SV Arminia Hannover (Germany)

SV Arminia Hannover is a football club from the Lower Saxony city of Hanover in Germany who were formed in 1910 as FC Arminia Hannover, before merging with Rugby-Verein Merkur in 1918, to become SV Arminia-Merkur.

In 1920 the club took up its present title and going on to be crowned as Norddeutsche Fußballmeisterschaft (Northern Champions) that same year. Other sports departments were added to the clubs portfolio over the next decade.

Under English coach, the former Blackburn Rovers and England player William Townley, the club reached the quarter finals of the German Championship in 1933 before losing to eventual champions Fortuna Düsseldorf.

Under the rule of the Third Reich, German football was divided into sixteen regional top flight Gauliga’s, with Arminia being placed in Gauliga Niedersachsen. They were later moved into Gauliga Südhannover-Braunschweig where they generally finished towards the top of the table.

After peace was restored the club generally played many seasons in Oberliga Nord; one of five top tiers at the time. The Bundesliga was formed in 1963 but Arminia failed to be elected. Instead they took up a place in the second tier Regionalliga Nord.

The Regionalliga Nord title was won in both 1966-67 and 1967-68. On both occasions the team fared poorly in the play-offs and failed to win promotion to the Bundesliga. By the 1975-76 season Arminia found themselves in the third tier Oberliga Nord.

The team won the league title and were promoted to 2. Bundesliga; where they were placed in the Nord Division, following success in the play-off group. The goals of Karl-Heinz Mrosko secured the side a mid table finish.

Arminia were relegated back to Oberliga Nord at the end of the 1979-80 season. By 1990 the club were facing bankruptcy as gates dropped and the team struggled on the pitch as they dropped down to fourth tier Oberliga football.

In 1996-97 Arminia won promotion to share the Regionalliga Nord platform in the 1997-98 season with neighbours and eventual champions Hannover 96. A drop back down to the Oberliga Nord Staffel Niedersachsen/Bremen came at the conclusion of the 1999-00 campaign.

Several top third league positions followed while the financial situation continued to be of concern off the pitch. Oberliga Nord was cut to just one division for the 2004-05 season as Arminia continued to sit comfortably in the league.

However, despite finishing outside the relegation places in 2006-07 the club did not receive a license for the following season and were forced to drop down to the fifth tier Niedersachsenliga West.

Worse was to come with a further demotion to Landesliga Hannover. Arminia won the Landesliga title in 2009-10 and 2013-14, with the latter success leading to promotion to the fifth tier Oberliga Niedersachsen.

A couple of lower table finishes came before seventh was achieved in 2017-18 as Jovan Hoffart led the scoring for the team. There was a slight improvement to sixth in 2018-19 with Leon Heesmann assisting the goals tally with Murat Salar as coach.

Arminia were perched above the relegation zone when the COVID-19 pandemic halted proceedings on the 2019-20 campaign. Onur Capin top scored under coach Skerdi Dejzade.

SV Arminia Hannover will play in Oberliga Niedersachsen in the 2020-21 season.

My visit

Monday 30^th January 2017

It was a cold day when I arrived in Hanover as I was nearing the end of a marathon football trip across the north of England and Germany over the previous week. The train had deposited me from an overnight stay in Darmstadt, via Frankfurt to Hanover.

I’d done a bit of sightseeing before I jumped upon a U Bahn 6 train from Kröpcke which dropped me virtually outside the Rudolf-Kalweit-Stadion. I wasn’t sure what was in store so I my immediate thought was one of disappointment.

I then realised that I was looking at the tennis club with an athletic track next door. Once I walked through the open gate to the stadium, I was made up; despite it being in a state of hibernation during the winters break.

It was a fine old stadium with a large bank of open terracing on two sides. A magnificent Main Stand stood behind more open terracing, with a clubhouse behind. The road end had no spectator accommodation. The place was well worn, but oozing history and atmosphere.

I took plenty of time and went to various vantage points and even took a seat in the lovely old stand while I worked out my plans to head to the ground of HSC Hannover.

The Rudolf-Kalweit-Stadion was a fantastic stadium and I wished Arminia all the best in regaining their former glories and seeing large crowds once again. I took another train all the way to Hannover Vier Grenzen in search of my next venue.