touched by scandal through its involvement with several other clubs in the Bundesliga match fixing scandal of 1971. 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 70's with a second place Bundesliga finish behind Borussia Moenchengladbach in 1974-75, a semi-final appearance in the 1979 UEFA Cup, and two appearances in the final of the German Cup (1977 and 1979).
The following season saw the fortunes of the team take a turn for the worse as they were relegated to 2.Bundesliga where they would spend thirteen of the next seventeen seasons.
Plans in 1982 for a merger with Tennis Borussia, Blau Weiss 90 and SC Charlottenburg to form a side derisively referred to as FC Utopia never came to fruition. Hertha slipped as low as the third tier Amateur Oberliga Berlin where they spent two seasons (1986-87 and 1987-88). Two turns in the Bundesliga (1982-83 and 1990-91) saw the team immediately relegated after poor performances.
Hertha's amateur side enjoyed a greater measure of success, advancing all the way to the final of the German Cup in 1993 where their run ended in a close 0:1 defeat at the hands of Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen.
Financial woes once more burdened the club in 1994 as it found itself 10 million DM in debt. The crisis was again resolved through the sale of real estate holdings in addition to the signing of a new sponsor and management team. By 1997 Hertha found its way back to the Bundesliga where they have generally managed to finish in the upper third of the slate. When Hertha was promoted in 1997, it ended Berlin's six-year-long drought without a Bundesliga side which made the Bundesliga the only top league in Europe without representation from the country's biggest city and capital.
Most recently, bright spots for the side have been a continuous string of appearances in international play in the UEFA Cup and the UEFA Champions League beginning in the 1999 season, and the signing of players such as Sebastian Deisler and Brazilian international Marcelinho, named the Bundesliga's player of the year in May 2005. 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 2003-04 season, but rebounded and finished 4th 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 over take them for the spot on the final day. As a thank-you gesture, Werder sent the Hannover squad ninety-six bottles of champagne. In 2005-06 the Herthaner finished 6th, and qualified for the UEFA Cup by defeating FK Moskva in the Intertoto Cup but stopped at the first round of the UEFA Cup by Odense BK.
In 2006-07 Hertha finished 10th after sacking manager Falko Götz at April 11th. Hertha starts saison 2007-08 with a new manager, Lucien Favre from the Swiss Champion of 2006 and 2007, FC Zürich. They finished 10th again, but starting in the first qualification round of the UEFA Cup via Fair Play Ranking with Danish club FC Nordsjælland, and Premier League side Manchester City.