List of German football champions


The German football champions are the annual winners of the highest association football competition in Germany.

History

The history of the German football championship is complex and reflects the turbulent history of the country through the course of the 20th century.
Brought to the country by English immigrants, the sport took root in the cities of Berlin, Hamburg, Stuttgart, and Leipzig in the 1890s, leading to the growth of city, regional, and academic leagues, each with its own championships. Following the establishment of the German Football Association in 1900, the first recognized national championship match was hosted by Hamburg club Altona 93 in 1903 in which VfB Leipzig defeated DFC Prag 7–2, and was awarded the Viktoria, the championship trophy from 1903 to 1944. Before the formation of the Bundesliga in 1963, the championship format was based on a knockout competition, contested between the winners of each of the country's top regional leagues. Since 1963, the first-place finisher in the Bundesliga has been recognized as the national champion.
Championship play was suspended twice; from 1915 to 1919 due to World War I and again from 1945 to 1947 due to World War II. Following World War II, Germany was occupied by the victorious Allies and two German football competitions emerged when the country was divided as a result. The historical tradition of the DFB was continued in what was known as The Federal Republic of Germany, while a second national championship was contested in the Soviet-controlled German Democratic Republic under the auspices of the DFV. Following the reunification of the country in 1990, the two separate football competitions were merged and a single national championship was restored.
Bayern Munich hold the record for the most championships with 34, yet all but one of these come in Bundesliga competition. BFC Dynamo claimed 10 titles in the former East Germany, winning these championships in consecutive seasons.

Champions

Early German football championships (1903–32)

The new British game of football quickly caught on in late 19th-century Germany, which had previously been a nation of gymnasts and fencers. The earliest attempt at organizing some form of national championship came in 1894, when city champions Viktoria 89 Berlin invited FC Hanau 93 to play a challenge match. The Hanauers were unable to afford the cost of the trip and so were unable to take up the invitation. In 2007, the 1894 final was replayed and Viktoria were crowned the official 1894 champions.
After its formation in 1900, the DFB began to establish its authority over the myriad city and regional leagues springing up throughout the country and organized the first officially recognized national championship in 1903.
The prize of German football was the Viktoria, a trophy statue of a seated Roman goddess of victory, donated by the committee that organized German participation in the 1900 Olympic Games in Paris – and originally intended to be shared with teams playing the rugby version of football. The formation of the DFB helped establish for the first time a clear divide between association football and its close cousin.
To qualify for the German championship finals, a club had to win one of the regional championships, which, in some cases, predate the national one. Those were:
One other regional championships briefly existed:
From 1925 onwards, the runners-up of those competitions were also qualified for the German championship finals, which had been expanded to sixteen clubs. The two strongest regions, South and West were also allowed to send their third-placed team. This system of regional championships was abolished in 1933 and superseded by the Gauliga system.

German football championships in Nazi Germany (1933–45)

With the beginning of the 1933–34 season, top-flight German football was reorganized into 16 regional Gauligen with each of these leagues sending their champion to the national playoffs. New Gauligen were created as the Reich expanded its border through the Anschluss with Austria. This expanded the national championship competition with the addition of regional champions from the new circuits. It also introduced previously foreign clubs into German domestic competition where Viennese Austrian sides made a notable impression. Competition during the war was also characterized by the formation of military-based clubs including the Luftwaffe side LSV Hamburg which appeared in the era's last national championship match at the end of the 1943–44 season. Unlike the United Kingdom, where play was suspended early on, national football competition continued on in Germany in some form through the course of the war. Play finally collapsed as the war drew to its conclusion and no champion was declared in 1944–45.
It was also during this period that a national cup competition was introduced; the Tschammerpokal was named for Reichssportführer Hans von Tschammer und Osten and is predecessor to the modern-day DFB-Pokal. The first cup competition was staged in 1935 and won by 1. FC Nürnberg.
Key
†Champion also won Tschammerpokal

German football championships from post-war to the Bundesliga (1946–63)

In the immediate aftermath of World War II, German football was in complete disarray. Occupying Allied authorities ordered the dissolution of most organizations in the country.
However, many football clubs were soon re-established and new sides formed; play was tentatively resumed. By 1948, a new first division league structure, the Oberligen, was in place in most of the Western zone of occupation. The restored competition maintained the German game's historical practice of play in regional leagues. An exception was in French-occupied Saarland where attempts by France to annex the state were manifested in the formation of a separate, but short-lived, football competition that staged its own championship. Saarland briefly had its own representation under FIFA, forming Olympic and World Cup sides, before re-joining German competition in 1956.
In the Soviet-occupied East zone, a more enduring separation took place that was not mended until the reunification of Germany in 1990. As a result, Eastern-based clubs did not take part in the German national championship under the DFB, vying instead for a different prize. The country's capital city of Berlin was similarly divided and clubs based in West Berlin took part in western-based competition.
The Viktoria disappeared at war's end, although it would eventually reappear and be held in East Germany. A new trophy – the Meisterschale – was introduced in the west in 1949. The first post-war champions were 1. FC Nürnberg who were also, coincidentally, the first champions following World War I.
Over time, the notion of professionalism – long anathema to German sports – made inroads in the country. A consequence of this was that by 1956, a distinct national amateur championship was established, open to teams playing below the Oberliga level in second- and third tier leagues.

East German football championships (1950–90)

The post-war occupation of Germany by the victorious Allies eventually led to the de facto partition of the country and the emergence of two separate German states, each with its own government and institutions.
Early plans to maintain a national championship to be contested by representatives from the eastern and western halves of the country quickly fell by the wayside in the context of the Cold War. An Ostzone champion was declared in each of the 1946–48 seasons and in 1949 the first division DDR-Oberliga was established under the DFV as a distinct national sport governing body. From 1950 through to 1990 an East German football champion was declared, until the eastern competition was reintegrated into the German national competition under the DFB.
In the first recognized East German national championship staged in 1949, ZSG Union Halle defeated SG Fortuna Erfurt 4–1. In 1990, the last East German champion was SG Dynamo Dresden. The following season the DDR-Oberliga was redesignated the Nord-Ostdeutscher Fußball Verband Oberliga and became a third tier regional division within the existing German league structure under the DFB. FC Hansa Rostock captured the title in the transitional 1990–91 season, and alongside runners-up SG Dynamo Dresden, advanced to play in the Bundesliga, thereby fully integrating former Eastern clubs into a unified German championship.

Bundesliga (since 1963)

The formation of the Bundesliga in 1963 marked a significant change to the German football championship. The historical regional league and national playoff format was abandoned in favour of a single unified national league. Sixteen teams from the five Oberligen in place at the time were invited to be part of the new circuit – which also for the first time formally acknowledged the sport as professional rather than amateur.
The new league adopted a round-robin format in which each team plays every other club once at home and once away. There is no playoff, with the club having the best record at the end of the season claiming the German championship. 1. FC Köln captured the first-ever Bundesliga title in the league's inaugural 1963–64 season. Since then the competition has been dominated by Bayern Munich which has taken the championship in 33 of the 62 Bundesliga seasons played to 2025.
Key
†Double
*Treble

SeasonChampionsRunners-upThird placeTop scorerGoals
1963–641. FC Köln Meidericher SVEintracht Frankfurt30
1964–65Werder Bremen 1. FC KölnBorussia Dortmund24
1965–66TSV 1860 Munich Borussia DortmundBayern Munich26
1966–67Eintracht Braunschweig TSV 1860 MunichBorussia Dortmund, Gerd Müller28
1967–681. FC Nürnberg Werder BremenBorussia Mönchengladbach27
1968–69Bayern Munich †Alemannia AachenBorussia Mönchengladbach30
1969–70Borussia Mönchengladbach Bayern MunichHertha BSC38
1970–71Borussia Mönchengladbach Bayern MunichHertha BSC24
1971–72Bayern Munich Schalke 04Borussia Mönchengladbach40
1972–73Bayern Munich 1. FC KölnFortuna Düsseldorf36
1973–74Bayern Munich Borussia MönchengladbachFortuna Düsseldorf, 30
1974–75Borussia Mönchengladbach Hertha BSCHamburger SV27
1975–76Borussia Mönchengladbach Hamburger SVBayern Munich29
1976–77Borussia Mönchengladbach Schalke 04Eintracht Braunschweig34
1977–781. FC Köln †Borussia MönchengladbachHertha BSC, Gerd Müller24
1978–79Hamburger SV VfB Stuttgart1. FC Kaiserslautern22
1979–80Bayern Munich Hamburger SVVfB Stuttgart26
1980–81Bayern Munich Hamburger SVVfB Stuttgart29
1981–82Hamburger SV 1. FC KölnBayern Munich27
1982–83Hamburger SV Werder BremenVfB Stuttgart23
1983–84VfB Stuttgart Hamburger SVBorussia Mönchengladbach26
1984–85Bayern Munich Werder Bremen1. FC Köln26
1985–86Bayern Munich †Werder BremenBayer Uerdingen22
1986–87Bayern Munich Hamburger SVBorussia Mönchengladbach24
1987–88Werder Bremen Bayern Munich1. FC Köln19
1988–89Bayern Munich 1. FC KölnWerder Bremen, Roland Wohlfarth17
1989–90Bayern Munich 1. FC KölnEintracht Frankfurt18
1990–911. FC Kaiserslautern Bayern MunichWerder Bremen21
1991–92VfB Stuttgart Borussia DortmundEintracht Frankfurt22
1992–93Werder Bremen Bayern MunichEintracht Frankfurt, Tony Yeboah20
1993–94Bayern Munich 1. FC KaiserslauternBayer Leverkusen, Tony Yeboah18
1994–95Borussia Dortmund Werder BremenFreiburg, Mario Basler20
1995–96Borussia Dortmund Bayern MunichSchalke 0417
1996–97Bayern Munich Bayer LeverkusenBorussia Dortmund22
1997–981. FC Kaiserslautern Bayern MunichBayer Leverkusen22
1998–99Bayern Munich Bayer LeverkusenHertha BSC23
1999–2000Bayern Munich †Bayer LeverkusenHamburger SV19
2000–01Bayern Munich Schalke 04Borussia Dortmund, Ebbe Sand22
2001–02Borussia Dortmund Bayer LeverkusenBayern Munich, Martin Max18
2002–03Bayern Munich †VfB StuttgartBorussia Dortmund, Thomas Christiansen21
2003–04Werder Bremen †Bayern MunichBayer Leverkusen28
2004–05Bayern Munich †Schalke 04Werder Bremen24
2005–06Bayern Munich †Werder BremenHamburger SV25
2006–07VfB Stuttgart Schalke 04Werder Bremen20
2007–08Bayern Munich †Werder BremenSchalke 0424
2008–09VfL Wolfsburg Bayern MunichVfB Stuttgart28
2009–10Bayern Munich †Schalke 04Werder Bremen22
2010–11Borussia Dortmund Bayer LeverkusenBayern Munich28
2011–12Borussia Dortmund †Bayern MunichSchalke 04Klaas-Jan Huntelaar29
2012–13Bayern Munich *Borussia DortmundBayer LeverkusenStefan Kießling25
2013–14Bayern Munich †Borussia DortmundSchalke 04Robert Lewandowski20
2014–15Bayern Munich VfL WolfsburgBorussia MönchengladbachAlexander Meier19
2015–16Bayern Munich †Borussia DortmundBayer LeverkusenRobert Lewandowski30
2016–17Bayern Munich RB LeipzigBorussia DortmundPierre-Emerick Aubameyang31
2017–18Bayern Munich Schalke 041899 HoffenheimRobert Lewandowski29
2018–19Bayern Munich †Borussia DortmundRB LeipzigRobert Lewandowski22
2019–20Bayern Munich *Borussia DortmundRB LeipzigRobert Lewandowski34
2020–21Bayern Munich RB LeipzigBorussia DortmundRobert Lewandowski41
2021–22Bayern Munich Borussia DortmundBayer LeverkusenRobert Lewandowski35
2022–23Bayern Munich Borussia DortmundRB LeipzigNiclas Füllkrug, Christopher Nkunku16
2023–24Bayer Leverkusen †VfB StuttgartBayern MunichHarry Kane36
2024–25Bayern Munich Bayer LeverkusenEintracht FrankfurtHarry Kane26