TSV 1860 Munich
The Lions, the Blues, the Sixties: there are many nicknames for the traditional football club TSV 1860 Munich, which is passionately loved by its fans and which for decades has set the tone of Munich football.
Its foundation:
The TSV 1860 – TSV stands for Gymnastics and Sport Club – was first founded in 1848, but because of problems with the authorities was already prohibited the following year. It was not until 17th May 1860 that the club founded itself anew. But football was not played by the Lions until 1899, when the Football Department was introduced.
First successes:
Since 1926 the Lions had played in the newly built stadium in Grünwalder Street. In 1942 the TSV won its first supraregional title in the German Football Association Cup. In 1964 it managed to repeat this success and in 1965 even reached the European Cup final against West Ham United, but unfortunately it lost. Unlike FC Bayern, the TSV 1860 was even a founder member of the German Football League in 1963.
German champions:
In the third Federal League season came the really great success: the TSV 1860 Munich became the German champions. In the champion team of 1966 such legendary players as Petar Radenkovic, Timo Konietzka and Rudolf Brunnenmeier came onto the field, and their names, even today, melt in the mouth of every Lions' fan. The trainer of the acclaimed eleven was the Austrian Max Merkel. After just missing out on defending the title, however, a long period of suffering set in for the club.
Difficult years:
In 1970 the TSV was relegated to the second division and remained there for seven years. After a period of ups and downs at the end of the seventies and beginning of the eighties came the final deep descent into the Bavarian amateur league (Oberliga) in 1982, when the licence was withdrawn. Nine playing seasons in the third division followed. The ascent with trainer Karsten Wettberg in 1991 was only a flash in the pan; in the next season the TSV 1860 was again third class.
New hope:
The era of President Karl-Heinz Wildmoser began in 1992 with the march through into the 1st division under trainer Werner Lorant; the TSV again established itself in the highest class. Wildmoser recognised the signs of the times and with the move into the Olympic Stadium put an end to old traditions: after a time it was no longer possible to finance successful professional football with the small stadium in Grünwald. Subsequently the Lions even qualified for the Champions League in 2000. In 2004 Wildmoser had to go, a few months later the TSV went up into the second division again.
The Allianz Arena:
Still under Wildmoser, the TSV 1860 shared in the building of the new Munich football stadium. The traditionally-minded fans found it difficult to leave when the TSV 1860 had to move into the Alliance Arena in Fröttmaning together with the eternal city's rivals, FC Bayern Munich. The Grünwald Stadium, in the meantime dilapidated, finally belonged to the past and since then has only been used as the home of the regional league team.
Further information
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