Spielvereinigung
Unterhaching is a sports club based in Unterhaching, a small town which is
connected to the southern outskirts of the German city of Munich. The club was
formed on January 1st 1925. Before this, the club had been part of the gymnastics and sports club TSV Hachinger.
In
1930-31, the football club was promoted to B-Klasse of local amateur football,
going on to reach A-Klasse a season later. The club was dissolved by the Nazi Party in 1933, as it was deemed politically unreliable. The team were placed in B-Klasse, the fourth tier of German amateur football, after reformation in 1945.
For several
decades, Unterhaching continued to play in the lower amateur ranks as one of
tens of other such clubs. In 1975, the club launched their bobsleigh department,
which would produce several World and Olympic champions over the forthcoming
years. In 1975-76, the football department once again reached A-Klasse.
Promotion to the Bezirksliga was won at the first attempt in 1976-77. Promotion to Landesliga Bayern-Süd in 1978-79 followed before yet another step up came in 1980-81 as Unterhaching reached the third-tier Oberliga Bayern, which was the highest amateur level of the day.
Trainer Peter
Grosser took the team to the Oberliga Bayern title in 1982-83. However, the
team failed in their quest for promotion to 2. Bundesliga after losing out in
the play-offs. The same fate befell SpVgg in the 1987-88 campaign. However, the club were not to be denied in the 1988-89 season as Unterhaching once again won the Oberliga Bayern championship.
They then progressed through two rounds of play-offs to reach 2. Bundesliga. It proved to be a step too far, as the team were relegated in bottom place just twelve months later, before the Regionalliga became the third tier of German football from the 1994-95 season.
Unterhaching won the Regionalliga Süd in its debut season and
were rewarded with promotion to the 2. Bundesliga with the help of the goals of Alfonso Garcia. A fourth-place finish was followed by two steady endings before a runners-up spot in 1998-99 saw the club promoted to the top-flight Bundesliga for the first time in their history.
Gerhard Tremmel, Alexander Strehmel, Jochen Seitz, Markus Oberleitner, André Breitenreiter and Altin Rraklli starred in a mid-table finish in their debut season, before Unterhaching were relegated in 2000-01.
The slide
continued as the club were relegated to Regionalliga Süd at the end of
the 2001-02 campaign. Coach Wolfgang Frank took up the reins at Stadion am
Sportpark with the goals of Francisco Copado firing the side to the title and
promotion back to 2. Bundesliga at the first attempt.
Former World Cup winner Andreas Brehme took control of the team in the 2004-05 season before being replaced by Harry Deutinger. Unterhaching were relegated once more in 2006-07 as Werner Lorant and then Ralph Hasenhüttl were employed as head coach.
A sixth-place finish in 200708 led to SpVgg being placed in the newly created 3. Liga
for the following season. The side just missed out on promotion to the second
tier in the inaugural season by one place as Anton Fink finished as the
division’s top scorer.
Tobias
Schweinsteiger starred up front the following season. Klaus Augenthaler,
another German World Cup winner, took over as team boss in March 2010. His
season at the helm ended in fourteenth place.
Claus
Schromm took over team control in May 2012. He was later promoted to the role of Director of Sport, with Manuel Baum looking after the
team before he was replaced by German Euro 96 winner Christian Ziege. The team
ended the 2013-14 campaign just above the relegation places.
Schromm returned to the head coach position in March 2015, but the team captained by Jonas Hummels were relegated on the final day of the 2014-15 season back to the fourth-tier Regionalliga Bayern.
The goals of
Stephan Hain and Sascha Bigalke were too much for opposing defences as
Unterhaching raced to the 2016-17 Regionalliga Bayern title. SpVgg Unterhaching defeated SV
Elversberg 5-2 on aggregate in the play-off to win promotion back to the 3. Liga.
The goals of Hain helped the team consolidate their position in 2017-18, with Stefan Schimmer adding to the team tally in another mid-table finish in 2018-19, as coach Schromm continued his good work. Unterhaching were poised for a shot at the 3. Liga title when the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted the 2019-20 campaign.
The disruption didn't help, as the team went down in 2020-21 with Arie van Lent as trainer. The goals of Patrick Hobsch helped Unterhaching in the Regionalliga Bayern as they ended fourth, with Sandro Wagner being given the trainer's role. The title was lifted in 2022-23 before the side trained by Marc Unterberger finished mid-table in 3. Liga.
The 2024-25 campaign ended in relegation, with Heiko Herrlich brought in as trainer during its course before Sven Bender was given the job.
SpVgg
Unterhaching will play in the Regionalliga Bayern in the 2025-26 season.
My visit
Friday 16th
December 2016
It was the
second full day of my Munich adventure. The previous day had seen me on a
defining visit to Dachau, as well as looking at a couple of amateur clubs in the
west of the city before enjoying a jolly evening downtown.
I wanted to
cram as much into my day as possible before the 1860 match at Allianz Arena
that evening. I took the number 20 tram from my hotel at Moosach to Karlsplatz
before going downstairs and catching the S3 train to Unterhaching.
The train
went past Stadion am Sportpark, so it was pretty easy for me to find it.
Following a path through a park along the side of the tracks brought me to a
bigger green space from where I walked across to the stadium.
It looked
like my luck was going to be out regarding getting inside the Alpenbauer
Sportpark, as the arena had been named in a sponsorship deal. I was getting
some decent enough photos through gaps in fences, but I wasn’t going to give up
that easily.
Walking to
the far end, I found an open gate, so I walked in to get a proper look and snap
away. It reminded me in many ways of lower division grounds back in England in
the 1980s.
A single-tiered seated stand dominated one side of the pitch, with a decent-sized open terrace at the far end. Another single tier of seats with a slight curve away from the halfway line occupied the other touchline, with a roof over most of it, while the clubhouse end had a shallow open terrace in front of the club buildings and changing rooms.
Once finished, I continued through the park that offered recreation for all ages along through the park to Fasanenpark station, from where I took the S3 service back towards the city to St.-Martin-Straße to visit the home of SpVgg 1906 Haidhausen.