KSV Hessen Kassel

For 2020/21 season

As of 3 September 2020[3]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  GER Maximilian Zunker 2 DF  GER Alexander Mißbach 4 DF  GER Kevin Nennhuber 5 FW  GER Marcel Fischer 6 MF  GER Adrian Bravo-Sanchez 7 FW  GER Sebastian Schmeer 8 MF  GER Frederic Brill 9 FW  GER Jon Mogge 14 MF  GER Brian Schwechel 15 MF  KGZ Sergej Evljuskin 16 FW  GER Serkan Durna 17 MF  KVX Alban Meha 18 MF  GER Aram Kahraman

No. Pos. Nation Player 20 DF  GER Tim-Philipp Brandner 21 FW  GER Ingmar Merle 23 DF  GER Luis Allmeroth 24 FW  GER Leonardo Zornio 25 DF  GER Marco Dawid 26 MF  TUR Mahir Sağlık 28 MF  GER Lukas Iksal 29 MF  GER Nils Pichinot 32 DF  GER Nael Najjer 36 GK  GER Niklas Neumann — GK  GER Nicolas Groeteke (U19) — GK  GER Jonas Labonte (U19)

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.

• Karl-Heinz Metzner, 2 caps for West Germany (1952–53)
• Harez Arian Habib, 14 appearances (4 goals) for Afghanistan (2007-now)

Former KSV forward Tobias Damm is the current Kassel head coach as of 2019. He guided the team back into Regionalliga in 2020.

For 2020/21 season

As of 3 September 2020[3]

Role Staff Head coach Tobias Damm Assistant coach Sebastian Busch Goalkeeper coach Christoph Wiegand Goalkeeper coach Michael Gibhardt

Role Staff Director of football Jörg Müller Team manager Steffen Friedrich Team official Alfred Gäßler Kit manager Uwe Heller

Role Staff Club doctor Marco Spielmann Club doctor Thomas Krause Physiotherapist Karsten Pfeiffer Physiotherapist Kathrin Tepel

All managers of the club since 1946:[4]

Hans-Ulrich Thomale has twice been manager of Hessen Kassel. He guided the club to their best ever finish in the DFB-Pokal in 1991, reaching the quarter final stage where Kassel was knocked out by SV Werder Bremen 2–0.

Manager Term Fritz Kleim 1946–1947 Ernst Paulus 1947–1949 Karl Höger 1949–1950 Lothar Schröder 1950–1952 Rudi Gellesch 1952–1955 Walter Koch 1955–1956 Hans Carl 1956–1958 Jupp Kratz 1958–1960 Willibald Hahn 1960–1962 Walter Müller 1962–1964 Herbert Widmayer 1964–1966 Toni Hellwig 1966–1968 Willy Kurrat 1968–1969 Heinz Baas 1969–1971 Toni Hellwig 1971 Hans-Wilhelm Loßmann 1971–1972 Toni Hellwig 1972–1973 Heinz Baas 1973–1974 Klaus Kuhnert 1974 Robert Gebhardt 1974–1976

Manager Term Walter Müller 1976 Gyula Tóth 1976–1978 Rudi Kröner 1978–1982 Timo Konietzka 1982–1983 Jörg Berger 1983–1986 Rudi Kröner 1986 Jürgen Nehme 1986 Elmar Müller 1986 Werner Biskup 1987 Holger Brück 1987 Franz Brungs 1987–1989 Lorenz-Günther Köstner 1989–1990 Hans-Ulrich Thomale 1990–1992 Karl-Heinz Wolf 1992–1993 Franz Brungs 1993–1995 Holger Brück 1995–1996 Hans-Jürgen Gede 1996 Hans-Werner Moors 1997 Horst Schmidt 1997 Jörg Müller 1998–2000

Manager Term Holger Brück[lower-alpha 1] 2000–2001 Terry Scott 2001 Holger Brück[lower-alpha 1] 2001 Oliver Roggensack 2001–2003 Thomas Freudenstein 2003–2004 Hans-Ulrich Thomale 2004 Bernd Sturm 2004–2005 Matthias Hamann 2005–2008 Mirko Dickhaut 2008–2011 Christian Hock 2011 Holger Brück[lower-alpha 1] 2011 Uwe Wolf 2012–2013 Jörn Großkopf 2013 Sven Hoffmeister 2013 Matthias Mink 2014–2016 Tobias Cramer 2016–2019 Dietmar Hirsch 2019 Tobias Damm 2019–Present

Notes:

Block 30 at a home KSV match in 2012 vs Eversberg in the Regionalliga.

KSV Hessen Kassel has a number of organised and un-organised fan groups, ultras and blocks. Most notably, Block 30, Huddich Bande Ultras and Block 36.

Named after the block affiliated members meet and watch KSV in the Auestadion, Block 30 is organised and represents an array of different kinds of fans. Its purpose is to support KSV Hessen Kassel, promote German football supporter culture and connect with other supporter groups in Germany on important regional football issues. In March 2019 it joined with twelve other clubs ranging from 3.Liga (III) to Oberliga (V) level to establish a working group to determine a unified position and list of recommendations to take to the DFB on proposed reforms to the regional football structure in Germany.[5]

Block 36 is not organised and consists of fans both affiliated with organised fan groups and not. Block 36 looks to ensure KSV Hessen Kassel is run openly and transparently with a culture of appreciation and respect. Block 36’s stated value is honest regional football with the aspiration of seeing KSV getting back to a professional football level in Germany.[6]

Since 2008 there has been an unofficial friendship formed between Kassel’s Block 30 and Huddich Bande Ultras and Holstein Kiel’s supporter group Block 501. In 2018, to celebrate ten years of friendship, the two sets of fans combined and attended one KSV Hessen Kassel match and one Holstein Kiel match together. They dubbed the weekend the brothers for life celebration.[7]

Aerial view of Auestadion, taken in 2018.

KSV Hessen Kassel’s current home ground is the 18,737 capacity Auestadion. The stadium has predominantly been the club’s home ground since being built in 1953. Hessen Kassel inaugurated Auestadion on the stadium’s opening on 23 August 1953. KSV played a football match against Baverian team Viktoria Aschaffenburg in front of 20,000 spectators. Kassel lost the match two goals to one.[8] The Auestadion is a multi-purpose facility with a 106 × 65 m football pitch located in the middle of a full athletic running track. The stadium has 8,700 seats and terracing that can accommodate for a little over 10,000 spectators standing.[9] Auestadion has had three major renovations since being built, the last being a new grandstand, forecourt and video wall constructed between 2009 and 2011. The ground is located in the Southwest of the city near the historic Karlsaue park and Eissporthalle Kassel ice sports stadium. It can be reached by both local and regional Kassel tram lines: 5, 6 and RT5.[10]

KSV Hessen Kassel holds the attendance record for the Auestadion. The official record stands at 37,000 attendance at the 1964 Bundesliga promotion play-off match between KSV Hessen Kassel and Hannover 96. Kassel lost to the match 2–1.[11] There was however a report of 40,000 people attending a DFB-Pokal match in January 1965 at the stadium. KSV played Bundesliga club Hamburger SV (HSV, Hamburg) and lost 2–0 with goals to Uwe Seeler (12th minute) and Charly Dörfel (57th minute). The official crowd number was 33,000 but Kassel police reported there was 40,000 spectators in attendance. The number of fans buckled the railings in the standing areas. Children were passed down onto the playing ground to ensure their safety. The right hand side gate of the grandstand was pushed down and fans flooded into the playing area. The stewards and the police were powerless, and spectators were standing all around the corner flags. The referee, Wilfried Hilker, delayed the start of the match so authorities could regain control and push the fans back from the edge of the field but eventually he got the match underway when it became apparent this was impossible to do.[12]

Prior to the Auestadion construction in the 1950’s, KSV played at the A-Platz. Known officially as the Kurhessen sports facility, the A-Platz was inaugurated in 1922 with a capacity of 16,000 spectators. The A-Platz was demolished after the completion of the Auestadion.

Following the club’s insolvency in 1998 and relegation from the third division to the eighth division, KSV relocated to one of the outfields within the Auestadion precinct. The G-Platz had a capacity of 2,000 spectators and was affectionately known as the “lion cage” by the Hessen Kassel fans.[13]

Until 1993 KSV Hessen Kassel was a multi-sport club with sporting departments in football, athletics, badminton, tennis and table tennis among others. Hessen Kassel had a total of twenty three amateur departments. KSV produced a number of German champions and Olympians throughout these different disciplines. The Club’s bankruptcy in 1993 brought an end to KSV continuing as a multi-sport club. When the club was re-established it was brought back as a purely football club, FC Hessen Kassel. When the club re-emerged as KSV Hessen Kassel in 1998 it remained just a football club.[14]

A picture of KSV's Klaus Lehnertz with his bronze medal for pole vaulting at the 1964 Olympic Games.

Athletics department

The club was used as the performance centre for athletics for the state of Hesse until 1993. During this time, KSV produced nine German champions, one European champion, one Commonwealth Games gold medallist and four Olympians from within its athletics department. These included:

• Anna Klooss (née Hagemann), represented Germany at the 1936 Olympic Games in discus throwing. She was ranked as one of the top three discus throwers in German championships between 1936 and 1948 and she became German champion in 1946.
• Irmgard Schmelzer (née Kirchhoff), represented Germany at the 1952 Olympic Games in long jump. She finished fourth in the event with a distance of 5.9m. Irmgard also became the 1952 German champion in long jump.
• Ludwig Müller, represented Germany at the 1960 Olympic Games in the men’s 3000 metres steeplechase. Ludwig qualified for the final second from his heat before finishing sixth in the final. Müller was a middle-distance runner who became German champion in 1963.
• Josef Klik, represented West Germany in the 1962 European Athletics Championships in discus throwing. He finished 18th in the qualification event, missing out on a spot in the final. Josef became German champion in 1964.
• Horst Flosbach, represented Germany at the 1960 Olympic Games in the men’s 5000 metres running race. Horst won his heat to advance to the final and finished eighth in the final. Flosbach was a long-distance runner who then became German champion in the 10,000 metres in 1964.
• Gerd Loßdörfer, represented West Germany at the 1966 European Athletics Championships in 400 metres hurdles. Gerd won the silver medal in the event, finishing 0.5 seconds behind world number one Roberto Frinolli. Loßdörfer became German champion in hurdles in 1966.
• Klaus Lehnertz, represented Germany at the 1964 Olympic Games in pole vaulting. Lehnertz won the bronze medal in the event with 5.00 metres best mark. Klaus also represented West Germany at the European Championships in 1962 and 1966 as well as the European Cup in 1965 and 1967. He won silver in 1965 and bronze in 1967. Lehnertz was also the German champion in pole vaulting for three straight years between 1966 and 1968.
• Hans-Jürgen Ziegler, represented West Germany at the 1971 European Championships and 1973 European indoor championships in pole vaulting. Ziegler finished eleventh in 1971 but won silver in 1973. He was also German pole vaulting champion in 1971 as well as German indoor champion in 1971 and 1972.
• Don Baird, represented Australia at the 1974 and 1978 Commonwealth Games in pole vaulting. Baird won the gold medal in 1974 and silver in 1978. Don also represented Australia at the 1977 IAAF World Cup. He finished fourth at the World Cup. Baird was also the German champion at pole vaulting in 1974.

Badminton department

KSV's badminton department produced successful individual players during its time of operation. Most notibly was Maren Schröder, who won thirteen Hesse and three Southwest German titles. Anke Jaskolla and Ulrich Schaper also won Hesse championships. The department was dissolved in 1993 and the players left and started the independent Badminton Club Kassel e. V (BV Kassel) on 7 July 1993.[15]

Tennis department

KSV Hessen Kassel's tennis department was established in 1978 and remained operational until 1993. The club originally built three clay tennis courts and a small wooden clubhouse, adding a fourth later on, to the south of the Auestadion. In 1990 with increased members the club built a new large modern clubhouse. Once KSV declared bankruptcy in 1993, the tennis department and the majority of its member players broke away from KSV and founded a new independent club named Tennis-Club-Auepark Kassel eV (TC-Auepark Kassel eV).[16]

Table tennis department

The table tennis department was founded as CT Hessen-Prussia in 1936 as the first table tennis department of any Kassel sports club. The department ceased operating during the Second World War but re-started on 17 November 1945 following the conclusion of the war. In 1946 it merged into the singular club name of KSV Hessen Kassel. It was one of the leading table tennis clubs in Northern Hesse at the time. KSV, in particular, excelled in women's table tennis. In 1967 KSV Hessen Kassel was promoted to the top division in the region, Oberliga Südwest. Kassel remained in the top division for four years before being relegated in 1971. In 1972 the women's Bundesliga was introduced in table tennis, KSV now found themselves in the third division. After eight seasons, Hessen Kassel got promoted to the second division in 1979, which was now called Regionalliga Südwest. In 1981 the division was renamed 2.Bundesliga. Kassel was again relegated in 1982 but was swiftly promoted again and remained in 2.Bundasliga for the rest of the 1980's. In 1993. Following the club's bankruptcy, the table tennis department left KSV and established its own independent club, TTC Kassel. The new club played in the first division for two years but withdrew from the second division and folded in 1997.[17]