Hertha BSC is facing a week of extremes. Not just sporty. This Tuesday the Berliners will face SV Elversberg, one of the strongest teams in the second division, in the DFB Cup. On Saturday there will be a game against promoted team Dynamo Dresden, who are in the lower reaches of the table with seven points from ten games.
The Olympic Stadium, Hertha’s home stadium, will also present itself in two different states this week: once – against Elversberg – pretty empty and once against the Dresden team, who are accompanied by up to 30,000 fans, jam-packed and seething.
The Berlin second division football team is expecting 30,000 fans against Elversberg this Tuesday. Not even the upper tier of the east curve has been sold out yet. In recent times this has been as rare as snow on Christmas Eve.
Because there’s one thing Berliners can’t complain about at the moment: a lack of support from their supporters. In the last second division season, Hertha had an average attendance of 53,191. He has only been slightly better twice in the club’s history, interestingly enough, in seasons that ended in relegation from the Bundesliga: namely 2011/12 (53,449) and 2022/23 (53,652).
The lack of interest in the game against Elversberg is all the more remarkable. Hertha is facing the smallest home crowd at a DFB Cup game in almost exactly 20 years (25,143 spectators against Borussia Mönchengladbach on October 26, 2005).
Of course there are reasons for the limited popularity. The inconvenient kick-off time (6.30 p.m./live on Sky), the uncomfortable weather, and perhaps Hertha’s performance in their own stadium, which until recently was quite unpleasant. And of course the opponent’s lack of attractiveness.
17.202
Viewers saw Hertha’s quarter-final against 1. FC Köln in 2002. It was the worst attended cup game this millennium.
The Elversberg team last visited the Olympic Stadium at the end of August. With 39,680 spectators, attendance was below the 40,000 mark for the first time since December 2023. For the first time since the home game against – SV Elversberg. The 33,097 spectators from the game in December 2023 are also Hertha’s minus crowd since relegation. Here are some other notably low attendance numbers this millennium (since the 2000/01 season).
1. FC Cologne, 2002
Imagine you have a home game in the DFB Cup for the first time in more than four years, you only need two wins to finally reach the final in your own living room, you are lucky enough to play against the third-from-bottom team in the Bundesliga – and you still don’t go.
That’s how it was at the end of January 2002, when Hertha hosted 1. FC Köln in the cup quarter-finals. Only 17,202 people are lost in this game in the Olympic Stadium. It is Hertha’s worst home crowd in the cup this millennium. After all, those who don’t come haven’t missed anything. Hertha lost to Cologne 1:2 after extra time.
VfB Stuttgart, 2010
On April 10, 2010, Hertha BSC’s first league game will take place for the last time – excluding the Corona period – in front of fewer than 30,000 spectators. But this is not due to the fans’ lack of interest in the relegation battle, but rather due to a penalty that the German Football Association (DFB) imposed on the Berliners.
After around 150 supporters from the Ostkurve stormed the pitch following the defeat against Nuremberg a month earlier, the DFB limited the home contingent for the game against VfB Stuttgart to 25,000 visitors. The east curve must remain completely empty. A total of 26,851 spectators saw the guests win 1-0.
© IMAGO/Berlinfoto
The last time that Hertha’s first league game fell below the 30,000 mark under regular conditions was on November 11, 2006 in a 3-3 draw against VfL Bochum (29,104). Overall, the number of spectators this millennium is under 30,000 for eleven first division games, with eight games falling during the period in which the Olympic Stadium was being rebuilt for the 2006 World Cup.
SC Paderborn, 2012
Even the worst attendance at a second division game this millennium is causally linked to a penalty from the DFB. Only 23,404 people saw Berlin’s first game after relegation in August 2012. Due to the massive use of pyrotechnics in the relegation second leg at Fortuna Düsseldorf, only 22,500 home fans are allowed against SC Paderborn.
It is one of only three second division games this millennium that attracts fewer than 30,000 spectators to the Olympic Stadium. The other two – Jahn Regensburg (29,886) and FSV Frankfurt (29,851) – also come from the 2012/13 season, which ended with promotion for Hertha.
Beneficial Lissabon,
Having seen Angel di Maria, the future Argentine world champion, in the Olympic Stadium: only 13,684 people can say that without lying. You will be there live on February 8, 2010, when Hertha hosts the Portuguese record champions Benfica Lisbon in the second round of the Europa League – and after the guests’ early lead through di Maria, the game ends 1-1.
Berlin fans are generally not interested in the Europa League this season, in which their team is teetering towards relegation. A total of 54,689 spectators attended the four home games against Ventspils, Heerenveen, Sporting and Benfica Lisbon – less than this season’s duel against Karlsruher SC (59,655).
Hertha recorded the largest crowd of the 2009/10 European Cup season at the end of August 2009: with 14,741 spectators at the qualifying game against Bröndby IF in the Jahnsportpark.
KVC Westerlo, 2001
“It was a strange atmosphere,” writes the Tagesspiegel the day after Hertha’s first round game against KVC Westerlo from Belgium in the UEFA Cup. The Berliners win 1-0 and qualify confidently for the next round after the 2-0 win in the first leg, but the fans are still grumbling. At least the few that are there.
© imago/Camera 4
An official number of spectators was not announced in the stadium that evening at the end of September 2001. “Almost 10,000” is reported by the Tagesspiegel; most people talk about 9,000.
In the third round of the competition, when Hertha Servette hosts Geneva and has to make up for a 0-1 loss from the first leg, things don’t look any better in the Olympic Stadium. After central defender Dick van Burik saw the red card, Hertha has no chance. The team lost 3-0 to the Swiss, coached by a certain Lucien Favre.
The number of spectators for this game also varies (9,500 or 10,000). One of these two games against Westerlo or Geneva is Hertha’s worst attended European Cup game in the Olympic Stadium this millennium.
However, in ancient times this value was significantly undercut. On December 6, 1978, 3,295 people saw Berlin’s 4-0 win against Esbjerg BK in the round of 16 of the UEFA Cup.