[9] The name Hertha is a variation on Nerthus, referring to a fertility goddess from Germanic mythology.Hertha performed consistently well on the field, including a win in the first Berlin championship final in 1905.
[9] The new team continued to enjoy[tone] considerable success[vague] in the Oberliga Berlin-Brandenburg, while also enduring a substantial measure of frustration.
The club continued to enjoy[tone] success within their division, regularly finishing in the upper half of the table and winning the divisional title in 1935, 1937 and 1944.
Politically, the club was overhauled under Hitler, with Hans Pfeifer, a Nazi party member, being installed as president.
[9][11] After World War II, occupying Allied authorities banned most organizations in Germany, including sports and football clubs.
Tensions between the western Allies and the Soviets occupying various sectors of the city, and the developing Cold War, led to chaotic conditions for football in the capital.
Hertha was banned from playing against East German teams in the 1949–50 season after taking on several players and a coach who had fled the Dresden club SG Friedrichstadt for West Berlin.
[9] A number of sides from the eastern half of the city were forced from the Oberliga Berlin to the newly established DDR-Liga beginning with the 1950–51 season.
[14][16] At the time of the formation of the Bundesliga in 1963, Hertha was Berlin's reigning champion, and so became an inaugural member of the new professional national league.
[17] This caused something of a crisis[vague] for the Bundesliga which wanted, for political reasons, to continue to have a team in its ranks representing the former capital.
Through various machinations, this led to the promotion of SC Tasmania 1900 Berlin, which then delivered the worst-ever performance in Bundesliga history.
Hertha managed a return to the premier German league in 1968–69 and developed a solid following, making it Berlin's favourite side.
Hertha's amateur side enjoyed[tone] a greater measure of success,[vague] advancing to the final of the DFB-Pokal in 1993, where its run ended in a close 0–1 defeat to Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen.
Hertha could not maintain its strong run of form,[vague] however, and the club's next few years saw dramatic highs and lows.
The team was almost relegated in the 2003–04 season, but rebounded[tone] and finished fourth the following season, missing out on the Champions League when Hannover 96 held it to a draw on the final day, a result which led to Werder Bremen overtaking them for the spot on the final league matchday (as a "thank-you" gesture, Werder sent the Hannover squad 96 bottles of champagne.
[citation needed] Hertha started the 2007–08 season with new manager Lucien Favre, who had won the Swiss championship in 2006 and 2007 with Zürich.
On the opening day of the 2013–14 season, the club beat Eintracht Frankfurt 6–1 at the Olympiastadion to top the Bundesliga table at the end of matchday 1.
On 5 February 2015 Pál Dárdai, Hertha's longest serving and most capped player ever with 366 appearances took over as the manager of the main squad.
At the halfway point of the 2015–16 Bundesliga season, Hertha lay in third place, its highest position at the winter break since 2008–09.
The seventh-place finish meant the club secured Europa League football for the 2016–17 season by the means of a third round play-off.
[23] Hertha lost the third round play-off 3–2 on aggregate to Brøndby, winning the first leg 1–0 in Berlin, but losing the second away tie 3–1, with Teemu Pukki scoring a hat-trick for the Danish side.
[30] Assistant manager Alexander Nouri took interim charge of the team, before the permanent appointment of Bruno Labbadia on 9 April 2020.
Magath managed to steer the club to safety as they won the relegation play-off against Hamburger SV 2–1 on aggregate.
[citation needed] The Exer was a former parade ground of the 1st (Emperor Alexander) Guards Grenadiers and the site is today occupied by the Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark.
[41] On 30 March 2017, Hertha announced its intentions to build a new 55,000 seater stadium, to be ready in 2025 when their contract to play at the Olympiastadion runs out.
On the announcement, the club stated that its preferred option was to construct its own stadium, with a survey identifying a suitable site in Berlin's Olympic Park close to the Olympiastadion.
However, following the success of the 2018 European Athletics Championships held at the stadium, combined with the potential cost of the conversion, the state government subsequently elected not to proceed, leading Hertha to return to the Olympic Park proposal.
[citation needed] In 1997, Hertha unveiled a strip with navy blue hoops and shorts, which the team wore for two seasons, abandoning its colours and traditional motif.
[vague] Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply.
[52] From the other side, the partnership meant that Lübars was to compete in the colours of Hertha,[50] thus earning the nickname "Die Hertha-Frauen" ("The Hertha-women").