Portal:Hamburg/Selected article/12
top-flight German football since the end of World War I; the team has never been relegated from any top-flight league, a record in Germany.
The Hamburger Sport-Verein, or HSV, can trace its roots as far back as the 29 September 1887 merger of Der Hohenfelder Sportclub and Wandsbek-Marienthaler Sportclub to form Sportclub Germania zu Hamburg. The current club was formed as Hamburger Sport-Verein in 1919 through the union of three city teams severely weakened by World War I: Sportclub Germania zu Hamburg; Hamburger FC (1888); and FC Falke Eppendorf (1906).