Berlin neighbours Union and Hertha preparing to meet for the first time in the Bundesliga

For a city of 3.75 million people and such enormous political and historical importance, Berlin has consistently punched well below its weight when it comes to football.

Its Olympiastadion has hosted a World Cup final, an Olympic Games and the Champions League final, while the nation’s capital has produced more top-flight clubs than any other German city.

Success, however, has been surprisingly thin on the ground. For example, the last time the city’s most prominent club, Hertha Berlin, were crowned domestic champions was way back in 1931.

Union Berlin and Hertha Berlin are preparing to meet for the first time ever in the Bundesliga

There's bound to be a hot atmosphere at Union's Stadion An der Alten Forsterei on Saturday night - but the relationship between them and Hertha isn't as hostile as other cross-city games

There’s bound to be a hot atmosphere at Union’s Stadion An der Alten Forsterei on Saturday night – but the relationship between them and Hertha isn’t as hostile as other cross-city games

Hertha Berlin fans will cross the city to face Union for the first time since the 2012-13 season

Hertha Berlin fans will cross the city to face Union for the first time since the 2012-13 season

Other clubs, such as BFC Dynamo, Tennis Borussia and Viktoria 1889, all enjoyed their moments in the top-flight limelight before fading into lower league obscurity.

But the club with perhaps the most complicated lineage and most intimately associated with the reunification of this once divided city, FC Union, are the ones currently ascending.

Their unexpected promotion into the Bundesliga at the end of last season means this Saturday we have that rarest of events – a Berlin derby in Germany’s top division.

But unlike most cross-city rivalries, Hertha vs Union isn’t one charged with animosity and spite. There’s a fraternal bond between the two clubs, with Saturday’s game described by some as a ‘city championship’ rather than a ‘derby’.

A distance of 26km separates Hertha’s 74,649-capacity Olympiastadion in the Charlottenburg district in the west of the city and Union’s much more down-at-heel Stadion An der Alten Forsterei, where 22,000 will be crammed on Saturday.

Union fans put on a display ahead of the meeting of the two teams back in September 2010

Union fans put on a display ahead of the meeting of the two teams back in September 2010

These two clubs came together in solidarity following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989

These two clubs came together in solidarity following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989

Watching brief 

UNION BERLIN vs HERTHA BERLIN

Bundesliga; Alte Forsterei 

Saturday 5.30pm UK time

Live on BT Sport 2 

But during the Cold War, when the communist East Germany was separated from capitalist West Germany, the two clubs existed at a significantly bigger distance.

The metaphorical Iron Curtain took a physical manifestation in Berlin, a city divided by a 12ft-high concrete wall between 1961 and 1989.

While Westerners were allowed to pass into East German territory through strictly controlled checkpoints, Easterners were banned from entering the West without prior consent.

What started as a political division quickly became a social and economic one as well but, as is so often the case, football served as a unifying force.

The citizens of West Berlin would pass through the checkpoints to attend Union matches, with the Alte Forsterei crowd a focal point of dissent against the Stasi, the state security service of the GDR.

And whenever Hertha played European fixtures in Eastern Europe, the travelling fanbase would consist of many Union supporters as well.

East Berliners are helped over the Wall to the West during the protests of November 1989

East Berliners are helped over the Wall to the West during the protests of November 1989

Football became a unifying force during the tumult of 1989 as the Berlin Wall came down

Football became a unifying force during the tumult of 1989 as the Berlin Wall came down

When they played a UEFA Cup quarter-final against Dukla Prague in 1979, it was recorded that 15,000 had travelled from Berlin with Union supporters mingling with the Hertha masses.

When the Wall finally came down in those tumultuous days of November 1989 and movement restrictions were eased, Union fans crossed into the West to watch Hertha matches.

One match in the second division between Hertha and Wattenscheid just two days after the Wall came down, which might ordinarily attract 10,000 spectators, saw a crowd of 44,000 after tickets were distributed to East Berliners as a gesture of solidarity.

But a far more symbolic occasion would come on January 27, 1990, some 79 days after the fall of the Wall, when Hertha hosted Union in a friendly fixture at the Olympiastadion. It was their first meeting in 28 years.

The two teams met at the Olympiastadion in a symbolic friendly match after the Wall fell

The two teams met at the Olympiastadion in a symbolic friendly match after the Wall fell

Over 50,000 spectators from both sides of the divide watched the January 1990 friendly

Over 50,000 spectators from both sides of the divide watched the January 1990 friendly 

Hertha defeated Union 2-1 that day but the result was really of secondary importance

Hertha defeated Union 2-1 that day but the result was really of secondary importance 

A crowd of 51,270 each paid either five Deutsche Mark (West Germany) or five East German Mark to get in and the day became a celebration of the freshly reunited city.

‘Spectators were basically holding each other in their arms and celebrating,’ recalled the Hertha forward Sven Kretschmer.

One of the songs born that day went ‘we hold together like the wind and sea, the blue-white Hertha and FC Union’ as many new friendships were forged. The result, a 2-1 win for Hertha, is of secondary importance.

But the realities of reunifying the German football system meant the two teams would only meet in friendlies for several years.

While Hertha would establish themselves as top-flight regulars in the 1990s, becoming the first Berlin side to compete in the Champions League in 1999-2000, Union struggled financially and struggled at lower levels.

They met in a July 2009 friendly match to mark the re-opening of the Alte Forsterei, which 2,000 volunteer Union fans had renovated themselves. Both sets of fans watched a spectacular firework display after Hertha’s 5-3 win.

Hertha Berlin supports at a 2009 friendly to mark the re-opening of Union's home ground

Hertha Berlin supports at a 2009 friendly to mark the re-opening of Union’s home ground

The red and white of Union and the blue and white of Hertha seen together in the stands

The red and white of Union and the blue and white of Hertha seen together in the stands

A league meeting finally happened in the second tier during the 2010-11 season. After recording a 1-1 draw on their own ground, Union sprung a surprise by defeating league leaders Hertha 2-1 at the Olympiastadion.

When Hertha came down again in 2012-13, they gained revenge with a 2-1 win away to Union before a 2-2 tie at the Olympiastadion.

All of these matches were played in a good spirit but the rivalry was once again put on ice – until now.

While Hertha secured promotion in 2013 and have been Bundesliga ever-presents since, Union were plugging away in the second division until they beat Stuttgart in a promotion play-off to reach the top tier for the first time ever.

So a rivalry is renewed. But because these two clubs from a divided city didn’t play one another for so many years, the usual resentment wasn’t incubated.

Sandro Wagner scores for Hertha in their Bundesliga 2 fixture in September 2012

Sandro Wagner scores for Hertha in their Bundesliga 2 fixture in September 2012

Union players celebrate their victory over Hertha at the Olympiastadion during 2010-11

Union players celebrate their victory over Hertha at the Olympiastadion during 2010-11

Hertha had competition on their doorstep from the ambitious but ultimately unsuccessful SC Charlottenburg in the 1980s, while Union’s fierce rivals were Dynamo, the club of the Stasi and therefore strongly suspected of receiving state favours on and off the pitch.

If there is any bitterness, it’s in how Hertha have come to pitch themselves as Berlin’s club, training on rotation in each of the city’s 12 districts.

Union, by contrast, very much draw their support from the working class neighbourhood of Kopenick and not much beyond.

There is also a sense that a rivalry has been invented by younger supporters of the two clubs as opposed to older fans who remember the historic camaraderie.

Union's Christian Gentner celebrates scoring in their German Cup match against Freiburg

Union’s Christian Gentner celebrates scoring in their German Cup match against Freiburg

Hertha Berlin celebrate a goal in their 3-2 home defeat by Hoffenheim last weekend

Hertha Berlin celebrate a goal in their 3-2 home defeat by Hoffenheim last weekend

But there was a flare-up when Hertha suggested requesting special dispensation from the German Football League (DFL) to schedule the fixture on November 9, the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Union president Dirk Zingler responded angrily: ‘It’s a derby; it stands for rivalry and demarcation. It’s a football class war in the city.’

So perhaps the blue touchpaper has been lit for a rivalry that may finally put Berlin on the football map.

 

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