An historic defeat by the 'other' Freiburg
West Ham United and SC Freiburg have met just once previously, in the reverse UEFA Europa League Group A fixture in Germany in early October.
However, the Hammers had faced opposition from the city in the far south west of Germany previously, back in May 1924, when the Londoners became the first English team to visit the country following the end of the First World War in November 1918.
Fresh from completing their first campaign in the First Division, the Irons travelled for a five-match post-season tour which saw them make stops in Cologne, Mannheim, Mönchengladbach and Frankfurt before culminating their trip in Freiburg.
After recording four wins out of four, Freiburger FC proved too strong, winning 5-2 despite goals from West Ham’s Vic Watson and John Campbell. The result marked the Hammers’ first ever defeat by continental European opposition.
However, there were mitigating circumstances. West Ham had played in Frankfurt the previous day before rising at 6am and taking a six-hour train journey south to Freiburg!
Formed in 1897, Freiburger FC were initially the dominant club in the city, winning the German national title in 1907, but have since been overtaken by SC Freiburg and now play in the regional leagues, kicking-off the 2023/24 season in the sixth-tier Verbandsliga Südbaden (South Baden State League).
German tests aplenty
West Ham United have taken on a variety of German opponents since that first tour to the country in May 1924.
In addition to those five fixtures, the Hammers returned in May 1928 for five further post-season tour matches against Eintracht Frankfurt, Karlsruhe, Nuremburg, Bayern Munich and Hertha Berlin, then again in May 1934 for a fixture with 1860 Munich.
After a 20-year gap, which of course included the Second World War, VfB Stuttgart visited the Boleyn Ground for a floodlit friendly in October 1954 (pictured, above), before Kaiserslautern followed in April 1956.
May 1959 saw Ted Fenton’s Irons travel to Rot-Weiss Essen, Borussia Dortmund and Aachen, before Preußen Münster provided one of Ron Greenwood’s side’s opponents during the International Soccer League in the United States in June 1962, and we returned to Nuremburg for a pre-season match in August 1964.
Our first competitive tie with German opposition came in May 1965, when two Alan Sealey goals (pictured, below) saw off 1860 Munich in front of 100,000 supporters in the European Cup Winners’ Cup final at Wembley.
West Ham followed that success with a three-match pre-season tour to VfB Stuttgart, Eintracht Frankfurt and 1860 Munich that August, then defeated Magdeburg of East Germany 2-1 on aggregate in the Cup Winners’ Cup quarter-finals in March 1966. However, West German Cup winners Borussia Dortmund proved too strong in the semi-finals the following month.
Friendlies against Kaiserslautern and Karlsruhe followed before the Irons enjoyed another tours to West Germany in the summers of 1967, 1968 and 1969, playing a total of nine matches against, among others, Auswahl Mittelrhein, Borussia Rheine and Cloppenburg.
June 1971 saw the Irons face Rot-Weiss Essen three times in the space of five days in the United States during a summer tour, while October 1972 saw us visit the new Olympic Stadium in Munich to take on 1860 again!
Next up came two memorable games against Eintracht Frankfurt in the European Cup Winners’ Cup semi-finals in 1976, when outstanding goals from Trevor Brooking and Keith Robson helped secured a thrilling 4-3 aggregate victory.
Onto the mid-1980s and we visited Blau-Weiss Lohne and Werder Bremen in West Germany, then Dynamo Dresden in East Germany before the country was reunified in 1990.
Since then, West Ham have travelled to 1860 Munich (again!) in 1995 and 2005, faced Moenchengladbach in Austria in 2010 and travelled for two more pre-season tours in 2012 and 2013.
Summer 2014 saw Sam Allardyce take his squad to Schalke 04 for a four-team tournament, at which the Irons also played Malaga of Spain, before the decade continued with friendly matches against Werder Bremen (three times, including two at the 2017 Betway Cup), Karlsruhe, Mainz and Hertha Berlin.
Of course, this season’s reverse fixture and a pre-season trip to Bayer Leverkusen aside, our most recent meeting with German opponents came in the semi-finals of the UEFA Europa League in spring 2022, when Eintracht Frankfurt ran out 3-1 aggregate winners on their way to lifting the trophy.
Thomas Hitzlsperger
Nicknamed 'The Hammer' in honour of his powerful left-foot shot, Thomas Hitzlsperger had won more than 50 senior caps for Germany prior to joining West Ham United from Italian club Lazio in the summer of 2010.
Unfortunately, the Munich-born midfielder was unable to rediscover the form he had shown for his country, Aston Villa and VfB Stuttgart as a younger player, particularly after a thigh injury delayed his Hammers debut until February 2011, when he scored in an FA Cup victory over Burnley.
By then, Avram Grant’s squad was struggling mightily in the Premier League and, despite Hitzlsperger’s goal in a win over Stoke City, the Irons were relegated at the season’s end and the German departed for VfL Wolfsburg.
Since retiring, he has worked in the media and in the administration at his former club Stuttgart.
West Ham have had other German players, with U20 international Savio Nsereko joining from Italian club Brescia and making ten appearances in early 2009 before moving back to Serie A with Fiorentina.
And, of course, senior international Thilo Kehrer has been a part of the first-team squad since joining from French club Paris Saint-Germain in the summer of 2022.
Dieter Eckstein
The much-travelled Dieter Eckstein joined West Ham United from German Bundesliga side FC Schalke 04 in March 1995. The then 31-year-old former West Germany international forward had previously helped his country to reach the semi-finals of the 1988 UEFA European Championship and had scored nearly 100 league goals in his homeland. It was therefore hoped Eckstein could continue his prolific ways in English football when manager Harry Redknapp brought him to east London.
Unfortunately for both Eckstein and the Hammers, the German did not make a single first-team appearance and, after a short period, he moved on to Bundesliga 2 side SV Waldhof Mannheim for the remainder of the 1995/96 season.
Eckstein rediscovered his scoring touch at Swiss side FC Winterthur in 1996 before netting 26 times in 48 games for FC Augsburg. From there, Eckstein dropped into the lower divisions before hanging up his boots. Having survived both testicular cancer and heart failure, Eckstein is now 59 and continues to work as a coach.
