How is it that Hamburg's football club (HSV) is not anywhere near the level of Munich's? They are from similarly large cities, and had somewhat comparable history until it diverged in recent decades.
If you compare HSV to Hertha, Koln, Eintracht, Schalke, Werder and others HSV looks fairly normal.
Perhaps in a league if one team succeeds and builds solid foundations it has a tendency to keep ahead. Added to that in Germany it's so much harder for outside money to come in and build a team. Leipzig have done it, but just look at how fans think of them.
If you look at in England, without the external money teams of Manchester City and Chelsea a few big teams that have been dominating for decades would have continued their run. Admittedly there it would have been a big three of Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United though.
Yes, they're in two comparably large and affluent German cities (although each of these cities has numerous clubs), but when it comes to sport club success I think city details is just one factor. Ownership wealth and dedication, current management issues, and recent luck are important factors.
For example, Boston has way more championships in US "big four" sports than every US city except NYC, but there are 24 larger cities in the country. There are just a ton of factors at play (pun intended).
Uli Hoeneß as a manager professionalised German football (soccer) a lot and early understoodnhowntonmake it a business and ran the club like his personal business.
