Tennis Borussia Berlin (Germany)

Tennis Borussia Berlin is a semi-professional football club who are based in the west of the German capital of Berlin, who were formed on the 9th April 1902. The club originally came into being as Berliner Tennis-und Ping-Pong-Gesellschaft Borussia, with the emphasis on tennis and table tennis. 

Within a year, football was introduced, with Borussia quickly becoming rivals with Berlin’s leading side, Hertha BSC. In 1913, the club changed its title to Berliner Tennis Club Borussia before lifting the Oberliga Berlin-Brandenburg in 1932 and 1941.

Following World War Two and the next decade, TeBe’ was the leading club in Berlin, but they couldn’t keep their run going as the professional Bundesliga era began in 1963. However, following the then second-tier Regionalliga Berlin championship win of 1973-74, ‘Veilchen’, Violets won promotion to the Bundesliga. 

Unfortunately, finishing second from bottom of the table led to immediate relegation to the newly formed 2. Bundesliga. Helmuth Johannsen’s side went straight back up at the first attempt to bring back top-flight football to Mommsenstadion.

Once again, TeBe’s reign lasted only for the 1976-77 campaign. Worse was to follow in 1980-81 as the side was relegated to the third-tier Amateur-Oberliga Berlin. Borussia lifted that league title in 1981-82 and again in 1984-85, when they won promotion back to 2. Bundesliga.

The club continually struggled financially, but battled through whilst several other Berlin clubs disappeared, merged or had to be re-formed. After one season, TeBe returned to Amateur-Oberliga Berlin, where they remained until 1991-92, when they were placed in the new third-tier division, NOFV-Oberliga Nord. 

The 1992-93 campaign saw the side lift the championship and a return to 2. Bundesliga. Yet again, TeBe lasted just one season at the higher level. After further reconstruction of the game in Germany, they were placed in the level three Regionalliga Nordost. 

Another league title followed in 1998-99 to return to the second tier after backing from a deep-pocketed sponsor allowed the club to bring in new talent. This time, Borussia lasted two seasons before a return to Regionalliga Nord for 2000-01 after the money ran out and the club were refused a license and was forcibly relegated.

2000 had seen the club change its name once again; this time to Tennis Borussia Berlin. A terrible season saw a further relegation to the fourth tier NOFV-Oberliga Nord, where Borussia remained until 2008-09, when the league became the fifth tier after further re-organisation. 

The title was won along with promotion back to the fourth-level Regionalliga Nord. TeBe suffered relegation after just one season and then a further demotion at the end of the 2010-11 season to the sixth-tier Berlin-Liga after a play-off defeat to SC Borea Dresden. 

Some relief came at the end of the 2014-15 season as the championship was claimed and promotion back to the fifth-level NOFV-Oberliga Nord. A fourth place came on their return season of 2015-16 before sixth place twelve months later. The goals of Thiago da Silva helped the side trained by Thomas Brdaric to the runners-up position in 2017-18.

It was second again in 2018-19 as Marco Benyamina and Rifat Gelici joined in the scoring for the team trained by Dennis Kutrieb. Te-Be led the table when the Coronavirus outbreak halted the 2019-20 season after Nicolai Matt and Vincent Rabiega had scored the goals to put their side top.

The team was crowned champions and promoted to the fourth-tier Regionalliga Nordost before Markus Zschiesche arrived as trainer at Mommsenstadion. His side hovered around the bottom of the table until they were relegated in 2022-23, by which time Christopher Brauer had been put in charge of the team.

Umberto Sacchi replaced him as trainer, taking the side to sixth in NOFV-Oberliga Nord as Tom Nattermann led the scoring. Ebrima Jone took over the mantle up front in 2024-25 

Tennis Borussia Berlin will play in the NOFV-Oberliga Nord in the 2025-26 season.

My visit

Sunday 11th October 2015

My weekend in Berlin entered its second day. Saturday had been a cracker and I was out of my bed at the Ibis Hotel opposite the main railway station, nice and early on a cold but bright morning. I was heading to Leipzig for the Germany v Georgia Euro 16 Qualifier, but I still had fish to fry in the capital.

The S5 train took me directly to Messe Sud Eichkamp. The large exhibition ground was by the right exit, but looking up the line, the towering floodlights of Mommsenstadion gave the game away to exit on the left.

The pleasant walk through some woods led towards the stadium, before joining with Waldschulallee. The view of the Main Stand was already decent, but I was keen to get inside. The tennis courts were across the road, while numerous junior teams and parents were congregating behind the stand, with some going inside.

I had a brief look, but it was mainly entrances to offices and facilities, so I walked to the far end, where I found an open gate. I was soon up on the open terracing at the side of the impressive stand. The stadium had a running track around the pitch. Open terracing curved behind the ends and joined on the far side with the railway below. 

The end I was at had an electric scoreboard at the rear. The final side had a large open terrace paddock with flat standing at the back, with the fantastic old covered seated grandstand behind. One could easily imagine Mommsenstadion staging Bundesliga football in its day. Now, it was the football of Sport-Club Charlottenburg Berlin as well as TeBe.

My brief was to take the same route back. I had just enough time to fit in a look at the Friedrich-Ebert-Stadion, home of SD Croatia Berlin.