Hamburg SV used to have one of the most unique traditions in the world of soccer, their stadium featured a clock that counted down to the second how much time the club had spent in the top German flight. Since Hamburg had never been relegated, the count has it's starting point in 1963, at the exact moment the unified Bundesliga began.
This clock was a source of pride for the fans, after all many German clubs who are more successful than Hamburg have been relegated so the clock represented an assertion of greatest. Simultaneously, however, it was also a disaster waiting to happen. Even though Hamburg had never gotten relegated it was also not a Bayern Munich, and after a few close calls Hamburg was finally relegated in the 2017/18 season.
In the last matchday against Monchengladbach, the visiting fans even used the clock to mock Hamburg by brining their own clock and making a real-time countdown of the amount of minutes Hamburg had left in the Bundesliga.
The clock was reconfigured to mark the time since the clubs foundation, which made sense since Hamburg is one of Germany's oldest clubs and their 130+ year history is another source of pride. However the reconfiguration of the clock wasn't enough to erase the fact that it had become a symbol of defeat, and after failing to gain promotion the following season the clock was removed all together to make room for the coordinates of the stadium.
The club decided that the clock wasn't the only change that needed to be made. "Hamburg, My Pearl", the clubs unofficial anthem is not sung before home matches anymore. The anthem mentions rivals Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Werder Bremen and Bayer Leverkusen, clubs that Hamburg would not be facing in the second division.
After 7 years and 7 consecutive close calls Hamburg finally gained promotion in the 2024/25 season, promising to leave some old traditions behind in order to have a brighter future.