Things to know about the minnows that beat Bayern Munich

No, Holstein Kiel is not that dodgy beer your dad brings home unlicensed every Friday.

While it’s easy to confuse them – like most niche German teams – with a lager, it’s time to put some respect on their name. SV Holstein Kiel are the second Bundesliga team responsible for putting Bayern Munich on penalties and eliminating them from DFB Pokal after a 2-2 draw.

Kiel came from behind twice and took the overtime draw with a goal from Hauke ​​Wahl in the dying moments of added time, which was enough to lead the game on penalties and see the underdogs cause a surprise , winning 6-5.

The defeat means Bayern have now lost more games in 2021 than they have throughout 2020, but enough about them. Here’s everything you need to know about everyone’s favorite new shift – no, giant-killing babyface’s ultimate German soccer team are heading to DFB Pokal’s Round of 16.

Don’t feel bad, Bayern fans. Cup upsets are happening and Holstein Kiel has actually passed the second round before.

In the 2011/12 season, they advanced to the quarter-final as a fourth-place group and were only stopped by eventual winners Borussia Dortmund in a 4-0 beating.

As seems to be the precedent with most German clubs, Holstein Kiel went through several iterations before settling on the club he is today.

Originally formed in 1900 as a result of a merger between two teams, Kieler Fußball-Verein and 1. KFV, they struggled and ultimately chose to focus on athletics rather than football.

1. The KFV was weakened after World War I, as was its compatriot Sportverein Holstein. The two clubs agreed to merge to become the current SV Holstein Kiel, taking the founding date of 1. KFV, but the identity of Sportverein Holstein.

Hey, we never said German football history was easy.

Amid all this change and change as football clubs merged for fun at the turn of the 20th century, Holstein Kiel won his only major German league to date.

They won the 1912 season at a time before the traditional league table format and much of the regulations we have today, beating Karlsruher FV in a 1-0 victory in Hamburg.

SV Holstein Kiel announced in 2019 that they have partnered with the San Francisco Glens, who play in the USL League Two.

While playing in the fourth tier of the North American football system hardly sets the world on fire, there is something to be said for how German teams are extracting future American talent for fun right now.

This is by no means a bad partnership to hold for the future and there is bound to be at least one gem that will come soon enough.

When an impeccable German national team shattered England’s dreams and kept football from coming home in 1996, goalkeeper Andreas Kopke was the man in the sticks who saved Gareth Southgate’s penalty and sent Die Mannschaft to a final which they finally won.

Kopke started his career with none other than Holstein Kiel as a young player and made his senior debut for the club in 1979, before leaving in 1983.

If it wasn’t for Holstein Kiel, maybe, just may be, football would have come home.

The 2020/21 campaign is Holstein Kiel’s fourth consecutive season in the German second tier, but that doesn’t tell the whole story.

After reaching promotion to Bundesliga 2., the 2017/18 campaign marked their return to the second tier of German football after a 36-year absence.

They also came back in style, finishing in a surprisingly high third place and missing out on promotion to the top flight in a play-off loss to Wolfsburg.