Thirty-one years after they were crowned champions of Europe, Hamburg could suffer the embarrassment of a first relegation from the Bundesliga on Saturday.
The 127-year-old club head into the final weekend and a trip to Mainz in third from bottom place on 27 points, one ahead of Nuremberg and two in front of basement club Eintracht Braunschweig.
The bottom two sides will be relegated automatically with the third-bottom side facing a relegation play-off against the third-placed side in the second division.
It’s all a far cry from Hamburg’s glory days when Felix Magath, now the manager of relegated English Premier League side Fulham, grabbed the only goal in the German side’s 1-0 final win over Juventus to lift the European Cup in 1983.
That was a side coached by legendary Austrian Ernst Happel, the man who led the Dutch to the 1978 World Cup final in Argentina and who won league titles in four different countries.
The best he can hope for Saturday is the relegation play-off after their hopes of climbing out of the bottom three were dashed in a 4-1 defeat by champions Bayern Munich last weekend.
If Hamburg lose, then they will need third-placed Schalke and mid-table Hoffenheim to do them favours against Nuremberg and Braunschweig respectively. At the other end of the table, Bayern will be presented with the championship trophy in their home game against Stuttgart.
Second-placed Borussia Dortmund go to Hertha having also made sure of Champions League football next year.
Schalke, in third spot, host Nuremberg with a three-point lead over Bayer Leverkuson in fourth, so the Royal Blues need a point to seal an automatic spot in the Champions League.
Leverkusen welcome Werder Bremen knowing victory will guarantee a play-off spot in Europe’s elite club competition, but a slip-up would open to the door to either Wolfsburg or Borussia Moenchengladbach, who meet each other.
