SAMSTAG 15:30

Founded: Aug 5th, 1912
Club Members: 932
Nickname: Pelikans
Coach: Rüdiger Ziehl
Captain: Tobias Fölster

Landespokal Niedersachsen Winner: 2

Website: www.tsv-havelse.de

Based in the Hannover suburb of Havelse, TSV's origins can be traced back to a long forgotten club called FC Pelikan Havelse who were formed in August 1912 when 13 young men scraped together the 7.50 Reichsmarks needed to buy a football which happened to be made by a manufacturer called 'Pelikan' - hence the name. Early progress was faltering however and no sooner had the newcomers begun life in the local amateur levels; football, and by proxy the club, was brought to a shuddering halt with the advent of World War I in 1914. As Germany struggled to rebuild itself after the conflict, breathing life back into an embryonic football club shattered by war and hyperinflation proved too much of a hurdle to overcome and by 1923 the pre-war FC Pelikan Havelse were no more.

In 1929, a local gymnastics club called TSV Havelse was formed and its members were joined four years later by the remaining 'Pelikans' when a football department was added to the association. That same year, the footballers rented a field from a farmer for 100 Reichsmarks and built a ground which until 2000 was officially known as TSV Kampfbahn an der Hannoverschen Straße (now referred to as the Wilhelm Langrehr Stadion). In 1947, the club was renamed 'TSV Havelse Marienwerder' but reverted back to TSV Havelse five years later before becoming embroiled in scandal when, in an era when professional sport was considered an anathema, they were kicked out of the old Amateurliga Niedersachsen-West in 1956 for "violations against the amatuer statute".

In 1975, having spent their history up to that point as a largely unknown local side playing in Hannoverian football circles, Wilhelm Langrehr became club president and one of the new man's first acts was to install former Hannover 96 and West German international Hans Siemensmeyer as coach. Within a few seasons, he had taken TSV from the Berzirksliga to the third-tier Oberliga Nord; and qualified for the DFB-Pokal for the first time in 1984 where they held Bundesliga club VfL Bochum to a 2-2 draw. They went down 0-4 in the replay but, sensing the injustice of giving Bundesliga clubs a second bite of the cherry against footballing minnows, following this match the German FA introduced penalty shoot-outs to decide drawn cup ties in an attempt to write more David vs Goliath fairytales.

In 1986, former TSV player Volker Finke, who would go on to become the longest serving manager in German professional football following a 16 year spell at SC Freiburg, became head coach and after narrowly missing out on promotion in 1989, led the club through the play-offs a year later where a last-gasp 3-2 win over Wuppertaler SV secured Bundesliga.2 football for the first time. Life in the second-tier was brief however and following an immediate relegation back to the Oberliga Nord and Finke's departure, a decline in the club's fortunes saw them playing in the sixth-tier Landesliga Hannover by 2006.

After recovering their football composure and rising back up the leagues, the club benefitted from a bit of good fortune when a third-place finish in the COVID-19 shortened Regionalliga Nord 2020-21 season was enough to secure a place in the promotion play-off after the top two teams - SC Weiche Flensburg and Werder Bremen II - didn't apply for 3. Liga licenses. A  2-0 aggregate win over Regionalliga Bayern champions 1.FC Schweinfurt then saw TSV Havelse achieve promotion to the 3. Liga for the first time.