Hertha BSC

Hertha BCS is one of the oldest clubs in Berlin and one of the founding members of the German Football Association and won their first German championship in 1930. Hertha BCS, or Hertha Berlin which the club sometimes is referred to, had still to win a Bundesliga, a DFB-Pokal, or a European title.

History

The club was established in 1892 and existed before most of the other known football clubs in the city such as FC Olympia Oberschöneweide (1906) and Berliner FC Dynamo (1966). Among the already existing club in Berlin at the time were FC Viktoria 1889 Berlin and BFC Viktoria 1889.

Germany's first football league, the Brandenburg football championship, would start in 1890. Hertha would participate in the league for the first time in 1903 and win its first league title in 1906. Hertha would be one of the dominating forces and won in total 12 league titles.

In the beginning, the club was called BFC Hertha 92, the choice of the name “Hertha” was taken from a steamship that one of the founders had happened to be a passenger on.

In Nazi Germany, during the 1930s and 1940s, Hertha competed in the Gauliga Berlin-Brandenburg together with other teams from Baradenburg and Berlin. They claimed three titles during this period.
The Gauliga Berlin-Brandenburg was disbanded in 1945 and Hertha moved to Oberliga Berlin, which was the highest level in German football among with four other regional divisions. Hertha would win the league three times.  

Member of the Bundesliga and European presence

When the Oberliga was disbanded, Hertha as the top league in Oberliga Berlin granted admission to the newly formed Bundesliga. Hertha would, however, face difficulties in the strong competition and after being closed to relegation after the first season, Hertha was relegated to Regionalliga Berlin after the second Bundesliga season.

The 1970s would start out well the club. After returning to Bundesliga for the 1968-69 season, Hertha would soon the on the top teams in addition to reaching the DFB-Ligapokal final three times. They started to get qualifications for European tournaments and participated several times in the Intertoto Cup and the UEFA Cup, with a semi-final in the 1978-79 season of the UEFA Cup as best performance.

In the following decades, Hertha Berlin would switch between Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga. They are still waiting for the first Bundesliga trophy.

By Oscar Anderson

References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hertha_BSC
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandenburg_football_championship
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gauliga_Berlin-Brandenburg