Hannover 96

Hannover 96 is a German football club based in Hanover in Lower Saxony. They currently feature in the German Bundesliga.

Hannover 96 was founded on April 12,1896 as Hannoverscher Futball-Club 1896. The club soon became one of the regular clubs who would appear in the national playoffs in the 1900s but were unable to move further.

In 1933 Hannover became part of the Gauliga Niedersachsen and won their first national championships in 1938 and in 1942 moved to the Gauliga Braunschweig-Sudhannover.

The club resumed playing league football in 1947 in the first division Oberliga Nord but were relegated although they returned to the top flight in 1949.

In 1964 Hannover 96 gained promotion to the Bundesliga and averaged a record 46,000 spectators per game.

In the late 1970s and the early 1990s, Hannover 96 suffered from financial problems but won the German Cup for the first time in their history in 1992. But for two years between 1996 and 1998 they played in Regionalliga Nord (III) and returned to the Bundesliga in 2002.

Hannover 96 have since gone on to consolidate their place in the German top flight.

Hannover 96 play their home matches at the AWD-Arena which can host a crowd of 49,000. They bear the nickname Die Roten (the Reds).