Team

Five Players say their their Farewells

Dennis Diekmeier, Sejad Salihovic, Sven Schipplock, Bjarne Thoelke and Andreas Hirzel will leave HSV in the Summer - the official send-off took place on tuesday morning.

The 2017/18 season came to an end on Saturday with HSV relegated from the Bundesliga and condemned to second tier football next season. Not everyone in the squad, however, will be joining the club’s journey into Bundesliga 2. The end of a season always means bidding farewell to some players: On Tuesday morning, as part of the pre-summer-break meeting, the club announced the official departures of five players.

In Dennis Diekmeier, Sejad Salihovic, Sven Schipplock, Bjarne Thoelke and Andreas Hirzel, five players, whose contracts are all up, will definitely not be staying with the club in its first ever Bundesliga 2 season. Chairman Frank Wettstein and sporting director Bernhard Peters presented each player with an individual leaving present in the form of a memory collage.

Thank you, Diekmeier, for your eight years of service to HSV.

Dennis Diekmeier came to the Elbe from 1. FC Nuremberg in 2010 – a dream come true for the now 28-year-old. Despite him being born deep into Green-White Werder territory, his heart always beat only for the Rothosen. As a young boy, Diekmeier regularly attended games at the Volksparkstadion and even got a Roy Präger jersey for Christmas.

Unlike with Präger, goals weren’t exactly Dennis Diekmeier’s speciality: His record, the player with the most Bundesliga games without a goal (203), is unlikely to be broken any time soon. Diekmeier can only smile about the record, though – which is exactly how he became a fans’ favourite; through his fierce and honest nature both on and off the pitch, writing his very own chapter of HSV history. After eight years of wearing the jersey, Diekmeier, the club’s longest-serving current player, who made 184 competitive appearances for the Rothosen, is now leaving his beloved football club in search of a new challenge. Not least because of his four Hamburg-born children, the city, and of course the club, his club, will always have a special place in Diekmeier’s heart.

A person to talk to for the youngsters: Sejad Salihovic.

Sejad Salihovic was a so-called last-minute signing for HSV, acquired shortly after the 2017 summer transfer window, partly to fill in for the heavily injured Nicolai Müller. ‘Sali’ integrated himself into the team as quickly as possible and despite a lack of appearances, acted as a very important role model and advisor to some of the younger players. During the season just gone, the Bosnia international accumulated ten Bundesliga appearances, scoring once from the spot away to Mainz on Matchday 8.

Sven Schipplock came to Hamburg from Hoffenheim in 2015 and since his loan spell at Darmstadt 98, he was a part of this season’s HSV squad again. After a few short appearances in the first half of the season, he found himself struggling with injuries after the winter break and played three times. At the end of his time at HSV, Schipplock has a total of 30 Bundesliga appearances and two in the DFB Pokal.

Bjarne Thoelke came to the club last summer by way of Karlsruhe and was immediately ruled out with a ligament tear in his knee. He fought his way back slowly, but unfortunately, it wasn’t enough for a chance to play in the Bundesliga. He was able to make five appearances for the second team in the Regionalliga North , scoring one goal and impressing with his recent performances.

In his three years at HSV, Andreas Hirzel made just one first team Bundesliga appearance. The 25-year-old played for the U21s 17 times – always there to help the team despite limited game time.

HSV would like to thank all five players for their efforts at the club!