Hertha BSC Berlin

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Full name: Hertha-Berliner Sport-Club von 1892 e.V.

Nickname(s):
- Die Alte Dame (the Old Lady)
- The Blue-Whites

Founded: July 25, 1892

Stadium: Olympic Stadium, Berlin (Capacity 74,500)

Club's official website: Hertha BSC Berlin

Chairman: Dieter Hoeness
Manager: Lucien Favre
League: Bundesliga

Honours:

German Champions: 2
1930, 1931

Oberliga Berlin Champions: 8
1925, 1926, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1930, 1931, 1933

Gauliga Berlin-Brandenburg Champions: 3
1935, 1937, 1944

Premiere League Cup Champions: 2
2001, 2002

UEFA Intertoto Cup Champions: 1
2006

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Hertha with a very important victory, 2-1 against Dortmund away, now they are in 5th place.

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Hertha BSC have no less than six players doubtful for the match against Alemannia Aachen.


Fifth place in the Bundesliga table and with Aachen at home in round 14 on Saturday (15:30 CET),Hertha should be looking forward to the game with an air of optimism, and they probable would be; if it wasn't for half a dozen problems.

The historic 2-1 win in Dortmund might have been the capital city side's first win away to Dortmund in 34 years, but it came at a price.

Six players struggling

Six first team players are struggling to be fit in time to face Aachen. The latest names added to the list of the walking wounded are defenders Malik Fathi and Joe Simunic and Serbian striker Marko Pantelic.

Fathi turned over on his right ankle and was extensively examined yesterday. The Hertha team physician Dr. Uli Schleicher: "He is lucky; it is only a strain." Despite that fact the German international is unable to train with the first team.

And that's not all...

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One Hertha player in particular has one burning question on his mind.


"Can I make the grade in the Bundesliga?" is the question Hertha BSC's Croatian striker Srdjan Lakic (23) is asking himself.

The injury to first choice striker Christian Gimenez could open the door to a rare first team start for Lakic.

Two strikers

One thing is for sure, that Hertha will revert to two strikers for Saturday's Bundesliga home game against newly-promoted Aachen (15:30 CET).

Head coach Falko Götz: "We only played one striker in Dortmund - at home will will field two strikers!"

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Hertha beat Aachen 2-1 at home

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Hertha lost 3-1 at the Weser.

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Hertha lost away, 2-1 against Leverkusen

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Hertha close down the gap on Stuttgart for 4th place, as they beat Frankfurt 1-0 at home.

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Hertha easily beat Onsabruck 3-0 and advance to the next round of the German Cup

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Hertha BSC's youth programme is widely recoginised as one of the best in German football. <b<bundesliga.de takes a closer look.


At Hertha BSC Berlin, head coach Falko Götz is a regular visitor to Hertha's youth academy.

The club relies on its young talents more than most other teams in the Bundesliga. And many of them have made the breakthrough in Germany's top flight.

Founded in 2000

Hertha's youth programme is widely seen as one of the best German football has, and Falko Götz has every reason to be proud. After all, he was partly responsible for the founding of Hertha's Football Academy in 2000.

Götz explains his connection to the academy: "My philosophy of working with young players, and finding out what's happening with the apprentices stems from that. You can see how some talents who could be interesting to the Bundesliga are doing.”

Ebert an instant success

One example, Patrick Ebert, is the latest shining light to make the grade at Hertha. The 19 year-old midfielder hasn't disappointed Götz either. He scored his first ever Bundesliga goal in just his second appearance.

Götz had praise for Ebert: "He's a player who comes from the Berlin area, and has risen through the ranks with our youth teams. He's already played for Germany's youth teams, and we've got plenty more youngsters like him.”

Ebert is the 15th player from Hertha BSC's youth system to make it into the Bundesliga. That's a unique statistic in Germany. And Hertha's talents are no "five minute wonders” either.

Fathi already capped

Malik Fathi is another Hertha talent. He rose through the ranks and is now a feature on the German national team. Fathi commented on his success, "I think that consistency is my trademark. The DFB recognised that, and that's why I'm happy to be knocking on their door after 70 Bundesliga matches.”

Hard training and taking things slowly is the philosophy of Hertha's academy. The club places importance on forming talents into team players. That policy is underlined by the fact that the Berliners have eleven youth internationals on their books. Essentially, it's a complete team.

Götz: "The players must understand that they must work hard. After all, professional football is a tough business. And a player can disappear as quickly as he burst onto the scene. We want the players to understand that being a Bundesliga player is all about making the grade over the long run.”

"No time to do something wrong"

Becoming a professional is not just down to talent, but also sacrifice. School and training come first, leaving little time for anything else. That can be an advantage as Patrick Ebert explains "You haven't got time to do something wrong or muck around! It was super for me, because I only concentrated on football and my studies. It really helped me.”

That could be viewed as an understatement. Ebert's autograph is in demand with the fans these days. And just where do Hertha hold their autograph sessions? At their football academy, of course!

[Oliver_Kahn]

Tasmania 1900 Berlin may have only played in the Bundesliga for just one year, but the team certainly made an everlasting impression.


It's as though it was yesterday. Klaus Basikow and Hans-Günter Becker still remember the exact route onto the pitch. They both played with Tasmania 1900 Berlin and helped write some unusual Bundesliga history in Berlin's Olympic Stadium.

Great start

In August 1965, newly-promoted Tasmania played their first Bundesliga match against Karlsruher SC. In spite of 30 degree Celsius heat, nearly 85,000 fans watched Tasmania give 100 percent.

Hans-Günter Becker, the captain of the Tasmania 1900 team, explains: "We could feel the euphoric fans were behind us, and we played a great game on that day.” And Klaus Basikow, who was the goalkeeper, adds: "Personally, it was one of the best games in my entire career.”

Klaus Basikow made several fantastic saves in goal to keep Tasmania from falling behind in the game. And his saves motivated his team-mates to score two late goals and win the match. Karlsruhe were beaten.

Defeat after defeat

Basikow and Becker flick through their battered scrapbooks from time to time to recall that 1965/1966 season. Things went downhill after the season opener. Defeat followed defeat - some of them painful and one-sided. Tasmania quickly dropped to the bottom of the table.

And some opponents simply outclassed Tasmania. In a snow-bound match against champions-to-be 1860 Munich, they were on the wrong end of a five-nil drubbing.

827 spectators

The team captain recalls: "Half way through the season it was obvious to everyone that we were bound to be relegated.” And Basikow agrees: "It was just too big a challenge for the team that year. Anyone who knew anything could see that.”

The fans started to stay away from matches because of all the losses. One home match was seen by just 827 fans, who felt lost in the monumental Olympic Stadium.

Salaries couldn't be paid

It was a dubious record for lowest attendance in Bundesliga history. And the lost ticket sales meant that the players salaries, which were much lower than today's sky high sums, couldn't be paid.

But the players fought on, attending training anyway. Becker recalls that they wanted to finish the season with pride: "We brought a special brand of humour to the game. You can remember, Klaus. Some people thought it was black humour, but it was a different. We'd say that in spite of our losses, we'd try again next game”.

Lots of memories

The two players still have their old Tasmania 1900 jerseys. And the shirts aren't the only memories they have from the early days of the Bundesliga.

Tasmania may have been outgunned and outclassed, but the players are still proud to have worn their team colours for one season in Germany's top flight.

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2. Bundesliga side Kickers Offenbach meet their arch rivals Eintracht Frankfurt in the quarter-final of the DFB Cup. The other fixtures are right crackers, too.


The top match of the quarter-finals of the DFB Cup is that of Bundesliga sides VfB Stuttgart and Hertha BSC Berlin. This is the result of the draw made by former German international Oliver Bierhoff live on German TV.

Kickers Offenbach, the only 2. Bundesliga side left in the competition, host last year's finalists Eintracht Frankfurt in a potentially explosive Hessian derby.

Nuremberg host Hannover

Alemannia Aachen, who pulled off the shock result of the last round when they eliminated champions Bayern, have to travel to Wolfsburg, while in another match of two Bundesliga sides Nuremberg host Hannover 96.

The last time a Hessian derby between Frankfurt and Offenbach was played was in September 2003 in the first round of the DFB Cup. Eintracht Frankfurt then won the 143th Hessian derby by beating Offenbach at their ground on penalties.

Quarter-Finals on the 27th and 28th of February

The semi-finals are to be played on March, 17th and 18th respectively. The final of the 2006-07 DFB Cup competition will be held on May 26th, 2007 in Berlin's Olympiastadion.

The quarter-final draw in full:

VfB Stuttgart vs. Hertha BSC Berlin

1.FC Nürnberg vs. Hannover 96

VfL Wolfsburg vs. Alemannia Aachen

Kickers Offenbach vs. Eintracht Frankfurt

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Tough draw for Hertha, but the game should be grwat to watch.

[Oliver_Kahn]

Hertha BSC have arrived in their training camp in Marbella.


The Hertha posse took off at 11:10 CET from Tegel airport in Berlin on Monday, on a flight to Spain, where they will spend ten days at a training camp in Marbella.

The plane landed in Mallorca at 1:45 CET where the group stayed for around 90 minutes, before boarding a flight to their final destination which was Marbella. They arrived there at 4:25 CET.

Same hotel as last year

A coach took everyone to the five star "Gran Hotel Guadalpina Banus" hotel, the same hotel Hertha stayed at last year.

Last year, it rained for the full ten days, so it goes without saying that everyone had their fingers crossed that the sun would make an appearance for a change!

Good weather, lost bag

As the Hertha posse arrived in Marbella last year, the thermometer showed 16 degrees; this time around it was 18 degrees and the sun was shining, so far so good.

The journey went well apart from the fact that the bag of winger Ellery Cairo was lost on the way.