Dulwich Hamlet FC and Altonaer FC von 1893 are pleased to announce that Altona 93’s men’s first team squad will be traveling to East London this July to celebrate the 130 years since the foundation of both clubs.

As part of these celebrations, our men’s teams will meet each other on the pitch for the fourth time with a game taking place at Champion Hill on Saturday 8 July 2023, 3pm kick off. Both clubs have had a close friendship ever since, Dulwich Hamlet fan, the late Mishi ‘Dulwich’ Morath, attended a game at their stadium and got talking to Altona 93 supporter Jan Stover.

Between Thursday 6 July to Sunday 9 July there will be a number of events taking place and more information on these will be published shortly.

Back in April 1925, on one of Dulwich Hamlet’s famed Easter tours abroad they travelled to Germany for three matches, the first of which was in Altona 93.  Both teams, that day, boasted their finest players, Adolf Jäger in the black, white, and red colours of Altona 93 and Edgar Kail in the pink and blues of the Hamlet.

Both players found the back of the net that day, with Kail bagging a hat trick in Dulwich’s 4-1 win whilst Jäger would strike late to secure his side a consolation.

Since this chance meeting between Mishi and Jan, the friendship has grown amongst both fanbases which led to the return leg of the fixture some 90 years later in July 2015, when Altona ’93 travelled to South London and leaving with the spoils after securing a 5 – 3 victory.

The last fixture between both clubs saw Dulwich Hamlet travel to Hamburg in July 2018, with the visitors coming away with a 4 – 1 win against the hosts.

Mirja Grupe, Altona 93 Secretary commented “Its nearly 8 years, when I first visited Champion Hill and met so many wonderful people. Over the last years the friendship became more and more intense, and we really celebrated an outstanding anniversary in 2018.  Sometimes I feel a bit melancholic when I think of Mishi, without whom this friendship probably wouldn’t exist. I feel deeply connected with our friends and I don’t want to miss the friendship anymore. And it´s way more than about football. Lots of love from Altona.”

“I was a relatively new supporter to Champion Hill when the 2015 fixture took place, but straight away I could see that both clubs had a very special relationship. The friendship, to this day, continues to grow and it could not have been more fitting to be able to celebrate both our 125-year anniversaries together in Altona back in 2018.
Unfortunately, world events delayed the next game between the clubs, but I am sure that both sets of supporters will be excited for this latest leg of fixtures between the two clubs this summer” Mark Scoltock, Dulwich Hamlet FC Director.

Both sets of fans have already commenced fundraising for this tour and if you are interested in getting involved, be it assisting with the fundraising or volunteer to help with events please contact the club via dhfc@altona93.de

You can also find the latest updates regarding our trip to London quite soon on our Facebook Fanpage shortly.