Hertha BSCHertha BSC is one of Berlin's oldest and most recognisable football clubs, founded on 25 July 1892 under the name BFC Hertha 92 by two pairs of brothers – Fritz and Max Linde, and Otto and Willy Lorenz. The club's name was proposed by Fritz Linde, after a steamship with a distinctive blue-and-white funnel on which he had once travelled with his father. The name "Hertha" itself references Nerthus, a fertility goddess from Germanic mythology, while the ship's funnel colours – blue and white – permanently became the club's own.
A turning point in the club's history came with its merger with Berliner Sport-Club in 1923, which gave rise to Hertha Berliner Sport-Club in its present form. It was this combined side that achieved the club's greatest triumphs, reaching six consecutive German championship finals between 1926 and 1931, and winning the last two of them. In 1930, Hertha beat Holstein Kiel 5-4 in the final, and a year later defended the title with a 3-2 win over TSV 1860 München – becoming only the second club in the history of German football, after 1. FC Nürnberg, to successfully defend the national championship.
Since 1963, when the club joined the newly formed Bundesliga, Hertha's home ground has been the monumental Olympiastadion – a venue inextricably linked to Berlin's sporting history, built before the Second World War. Despite its prestigious location in the heart of the German capital, the club has struggled with sporting instability for decades, suffering several relegations from the Bundesliga, most recently in the 2022-23 season.
Known by the nickname Die Alte Dame (The Old Lady), Hertha remains one of the founding members of the German Football Association (DFB), established in Leipzig in 1900, and its history – marked by both great interwar triumphs and numerous ups and downs – continues to form an important part of Berlin's sporting identity.