10 European football clubs that have never been relegated

#5 Hamburg SV

The current Hamburger SV team (commonly called Hamburg or HSV) was officially founded in June 1919 as a result of a merger between three earlier clubs. But Germany's first professional football league, the Bundesliga, came into existence only almost half a century later in 1963.

HSV was one of 16 clubs invited to join that first season. Ever since then, despite the Bundesliga having featured the likes of Bayern Munich, HSV's football team remains the only team to have the unique distinction of having played continuously in the top tier of the German football league.

While no longer a force to be reckoned with, in their heyday, HSV won the German national championship six times, the DFB-Pokal thrice and the League Cup twice. The team's golden years were in the mid-1970s until the mid-1980s when the team, which featured the likes of German international Felix Magath, led to many a domestic honour that were supplemented by victories in the 1976/77 European Cup Winners' Cup and the 1982/83 European Cup.

HSV's last major trophy though came in the 1986/87 DFB-Pokal. In fact, Hamburg have come ridiculously close to being relegated – twice. SpVgg Greuther Fürth can count themselves unlucky after falling 1-1 on aggregate over two legs in the 2013/14 season after Hamburg finished 16th.

Returning to the bottom of the table the very next season was inexcusable and Hamburg should count themselves very lucky indeed to have survived yet another relegation-playoff, in such a short time. Defeating Karlsruhe 3-1 meant that the team still remain the only one in the German top tier to have never been relegated.