Tasmania 1900 Berlin 1965/66 — The Worst Bundesliga Team Ever

Season story

Tasmania 1900 Berlin are the worst Bundesliga team ever — and the 1965/66 season that earned them that title remains the most famous failure in German football. Two wins, four draws, 28 defeats, 15 goals scored and 108 conceded: no club has ever finished a Bundesliga season with fewer points (eight), fewer goals or more goals against. Several of Tasmania's negative records still stand today.

Tasmania never earned their place in the top flight. Hertha BSC were stripped of their licence over illegal signing-on fees, and the German FA insisted on keeping a Berlin club in the league for political reasons. So Tasmania were called up out of nowhere — just three weeks before the season opener. Most players were on holiday across Europe when the news broke; captain Hans-Günter "Atze" Becker was fetched back from a beach in Scharbeutz by a neighbour. The amateurs had 14 days to prepare for the highest level of German football.

The debut on 14 August 1965 became the club's most glorious day. In a sold-out Olympiastadion — 81,425 spectators — Tasmania beat Karlsruher SC 2:0, with 21-year-old youth product Ingo Usbeck scoring both goals (66' and 79'). Before kick-off, Becker had asked the crowd: "Support us, don't whistle — you are the twelfth man." Kicker named him man of the match. After matchday one, Tasmania sat second in the table. Coach Franz Linken kept everyone grounded: "We don't celebrate after a win."

What followed was unprecedented: 31 consecutive Bundesliga games without a win — still the longest winless run in league history. The lowest point came on matchday 27, when Meidericher SV won 0:9 in the Olympiastadion, the heaviest home defeat the Bundesliga has ever seen. Fans stayed away: when Borussia Mönchengladbach visited Berlin in January 1966, only 827 spectators showed up — still the lowest attendance in league history. Away from home, Tasmania managed a single draw in 17 matches.

The second and final win came only on the penultimate matchday: 2:1 against Borussia Neunkirchen, who were relegated along with Tasmania. In between lay months of defeat — including a 2:7 in Nuremberg and five away losses by 0:5. The season ended with 108 goals conceded, an average of more than three per game.

The final Bundesliga match on 28 May 1966 was a road trip in the truest sense: the club had run out of money, so the team travelled more than 500 kilometres to Gelsenkirchen by coach. Tasmania lost 0:4 to Schalke 04, who narrowly escaped relegation themselves. Goalkeeper Heinz Rohloff later summed up the season: "Let's have another drink, then it's easier to bear."

The records Tasmania left behind still stand: fewest points (eight), fewest goals (15), most goals conceded (108) and the longest winless run (31 games). When Schalke 04 went 30 games without a win in early 2021 and closed in on the mark, the then 82-year-old Becker watched from a publisher's office in Berlin — and celebrated every Schalke goal against. "And we keep our record," he said after Schalke's 4:0 win over Hoffenheim. Schalke fell one match short.

The players had lives outside football. Captain Becker worked in the civil service and refused to quit his job — several teammates gave up their careers to turn professional. Becker's prediction: nine months, then we go down. When it happened, his teammates called him a fortune teller. "I was only being realistic," he said later.

SC Tasmania 1900 went bankrupt in the early 1970s; the successor club SV Tasmania Berlin was founded in 1973 and plays in the fifth tier today. The fame of the record losers is part of its identity: Becker still sits in the stands, and fans tell the most famous losing run in the league as a piece of Berlin football history.

Tasmania were a Berlin phenomenon. Home games took place not in the narrow Werner-Seelenbinder-Sportpark, which did not meet Bundesliga standards, but in the Olympiastadion. For away matches, the team flew from Tempelhof airport over East German territory to the West — a flight that became routine, just like the defeats that followed.

The few fans who came made the best of it. When Becker's wife gave birth to their son during a home game, the small crowd chanted: "Buy us a round, buy us a round!" The captain paid. These are the stories that make Tasmania a piece of Berlin football folklore to this day.

The squad also contained familiar names: Horst Szymaniak had once been a national player, and Wulf-Ingo Usbeck, the scorer on the opening day, finished as the top scorer of the Tasmanians. It was a team of amateurs, former greats and young Berliners — thrown together in 14 days, yet staying together until the last matchday.

Klaus Basikow was in goal on the opening day; later Heinz Rohloff guarded the goal of the Tasmanians.

A footnote of history: without Tasmania's forced promotion, the 18-team Bundesliga might never have existed. Karlsruher SC and Schalke filed lawsuits over the nomination; to settle the dispute, the FA declared the 1964/65 season relegation-free and expanded the league. In 34-0-0, Tasmania 1965/66 are the weakest team in the game (Strength 68) — the built-in free hit of the season, but also a reminder that even the worst team in history could win once.

Tactical DNA

Style: Counter · Strength: 68 · Relegation tier

Counter in the game: Possession. They wait for transitions — keep the ball and your patience.

Key players & ratings

Best XI

Beating this team in 34-0-0

Tasmania 1965/66 are the weakest team in 34-0-0 (Strength 68) — and exactly that makes the fixture tricky. They play counter football and wait for transition moments; if you push too hard with possession, one sloppy pass can turn into a fast break. Keep the ball moving with short passes, score early and don't rotate too much too soon — conceding against Strength 68 can ruin a perfect season. Use the match to improve your goal difference, but treat it like any other game: Tasmania's story holds the most important lesson in football.

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By L. Yuan · Last updated: 2026-09-16