Hannover 96Hannover 96 is one of northern Germany's traditional football institutions, and its greatest triumph is tied to one of the most dramatic finals in German football history. The club, whose full name is Hannoverscher Sportverein von 1896, was founded on 12 April 1896, though it only settled firmly into football by the end of that decade, following mergers with several smaller clubs and repeated changes of colours before finally adopting red. Hannover won its first German championship in 1938, drawing 3-3 in the final against a then-mighty Schalke 04, before turning the tie around in the replay to win 4-3 after extra time.
The second title, won in 1954, remains particularly memorable to this day - Hannover faced 1. FC Kaiserslautern in the final, a side whose core would go on to win the World Cup with West Germany just a month later. Despite being clear underdogs and trailing 0-1 early on, the little-known side from Hanover overwhelmed the favourites, ultimately winning 5-1. The club was overlooked when the Bundesliga was formed in 1963, but earned promotion just a year later and has since carved out a lasting place in the history of German top-flight football, though it spent much of the 1970s and 1980s in the second tier.
A historic moment arrived on 23 May 1992, when Hannover, then playing in the 2. Bundesliga, lifted the DFB-Pokal, beating Borussia Mönchengladbach 4-3 on penalties at Berlin's Olympiastadion after a goalless draw through 120 minutes - the club thereby became the first, and to date the only, side from outside the top division to win the trophy. Hannover's more recent history has been considerably less stable: after spending years in the Bundesliga, including thirty consecutive seasons from 1964 to 2019, the club has shuttled regularly between the top flight and the 2. Bundesliga over the past decade, and even spent two seasons in the third tier between 1996 and 1998. Known to fans as Die Roten (The Reds), the club has played its home matches since 1959 at the ground now known as the Heinz von Heiden Arena, a 49,000-capacity stadium that hosted matches at both the 1974 and 2006 World Cups.