{"id":1515,"date":"2025-08-29T18:36:33","date_gmt":"2025-08-29T10:36:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/?p=1515"},"modified":"2025-08-29T18:36:33","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T10:36:33","slug":"hamburg-host-derby-rivals-st-pauli-in-bundesliga-reunion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/29\/hamburg-host-derby-rivals-st-pauli-in-bundesliga-reunion\/","title":{"rendered":"Hamburg host derby rivals St Pauli in Bundesliga reunion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Fierce city rivals Hamburg and St Pauli resume hostilities in the Bundesliga on Friday, 14 years since their last top-flight clash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Six-time German champions Hamburg, known as HSV in Germany, were relegated in 2018 and endured a seven-year stint in the second division before winning promotion at the end of last season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hamburg’s toil in the second flight of the Bundesliga was made worse by having to watch city rivals Pauli winning promotion a year earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In terms of sporting success, Pauli have historically been overshadowed by Hamburg, one of only three German clubs to win the European Cup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But while success is not only measured in sporting achievements for the cult club from Hamburg’s notorious Reeperbahn district, Pauli showed they belong in the top flight last season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite losing coach Fabian Huerzeler to Premier League club Brighton after being promoted, Pauli stayed up on the back of the second-best defensive record in the division.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A wild 3-3 draw at home against Borussia Dortmund in their season opener on Saturday showed Pauli have the quality and spirit to again match it with the Bundesliga’s big guns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pauli defender Eric Smith, who scored the equaliser on Sunday, told the Bundesliga website on Wednesday that the derby was “the absolute highlight game” of the season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“For everyone, the whole city, we know it’s the biggest game you can have,” the Swede added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the side with more recent Bundesliga experience, Smith said the key for Pauli was to “find a balance between all the energy and stay calm and do the right things under pressure.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sides have met in the top flight just 16 times, with Hamburg winning eight and Pauli just twice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hamburg returned to the top flight with a scoreless draw away at Borussia Moenchengladbach on Sunday and were arguably the better team for much of the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After that match, Hamburg goalie Daniel Heuer Fernandes told DAZN: “Everyone who’s played in the derby knows that all hell breaks loose.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HSV coach Merlin Polzin, a life-long fan of a well-followed club that regularly attracts crowds in excess of 55,000, said the derby showed the port city was “Germany’s football capital.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 34-year-old said the derby “splits the football-mad city” but he was clear that the derby talk should not obscure his main goal – keeping Hamburg in the top flight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We don’t want to define HSV based on derby victories this season. We want to establish HSV in the Bundesliga,” Polzin said. “But derby victories are a part of that and we’ll give our all.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fixtures (13.30 GMT unless state)
Friday<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hamburg v St Pauli (18.30)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saturday<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hoffenheim v Eintracht Frankfurt, RB Leipzig v Heidenheim, Werder Bremen v Bayer Leverkusen, Stuttgart v Borussia Moenchengladbach, Augsburg v Bayern Munich (16.30)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sunday<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wolfsburg v Mainz, Borussia Dortmund v Union Berlin (15.30), Cologne v Freiburg (17.30)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fierce city rivals Hamburg and St Pauli resume hostilit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1516,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1515"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1515\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1517,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1515\/revisions\/1517"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}