Spandauer SV
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| Full name | Spandauer Sportverein 1894 e.V. |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1894 |
| Dissolved | 2014 |
| Ground | Stadion an der Neuendorfer Straße |
| Capacity | 3,000 |
Spandauer SV was a German football club from Berlin.
The capital city was one of the earliest centres of German football and was home to 1. Spandauer Fußballklub Triton, formed on 24 May 1894, and Sportclub Germania Spandau, formed on 15 October 1895. These two sides merged late in 1920 to form Spandauer Sport-Vereinigung 94/95 e.V., the predecessor of today's club.
The team was promoted to the Verbandsliga Berlin-Brandenburg in 1921 where they earned a string of third- and fourth-place finishes. Their best result was a distant second place behind Hertha BSC in 1928.
German football was re-organized under the Third Reich in 1933 into sixteen top flight Gauligen. SSV joined the Gauliga Berlin-Brandenburg and played there until relegated in 1936. They returned briefly in 1939 only to be immediately relegated again. In 1944, towards the end of World War II, Spandauer and SC Minerva 93 Berlin were melded into the wartime side KSG Minerva/SSG Berlin to play a final war-shortened season.
After the conflict the club was dissolved, like most other organizations in Germany, including sports and football associations. It was re-constituted in 1945 as SG Spandau-Altstadt and played in the city's first postwar league. The first division Oberliga Berlin was formed a year later and the club played there as SG Spandau-Altstadt beginning in 1947.
By the end of 1949 the team took on its current name Spandauer Sport-Verein 1894 e.V. They were relegated for a season, but managed a return to the top flight the next year. Spandau consistently finished in the upper half of the league table, but were unable to do better than second-place finishes in 1953 and 1959. SSV captured three consecutive Berlin Cups in 1954–1956 and advanced as far as the quarter final round of the 1957 German Cup where they were put out 1:4 by Bayern Munich.
Berlin's representative in Germany's new profession football league, the Bundesliga, formed in 1963, was city Oberliga champion Hertha BSC. Spandau continued play in what was now the second tier Regionalliga Berlin (or Stadtliga Berlin).
The club had a minor role in the debacle of SC Tasmania 1900 Berlin's promotion to the top-flight Bundesliga after Hertha was demoted for breaking the league's player salary rules. The politics of the Cold War era led to a space being held open for a Berlin side in the top league to replace Hertha in a show of solidarity with the former capital city. Spandau – coming off a second-place finish – refused an offer to advance, leaving the way open to Tasmania, which went on to the worst season in Bundesliga history.
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