Hertha Zehlendorf
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| Full name | FC Hertha 03 Berlin-Zehlendorf e.V. |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Kleine Hertha |
| Founded | 10 March 1903 |
| Ground | Ernst-Reuter-Sportfeld |
| Capacity | 4,000 |
| Chairman | Kamyar Niroumand |
| Manager | Timo Szumnarski |
| League | NOFV-Oberliga Nord (V) |
| 2015–16 | 3rd |
The Hertha Zehlendorf is a German football club from the suburb of Zehlendorf in Berlin.
The club, one of the largest football clubs in the country, has a strong youth department which has developed a number of international players, not just for Germany and having won two national youth championships.
The club was formed by 30 local football enthusiasts on 10 March 1903, under the name of Tor- und Fußballclub Germania 03 Zehlendorf. By 1909, it had however changed its name to FC Hertha Zehlendorf. In 1913, the club moved to a new ground, Siebenendenweg, now called Ernst-Reuter-Sportfeld, away from the Tempelhofer Feld, where it was never entirely happy. The team was for a time part of BFC Hertha 1892 but by September 1914 the club became independent again, under the name of FC Hertha 06 Zehlendorf.
After the end of the First World War, in January 1919, the club merged with local side VfB Zehlendorf 03 to form the current club, FC Hertha 03 Zehlendorf. It was from this union, Hertha derives its foundation date, too.
For the next decade, the club did not particularly stand out of the ranks of Berlin football clubs. Only in 1933 could it finally win a championship in the local Kreisklasse but the change in the German football league system, the introduction of the Gauligas, prevented the team from being promoted.
The club continued to struggle throughout this age and even had to form an on-the-field union with Union Lichterfelde to survive. During the Second World War, play came almost completely to a halt.
After the war, all previously existing clubs and associations were outlawed in Berlin and the former Hertha existed under the name of SG Zehlendorf for a while. It entered the Amateurliga Berlin (II) in 1947, a league that was played in a number of regional groups. It however became the first club in Berlin to receive a license in 1948 to revert to its original name by the allied occupation authorities.
On the field, the club qualified for the single-division Amateurliga in 1950 and immediately became a strong side in this league, winning the championship in 1953. The club's youth side took out its first Berlin championship in 1950, a game played as a curtain raiser for a Germany versus Turkey friendly, in front of 60,000, on 17 June 1951. Germany lost 1–2, but Zehlendorf beat Hertha BSC 3–2.
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