SV Wehen Wiesbaden · History

SV Wehen Wiesbaden are a German football club from Wiesbaden, the capital of the state of Hesse. Founded in 1926 in Wehen, a small town in the Taunus hills now part of the municipality of Taunusstein, they carried the name SV Wehen for eight decades before moving to Wiesbaden in 2007 and adopting their present title. They have had three spells in the 2. Bundesliga and, in September 2026, compete in the 3. Liga, the third tier of German football, under Daniel Scherning, head coach since November 2025.

From a Taunus village to professional football

The club was founded on 1 January 1926 as SV Wehen, a village side in a rural area north of Wiesbaden. Like so many German clubs, it was dissolved by the Nazi government in 1933 and re-established after the Second World War, in 1946. For decades it remained an amateur club of regional scope, until stable industrial backing in the 1980s and 1990s allowed it to climb the German pyramid. That oddity — a team from a town of a few thousand inhabitants competing against big-city clubs — explains much of its history and also the decision that would eventually change everything: moving to the state capital.

2007: promotion and the move to Wiesbaden

The 2006-07 season was the hinge of the club's story. The team won the Regionalliga Süd and reached the 2. Bundesliga for the first time, but their old ground in Taunusstein did not meet professional requirements. The solution was radical: the club moved to Wiesbaden, added the city's name to its own and opened the BRITA-Arena, a stadium built in a record 112 days. The ground holds around 13,000 spectators, slightly fewer for 3. Liga fixtures, and has been home ever since as well as one of the defining features of the project.

The BRITA model and the 50+1 rule

Wehen Wiesbaden's transformation is inseparable from the backing of businessman Heinz Hankammer, founder of the water-filter company BRITA, which gives the stadium its name and underwrites the club financially. The family holding company Hanvest controls around 90% of the professional arm, while the members' club retains the other 10% and the voting power required by Germany's 50+1 rule, which prevents an investor from taking control of a club. Markus Hankammer chairs the organisation, in a model that has given budget stability to a club whose membership base cannot match its rivals'.

The move placed the club in a demanding footballing environment. Wiesbaden sits on the Rhine directly opposite Mainz and only a few kilometres from Frankfurt, so Wehen coexist with two far more deeply rooted professional neighbours who dominate the region's coverage. Building a support of their own in a city of more than a quarter of a million people but with no recent top-level football tradition has been the project's other great challenge since 2007, every bit as decisive as results on the pitch.

The promotions of 2019 and 2023

After relegation in 2009 the club spent a decade in the 3. Liga until returning to the 2. Bundesliga in 2019, coming through the promotion play-off against Ingolstadt with a 3-2 win in the second leg on 28 May. That stay lasted a single season. A third promotion arrived in 2023, again through the play-offs, this time with an emphatic 6-1 aggregate win over Arminia Bielefeld. The 2023-24 campaign ended in 16th place and relegation, so the club went back to the 3. Liga, where they finished ninth in 2024-25 and eighth in 2025-26.

Those three promotions are the club's real yardstick: no side from such a small original base has moved between the second and third tiers of German football so often in the modern era, and each return has been achieved through the play-offs rather than by winning the division outright, a route that demands consistency over a whole season and nerve across two decisive matches.

Cup nights

The DFB-Pokal has provided the club's biggest stages. Their best run came in 2008-09, when they reached the quarter-finals and lost 2-1 away to Hamburger SV on 4 March 2009. The trophy cabinet also holds nine Hessenpokal titles, the Hesse regional cup, which has repeatedly opened the door to the national competition. There they have hosted the country's giants: a 0-3 defeat to Borussia Dortmund in August 2021 and a 2-3 loss to Bayern Munich in August 2025, two of the most memorable evenings at the BRITA-Arena.

Coaches and identity

The most important manager of the club's recent history is Rüdiger Rehm, in charge from February 2017 for more than four years and eight months, the longest tenure on record at the club, and the man behind the 2019 promotion. The 2023 promotion was the work of Markus Kauczinski. Since 10 November 2025 the job has belonged to Daniel Scherning, tasked with taking the team back into the promotion race in an increasingly competitive 3. Liga, populated by historic clubs with far larger supporter bases against whom Wehen compete on a contained budget and a clear commitment to young players.

A win over Bayern Munich

On 25 July 2026 the team beat Bayern Munich 2-1 in a friendly, through Ati Allah and Schleimer.