My Hometown, My Club

I was born in Wiesbaden (Hesse, Germany) and I consider this city my home, even though my father built a house in a small suburb called Taunusstein-Wehen in the 70s and I practically grew up there. In this small town, where practically everybody knows everybody, there is a small football club called SV Wehen since 1926 and some of my schoolmates played there in their youth.

This small club played only a regional role at all until 1979, when a local business man put money into the club and it worked its way up one league after the other over the years:

1983  Bezirksliga (amateurs)
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1987  Landesliga (amateurs)
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1989  Oberliga (amateurs)
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1994  Regionalliga (semi-professional)
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2007  2. Bundesliga (professional)

However, with the club’s promotion to the second highest and now professional league of German football, the requirements for the stadium and the necessary infrastructure also changed and the old one in Wehen did not meet the requirements of the officials. So the professional football department was spun off into a company called SV Wehen Wiesbaden based in the nearby Hessian capital, where the new Brita Arena was built.

They were relegated to the newly (in 2008) formed 3. Bundesliga after 2 years, but the new club remained in Wiesbaden and in 2020 it was again promoted to the 2. Bundesliga, but was relegated again one year later.

I was always only semi-interested in football, especially since I became a fan of the Hamburger Sportverein (HSV) by chance in the early 80s, but in 2022 I got free tickets to a SV Wehen Wiesbaden game through my wife’s colleague … and it was actually really fun, with a cup of beer and a bratwurst, to cheer on the guys on the pitch who were playing professional football in my hometown. I was a little bit hooked …

At the end of the 2022/2023 season, the club finished 3rd in the 3. Bundesliga, having missed out on direct promotion, but qualifying for relegation against the third last-place team in the next higher league: Arminia Bielefeld. The two incredible relegation matches were actually won by the underrated club, 4:0 and 2:1 respectively. YESSSS!

Somehow it seemed clear to me to go to the stadium more often from now on and the fact that this year the 2nd league is peppered with German traditional clubs (like HSV, my childhood club) made me buy a season ticket for the first time: Block West 3, Row 1, Seat 1 … \o/.