The team that lost 66-0: 'Without our keeper, we would have conceded 100'

Tom Weber

• 12 Nov 2025 06:01 CST
• 10 min read

News

German lower league club Moorburger TSV made history for all the wrong reasons in October when they suffered a staggering 66-0 loss in a competitive match.

Although rarely spoiled for success, those in charge of the little club from the Hamburg area could not in their wildest dreams have imagined the season that was about to unfold when Moorburg headed into their first match of the new campaign.

Hopelessly out of their depth in Hamburg's Kreisklasse 4, the regional ninth tier of German football, and lacking available players, it quickly became clear that 2025/26 would be another slog.

By early October, Moorburg were rooted to the bottom of the table without a single point to their name and with 53 goals conceded, while they themselves had only managed to score five times.

Naturally, when they faced league leaders SVS Mesopotamien II, who boasted a 100 per cent record from their opening eight games, Moorburg were massive underdogs.

An infamous 66-0 loss

120 seconds into the match, Mesopotamien scored their first goal. Incredibly, 65 - yes, sixty-five - would follow over the course of the remaining 88 minutes. Moorburg's 66-0 loss is the biggest recorded defeat in a competitive league in the history of German football.

But how does a team lose 66-0? The answer is quite simple: Moorburg only had seven available players, and two of them played through injury. Five substitutes were on the club's teamsheet that day, but none of them showed up.

At least twice, Moorburg were asked by the referee if they wanted to abandon the game. They refused both times, insisting that they were just there to have fun. However, there was also a different reason.

Earlier in the season, Moorburg had been unable to play a game as they only had six players available. Calling off another match would have resulted in an expulsion from the league - something that has now happened anyway, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Despite the adversity and the hailstorm of goals, Moorburg played on. Goalkeeper Kenneth Lieb was injured and couldn't dive properly, yet he still made enough saves to prompt player-coach Patrick Stritzki to say after the game that they would have lost 100-0 had it not been for him.

The result made waves in the German media, and Moorburg became an internet sensation virtually overnight. Fans on social media praised them for their sportsmanship, while chastising their unrelenting opponents.

The story has even travelled beyond the borders of Germany and now been covered by L'Equipe. "We didn't want to win, we just wanted to have a bit of fun," Sarah Lieb, the only woman on the pitch, told the French outlet.

Due to the overwhelming numbers of Mesopotamien, Moorburg were unable to put up much of a fight. "Most of the time, they just had to send a long ball into the box," defender Jan-Phillip Krumnow explained. "And with five against two, there was nothing we could do, especially since Kenneth, our goalkeeper, wasn’t there to save us."

Moorburg kicked out of the league

Moorburg's players were not deflated by the result, but the club was unable to properly capitalise on the attention that had been generated. Their next league game against Indian Football, who themselves hadn't yet picked up a point, was lost 8-1.

Last week, disaster struck when Moorburg were forced to announce that the Hamburg Football Association had expelled their first team from Kreisklasse 4 play for the season on two counts of "non-participation."

Naturally, Moorburg were outraged by the decision. They insist that their first game had to be abandoned for "self-defence" reasons as their players had been "insulted and threatened."

"We stand for fair play, respect and togetherness," a club statement read. "Unfortunately, the Hamburg Football Association has a different view. We've been excluded from league play because we allegedly failed to compete twice. That's not true!

"The first game we entered and played for 45 minutes, but got threatened and insulted at half-time. Out of self-defence, we didn't enter the pitch for the second half. Nevertheless, it was considered a 'non-participation' by the sports court.

"In the second game, we could only field six players - that was the only real non-participation. We ask ourselves: Is this fair play? Is that respect? Our team took a stand instead of engaging in violence, and that's exactly what we're being punished for. While brawls make headlines elsewhere, a club that remains peaceful is banned."

Moorburg also hold a cup record

Moorburg will now have to resort to playing friendly games for the rest of the season. Interestingly, the 66-0 defeat in league play is not the only unwanted record they hold. They are also the team to have suffered the largest-ever defeat in the local cup.

Last year, Moorburg were thrashed 53-2 by TSV Buchholz 08, a result so stunning that it also made headlines in the regional media. Guess whose record they broke with that scoreline - their own. The season before last, Moorburg had lost 40-2 to FC Suderelbe.

Their results in league play weren't much better. In 2022/23, they came last in the Kreisklasse 4 with three points, having conceded 244 goals and scored 15. The following season, they at least only finished second from bottom, although they still conceded 109 goals.

2025/26 has been short but intense, and unfortunately, a new nadir for the little club. However, there is perhaps one silver lining to their recent ban from league play. They can now use the upcoming months to hopefully find some more players for next season.

Because you can be sure that Moorburg will be back. They simply won't quit.

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