Hamburg: A Bundesliga dinosaur on the brink of extinction

The Volksparkstadion clock is ticking, but Hamburg are living on borrowed time.

The Dinos' proud status as the Bundesliga's only founding member never to have been relegated will be ripped from their jaws if they fail to beat Borussia Mönchengladbach on the final day of 2017/18. Even that won't be enough, should Wolfsburg get a result against a Cologne side already consigned to the second tier.

It would be a sad way for HSV to usher in their centenary year…

Highs

Founded in June 1919, three-time national champions Hamburg were one of 16 teams invited to compete in the Bundesliga's inaugural campaign in 1963/64. HSV had won the first of their three DFB Cups a season earlier, adding a second in 1975/76 - the same year they finished runners-up in the Bundesliga. It was the dawning of a golden era.

Two years after defeating defending champions Anderlecht to claim the 1976/77 European Cup Winners' Cup, Hamburg captured the Bundesliga title for the first time. Their reward was a place in the 1979/80 European Cup, where they powered their way to the final. Nottingham Forest won that particular battle, but HSV would soon seize the continental throne.

Deposing Bayern Munich to win their second Bundesliga crown in 1982, Hamburg went one better the following campaign. The Red Shorts had already held off fierce northern rivals Werder Bremen to take the league title on goal difference, when they made it a Bundesliga and European Cup double with victory over Italian giants Juventus in Athens. To this day, HSV have never had it so good.

Lows

The digital clock in the north-west corner of the Volksparkstadion displays every year, day, hour, minute and second of Hamburg's relentless Bundesliga stay. Fifty-four and counting is a unique achievement, but make no mistake: the years have not been kind to the self-styled dinosaurs of German football.

Prior to 2014, HSV had never finished lower than 15th. In four of the last five seasons, however, the fallen Bundesliga giants have wound up in the bottom five - surviving via the play-offs in 2014 and 2015, and pulling off another great escape to haul themselves above the water line at the expense of Wolfsburg on the final day of last season.

This time it is not so simple. Although Hamburg have clawed their way off the foot of the standings to within two points of the relegation play-off spot with one fixture remaining, they will be relegated if Wolfsburg avoid defeat at home to Cologne – even if Christian Titz's men beat Gladbach. A 56th consecutive season of Bundesliga football hangs in the balance for the club with nine lives…

Club legends

If only Hamburg could wind back the clock.

Hometown hero Uwe Seeler plundered 404 league goals between 1955-1972 - there's even a statue of his fabled right foot outside the Volksparkstadion – while Horst Hrubesch, Felix Magath and legendary coach Happel helped pen the most successful chapter in HSV’s rich history, culminating in their unprecedented 1983 double triumph.

And who can forget Kevin Keegan? The Englishman with a barnet fit for the glam-rock scene brought the house down during his three-season stint in Hamburg, winning the Bundesliga, reaching the final of the European Cup, and earning back-to-back European Footballer of the Year gongs along the way. No wonder they called him Mächtig Maus (Mighty Mouse).

Honours

Bundesliga champions: 1978/79, 1981/82, 1982/83DFB Cup winners: 1962/63, 1975/76, 1986/87European Cup winners: 1982/83European Cup Winners' Cup winners: 1976/77

Stadium: Volksparkstadion

Capacity: 57,000

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