Though Hamburg SV won their last game by 2-1 against Monchengladbach on Saturday, they failed to remain in the league. For the first time in Bundesliga history, manager Bernd Hollerbach's men will play next season in the second division. Fans of HSV threw fireworks into the field, with their team’s record uninterrupted top-flight run since in 1963 ending with a bang.

It would have taken a miracle for HSV to remain in the Bundesliga. First they would have needed to defeat Monchengladbach and for FC Cologne, who are already confirmed to leave Bundesliga, to beat VfL Wolfsburg in their away game. The two games ended first halves with 1-1 on both sides. Despite Cologne's good first half performance, Wolfsburg scoring three goals in a row, killed the suspense with a 4-1 finish.    

Due to the early end of the Wolfsburg v Cologne game, HSV fans learnt that their team already stood no chance. In the last few minutes of the Mönchengladbach match, fireworks and flares rained down from the stands, filling the stadium with smoke, either in frustration or protest from the fans and leaving the referee no choice but to suspend the game. Security spent almost 20 minutes clearing the filed before the referee put a quick end to this dangerous farce.

HSV have been on the edge of the league for years as they barely managed to stay in Bundesliga in three of the past four seasons. The team ranking No.16 fought extra games twice in 2014 and 2015 to survive. In 2017, they defeated Wolfsburg in the last round, who  ironically eliminated the last tiny hope of HSV to escape relegation again in 2018.

Hamburg's unbroken reign of playing in the Bundesliga has ended at 54 years and 261 days. Now only four teams, Spain's Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Athletic Club and Italy's FC Internazionale Milano still keep the record of never leaving the top leagues of the Europe's five major football leagues (La Liga, Serie A, Premier League, Bundesliga and Ligue 1).