Football in Germany


is the most popular sport in Germany with 57% of the population declaring interest in watching it. The German Football Association is the sport's national governing body, with 6.6 million members organized in over 31,000 football clubs. There is a league system, with the Bundesliga, 2. Bundesliga and 3. Liga on top. The winner of the Bundesliga is crowned the German football champion. Additionally, there are domestic cup competitions, most notably the DFB-Pokal and DFL-Supercup.
The Germany national football team has won four FIFA World Cups, being the joint-second most successful nation in the tournament only surpassed by Brazil. It also holds three UEFA European Championships, behind only Spain, and won the FIFA Confederations Cup in 2017.
The Germany women's national football team has won two FIFA Women's World Cups and a record eight UEFA European Women's Championships, as well as a gold medal in the Summer Olympics in 2016. Germany was the first nation to win both the men's and women's World Cup. No country has more combined men's and women's World Cup championships, and only the United States has won more combined men's and women's regional/continental championships. Germany was the host of the FIFA World Cup in 1974, of which they were victorious, and 2006, the UEFA European Championship in 1988 and 2024, and the now-discontinued FIFA Confederations Cup in 2005. They also hosted the 1989, 1995 and 2001 editions of the UEFA European Women's Championship, as well as the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup.
The women's league system has the Frauen-Bundesliga, 2. Frauen-Bundesliga, and Frauen-Regionalliga. The DFB-Pokal Frauen is the main national cup competition.

History

Introduction to German football

The first football match arguably took place in Braunschweig in 1874. Two schoolteachers, August Hermann and Konrad Koch, initiated the first match after Hermann had obtained a round football from England. In 1875, Koch published the first German version of the rules of football, although Koch's version of the game still closely resembled Rugby football.

First football clubs

The Dresden English Football Club is considered the first modern football club in Germany and probably the first in continental Europe. It was founded in 1874 by Englishmen living and working around Dresden. In the following 20 years the game achieved a growing popularity. Football clubs were founded in Berlin, Hamburg and Stuttgart.

Foundation To World War I

On 28 January 1900, representatives from 86 football clubs from German-speaking areas in and outside the German Empire met in the restaurant Mariengarten in Leipzig, founding the DFB. The founding meeting was led by E. J. Kirmse, chairman of the Leipziger Fussball Verband . Ferdinand Hueppe, representing the DFC Prag, was elected the first president of the DFB.
Already some years before 1900, associations like the Bund Deutscher Fussballspieler or Deutscher Fussball und Cricket-Bund were founded, but they were limited to smaller areas of the German Empire, in those cases to areas around Berlin. The first championship beyond municipal areas was held in 1898 by the Verband Sueddeutscher Fussball-Vereine , later affiliated with the DFB.
The Germany national football team has represented Germany in international football competitions since 1908. It is controlled by the German Football Association, the domestic governing body of Germany's football in Germany.

Weimar Republic

Germany national football team played its first post-WWI match on 27 June 1920 in Zürich against Switzerland, which the Swiss team won 1:4.
Club football was centered in the region of Franconia during the 1920s as 1. FC Nürnberg and SpVgg Fürth dominated the competition.
In 1919, the proletarian Arbeiter-Turnbund was renamed Arbeiter-Turn- und Sportbund. The name change especially reflected the incorporation of football into the federation, which promoted leftist political views and attempted to break the monopolisation of football under the umbrella of the DFB.

Nazi Germany

With the rise of Nazism, left-leaning sporting associations such as the ATSB and Rotsport were banned. Communist sporting officials such as Ernst Grube, Reichstag deputy and head of Rotsport, were murdered in concentration camps. The DFB integrated as Fachamt Reichsfußball into the National Socialist League of the Reich for Physical Exercise. From 1933 to 1945 the highest level of play in German football was organised in 16 Gauligen, whose winners qualified for the finals in the German championship, held at the end of season.

Inter-war period

After the war, Germany was occupied in three states. The DFB and its team continued in what was called West Germany, while the Saarland and East Germany fielded separate teams for some years.

East and West

The FIFA World Cup 1974 was staged in West Germany, and both German teams were drawn in the same group in the first round. Meeting on 22 June 1974 in a politically charged match in Hamburg, East Germany beat West Germany 1–0, on a goal by Jürgen Sparwasser. Both German teams advanced to the second round anyway. The GDR team was eliminated there, while the DFB team eventually went on to win the tournament.

Reunification

In the year of German reunification, West Germany secured its third World Cup as West and East Germans celebrated together. The present-day Germany national team is identical to the team representing what was informally called West Germany from 1949 to 1990, as the German Football Association was again recognized by FIFA after WW2. Nothing changed in 1990 except enlarged membership due to the access of East German states and players, thus the continuity in the German logo and uniform style as well as references to Germany's four World Cup and three European Cup titles. Thus, all references to a "former West German team" are considered by many as false - according to the DFB, this team still exists, called Germany.
Germany's greatest triumphs since 1990 have been winning the 2014 World Championship in Brazil, and the 1996 European Championship secured in England with players from both the former West, including and East as anchor of the defence.

New millennium

The greatest success for German team in the new millennium has been their winning the 2014 FIFA World Cup. They had also finished in second place to Brazil at the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan and second place at the 2008 European Championship. There was also a third place at the 2006 World Cup in Germany and in addition another third place at World Cup 2010. Germany's women have achieved even greater success, winning both the 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup in the US and the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup in China.

German Football Association

The national association is the German Football Association headquartered in Frankfurt.
The DFB was founded in 1900 in Leipzig, by the representatives of 86 clubs. Today, the association has some 31,000 member clubs which field 170,000 teams with over 2 million players: these numbers include 870,000 female members and 8,600 women's teams. With over six million active and passive members, the DFB is the world's largest sports federation.

National team

Men's

The Germany national football team has represented Germany in international football competitions since 1908. It is controlled by the German Football Association, the governing body of football in Germany. They have won four FIFA World Cups and have been runners up on four occasions.
Since the 1954 World Cup, the Germany national team has been outfitted by the German firm adidas. For home games, the German team wears white jerseys, black shorts and white socks in honour of the Prussian colours. Along with black both red and gold, the other two colours of the German flag, have been included in the strip over the years.
Traditionally, the Germans have worn green jerseys, white shorts and green socks as their alternate uniform. In recent years, however, the Germans have changed their away uniform to grey in 2002–2003, black in 2004 and recently to red. The Germans wore red as their alternate colour in the 2006 World Cup.
The Germany national team during the 2006 World Cup was coached by former captain Jürgen Klinsmann. Since 12 July 2006, former Assistant Coach Joachim Löw has coached the national team. Its current captain is Bayern Munich goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.

Women's

The German women's national football team, also organised by the DFB, are two-time world champions, having won the FIFA Women's World Cup in 2003 under past coach Tina Theune-Meyer and 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup under current coach Silvia Neid. They are the first women's team to have successfully defended a World Cup. They have also won eight UEFA Women's Championships, which includes six consecutive titles. Germany is the only nation to have won both the men's and women's World Cup and European Championship.
The Germany women's team are also the first to have won a World Cup at senior level, either for men or women, without conceding a single goal, having done so in 2007. Nadine Angerer was the goalkeeper who managed this feat.

Home stadiums

The national teams play in various stadiums throughout Germany. The cities of Düsseldorf, Munich, Dortmund and Berlin are some of the more popular locations.

Men's honours

Major competitions

FIFA World Cup
UEFA European Championship
Summer Olympic Games
  • Gold Medal : 1976
  • Silver Medal : 1980, 2016
  • Bronze Medal : 1964, 1972, 1988
  • Fourth place : 1952
FIFA Confederations Cup
  • Champions : 2017
  • Third place : 2005
UEFA Nations League