Sport-Club Union 06 Berlin e.V. is a German association football club based in central

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. Like

namesake A namesake is a person, geographic location, or other entity bearing the name of another. History The word is first attested around 1635, and probably comes from the phrase "for one's name's sake", which originates in English Bible translations ...

1. FC Union Berlin 1. Fußballclub Union Berlin e. V., commonly known as 1. FC Union Berlin () or Union Berlin, is a professional German football club in Köpenick, Berlin. The club's origins can be traced to 1906, when its predecessor FC Olympia Oberschöneweid ...

, the club traces its origin back to the ''FC Olympia Oberschöneweide'', formed in 1906, but the current ''SC Union'' was formed in June 1950. It had its greatest success in the early 1950s when it won the tier one Oberliga Berlin in 1953, having finished runners-up in the previous two seasons. The 1952–53 league championship entitled the club to participate in the

1953 German football championship The 1953 German football championship was the culmination of the football season in the West Germany in 1952–53. 1. FC Kaiserslautern were crowned champions for the second time after a group stage and a final, having previously won the champio ...

, where it was knocked-out in the group stage. In 1976, the club unsuccessfully took part in the promotion round to the 2. Bundesliga and, in the following season, participated in the

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considere ...

History

''SC Union 06 Berlin'' traces its roots back to the FC Olympia Oberschöneweide, a club formed in 1906. Renamed to SC Union Oberschöneweide the predecessor club won the Berlin championship in 1920, 1923, 1940 and 1948 as well as the

Berlin Cup The Berliner Landespokal ( en, Berlin Cup) is an annual football cup competition held by the Berlin Football Association (German: Berliner Fußballverband, BFV). The cup winner qualifies for the national DFB-Pokal. Cup finals are usually held in t ...

in 1947 and 1948. ''Union's'' greatest success however came in the 1923 German football championship where it reached the final but lost 3–0 to

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its football section. Though the current HSV was founded in June 1919 from a merger of three ...

. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

the club reformed as Sportgemeinde Oberschöneweide. It took part in the 1948 German football championship but lost to 7–0

FC St. Pauli Fußball-Club St Pauli von 1910 e.V., commonly known as simply FC St Pauli (), is a German professional football club based in the St. Pauli district of Hamburg, that competes in the 2. Bundesliga. The football department is part of a larger sp ...

in the quarter finals.Historie
SC Union 06 Berlin website – Club history, accessed: 18 November 2015 After a runners-up finish in the Oberliga Berlin in 1950 and qualification to the

1950 German football championship The 1950 German football championship, the 40th edition of the competition, was the culmination of the 1949–50 football season in Germany. VfB Stuttgart won their first championship in a one-leg knock-out tournament. It was the third championsh ...

''Union'' was refused permission to travel to

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the J ...

to play ''Hamburger SV'' by the Soviet occupation authorities. The team consequently decided to leave

East Berlin East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as ...

for the western half of the city. It travelled to Kiel, lost 7–0 to ''HSV'' and shortly after formed a new club, the current SC Union 06 Berlin, on 9 June 1950 in West Berlin. ''SG Oberschöneweide'' continued to exist in East Berlin and eventually became what is now

. Another group of ''Union'' players formed

BBC Südost BBC Südost was a Football in Germany, German football club from the district of Kreuzberg in Berlin. Established on 18 January 1950 and active until 1990, ''BBC'' was formed out of the football department of parent club ''Turn- und Sport Südost ...

, also based in the West, but the latter was disbanded in 1990. The new club, now based in West Berlin and playing in the Oberliga Berlin which now did not include clubs from the East anymore, experienced an era of success from 1950 to 1953. ''Union'' finished runners-up in the league to

Tennis Borussia Berlin Tennis Borussia Berlin is a German football club based in the locality of Westend in Berlin. History The team was founded in 1902 as ''Berliner Tennis- und Ping-Pong-Gesellschaft Borussia'' taking its name from its origins as a tennis and t ...

in 1951 and 1952 but won the league in 1953. This title earned the club another trip to the German championship where it however finished last in its group with five defeats and one draw, playing against Hamburger SV,

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's football team is currently part of Germany's first division, the Bundesliga. VfB Stu ...

and

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional footb ...

. The club was well supported in its three home games during the 1953 German championship campaign, drawing 85,000 against ''HSV'' and 35,000 each against the other two, with all three games being played at the

Olympiastadion Olympiastadion is the German, Finnish and Swedish word for Olympic Stadium and may refer to: * Stockholm Olympic Stadium, the host of the 1912 Summer Olympics (though mostly referred as simply ''Stockholms Stadion'') * Olympiastadion (Berlin), the ...

. ''Union'' slowly declined from there. It finished third in the league in 1954 and 1957, but after that, dropped into the relegation zone. Support from the eastern part of Berlin dried up completely after the construction of the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government ...

. The club was relegated from the Oberliga in 1960, won promotion back in 1961 and was relegated again in

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wors ...

. After the

Introduction of the Bundesliga The Introduction of the Bundesliga was the long-debated step of establishing a top-level association football league in Germany in 1963. The new league, the Bundesliga, played its first season in 1963–64 and continues to be the highest league in ...

in 1963 ''Union'' played a season in the tier two

Regionalliga Berlin The Regionalliga Berlin was the second-highest level of the German football league system in the city of West-Berlin in Germany from 1963 until the formation of the 2. Bundesliga in 1974. It was by far the smallest of the five Regionalligas. Ove ...

in 1963–64 but came last and was relegated back to the Amateurliga. The club dropped out of this level in 1966 and 1970 but returned on each occasion. From 1972 onwards it experienced a small revival, winning the Amateurliga in 1976. It took part in the promotion round to the 2. Bundesliga but was unsuccessful there, competing against

Arminia Hannover SV Arminia Hannover is a German association football club based in Hanover, Lower Saxony. History The club was founded in 1910 as ''FC Arminia Hannover'' and merged with ''Rugby-Verein Merkur'' in 1918, becoming ''SV Arminia-Merkur''. Two y ...

and

SC Herford SC Herford is a German association football club based in Herford, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club was formed out of the merger of several local sides in the late 1960s and early 1970s and then went on to enjoy a short turn in second division ...

, and, in any case, would have struggled financially to compete in professional football. The club made its one and only appearance in the

in 1976–77 but lost 12–1 to

VfL Osnabrück VfL Osnabrück is a German multi-sport club in Osnabrück, Lower Saxony. It currently fields teams in basketball, gymnastics, swimming, table tennis, and tennis but is by far best known for its football section. History Foundation to WW2 The cl ...

in the first round. ''Union'' was relegated from what was now the tier three Amateur-Oberliga Berlin in 1982. It briefly returned to the league in the 1984–85 season but was relegated again straight away and never returned to the highest level of play in Berlin again. With

German reunification German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...

''Union'' made contact again with ''1. FC Union'' and the two clubs engaged in cooperation for a time. Financial reasons led the clubs to grow apart again and a dispute over the stadium Alten Försterei saw ''1. FC Union'' maintain its rights while ''Union 06'' missed out. The club merged with ''SG Oberschöneweide'' in 1995 and played as ''SC Union 06 Oberschöneweide'' for a time but soon reverted to its old name. The club dropped as far as the tier nine

Kreisliga The Kreisliga ( en, District League), along with the ''Kreisoberliga'' ( en, District Premier League) and the ''Kreisklasse'' ( en, District Class), are the lowest set of divisions in the German football league system, set at step 8 and below. S ...

B by 2000. It revived its relationship with ''1. FC Union'' and, on occasions, played friendlies against the other club. A potential merger of the two clubs was however declined by the members.SC Union 06: Die Erben der Schlosserjungs
''

Der Tagesspiegel ''Der Tagesspiegel'' (meaning ''The Daily Mirror'') is a German daily newspaper. It has regional correspondent offices in Washington D.C. and Potsdam. It is the only major newspaper in the capital to have increased its circulation, now 148,000, s ...

'', published: 25 June 2012, accessed: 18 November 2015 Population changes in the suburb of

Moabit Moabit () is an inner city locality in the borough of Mitte, Berlin, Germany. As of 2016, around 77,000 people lived in Moabit. First inhabited in 1685 and incorporated into Berlin in 1861, the former industrial and working-class neighbourhood i ...

, their home district, have led to the integration of many non-German residents in the club, something the club has won praise and awards for in the past. On the field, after its descent to the Kreisliga B, the club recovered, returning to the tier seven Landesliga Berlin in 2014 but being relegated from this level again in 2016. In January 2015, ''Union 06'' and ''1. FC Union'' played a friendly, with the proceeds from the game going towards the integration of refugees. It was the second meeting of the two clubs, the previous one having been held on 23 May 2006 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the mother club.Ein Spiel für Verein und Flüchtlinge
''

Berliner Zeitung The ''Berliner Zeitung'' (, ''Berlin Newspaper'') is a daily newspaper based in Berlin, Germany. Founded in East Germany in 1945, it is the only East German paper to achieve national prominence since reunification. It is published by Berliner ...

'', published: 4 January 2015, accessed: 18 November 2015

Honours

The club's honours:Germany – Oberliga Berlin 1946–63
rsssf.com, accessed: 6 December 2015 * Oberliga Berlin ** Champions: 1952–53 ** Runners-up: 1950–51, 1951–52 *

Amateurliga Berlin The Amateur-Oberliga Berlin was the second tier of the German football league system in the city of West Berlin in Germany from 1947 until the formation of the Bundesliga in 1963, operating under the name of Amateurliga Berlin. After 1963, it was ...

** Champions: 1960–61, 1975–76

Recent seasons

The recent season-by-season performance of the club:Historic German football league tables
Das Deutsche Fussball Archiv, accessed: 18 November 2015SC Union 06 Berlin at Fussball.de
accessed: 18 November 2015 * With the introduction of the

Regionalliga The Regionalliga () is the fourth tier in the German football league system. Until 1974, it was the second tier in Germany. In 1994, it was introduced as the third tier. Upon the creation of the new nationwide 3. Liga in 2008, it became the four ...

s in 1994 and the 3. Liga in 2008 as the new third tier, below the 2. Bundesliga, all leagues below dropped one tier.

References

External links

Official team site

SC Union 06 Berlin at Weltfussball.de
{{DEFAULTSORT:Berlin Union 06 SC Football clubs in Germany Union 06 Association football clubs established in 1950 1950 establishments in West Germany 1. FC Union Berlin