SAMSTAG 15:30

Founded: May 17, 1860
Club Members: 26,019
Nickname: Die Löwen, Sechzig
Coach: Argirios Giannikis
Captain: Jesper Verlaat

German Champions / Bundesliga: 1
Tschammerpokal / DFB-Pokal: 2
Bundesliga.2 Champions: 1
Regionalliga Bavaria: 1
Bavarian Toto Cup: 1

Website: www.tsv1860.de

With a football history as rich as Munich's, it's obvious which of its clubs is the biggest star; but before the ultimate "Noisy Neighbours" rose from obscurity to dominate European football there was only one club worth talking about in the city. Their name - TSV 1860 München - is in fact a bit of a misnomer, with their origins being traced back to 1848 when they were formed in the Buttlesche Brauerei zum Bayerischen Löwen pub. However, because of the 'March Revolution' that spread across Germany that year, the Bavarian monarchy banned the club for showcasing ’republican’ values. Once the fires had been put out and everyone had shaken hands, the club was re-established on the 17th May 1860 (hence the name) as a gymnastics club before a football division was created in 1899 as more and more young men jumped off their pommel horses and went outside to kick a leather ball about. 

By the mid-1920s, TSV were playing in the regional Bezirksliga Bayern and beginning to establish themselves as one of Bavaria's top clubs during the inter-war years, narrowly missing out on winning the German Championship in 1931 after a 2-3 defeat to Hertha Berlin in the final. In 1933, football in Germany was restructured under the Third Reich and TSV entered the top-flight Gauliga Bayern, finishing second in 1934, 1938 and 1939 before finally winning the league title in 1941 and lifting the Tschammer-Pokal the following year with a 2-0 victory over the dominant side of the era - Schalke 04.

Following the chaos of the war years, 1860 settled down as an unspectacular mid-table side in the Oberliga Süd for most of the 1950s before managing to improve in the nick of time - becoming champions in 1962-63 just as the German FA (DFB) were deciding which sixteen teams would form the new Bundesliga which would bring all the regional Oberligas together into one professional league. The DFB were reluctant to have two clubs from the same city play in that inaugural season and so, on account of their Oberliga Süd triumph a few weeks earlier, 1860 became one of the founder members of the Bundesliga at the expense of their cross city rivals Bayern München who had to look on enviously from the regional leagues.

As Bayern were still getting changed in wooden huts on Sabenerstraße, "The Lions" won the DFB-Pokal in 1964 and made a European Cup Winners Cup final appearance in 1965 (they lost 2-0 to a Bobby Moore-led West Ham United) before reaching their high-water mark a year later by holding off the challenge of Borussia Dortmund to win the Bundesliga. Although they were only denied back-to-back titles by Eintracht Braunschweig the following year, having their name engraved on the sterling silver of the Meisterschale marked the beginning of a shift in power, cemented by Bayern's first Bundesliga title in 1969, that has since shown no sign of ever returning to what it was. Up and coming stars like Gerd Muller, Uli Hoeneß and Franz Beckenbauer all turned down the chance to turn out for the blue half of the city and by the time Bayern had won three straight European Cups (1974-76), 1860 had crashed into the amateur Regionalliga Süd.

TSV returned briefly to the Bundesliga in 1977, famously clawing back a 4-0 deficit against Arminia Bielefeld in the play-offs, before dropping back down after just a season as things began to unravel off the pitch with overextension and mismanagement bringing the club to the brink of financial ruin. They came up again for a two-season stay but, unable to provide the proof of funds needed to secure a playing licence from the DFB, they were demoted to the fourth-tier amateur Bayernliga for the 1982-83 season. Bayern's reserves also played in the league that year and, to rub salt in the wounds, Sechzig finished a distant sixth behind the Amateure. 

The exile from the Bundesliga lasted 12 years before 1860's on-field fortunes steadily improved under club legend Werner Lorant with the likes of Thomas Hässler, Davor Suker and Pele (... Abedi that is) arriving in the twilight of their careers to help the club claim a fourth-place finish in 1999-2000 - a  season made all the more memorable by a first ever league double over Bayern who still sailed serenely on to their 15th title anyway. The strong campaign brought with it a place in the Champions League qualifiers although 1860's hopes of joining their city rivals in the group stages were dashed with a 1-3 aggregate defeat to David O'Leary's emerging Leeds United side who went on to reach the semi-finals that year.

Those wins at the turn of the millennium remain their last over Bayern and since Die Löwen were relegated from the top-flight in 2004, the only meeting between the two sides came in the DFB-Pokal in 2008 when a re-taken penalty from Franck Ribéry in the 120th minute proved the difference in a 1-0 Bayern win. In the absence of Bundesliga derbies, the so-called Amateure Derbies between 1860's reserves and Bayern Munich II took on an increased importance with tensions often boiling over between the two sets of fans.
 
In 2005, both Munich clubs bid farewell to the cobweb roofed Olympiastadion and took up permanent residency at the Allianz Arena which had been built ahead of the following summer's World Cup. Originally Bayern and 1860 each owned 50% of the stadium but it wasn't long before its running costs were putting strain on 1860's beleaguered finances and in 2006 Bayern bought their destitute neighbours' shares for €11 million. In the process, TSV became tenants in what had been their own stadium and were obliged to pay their rivals a yearly rent of €3.5 million - an amount that couldn't be offset in Bundesliga.2. 1860's financial problems have continued to cut deep and despite their reputation for producing young talent - most recently, Kevin Volland, the Benders (Lars and Sven) and Julian Weigl - the club's parlous financial state has continually forced them to sell at a pittance, just to stay afloat.

By 2011, Sechzig were facing bankruptcy for the second time in five years and, concerned that they would lose out on about €50 million in rent, Bayern offered to pay the €8 million needed to walk 1860 back from the brink - much to the disgust of both sets of fans. In the end, Jordanian billionaire Hasan Abdullah Ismaik appeared on the scene and bought 60% of the club's shares for €18 million becoming the first foreign investor in German football - although his voting rights were restricted due to the 50+1 Rule that ensures German clubs remain in the control of members and not high net-worth individuals or corporations as seen elsewhere in European football. Announcing his arrival with hubris, Ismaik promised to lead 1860 back to the Bundesliga and Champions League within a few seasons; and while some fans viewed him as a saviour, many others were worried that his increasingly dictatorial behaviour (removing media accreditations, excluding St Pauli's directors from a VIP area when they celebrated goals for their team against 1860; and making his financial support dependent on conditions that would have enabled him to circumvent the vaunted 50+1 Rule) would be the final nail in their club's coffin. 

On the field, the crisis continued and TSV only avoided relegation to 3.Liga in 2015 when centre-back Kai Bülow scored an injury-time winner in a play-off against Holstein Kiel in front of 60,000 in the Allianz. Things hadn't hit rock bottom yet however and despite the appointment of former Porto coach Vitor Pereira and heavy investment in the team by Ismaik, the rollercoaster became one permanent dip in 2017 when the relegation play-off against SSV Jahn Regensburg in Munich descended into anarchy. With their team trailing 1-3 on aggregate and facing life in the third-tier, 1860's Nordkurve started ripping out seats and throwing them onto the pitch forcing Regensburg's keeper Philipp Pentke to dodge the missiles as his side defended a corner. And to add further insult to injury, a catering mishap before the game meant that 1860's fans were served beer in FC Bayern München glasses !

Managing director Ian Ayre and club president Peter Cassalette resigned amidst rumours that the players hadn't been paid and that the club's bank accounts were empty. And to sum up the sorry state of a once great football club, Ismaik refused to transfer the €10 million needed to secure a playing licence for the following season and 1860 were demoted to the amateur Regionalliga Bayern - effectively their second relegation in just four days ! Ismaik then sent an ominous message to a Munich newspaper that read "RB Leipzig started in division five, right ?"

After one of the blackest days in the club's long history, 1860 returned to the venerable Grünwalder Stadion where Peter Grosser had lifted their only Bundesliga title in 1966, and the fans - delighted to be back in their spiritual home - packed out each home match as the Regionalliga Bayern title and promotion to the 3.Liga was won in 2018. Despite the upturn in on-field fortunes however, confidence in their unpredictable owner is irrevocably shattered and Lions fans have had to watch their club struggle on and off the pitch as their cross city rivals have become part of European football royalty.

The club motto is "Einmal Löwe, Immer Löwe !" ("Once a Lion, always a Lion!") and, although they may not be the noisiest of neighbours at the moment, 1860's passionate following will hope that it isn't too long before Die Löwen roar back to life and prove to everyone that Munich is very much a two-club city.