the team immediately relegated after poor performances. Hertha's amateur side enjoyed a greater measure of success, advancing all the way to the final of the DFB-Pokal in 1993, where its run ended in a close 0–1 defeat at the hands of Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen. Following the fall of the Berlin Wall, Hertha became a popular side in East Berlin as well. Two days after the wall came down, 11,000 East Berliners attended Hertha's match against SG Wattenscheid. A fan friendship with Union Berlin developed, and a friendly match between the two attracted over 50,000 spectators. Financial woes once more burdened the club in 1994, as it found itself 10 million DM in debt. The crisis was again resolved through the sale of real estate holdings in addition to the signing of a new sponsor and management team. By 1997, Hertha found its way back to the Bundesliga, where it generally managed to finish in the upper-third of the league table. When Hertha was promoted in 1997, it ended Berlin's six-year-long drought without a Bundesliga side, which had made the Bundesliga the only top league in Europe without representation from its country's biggest city and capital. A period of oscillation Most recently, bright spots for the side have been a continuous string of appearances in international play in the UEFA Cup and the UEFA Champions League beginning in the 1999 season, and the signing of key players such as Pál Dárdai in 1997 who became Herta's most capped player ever, Sebastian Deisler in 1999 and Brazilian international Marcelinho in 2001, who was named the Bundesliga's Player of the Year in 2005. Hertha has also invested heavily in its own youth football academy, which has produced several players with Bundesliga potential. The team was almost relegated in the 2003–04 season, but rebounded and finished fourth the following season, but missed out on the Champions League after they were held to a draw on the final day by Hannover 96, which saw Werder Bremen overtake them for the spot on the final league matchday. (As a "thank-you" gesture, Werder sent the Hannover squad 96 bottles of champagne.) In 2005–06, the Herthaner finished in sixth position, then qualified for the UEFA Cup after defeating FC Moscow in the UEFA Intertoto Cup. However, Hertha was eliminated in the first round of the UEFA Cup by Odense BK. In 2006–07, Hertha finished tenth after sacking