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Hamburger SV is a German multi-sport club (Traditionsverein) based in Hamburg, its largest branch being its football department. The football team is one of the country's oldest, most well known, and best performing clubs, with the unique distinction of having played continuously in top-flight German football since the end of World War I; the team has never been relegated from any top-flight league, a record in Germany.

The Hamburger Sport-Verein, or HSV, can trace its roots as far back as the 29 September 1887 merger of Der Hohenfelder Sportclub and Wandsbek-Marienthaler Sportclub to form Sportclub Germania zu Hamburg. The current club was formed as Hamburger Sport-Verein in 1919 through the union of three city teams severely weakened by World War I: Sportclub Germania zu Hamburg; Hamburger FC (1888); and FC Falke Eppendorf (1906).