KSV Hessen Kassel


KSV Hessen Kassel is a German association football club based in Kassel, Hesse. The club was founded as FC Union 93 Kassel in 1893 and just two years later joined FC Hassia 93 Cassel to form Casseler FV 95. In 1919, fusion with VfK Kassel created SV Kurhessen Kassel.

Overview

It was as Kurhessen that the club joined the Gauliga Hessen, one of sixteen top flight divisions established in the re-organization of German football in 1933 under the Third Reich. They were relegated at the end of the 1935–36 season and made their way back in 1938, but continued to perform poorly, narrowly missing relegation in subsequent seasons. They earned their best result in 1942 in the newly formed Gauliga Kurhessen, finishing just two points shy of division winners 1. SV Borussia 04 Fulda. In 1944, they joined CSC 03 Kassel to form the combined wartime side KSG SV Kurhessen/CSC 03 Kassel and again finished two points behind the division leaders, this time in third place on goal difference. The Gauliga Kurhessen was re-organized into three groups for the following season and the club assigned to the Gruppe Kassel, but the region was overtaken by World War II, bringing a stop to league play.
After the war, SVKK was one of a number of clubs merged to form the Gründung der Sportgruppe Süd, an association active in a number of sports. This club became VfL Kassel in 1946, and finally, merged with Kasseler SV Kassel in November 1947 to become today's KSV Hessen Kassel.
Kassel quickly established themselves as a stolid, but largely unremarked, second tier side. They played their way into what was at the time the first tier Oberliga Süd and then found themselves in the Regionalliga Süd after the formation in 1963 of Germany's new premier level professional league, the Bundesliga. A first place Regionalliga finish in 1964 saw them compete unsuccessfully in the promotion rounds for the Bundesliga. The club continued to play tier II ball until the mid 70s when their performance dropped them to Amateur Oberliga Hessen until the start of the next decade brought an advance to the 2. Bundesliga. Through the 80s, the team flirted with promotion to the senior circuit, but could never quite put themselves over the top. In 1985 the club just missed being promoted: a loss to Nurenburg in the last game of the season against wins by three other clubs in the hunt saw Kassel left behind.
Those runs at the Bundesliga in the 80s, alongside an advance to the quarter final of the DFB-Pokal in 1991, represent the apex of the team's achievement. The club was bankrupted in 1993 and the football side set off on its own as FC Hessen Kassel. They too had financial problems and in 1998 also found themselves bankrupt, but this time plunged all the way down to Kreisliga Hessen A. Kassel began their recovery by going unbeaten over the course of the next two seasons and advanced to the Oberliga Hessen which they won in 2005–06 to earn a promotion to the Regionalliga. In 2007–08, they failed to qualify for the new 3. Liga, remaining in the Regionaliga Süd, now tier four. They came close to promotion once more in 2010–11 but narrowly failed finishing third.
At the end of the 2011–12 season the club was grouped into the new Regionalliga Südwest, which replaced the Regionalliga Süd in the region. In 2012–13 the club won the inaugural championship of the new league and qualified for the promotion play-off to the 3. Liga.
Die Löwen lost their play-off tie for promotion to the 3. Liga over two legs to Holstein Kiel who finished the 2012–13 season as champions of Regionalliga Nord. Kassel lost the first game of the tie away at the Holstein-Stadion in Kiel 2–0. In the return leg in Kassel, the club lost 2–1 at the Auestadion in front of 17,000 fans. The following season the club was not able to challenge for the championship, only finishing 13th.

Honours

The club's honours:

League

Recent managers of the club:
ManagerStartFinish
Matthias Hamann1 July 20059 May 2008
Mirko Dickhaut12 May 200821 April 2011
Christian Hock22 April 201118 October 2011
Holger Brück19 October 2011December 2011
Uwe Wolf9 January 201230 June 2013
Jörn Großkopf1 July 201312 November 2013
Sven Hoffmeister23 November 20137 December 2013
Matthias Mink18 January 2014Present

Recent seasons

The recent season-by-season performance of the club:
SeasonDivisionTierPosition
1999–2000
2000–01↑
2001–02Landesliga Hessen-NordV1st ↑
2002–03Oberliga HessenIV2nd
2003–04Oberliga HessenIV2nd
2004–05Oberliga HessenIV13th
2005–06Oberliga HessenIV1st ↑
2006–07Regionalliga SüdIII10th
2007–08Regionalliga SüdIII14th
2008–09Regionalliga SüdIV2nd
2009–10Regionalliga SüdIV4th
2010–11Regionalliga SüdIV3rd
2011–12Regionalliga SüdIV11th
2012–13Regionalliga SüdwestIV1st
2013–14Regionalliga SüdwestIV13th
2014–15Regionalliga SüdwestIV10th
2015–16Regionalliga SüdwestIV8th
2016–17Regionalliga SüdwestIV10th
2017–18Regionalliga SüdwestIV16th ↓
2018–19HessenligaV3rd

↑ Promoted↓ Relegated

Reserve team

The club's reserve team, KSV Hessen Kassel II, has played in the Verbandsliga Hessen-Nord since 2009. The team's greatest success has been to win the Hesse Cup in 1961 and finish runners-up in the Amateurliga Hessen in 1968.

Current squad

Former internationals