Celebrating players wearing Ulm jerseys: not a rare sight this season. Image: Nordphoto
In the 1990s, SSV Ulm rose rapidly – and fell back into the amateur camp all the more quickly. The club is now back in first place in the third division. Is it time for a new narrative?
As an eight-year-old, Johannes Reichert went to every SSV Ulm home game in the Donaustadion. “I was so small, I couldn’t even see over the boards. But I looked at the people and saw their joy,” says the Ulm native: “We were incredibly proud that our club was playing in the Bundesliga.” That is a long time ago, today he is 32 years old – and captain of the club he loves.
The Sparrows, as they are commonly called by fans, flew up rapidly at the end of the 1990s and fell even faster. After just one season, the team was relegated from the Bundesliga, relegated again, did not receive a license and had to go to the association league.