German national soccer team / world championships

Germany

World Cup record goalscorer:	Miroslav Klose (16)
World Cup record players:	Lothar Matthäus (25)
Rank :	2
Organizer:	1974, 2006
Balance sheet
109 World Cup games 67 wins 20 draws 22 defeats 226: 125 goals
statistics
First World Cup game German Empire 5: 2 Belgium Florence ( ITA ); May 27, 1934
Biggest World Cup victory Germany 8-0 Saudi Arabia Sapporo ( JPN ); June 1, 2002
Biggest World Cup defeat Germany 3: 8 Hungary Basel ( SUI ); June 20, 1954
successes
World Championship
Participation in the finals	19 ( first : 1934 )
Best results	World champions: 1954 , 1974 , 1990 , 2014
Best placements in the countries that host the FIFA World Cup
(As of June 27, 2018 )

The article contains a detailed description of the German national soccer team at world championships . Germany has been world champion four times, second and third, and is thus most often placed in the top three, has played the most games together with Brazil (109), has again been the top scorer with Miroslav Klose since 2014 (16 goals), has initially been the top scorer since 1970 with Uwe Seeler (21 games) and since 1998 with Lothar Matthäus (22 to 25 games) the players with the most games as well as since 1958 with Sepp Herberger (10 to 18 games) and since 1974 with Helmut Schön (19 to 25 games) the Coach with the most games and wins (Schön / 16). In addition, Germany holds a number of other World Cup records . Only Brazil participated more often in the World Cup finals. While the German Reich did not voluntarily take part in the first event in 1930, the Federal Republic of Germany was not allowed to take part in the 1950 event. For all other events, Germany was able to qualify in terms of sport (including three times by winning the previous World Cup) or was automatically qualified as the host (1974 and 2006). In 2018, Germany dropped out in the preliminary round for the first time.

The DFB is the only association whose women's and men's national team have become world champions.

The national team at world championships

Overview

year	Host country	Participation until ...	opponent	Result	Trainer	Comments and special features
1930	Uruguay	no participation	-	-		too much effort to travel to South America ( global economic crisis )
1934	Italy	3rd place match	Austria	3rd place	Otto Mink	eliminated in the semi-finals against Czechoslovakia
1938	France	Round of 16	Switzerland	(10.)	Sepp Herberger	"Greater German team" according to "Anschluss Austria", knockout system (only one opponent)
1950	Brazil	no participation	-	-		newly founded DFB is not yet a FIFA member
1954	Switzerland	final	Hungary	1st place	Sepp Herberger	" Miracle of Bern ", " Spirit of Spiez "
1958	Sweden	3rd place match	France	4th Place	Sepp Herberger	" Battle of Gothenburg " in the semifinals against Sweden
1962	Chile	Quarter finals	Yugoslavia	(7.)	Sepp Herberger	Herberger's last World Cup as a coach
1966	England	final	England	2nd place	Helmut Schön	" Wembley Gate "
1970	Mexico	3rd place match	Uruguay	3rd place	Helmut Schön	" Game of the century " in the semifinals against Italy
1974	Germany	final	Netherlands	1st place	Helmut Schön	Defeat against GDR by " Sparwasser gate "; “ Night of Malente ”; " Water Battle of Frankfurt "
1978	Argentina	Intermediate round	u. a. Austria	(6.)	Helmut Schön	" Shame of Cordoba "
1982	Spain	final	Italy	2nd place	Jupp Derwall	“ Gijón Non-Aggression Pact ”; " Night of Seville "
1986	Mexico	final	Argentina	2nd place	Franz Beckenbauer	" Soup Kasper Affair "
1990	Italy	final	Argentina	1st place	Franz Beckenbauer	Triumph of the " emperor "
1994	United States	Quarter finals	Bulgaria	(5.)	Berti Vogts	" Stinkefinger Affair" ( Stefan Effenberg )
1998	France	Quarter finals	Croatia	(7.)	Berti Vogts	first loss to Croatia
2002	South Korea / Japan	final	Brazil	2nd place	Rudi Völler	first World Cup game against Brazil
2006	Germany	3rd place match	Portugal	3rd place	Jürgen Klinsmann	Eliminated in the semi-finals against Italy (0: 2 a.d.)
2010	South Africa	3rd place match	Uruguay	3rd place	Joachim Löw	Another 1-0 defeat against Spain after 2008
2014	Brazil	final	Argentina	1st place	Joachim Löw	1-0 aet, 1st title in South America, Mineiraço 7-1 victory over Brazil
2018	Russia	Preliminary round	Mexico , Sweden , South Korea	(22.)	Joachim Löw	Qualified with 10 wins for the first time. Eliminated after two defeats and one win as bottom of the group.

statistics

(Figures including 2018: 21 World Championships; percentages are rounded)

• Participation waiver: once (5%; 1930)
• No FIFA membership: once (5%; 1950)
• Sports qualification (incl. 3 × as defending champion): 17 × (100% of attempts)
• Participation without qualification as a host: twice (10%; 1974 and 2006)
• Elimination in the preliminary round: once (5%; 2018)
  • Elimination in the round of 16 or in the first round: once (5%; 1938)
  • Elimination in the quarter-finals or in the intermediate round (5th to 8th place): four times (21%; 1962, 1978, 1994 and 1998)
  • Eliminated in the semi-finals: five times (26%; 1934, 1958, 1970, 2006 and 2010)
    • 3rd place: four times (21%; 1934, 1970, 2006 and 2010)
  • Vice world champion: four times (21%; 1966, 1982, 1986 and 2002)
    • World champion: four times (21%; 1954, 1974, 1990 and 2014)

Most frequent last opponent is Argentina (three times, always in the final), Germany is also the most common last opponent for Argentina (five times: three times in the final, twice in the quarter-finals)

The German team is the only team that was able to become world champions both against a South American team ( Argentina , 2 ×) and against European teams ( Hungary and the Netherlands ). The DFB managed to qualify for all (19 including 2018) World Cup tournaments. In 1950 they were unable to qualify because Germany had not yet been re-accepted into FIFA due to the war and was therefore not eligible for the qualification. The German national team qualified five times directly as defending champions or hosts and has not yet lost an away game in 14 (including 2018) World Cup qualifying tournaments, the first of the two home defeats against Portugal in October 1985, the second against England in 2001.

1930 World Cup in Uruguay

The first soccer World Cup took place on the South American continent in Uruguay. It was the only world championship for which no qualifying matches were played. Like some other European nations, the DFB said that the German team would take part because of the high effort involved - the journey of the four participating European teams by sea alone took over two weeks - and the associated costs. In addition, the German players were still amateurs at the time and such a long time off from their employer was difficult to achieve. In Romania, for example, King Charles II ensured by decree that the players were given three months' leave and then reinstated.

The German national team was then able to qualify for all world championships to which they were admitted. The first defeat in a qualifying match was against Portugal on October 16, 1985 . Qualification for the 1986 World Cup was already assured at this point, so that the defeat no longer had any effect on qualification.

World Cup 1934 in Italy

The bronze medal of the 1934 World Cup went to the German team

→ Main article : German national soccer team at the 1934 World Cup

In their first appearance at a world championship, which was carried out entirely in the knockout system, the German team reached the semi-finals. Reich coach Otto Nerz had put together a very young squad, the average age was 23.4 years and each player had only played 5.8 international matches on average. Five players had not played an international match before the World Cup, three players only one, and even two second division players were in the squad. The most experienced player was captain Fritz Szepan from Schalke 04. In the 5-2 win against Belgium, Stanislaus Kobierski scored the first World Cup goal for Germany to make it 1-0. They fell 2-1 down at half-time, but were able to turn the game around in the second half, with Otto Siffling equalizing in his first international match and Edmund Conen, the youngest player to date, the first real hat-trick in the World Cup. Story succeeded. In the quarter-finals, the Germans won 2-1 with two goals from Karl Hohmann against Sweden, who had previously eliminated vice world champions Argentina and were therefore considered favorites. That put them in the semi-finals against Czechoslovakia, which they had never played against. Favored by several mistakes by the German goalkeeper Willibald Kreß , they lost 1: 3. Kreß didn't really want to play anymore, but Linnemann, the head of the department, was against it. But it was the last international match for Kress. The three-time goalscorer Oldřich Nejedlý was the top scorer of the tournament with a total of five goals. With a 3-2 win against Austria, Germany was ultimately third in the World Cup. These meetings allowed Ernst Lehner already after 25 seconds, the fastest goal of the German World Cup history. This mark was only undercut in 1962 by the Czechoslovak Václav Mašek in the game against Mexico, who scored the first goal in the 3-1 defeat against Mexico after just 15 seconds .

World Cup 1938 in France

→ Main article : German national soccer team at the 1938 World Cup

Sepp Herberger's newly built team was one of the favorites for the 1938 World Cup after the friendly game they won 8-0 against Denmark in May 1937 (after the venue , this team was then called " Breslau-Elf ") . She qualified with three wins in three games against Estonia, Finland and Sweden and scored 11-1 goals. The last goal at 5-0 was scored by the then 22-year-old national coach Helmut Schön in his first international match. However, there were only three draws in the following games (each 1: 1 against Switzerland, Hungary and Portugal) and a 2: 1 against Luxembourg, with Herberger playing five newcomers in the game against Luxembourg. Shortly before the World Cup there was a 3: 6 with the best line-up against England, in which a Viennese played for the first time with Johann Pesser, who was later sent off in France . The Austrians had also qualified for the World Cup by beating Latvia 2-1, but lost the following two games against Hungary and Czechoslovakia by 2-1.

Already in the round of 16 came the end against the neighbors from Switzerland . If it was enough to score 1-1 after extra time in the first game - the first extra time for both teams and with the first expulsion at a World Cup for Germany - the German team had to play five days later in the replay -  penalty shootouts were not yet conceived at the time - defeated 2: 4, which meant the worst performance at a World Cup.

A mixed team from the national teams of Austria and Germany is seen as one reason for the early elimination . As a result of the annexation of Austria to the German Reich shortly before the tournament, politicians called for a line-up for the World Cup in equal parts or 6: 5 from Reich Germans and German Austrians. Herberger was forced to play against his will with a team that was not well-rehearsed, whose players also preferred different game systems. While the Imperial German middle runner was more like an English "stopper" and the outside runners and half-strikers made the game, the Austrian middle runner played far more offensive and dominant. The World Cup system adopted by Herberger from England was incomprehensible to the Austrians. In addition, the Viennese players were professionals before joining Germany, which was forbidden in Germany, and they had serious worries about the future during the preparations for the World Cup.

Of the players who faced each other in the small final four years earlier, the German team's goalkeeper Hans Jakob (no use), Paul Janes (both games), record national player Ernst Lehner (both games), Reinhold Munzenberg (no use), Otto Siffling (no action) and Fritz Szepan (captain in the replay) are back, from the Austrians only Franz Wagner , who was not deployed.

World Cup 1950 in Brazil

The German national soccer team played their last international match in Bratislava (Pressburg) against Slovakia on November 22, 1942, after which the international match was stopped due to the war. In 1945 not only the German Reich , but also the Football Department , which had replaced the DFB in the Third Reich , was dissolved. At the FIFA Congress in Luxembourg in 1946, the losers of the war Germany and Japan were excluded from the world association for an indefinite period. Austria, which was annexed to the Reich from 1938 to 1945, was not affected by sanctions, nor was the former Axis power Italy. Swiss efforts to get German footballers recognized failed in 1948.

When the international game ban was lifted in May 1949, none of the occupation zones or the new states in post-war Germany were politically, economically or athletically in a position to set up a FIFA-recognized national team, so that Germany would not have been able to report without the ban. The qualifying games in Europe took place from June 1949 to April 1950, with some countries already giving up in the qualifying phase, so that places became free.

The Saarland Football Association under President Hermann Neuberger was admitted to FIFA on June 12, two weeks before the start of the 1950 World Cup . Two of the eight qualified European teams did not play in Brazil, whereby Group 4 was completed with only one game between two South American teams.

The DFB was re-established on July 10, 1949, but was only accepted back into FIFA after the World Cup in September 1950. On November 22, 1950, the first post-war internationals of German national soccer teams took place, opponents were Swiss. The actual “Nati” was a guest in Stuttgart, while the Saarland national soccer team beat the Swiss B-selection 5: 3 in Saarbrücken.

1954 World Cup in Switzerland

→ Main article : German national soccer team at the 1954 World Cup

The first major success of the German national team was the 3-2 victory in the final, later glorified as the miracle of Bern, against the favored Hungarians at the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland.

With the first title, the national team also gained a high social status in "West Germany", as the population still suffering from the consequences of the Second World War gained a new sense of life and self-worth. In Germany, the heroes of Bern became legends: players like Toni Turek (goal), Fritz Walter and Helmut Rahn are still fondly remembered today.

World champion 1954: Horst Eckel

Lineups in the final

In their preliminary group, the Germans and newcomer South Korea were not seeded and only had to compete against the two seeded teams Hungary and Turkey. In the first game against the Turks they fell behind after just 160 seconds - at the time the fastest World Cup goal - but were able to turn the game around with four goals. After the 4-1, Herberger spared several regular players in the game against the Hungarians for tactical reasons, since he assumed that even with the best team he would not have a chance against the Hungarians, who had been unbeaten for four years. The 3-8 is still the biggest defeat of a German team at a World Cup. National coach Sepp Herberger had to endure abuse letters from home. Germany qualified for the knockout round with a 7-2 win in the playoff against Turkey, which last only played with 10 players because center runner Çetin Zeybek left the field injured in the 55th minute .

In the quarter-finals, the team met Yugoslavia, runners-up in the group, which won group 1 after a drawing of lots. After a defensive battle won 2-0, in which goalkeeper Toni Turek excelled, the Germans outclassed the Austrians, who were exhausted after the heat battle in Lausanne , 6-1 in the semi-final game . Here transformed Fritz Walter the first penalty for Germany in a World Cup match for temporarily 3: 1 and was also the second to 5: successful first

In the final there was another clash with the Hungarians, who were considered the strongest team in the world at the time and went into the final as the clear favorites despite several injuries from the tough games against Brazil and Uruguay (both 4-2).

Initially, the Hungarian team lived up to their role: after eight minutes they were leading 2-0, but had to accept the connection goal by Max Morlock in the 10th minute and the equalizer by Helmut Rahn in the 18th minute . The decision in an even game was made late. Thanks to their innovative football boots with screw-in studs, which established the international reputation of the manufacturer Adidas , the Germans coped better with the wet field. In the 84th minute, Rahn hit the 3-2 final score.

Toni Turek , Josef Posipal , Werner Kohlmeyer , Horst Eckel , Werner Liebrich , Karl Mai , Helmut Rahn , Max Morlock , Ottmar Walter , Fritz Walter , Hans Schäfer competed for the German national team in the final .

1958 World Cup in Sweden

→ Main article : German national soccer team at the 1958 World Cup

For the first time, the German team did not have to qualify because they were automatically qualified as defending champions. Horst Eckel , Helmut Rahn , Hans Schäfer and Fritz Walter from the “Heroes of Bern” were also there. Sepp Herberger had persuaded Fritz Walter to participate again in the World Cup, who had only played four international matches after the final in Bern and put together a team of young talents around him, including Uwe Seeler from Hamburg . In the preliminary round Argentina was defeated 3-1, with Uwe Seeler scoring his first World Cup goal and Helmut Rahn justifying Herberger's renewed trust with two more goals. Two draws against the CSSR and Northern Ireland (2-2 each) were then enough to win the group, with the team still able to compensate for a deficit. In the quarter-finals, like four years before, Yugoslavia was the opponent. This time a 1-0 was enough to advance, which Rahn scored in the 12th minute, where he hit from the goal line in the "near corner". In the semifinals, the Swedes who were pushed forward by their compatriots in the “ Battle of Gothenburg ” were the cleverer team. In the end it was 1: 3, with the German team only playing with nine players at the end of the day, as Erich Juskowiak was sent off in the 59th minute and Fritz Walter was "relegated" to the right wing after an injury in the 74th minute. So the German team was left with the game for third place against France. Herberger made five changes for the game, as on the one hand Juskowiak was suspended and on the other hand Walter was injured and some reservists were supposed to be deployed. The newly formed team lost 3: 6, with World Cup top scorer Just Fontaine alone scoring four goals, making him one of the three players to score four goals in a game against Germany. With his 13 tournament goals he set a record for a tournament that is still valid today. The 3-6 defeat is still the biggest defeat of a German team in a final game. Goalkeeper Heinrich Kwiatkowski , who was in goal in the 3: 8 against Hungary four years earlier and was German champion between the two World Cup tournaments with Borussia Dortmund in 1956 and 1957 , asked Herberger never to field him after the game. Fritz Walter also resigned after the game. For Alfred Kelbassa and Heinz Wewers it was the only World Cup game and at the same time their last international match.

1962 World Cup in Chile

→ Main article : German national soccer team at the 1962 World Cup

At the last World Cup under Sepp Herberger, the quasi "behind the seven mountains" (in Chile) far held by the public, sat Herberger with Italy at CC Catania gambling Horst Szymaniak first time a legionary one, which he had previously rejected (see : Bert Trautmann ). Szymaniak had already played all six games at the 1958 World Cup. Shortly after the World Cup, Albert Brülls and Helmut Haller also moved to Italy, but were only considered again by his successor Helmut Schön .

For the German team it was the first World Cup on another continent and the journey of 14,000 km with stations in Zurich , Dakar , Rio de Janeiro , São Paulo and Buenos Aires to Santiago de Chile took 17 hours. For the World Cup, Herberger had reactivated Hans Schäfer , who resigned in 1959, and rewarded him with the captain's armband that he had held four years earlier. The team qualified with two wins each against Greece and Northern Ireland, with three games being won with only one goal difference (two 2: 1 and one 4: 3).

The German team won the preliminary round with wins against Switzerland (2: 1, with the Swiss only able to play with 10 players in the second half because Norbert Eschmann was unable to continue playing after a fibula fracture in the 12th minute and no substitutions were possible yet were possible.) and Chile (2-0, first win against a World Cup host) after an initial 0-0 against Italy as group winners. Almost traditionally, Yugoslavia was the opponent in the quarter-finals for the third time, but this time the kickers from the Balkans, who had become Olympic champions two years earlier , were able to turn the tables and the German team had to pack their bags after a 0-1. Yugoslavia then failed in the semifinals against Czechoslovakia and lost the game for third place against hosts Chile. Three months later, the German team won a friendly match in Zagreb 3-2. What remains to be remembered is that at the beginning of the World Cup, Sepp Herberger replaced the veteran Hans Tilkowski with the young goalkeeper Wolfgang Fahrian , who had only played one international match before the World Cup and only played in the second division, but then played in all four World Cup games has been. He played his first World Cup game on his 21st birthday. After the World Cup he only made five appearances in friendly games. The national team career of captain Hans Schäfer , who had made 39 international matches in almost ten years and was the only one of the 1954 world champions to take part in the World Cup for the third time, also ended with the World Cup.

The early end also promoted efforts to establish a single-track Bundesliga, which Sepp Herberger had been calling for for a long time, as the league system resulted in too few top games in which the national players were seriously challenged.

Two years after the World Cup, Herberger, who had tried unsuccessfully to persuade 42-year-old Fritz Walter to make a comeback before the World Cup, cleared the bench for his assistant Helmut Schön , but was still moving in the background at the 1966 World Cup The strings.

1966 World Cup in England

Scene from the preliminary round match against Argentina

→ Main article : German national soccer team at the 1966 World Cup

At the football World Cup in England in 1966 , the team from the Federal Republic of Germany again made it to the final. However, they lost to England after extra time with 2: 4, whereby the legendary Wembley goal made the difference to 2: 3.

The German team got off to an ideal start in the tournament with a 5-0 win against Switzerland. Above all, the 20-year-old midfield talent Franz Beckenbauer , who, like Italian legionnaire Helmut Haller, was able to enter the scorers list with two goals next to Held, shone .

The second group game of the DFB team against Argentina - the 50th international match for Uwe Seeler - ended 0-0, with "fewer chances to score than whales in the Rhine ". In contrast, there were a large number of fouls and players who refused to accept being sent off. Lothar Emmerich scored a remarkable goal in the 2-1 win against European champions Spain in the last preliminary round match for the German team . The left winger accomplished the feat of shooting the ball past the Spanish goalkeeper Iribar under the cross into the far corner from almost the touchline .

With a 4-0 quarter-final against Uruguay and a 2-1 in the semifinals against the Soviet Union, which they won for the first time, the German team made it into a World Cup final for the second time since 1954. Both opponents lost players by being sent off.

In the final, the German team was able to take the lead after twelve minutes with a goal from Helmut Haller, but had to accept an equalizer from Geoff Hurst in the 18th minute . In an even game, the English took the lead through Peters in the 78th minute, but the German team braced themselves against the impending defeat, and seconds before the final whistle, Cologne defender Wolfgang Weber scored his first international goal and thus the deserved equalizer. Ultimately, the English won the World Cup in their home country, and it should be their only title in a major tournament to this day.

Many so-called experts later said that national coach Schön had weakened the German team because he had entrusted Franz Beckenbauer, who had previously been more offensive, with the guarding of Bobby Charlton and thus removed it from the game. Curiously, the English coach Alf Ramsey had entrusted Bobby Charlton with the task of shadowing Franz Beckenbauer.

After the World Cup, goalkeeper Hans Tilkowski lost his regular place in goal at Borussia Dortmund to Bernhard Wessel and was only used once in the national team, in the 6-0 win against Albania on April 6, 1967. For his club-mate Lothar Emmerich, the final was the last international match, although he was again the top scorer in the Bundesliga in 1967 . All other players in the final eleven were still there four years later, which was not the case for most of the substitutes. Only the unused Jürgen Grabowski and Sepp Maier were still there and very successful in the following World Cup tournaments.

1970 World Cup in Mexico

→ Main article : German national soccer team at the 1970 World Cup

At this tournament, Helmut Schön took the risk of fielding two center forwards, Uwe Seeler and Gerd Müller. Both complemented each other perfectly, as Uwe Seeler often retreated to midfield, but was there in crucial moments.

In the preliminary round it was difficult at first, twice they were 0: 1 behind, first against Morocco (final score 2: 1) and against Bulgaria (final score 5: 2), probably Reinhard “Stan” Libuda's best game in the national team before there was a convincing 3-1 win against Peru in the third game, in which Gerd Müller was the second German player after Edmund Conen to manage a hat-trick in a World Cup game. With a total of seven goals in the group stage, he was the best German World Cup goalscorer at a single World Cup and no German player after him has scored more goals in a single World Cup. In the first game against Morocco, Helmut Haller, who was the top German goalscorer at the World Cup four years earlier, and who did not play another international match after the game against Morocco, particularly disappointed.

The subsequent quarter-final match against England turned out to be an extraordinary match. In view of the television broadcasts to Europe, the game took place at midday in midsummer temperatures at an altitude of 1,830 m, which demanded everything from both teams. In the new edition of the 1966 final, the English led 2-0 up to the 69th minute, and it all looked as if the German team would now be the final destination at this World Cup. To spare his captain Bobby Charlton for the semi-final against Italy, the English team manager took him off the field in the 70th minute. This turned out to be a mistake, because the German team did not give up and reached the 2-2 equalization in regular time, whereby Uwe Seeler scored a curious goal with the back of his head. Gerd Müller then scored the decisive goal in extra time, and the English were defeated 3-2.

In the semifinals there was a 3: 4 defeat in a dramatic game against Italy , the so-called game of the century . The Italians took a 1-0 lead in the 7th minute and it looked like they would be able to save that lead over time for a long time. Since Franz Beckenbauer also injured his shoulder - a substitution was not possible because the contingent was already exhausted - nobody expected an extension. In the final minute, however, Karl-Heinz Schnellinger , who was playing in Italy, scored 1: 1 with his only international goal for Germany - which led the television reporter Ernst Huberty to say “Schnellinger, of all things !” And thus forced extra time. Five more goals were scored in this.

After this defeat, the team of national coach Helmut Schön was only left with the game for third place. Third place was achieved for the second time since 1934 with a 1-0 win against Uruguay , thanks in particular to substitute goalkeeper Horst Wolter . It was Uwe Seeler's 21st World Cup game, with which he set a new record that was only surpassed 28 years later by Lothar Matthäus . He also set Paul Janes' pre-war record with his 71st international match . The tournament's top scorer was Gerd Müller , the first German player to score a total of ten goals, but who was the only one in Mexico to not score in this game. He was the third player after Just Fontaine (13 goals in 1958) and Sándor Kocsis (eleven goals in 1954) to score at least ten goals at a World Cup. Since then, no player has scored more than eight goals in a single World Cup. He thus drew level with Helmut Rahn as the best German World Cup goalscorer. Wolfgang Overath scored the winning goal with his first World Cup goal. Substitute goalkeeper Wolter and Max Lorenz came to their only World Cup game, for both it was also the last international game.

World Cup 1974 in the Federal Republic of Germany

→ Main article : German national soccer team at the 1974 World Cup

The national team won the World Cup in Germany for the second time in 1974 . In the preliminary round, the DFB-Elf started with a 1-0 win against Chile, which especially tried to prevent a goal. The Chilean Carlos Caszely was the first player in World Cup history to receive the red card after a revenge foul on Berti Vogts . After a 3-0 win against World Cup newcomers Australia , in which the team was whistled by their own audience to the incomprehension of the players, the team lost to the GDR selection , which was also qualified for the first time, through a goal by Jürgen Sparwasser that went down in German football history. This game on June 22, 1974 was the only meeting of the two German teams. After the 2-1 victory in the final against the brilliant Dutch, the Germans thanked the GDR selection for the defeat, as this was the trigger for an internal team revolt against the indecisive and hesitant national coach Helmut Schön, with the team under the leadership from Captain Franz Beckenbauer was able to enforce her tactical ideas (" Night of Malente "). To this day it is claimed by the players that winning the title would have been impossible without this defeat. Another important factor was that the DFB team was able to move into the second round group as runners-up in the group, which was supposedly easier with Poland, Sweden and Yugoslavia - while the GDR as group winners had to do with the Netherlands, Brazil and Argentina.

In the second round, the German team was able to improve significantly after a "cleaning thunderstorm" in the training camp and changes in the team and initially defeated Yugoslavia 2-0 in Düsseldorf in a match in the best weather. In a rainy battle Sweden could then be defeated 4-2 in Düsseldorf, with the German team showing the best performance of the tournament. It got even wetter in the semi-final against Poland, the surprise team of the tournament, which had already kicked Italy out of the competition with refreshing football. In the Frankfurt water battle, a draw would have been enough for the German team to reach the final; the Poles, however, had to win due to the poorer goal difference. For the technically better Poles, the irregular conditions on the pitch were a greater handicap, and Gerd Müller scored the decisive goal in his inimitable way after Uli Hoeneß could not convert a penalty.

Neeskens converts the penalty in the first minute of the game

Starting grid in the final

In the final against the Netherlands, the latter also ensured that a penalty was given for the Netherlands in the first minute, which Johan Neeskens converted in his typical way. Germany was not discouraged by this setback, however, Berti Vogts took the fun of the Dutch playmaker Johan Cruyff by consistently marking him. The frustrated Cruyff was cautioned about complaining at half time on the way to the dressing room. At this point it was already 2-1 for Germany, because the Germans were also awarded a penalty after Bernd Hölzenbein fell in the penalty area and Paul Breitner , without thinking long, grabbed the ball and converted the penalty. The second goal for Germany was typical for Gerd Müller, who overcame the Dutch defense with a quick turn and shot in for the final score. Although the Dutch then started a real assault in the second half and forced Sepp Maier to do one brilliant act after another, they failed to score. An actually regular goal by the German team was also not recognized because of an alleged offside position; in another situation, the referee failed to give the German team the second penalty.

In this world championship team were among others: Franz Beckenbauer , who was responsible for the national team as team boss from 1984 to 1990 , and Berti Vogts (national coach 1990–1998).

National coach Helmut Schön used 18 players during the tournament:

Sepp Maier in goal, Franz Beckenbauer , Paul Breitner , Horst-Dieter Höttges , Georg Schwarzenbeck and Berti Vogts in defense; Rainer Bonhof , Bernhard Cullmann , Heinz Flohe , Uli Hoeneß , Günter Netzer , Wolfgang Overath and Herbert Wimmer in midfield and Jürgen Grabowski , Dieter Herzog , Jupp Heynckes , Bernd Hölzenbein and Gerd Müller in the storm.

After the final, some national players, including Gerd Müller and Wolfgang Overath, resigned as national players - allegedly out of annoyance because their partners were not invited to the banquet. You had already informed Helmut Schön of this a day before the Poland game. Müller, although this time only scored four goals, had replaced Just Fontaine as the best World Cup goalscorer with his winning goal in the final and stayed that way for 11,678 days, longer than anyone before or after him.

World Cup 1978 in Argentina

→ Main article : German national soccer team at the 1978 World Cup

The so-called Shame of Cordoba also belongs to the history of the national team . It describes a game of the Football World Cup 1978 in Argentina against Austria. The reigning soccer world champion Germany was completely surprisingly defeated by the Austrian national team with 2: 3 in Córdoba and retired early.

The German team, which was automatically qualified as the reigning world champion, had after two goalless draws against Poland in the opening game and at the end against Tunisia , in which Helmut Schön played his starting eleven for the fifth time in a row in a World Cup game, as well as a high 6 : 0 win against weak Mexicans as second reached the second round. As in the home World Cup, the team played in a purely European group again and, like four years earlier, avoided the South American teams from Argentina and Brazil. After two draws against Italy (third 0-0 in Argentina, but the “best of its kind”) and the Netherlands (2-2), Germany was third in the group of four with 2-2 points before the Austria game. The group winner would move into the World Cup final, while the group runner-up would play for third place in the World Cup. Italy and the Netherlands (each 3: 1 points) had to play a draw so that Germany would have had a chance to win the group with a (clear) win against Austria. But since the Dutch beat Italy 2-1, the DFB-Elf had no chance of the World Cup final. It was not the world championship title that was gambled away in the Austria game, but the chance of third place. Even with a draw, Germany would have been second in the group due to the more goals scored ahead of Italy. In the 88th minute, Hans Krankl scored the 3-2 for Austria, what the Austrian radio commentator Edi Finger sen. on the comment “Goal, goal! I'm going to be foolish! " To date, it is Austria's only victory in a World Cup against Germany.

As announced long before, Helmut Schön resigned from his position as national coach after the World Cup . For captain Berti Vogts , Erich Beer , Bernd Hölzenbein and Dieter Müller , the defeat against Austria was the last international match.

1982 World Cup in Spain

→ Main article : German national soccer team at the 1982 World Cup

At the beginning of the tournament, Germany was the reigning European champion together with defending champion Argentina and record world champion Brazil as the favorite of the 1982 World Cup. Since Jupp Derwall took office after the 1978 World Cup, the team remained unbeaten 23 games in a row and then only lost before the World Cup in Spain at the Mundialito against Argentina and Brazil. They qualified for the World Cup with 16: 0 points and 33: 3 goals, the best qualifying result that a European team had ever achieved and was only outbid by the German team in qualifying for the 2018 World Cup when they won ten out of ten games. From the 1978 squad only Manfred Kaltz (now as in the club initially as right-back), Hansi Müller, Klaus Fischer and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge were in the 82 squad, and the 74 world champion Paul Breitner had returned. The group draw against Algeria, Chile and Austria, which had already been played in the qualification, was felt to be a lucky draw.

The team could not live up to their role as favorites and lost their opening match against underrated Algerians with 1: 2 and thus for the first time the opening game at a World Cup. Before that, an African team had only won one soccer World Cup (1978 Tunisia against Mexico).

In the second round game, however, the Adler team improved and won with three goals from Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and one goal from Uwe Reinders in his second international match 4-1 against Chile. The later World Cup record player Lothar Matthäus was substituted on for his first World Cup game.

The Gijón non-aggression pact is a household name in the national team's football history . He names the rumor of a staged game between the national soccer teams from the Federal Republic of Germany and Austria in the final group game of the preliminary round of the 1982 World Cup . Both teams had played against each other in qualifying and there was some rivalry between them after the Cordoba shame . But there wasn't much to be seen in the game.

The game turned into a scandal because a narrow victory for Germany was enough for both teams to make it to the second round. After the final result between Chile and Algeria was already known before the game, such a result was practically programmed for the game in Gijón . After the 1-0 for Germany by Horst Hrubesch in the 11th minute, both teams were content with playing the ball back and forth in midfield without coming close to the opponent.

The Algerian team, which still had a good chance of progressing, felt cheated of their passage into the next round. The Spanish audience in the stands waved white towels, which is seen as a sign of shame there.

National coach Jupp Derwall and his team were then exposed to harsh criticism from the media and fans not only in Germany. As a consequence of this game, the last group matches at every international tournament since the European Championship in 1984 have always taken place simultaneously.

In Germany, the performance of the German team in the preliminary round was noted with great disappointment by fans and the media. Paul Breitner in particular , who had made his comeback in the national team after a seven-year break a year earlier , was heavily criticized for not being as convincing in the national team as he was at Bayern Munich.

For the intermediate round, which was played for the first time and only at this World Cup with groups of three, Derwall rebuilt the team and switched from 4-3-3 to 4-4-2 and thus reached against England, which had won all games in the preliminary round , a goalless draw. With a more combative than playful convincing 2-1 win over hosts Spain, the Germans qualified for the semi-finals against France. They benefited from the fact that the Spaniards, who had no chance of the semi-finals, defended a 0-0 draw against England three days later.

It came to a scandal in the semi-finals when goalkeeper Toni Schumacher used excessive force against France's defender Patrick Battiston and seriously injured him. Schumacher's foul, which according to today's interpretation of the rules as an emergency brake would clearly result in a red card and in which Battiston lost several teeth, remained unpunished by the referee. After the game, Schumacher let himself be carried away in front of journalists about Battiston's injuries, unfortunately, to the quote "Tell him, I'll pay him the jacket crowns". For this, Schumacher saw himself exposed to strong criticism from the media at home and abroad. In the international tabloid press, quotations and fouls were hyped up to the image of the "ugly German", which for some time afterwards caused considerable damage to the reputation of the national team. However, Schumacher spoke to Battiston after this incident, and Battiston accepted Schumacher's apology.

In terms of sport, Germany won the highly dramatic semi-final match against France on the “ Night of Seville ” 5: 4 (3: 3 after extra time) on penalties. After 90 minutes the score was 1: 1. In extra time the French got into a game frenzy and were already leading 3-1 when the German captain Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, who was injured during the tournament, was substituted on. With a hit by Rummenigge and an overhead kick goal by Klaus Fischer (later goal in 1982), the German team managed to equalize 3: 3. In the penalty shootout, the German team triumphed after Hrubesch had converted the sixth German penalty. Before that, Kaltz, Breitner, Rummenigge and Littbarski had scored from the point, Stielike had failed, and Schumacher had saved two French penalties from Six and Bossis.

Germany lost the final 3-1 to Italy, although the DFB team didn't have much to oppose their opponents. Paul Breitner succeeded with his consolation goal shortly before the end of the game as the only German so far to score in two World Cup finals. After the two lost European Cup finals, this was the third lost final for a German team this year. For Paul Breitner, Klaus Fischer and Horst Hrubesch, their career as a national player ended with the final. Uwe Reinders, who had previously been used in three World Cup games, and substitute goalkeeper Bernd Franke who were not used, did not appear again after the World Cup.

1986 World Cup in Mexico

→ Main article : German national soccer team at the 1986 World Cup

The team qualified against Portugal, Sweden, Czechoslovakia and Malta for the second World Cup in Mexico, which took place there because the Colombians previously designated as host could not host a tournament with 24 teams . After seven of eight games, the qualification was certain, although the team lost a World Cup qualifier for the first time in the seventh game. Opponents Portugal were also able to qualify as second in the group with a 1-0 win in Stuttgart, as the Swedes lost in Czechoslovakia at the same time.

While the games of the German team at the first World Cup in Mexico in 1970 had inspired fans and experts, they tormented themselves through the tournament in the new edition, in which they were not looked after by a national coach for the first time , but by team boss Franz Beckenbauer . There was a scandal within the German squad when substitute goalkeeper Uli Stein team boss Beckenbauer, who had advertised the food company Knorr at the beginning of his career , called “soup fool” and was thrown out of the squad for it.

In the preliminary round there was a happy 1-1 draw against Uruguay and a 2-1 win against Scotland before they were disenchanted by an enthusiastic Danish team. The Danes won 2-0 and were superior to the Germans in all respects and won the group-internal final 56 years after their last victory against Germany.

For the round of 16, the team had to travel to Monterrey , 800 km away , the hottest World Cup location, where they beat the outsider Morocco 1-0, which was the first African team to survive the preliminary round at a World Cup and eliminated Portugal. As 16 years earlier in the first group game, the German team had big problems against the North Africans in 1986. Only in the 87th minute did Lothar Matthäus make the decisive 1-0. In the quarter-finals, a penalty shoot-out against hosts Mexico was necessary to reach the semi-finals. In this there was a new edition of the thriller from Seville , because France was the opponent again. The French had won the European Championship in their own country two years earlier and defeated the favorite Brazil in what was probably the best game of the World Cup. So there was much to suggest that the French, who were directed by Michel Platini , the top scorer at the 1984 European Championship , should succeed in taking revenge. Germany surprisingly took the lead in the 9th minute with a goal from Andreas Brehme and then had to fend off the attacks of the technically and playfully better French for 81 minutes before substitute Rudi Völler in the 90th minute with a solo to 2: 0 made the final decision. This unexpectedly reached the final again.

In the final, due to a goalkeeping mistake, the German team was already 1-0 down against the Argentinian team, which was directed by Diego Maradona , and after the 2-0 for the Argentinians in the 55th minute, the game seemed to be over. Due to their best performance in the tournament, the German team came up again with goals from Karl-Heinz Rummenigge in the 73rd minute and the substitute Rudi Völler in the 81st minute. The Germans then wanted to take advantage of the hour to win the game in regular time, although an extension would probably have gone well given the conditional advantages. The offensive style of play was punished by a counterattack. After a dream pass from Maradona, Jorge Burruchaga made it 3-2 for Argentina in the 84th minute and thus the final decision. The Argentine team became world champions for the second time since 1978. Germany, on the other hand, overtook Hungary, Czechoslovakia and the Netherlands with their third World Cup final defeat in this regard.

For Hans-Peter Briegel , Norbert Eder , Karlheinz Förster , Dieter Hoeneß , Ditmar Jakobs , Felix Magath and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge , the final was the last international match. The substitute goalkeeper Uli Stein , who was sent home early , did not make another international match, as did the reservist Karl Allgöwer, who was also not used .

1990 World Cup in Italy

→ Main article : German national soccer team at the 1990 World Cup

Four years later, at the 1990 World Cup in Italy, the German team made it to the World Cup final for the third time in a row, something no country had ever achieved before. For the World Cup, however, the team had only qualified second in the group for the first time. After drawing twice against European champions Netherlands and also surrendering a point in the goalless draw in Wales, she needed a win in the last game against Wales. In doing so, however, she initially fell behind. Rudi Voeller was in his 60th international game initially offset and Thomas Hassler achieve with his first international goal the necessary winner to drive one of the two best runners-up of groups of four to Italy.

The German team started the preliminary round with an unexpectedly clear 4: 1 against Yugoslavia, with Lothar Matthäus and the other Italian legionnaires in particular impressing the German team, which had a home game in the Milan stadium. In a game "with thunder and lightning", the United Arab Emirates were then defeated 5-1, so that a 1-1 draw against Colombia was enough to win the group.

In the round of 16 there was a clash with old rivals Netherlands, against whom they had previously lost the semi-finals at the European Championships in their own country. The Dutch had struggled more badly than right into the knockout round with three draws, whereby the lot decided that they met Germany in the second round. After an unclear and to this day controversial action in the Dutch penalty area, Frank Rijkaard and Rudi Völler received the red card. These suspensions weakened the Dutch team, as the axis Rijkaard – Gullit – van Basten, the essential element of the Oranjeteam, no longer existed. Jürgen Klinsmann also showed his best performance in the German national team after losing his strike partner Völler - he made it 1-0 in the 50th minute. After Andreas Brehme increased to 2-0 in the 84th minute, the move into the quarter-finals seemed to be perfect. A controversial penalty in the 88th minute brought the Oranjeteam back to 1: 2, but the German team was ultimately able to bring the lead successfully over time.

Starting grid in the final

In the quarter-finals, Germany met Czechoslovakia, who had never won a World Cup before and who, after victories against the USA and Austria, had reached the round of 16 after losing to hosts Italy, knocking out Costa Rica 4-1 there. With Tomáš Skuhravý she was the top scorer of the tournament at the time (5 goals). The semifinals were achieved with a somewhat spectacular 1-0, in which Franz Beckenbauer was not satisfied with the performance of his team, which even had one more player on the field in the last 20 minutes, but could not use this majority for further goals and got bogged down in individual actions. It was the last World Cup game for Czechoslovakia, as the Czech Republic and Slovakia split up at the turn of the year 1992/93 and subsequently competed with their own teams.

After five games in Milan, it went to the semi-finals in Turin , where it came to a thriller against England. The English had won the group in their group with a draw against Ireland and the Netherlands and a 1-0 win against Egypt, eliminated Belgium 1-0 after extra time in the round of 16 and in a dramatic game against Cameroon, the best African team to date a World Cup, only prevailed 3-2 in extra time. They were eager to take revenge for their quarter-final defeat at the 1970 World Cup. For Germany it was the 67th World Cup game, overtaking the Brazilians, who had been eliminated in the round of 16 and were only able to take over the leading position eight years later. In an even game, Andreas Brehme gave the German team the lead in the 59th minute, as Paul Parker deflected a Brehme free-kick into his own goal that was unsustainable for goalkeeper Peter Shilton . Parker was able to make up for his mistake with a wide assist in the 80th minute on Gary Lineker , who took advantage of a disagreement between the German defense and equalized 1-1. After a goalless extra time, the penalty shoot-out had to decide, and as with all previous World Cup shoot-outs, the German players had the better nerve this time and converted all the necessary penalties (Brehme, Matthäus, Riedle, Thon) while on the English side with the Players Stuart Pearce and Chris Waddle ran out of nerves.

Again, the final opponent was Argentina, which was the first time that the final was repeated. Of the 1986 finalists, Thomas Berthold, Andreas Brehme, Lothar Matthäus and Rudi Völler as well as the reservists Klaus Augenthaler and Pierre Littbarski, who were not in the final in 1986, were in the starting eleven on the German side, while Jorge Burruchaga , Diego Maradona and Oscar Ruggeri on the Argentine side . The Argentines had lost the opening game as defending champions as they did in 1982 and made it to the round of 16 as one of the four best third-placed players in the group with a win against the Soviet Union and a draw against Romania. With a stroke of genius by Maradona, they prevailed 1-0 against superior Brazilians and won the quarter and semi-finals by penalty shoot-outs, with goalkeeper Sergio Goycochea standing out as the penalty killer. He was actually only a substitute goalkeeper, but became a regular goalkeeper in Italy after the broken shin of 1986 final goalkeeper Nery Pumpido in the game against the Soviet Union . With Claudio Caniggia , Julio Olarticoechea , Sergio Batista (all two yellow cards) and red sinner Ricardo Giusti , four players were banned from the final. Germany, on the other hand, was able to compete with the best line-up, with Franz Beckenbauer being spoiled for choice, especially in midfield. So the Argentines' strategy was essentially to get through the game without conceding a goal in order to win the final on penalties as well, as Maradona and his team had no chance to score throughout the game . With a short but well-deserved 1: 0 win ( Andreas Brehme by penalty) finally, the third world title was perfect. Franz Beckenbauer has stood out in the history of the DFB and the national team since then because the "Kaiser" managed to become world champion in two functions: as captain in 1974 and as team boss in 1990. It was the first final victory of a European team against a South American team . Until then (1958, 1962, 1970, 1978 and 1986) the South Americans had always won against the European final opponent.

The team boss had Bodo Illgner , Klaus Augenthaler , Thomas Berthold , Stefan Reuter , Jürgen Kohler , Guido Buchwald , Andreas Brehme , Thomas Häßler , Lothar Matthäus , Pierre Littbarski , Jürgen Klinsmann and Rudi Völler compete in the final. It was the last international match for Klaus Augenthaler and Pierre Littbarski. Franz Beckenbauer had previously announced that his time as team boss would end with the World Cup.

World Cup 1994 in the USA

→ Main article : German national soccer team at the 1994 World Cup

As world champions, Germany did not have to qualify for the 1994 World Cup. After the World Cup victory in 1990, the outgoing team boss Beckenbauer had predicted that with the addition of the players from the former GDR, the German team would be unbeatable for years to come. Although his successor Berti Vogts was able to lead the team to the European Championship in 1992, the first defeat was against Wales in the qualification. At the EM, the group game against defending champions Netherlands and then the final against Denmark were lost, with three former GDR national players playing. Only two former GDR national players made it into the World Cup squad with Matthias Sammer and Ulf Kirsten , who was not used. Vogts trusted the players of the 1990s squad and had even reactivated Rudi Völler and Andreas Brehme, who had already resigned, so that the German team traveled to the USA with the highest average age to date of 29.04 years. For the first time, with captain Matthäus, there was a player with more than 100 international matches in the squad, who, however, did not play in midfield as in 1990, but in the libero position. Between the European Championship and the World Cup, there were defeats against Brazil, Argentina and Ireland, which showed that Beckenbauer's prophecy was a bit too daring. After the worst goal cut at a World Cup (2.21 goals per game in 1990), FIFA introduced the three-point rule for the 1994 World Cup to reward attacking football more strongly, which then increased the average by 0.5 goals per game, in the preliminary round did not have the desired effect in all groups.

Once again, the luck of the draw for the German team, which led the FIFA world rankings introduced in 1993 to the World Cup, was on the side. Because in addition to the strong Spaniards (5th place), she won the preliminary round with the two outsiders Bolivia (43rd place), which usually plays its home games at the high altitude of La Paz, and South Korea (37th place), which had never survived the group stage , the two worst-placed World Cup participants in the FIFA world rankings. Germany was the first reigning world champion to win the opening game against Bolivia. The 1-0 win, in which seven 1990 finalists were still in the starting eleven, against the outsider was extremely meager and came about happily. The team scored 1-1 against Spain, with Jürgen Klinsmann, who already scored the only goal against Bolivia, compensated for the Spaniards' interim lead. Subsequently, the second outsider, South Korea, could only just be defeated 3-2, although the team almost gambled away a 3-0 break lead. The behavior of Stefan Effenberg , who was provoked by German fans in this game and acknowledged this with the outstretched middle finger, was inglorious. For this gesture, he was excluded from the team by national coach Vogts.

The first place in the group was achieved because the Spaniards only got a 2-2 draw against the South Koreans in the first game. In the round of 16 there was another 3-2 in a highly dramatic game against Belgium. Then Germany suffered a bitter 1: 2 defeat in the quarter-finals against Bulgaria, which had not made it past the second round in any World Cup before, after taking the lead. As four years before, Matthäus had put the German team in the lead with a converted penalty, but this time they could not keep it. For the first time since the 1978 World Cup, the German team did not make it into the top four of the tournament and fell behind the top three teams at the World Cup in the FIFA world rankings. After the game, Bodo Illgner resigned from the national team, who some had blamed for the Bulgarians' equalizer. For the previously reactivated Andreas Brehme and Rudi Völler as well as for Guido Buchwald it meant the final farewell to the national team.

1998 World Cup in France

→ Main article : German national soccer team at the 1998 World Cup

As the reigning European champion, Germany was one of the favorites in 1998. The team had survived the qualification unbeaten and took first place ahead of Ukraine, which failed in the playoffs of the group runners-up, and Portugal, with the German team only winning the home game against Ukraine. The other group opponents Northern Ireland, Armenia and Albania were the main suppliers of points. With Thomas Häßler , Jürgen Klinsmann , Jürgen Kohler , Andreas Köpke , Lothar Matthäus , Andreas Möller , Stefan Reuter and Olaf Thon there were still eight 1990 world champions in the squad. The captain was now Jürgen Klinsmann. Lothar Matthäus, who last played for Germany in December 1994 and was reactivated by Vogts shortly before the World Cup, initially only sat on the bench. Libero should now play the Schalke Olaf Thon, although Matthäus had played a good season at Bayern in the position.

Despite unconvincing performances, the team managed to win the group in a politically explosive, but athletically resolvable group with the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the most common German World Cup opponent at the time, and the outsiders USA and Iran. The team started with a difficult 2-0 win against the USA. A 2-2 deficit against Yugoslavia followed, which was overshadowed by riots by German hooligans in Lens , in which French policeman Daniel Nivel was critically injured. Exclusion of Germany or withdrawal from the tournament was up for debate. It almost went under that the half-time substitute Matthäus had played the most World Cup games with 22 World Cup games. After it was not excluded, a 2-0 win against Iran by the oldest German World Cup team (average age 31.6 years) was enough to win the group.

With a hard-fought 2-1 win against Mexico in the round of 16, Germany reached the quarter-finals. As in the previous European Championship, they met Croatia there. It was Berti Vogts' 100th international match as national coach. After Christian Wörns was sent off , the Germans lost 3-0 - the highest defeat in the final since the 6-3 defeat against France at the 1958 World Cup. Croatia was able to take revenge for its defeat in the EM quarter-finals. It was the last international match for Jürgen Klinsmann, Jürgen Kohler and Andreas Köpke. Stefan Reuter, who was only used against the USA, and Olaf Thon, who was no longer used after the Iran game, also ended their time in the national team.

Shortly after the World Cup, national coach Berti Vogts resigned from his post after the national team failed again in two friendly matches. His successor Erich Ribbeck was the only national coach who did not look after a team at a World Cup.

World Cup 2002 in Japan and South Korea

→ Main article : German national soccer team at the 2002 World Cup

The German national team was considered an outsider at the first World Cup in Asia. Nevertheless, they made it to the final, in which the two national teams with the most World Cup games and most finals, Brazil and Germany, met for the first time.

The German team, which had been coached by Rudi Völler since 2000 - initially on an interim basis - had to qualify for the first time via playoff games of the runners-up group, as they only finished second behind England due to the poorer goal difference. Although they had won the first leg in England - the last game at the old Wembley Stadium - 1-0, they then lost the second leg 5-1 after a 1-0 lead. In the playoffs they then beat Ukraine 1: 1 and 4: 1.

With Oliver Bierhoff, Dietmar Hamann, Jens Jeremies, Oliver Kahn (who had not played a World Cup) and Christian Ziege, there were only five games left in the 1998 squad, and for the first time since 1990 no player with more than 100 international matches.

The team then started the World Cup with an 8-0 win against Saudi Arabia, with the team playing in a "hall" for the first time - the stadium had a sunroof - and Miroslav Klose scored three headed goals. The Germans were only able to meet the expectations that the opening game triggered through the results in the following games. This highest victory by a German team at a world championship was followed by a hard-fought 1-1 win against Ireland. With his fourth headed goal at this World Cup, Klose brought the German team into the lead in the 18th minute, which then tried to bring this lead against the oncoming Irish over the time, which only succeeded until the 90th minute. An equally hard-fought 2-0 win against the Cameroonians, who were supervised by Winfried Schäfer , in which both sides saw seven yellow cards and one yellow-red card, won the group, with Klose making the final score with his fifth header.

After the group games in Japan, the team had to travel to the knockout games in South Korea. In the knockout round, the German team benefited from the very favorable group draw. While the favorites eliminated each other on the way to the final or were subject to outsiders, Germany had to prevail against the outsiders Paraguay, USA and South Korea. Thanks to the outstanding Oliver Kahn, who was awarded the Lev Yashin Trophy for the best goalkeeper, the Adidas Golden Ball for the best player of the tournament and was nicknamed "Titan" in the tabloids, three 1-0 victories and thus the seventh entry into the final, where they met Brazil for the first time at a World Cup.

For the final it went back to Japan. Without the yellow-banned Michael Ballack , who scored the winning goal in the quarter and semi-finals and had previously lost three finals in a few weeks with Bayer 04 Leverkusen , the German team made their best game in the knockout round in the final. It was only in the 67th minute that Ronaldo used a mistake by Oliver Kahn to make it 1-0. Another Ronaldo goal in the 79th minute decided the game.

The World Cup final was the last international match between Oliver Bierhoff , who only played as a substitute at the World Cup, and Marco Bode .

World Cup 2006 in Germany

German fans in Bochum

→ Main article : German national football team at the 2006 World Cup

Before the start of the tournament, the prospects for success of the DFB team were judged rather pessimistically by the public, not least because of a campaign of the Bildzeitung against national coach Jürgen Klinsmann, who had taken over the office of national coach from Rudi Völler after the preliminary round at the 2004 European Championships . Klinsmann, on the other hand, declared winning the world championship title in their own country to be the goal and built young players into the team. From the 2002 squad there were Gerald Asamoah , Michael Ballack , Torsten Frings , Oliver Kahn , Sebastian Kehl , Miroslav Klose , Jens Lehmann (2002 without action), Christoph Metzelder , Oliver Neuville and Bernd Schneider in Klinsmann's squad. Before the tournament, he had made Lehmann the number 1 and dismissed goalkeeping coach Sepp Maier , who did not agree with the decision. The new captain was Michael Ballack, who had problems with his calf before the start of the World Cup and was initially on the bench in the opening game.

In the official opening game against Costa Rica, the German team showed the attacking football targeted by the national coach, which was also praised by the foreign press, but also revealed the well-known weaknesses in the defense in the 4-2 victory. Against the Polish team, which was speculating on a draw, did not want to fall over a goal for a long time until the redeeming winning goal was scored shortly before the end. This first success over a European team in a World Cup tournament since 1994 and the circumstances of its creation sparked a wave of enthusiasm in Germany. Since Ecuador also won its first two games, the final group game against the South Americans was all about winning the group, as both were already qualified for the round of 16. While Klinsmann called up his best team and did not take any yellow-card suspensions into account, five players in Ecuador were spared for the round of 16. So a one-sided game developed and after the clear 3-0 victory, the DFB team had completed the most successful preliminary round since the 1970 World Cup.

In the round of 16 they met Sweden, who were defeated 2-0 with two early goals. The first half was described as the best performance by a German team since 1990. Not only did the storm prevail again and again, the defense had not allowed a goal in three games in a row.

In the quarter-finals they met Argentina, which had impressed with strong performances. The pairing was rated in advance as the match of the most convincing teams to date. For the Germans, it was also about finally winning against a world championship again after six years. In the first half of the game, the Argentine selection in midfield was more snappy and more reliable in combinations, but always had to admit defeat in front of the 16-yard area of ​​the German defense chain. After the break, Argentina scored the opening goal after a standard situation, which then switched to a defensive tactic. This enabled the German team to develop their attacking game more strongly again and scored the equalizer in the 80th minute to make it 1: 1. The extra time, which was determined by Germany in the first half and Argentina in the second, remained goalless. In the penalty shootout, the DFB team prevailed 4-2, continuing a German World Cup tradition. Germany reached a World Cup semi-finals for the eleventh time, setting a new record.

The German winning streak ended against feared opponents Italy. The unusually offensive Squadra Azzurra presented the German team with some tactical problems, while the much-praised Italian defense offered the German strikers little opportunity to develop. Nevertheless, the varied game was proportionately largely balanced, so that it was 0-0 after 90 minutes. In extra time, the Italians stepped up their offensive and pushed for a goal, even if the German team had a few opportunities in return. Until the 118th minute it was still 0-0, but two minutes from time (and a possible penalty shoot-out) the Italians finally took the lead 1-0. After a counterattack in the last minute, the 2-0 fell, so that the semi-finals were lost for Germany.

In the game for third place against Portugal, a heavily redesigned German team showed their offensive football again in front of the enthusiastic home crowd. The DFB team won 3-1 and left the tournament with a convincing overall performance, so that the world championship ended with a great sporting success for the host nation. For the third time after 1934 and 1970, Germany was third in the World Cup and declared by the fans and the media to be the “world champion of hearts”. As in 1970, a German player was the top scorer of the tournament, namely Miroslav Klose , who, like at the 2002 World Cup, scored five goals again. Another award went to Klose's strike partner Lukas Podolski , who was chosen as the best young player at the World Cup . For Oliver Kahn, who was in goal again against Portugal, it was the last international match. Also, Sebastian Kehl , who had four bets at the World Cup and then did not come more used. National coach Klinsmann resigned after the tournament, his assistant Joachim Löw was signed as his successor .

World Cup 2010 in South Africa

Scene from the quarter-finals against Argentina

→ Main article : German national soccer team at the 2010 World Cup

For the first World Cup in Africa, the German team under coach Joachim Löw won the qualification unbeaten with eight wins and two draws - both against Finland. In particular, the new national goalkeeper René Adler showed an excellent performance in the 1-0 victory in Russia against the direct rivals for the group victory and thus secured the early qualification. Russia then failed in the playoffs of runners due to the away goals to Slovenia. Shortly before the World Cup, Adler injured his shoulder and also captain Michael Ballack did not survive the English Cup final just before the World Cup unharmed and was also out for the World Cup. The new number 1 in goal was Manuel Neuer , who had only played one and a half international matches before Adler was injured and had played in three friendly matches before the World Cup. Philipp Lahm was appointed captain on an interim basis , but remained so until the 2014 World Cup. Four players, Manuel Neuer, Jerome Boateng, Mesut Özil and Sami Khedira, had won the U-21 European Championship last year. Eleven players had a migrant background and none of them played for a foreign club, which was the last time in 1978.

The German team started the tournament in South Africa with an undisputed 4-0 win over Australia and showed an exciting attacking football that was also praised by the European press. Among other things, the later top scorer Thomas Müller scored his first goal to 3-0 and Cacau with the fourth goal 110 seconds after his substitution, the fastest German Joker goal in World Cup history. In the second group match against Serbia, they lost 1-0 after striker Miroslav Klose was sent off after a controversial yellow-red card in the 37th minute. The German team developed some chances, but could not use them. In addition, Lukas Podolski missed a penalty kick in the 60th minute, which Uli Stielike had "succeeded" in at the 1982 World Cup in penalties and Uli Hoeneß in 1974 in regular time. For a safe progress into the next round, a victory against the last preliminary round opponents Ghana was necessary. In a weak game, in which Germany played completely in black for the first time at a World Cup, Mesut Özil finally managed the redeeming goal to make it 1-0 in the 60th minute. For the first time in the history of the World Cup, two brothers played in opposing teams: Jérôme Boateng on the German side and his half-brother Kevin-Prince for Ghana . Since Australia won against Serbia in a parallel game, both brothers reached the round of 16.

From the round of 16, the German team caused a stir with offensive football. Against the first opponent, England, Klose, who was entitled to play again after the Ghana game, scored the 1-0 after a long tee shot by goalkeeper Manuel Neuer in the 20th minute, Lukas Podolski followed with the 2-0. The Englishmen, who were rather weak in the previous tournament, scored the connection goal in the 37th minute. A minute later, midfielder Frank Lampard hit the crossbar of the German goal; From there, the ball hit the ground behind the goal line, jumped back against the crossbar and was then held by goalkeeper Neuer. Neither the referee nor the linesmen recognized this goal, so it remained at 1: 2 until the break. This incident was later partially in the German press as "compensation" or "revenge" for the Wembley goal in the 1966 World Cup respectively. In the second half, the German team finally got two goals through Thomas Müller, which ensured the quarter-finals. For England this game was the biggest defeat at a football World Cup ever.

In the quarter-finals, as in the 2006 World Cup, Germany met Argentina, who had mastered the tournament so far with four wins; especially since they had defeated Germany 1-0 in a test match. However, Thomas Müller scored the opening goal again for Germany in the third minute, making it the earliest goal of this World Cup. After that, Argentina played much stronger and created a few chances - including a goal, which was correctly whistled for offside. The German team, on the other hand, increasingly lost game shares. The spell only broke in the second half when Miroslav Klose was able to increase it to 2-0 after an attack in his 100th international match in the 68th minute. Now the Germans took the game more and more into their own hands: After a solo run by Bastian Schweinsteiger , who left several Argentine defenders standing, Arne Friedrich was able to push the ball into the goal and thus score his first international goal. After another counterattack in the 89th minute, the final point was again Klose, who produced the clear final score of 4-0 and at the same time drew level with Gerd Müller (both 14 goals) on the ranking of the most successful World Cup scorers .

In the semi-finals, the German dream of the world championship finally ended again. As in the final of the European Football Championship in 2008 , the opponent was Spain, who, despite his highly acclaimed short-passing game, had not had very good results in the previous tournament. Against the Spaniards, however, the German team was practically unable to play their combination game at all, the game was largely unimaginative on the German side. The Spaniards, on the other hand, showed a good performance, as they did at the European Championships, and kept the Germans in trouble. It was only thanks to the good standing German defense and the inadequate exploitation of chances by the Spaniards that the 1-0 winning goal of the Iberians came in the 73rd minute after a corner kick. Previously, Toni Kroos had missed the greatest of the few German goal chances after a direct shot at goalkeeper Iker Casillas . Further German attempts to equalize with long passes into the penalty area were unsuccessful.

In the "small final" they finally met Uruguay, which lost 3-2 to the Netherlands in the semifinals. Loew deployed four reservists, u. a. Goalkeeper Hans Jörg Butt , who was already in the squad at the 2002 World Cup but was not used. For Thomas Müller and Uruguayan Diego Forlán , who had scored four goals by then, it was also a question of overtaking the top two goalscorers, the Spaniard David Villa and the Dutchman Wesley Sneijder (both five goals). Müller also first put Germany in the lead with a goal, which he took over the top scorer list with 5 goals and 3 assists. Uruguay managed to turn the game around with Edinson Cavani and Diego Forlán before Marcell Jansen and Sami Khedira finally secured third place for Germany at the World Cup with goals to make it 3-2. As Villa and Sneijder went goalless in the final one day later, Müller was the third German to become the top scorer after Gerd Müller (1970) and Miroslav Klose (2006). The team stayed together, only for the reservists Butt and Stefan Kießling their international career ended with the game for third place.

2014 World Cup in Brazil

→ Main article : German national soccer team at the 2014 World Cup

Mario Götze in the 1-0 winner for the 2014 world championship title, seven minutes before the end of the game

In qualifying for the World Cup in Brazil , which began in autumn 2012, Germany met the Faroe Islands , Ireland , Kazakhstan , Austria and Sweden . The Faroe Islands were already met in qualifying for the 2004 European Championship, Ireland were opponents in the qualifying for the Euro 2008, Kazakhstan were opponents in the qualifying for the Euro 2012, as did Austria, against them in the qualifying for the 1970 World Cup and was played in 1982. Sweden were opponents in the World Cup qualification for the fourth time after 1938, 1966 and 1986. World Cup qualification began for the German team on September 7, 2012 with a 3-0 home win against the Faroe Islands, which was also the 500th international win . On the penultimate matchday, a 3-0 win against Ireland in Cologne achieved group victory and early qualification for the World Cup.

Starting grid in the final

At the finals, Germany met Portugal in the group stage and won the 100th German World Cup game 4-0, then played against Ghana (2-2) as in 2010 , with substitute Klose equalizing with his 15th World Cup goal 2: 2) and at the end of the group stage won 1: 0 against the national soccer team of the United States, which was coached by Jürgen Klinsmann . In contrast to all other World Cups in which Germany took part in the final round, in the 2014 World Cup, Germany only met teams in the group stage that it had played against in previous World Cups. The game against Ghana on June 21, 2014 in Fortaleza was the national team's closest game to the equator. In the second round, Germany met Algeria, which had reached the second round for the first time. A 2: 1 n.V. reached the round of the last eight for the 16th time in a row. In addition, it was the first victory against Algeria. In the quarter-finals, France was the opponent. With a goal in the 12th minute by Mats Hummels after a free kick by Toni Kroos , Germany was able to prevail 1-0 and reach a semi-final at a World Cup for the fourth time in a row.

At 7-1 in the semifinals , Thomas Müller first scored the 2,000th international goal for Germany with a 1-0 win. With the 2-0 win, Klose was now the top scorer in the World Cup with 16 goals and with the 5-0 goal by Sami Khedira, the 221st World Cup goal of the German team, Germany overtook the Brazilians in the number of goals scored at World Cups. In the final, Mario Götze scored the winning goal seven minutes before the end of extra time to make it 1-0 against Argentina , which gave Germany their fourth World Cup title and the first country to win the new FIFA World Cup trophy for the third time .

With his goal to equalize 2-2 in the game against Ghana, which he scored with his first contact with the ball two minutes after coming on, Miroslav Klose drew level with Ronaldo in the number of goals scored at World Cups. In the following game against the USA he made his 21st World Cup appearance, drawing level with Uwe Seeler . Through appearances in the quarter and semi-finals as well as in the final, he passed Paolo Maldini (23 games) and is now only surpassed by Lothar Matthäus (25 World Cup games). Five days after the final victory, world champion captain Philipp Lahm announced his resignation from the national team. On August 11th, World Cup top scorer Klose also announced his resignation from the national team.

World Cup 2018 in Russia

→ Main article : Football World Cup 2018 / Germany

For the first time, Germany also had to qualify as world champions for the following World Cup, since the defending champion has no longer been automatically qualified since the 2006 World Cup. In the qualification that started in September 2016, the opponents were the Czech Republic , Northern Ireland , Norway , Azerbaijan and San Marino . Germany already had a positive balance against all of them. Of the opponents, the Czech Republic last took part in a World Cup in 2006, Norway last in 1998 and Northern Ireland last in 1986, the other two opponents never. Azerbaijan was already an opponent in qualifying for the 2010 World Cup, Northern Ireland was an opponent in qualifying for the 1962 and 1998 World Cup, Norway in qualifying for the 1954 World Cup. After that there was no more competitive match against Norway. San Marino and the Czech Republic have never been opponents in a World Cup qualification, but both were opponents in the qualification for the European Championship 2008. Germany won all ten games for the first time, including the first four without conceding, and qualified early for the World Cup on the penultimate match day -Final round with a 3-1 win in Northern Ireland, which relegated the Northern Irish, who had previously only conceded goals against Germany, to second place. Together with Belgium, Germany scored the most goals (43), but conceded fewer goals, so the team had the better goal difference. In the course of qualification and also by winning the Confederation Cup in 2017, Germany regained the top position it had lost in the FIFA world rankings in 2015.

The best qualification was followed by the worst preparation: Of six games between the successful qualification and the first World Cup game, Germany could only win one, three ended in a draw and two were lost. First, the team played friendly matches in November and March against the ex-world champions England, France, Spain and Brazil, none of which were won and the 0: 1 against Brazil ended a series of 22 games without defeat. In these games Löw used 27 players, of which only İlkay Gündoğan , Julian Draxler and Timo Werner were used in all four games. Löw nominated 27 players for the World Cup training camp, including captain Manuel Neuer and Marco Reus, two players who could not be used in the four friendly matches due to injuries, and Nils Petersen, the best German scorer in the 2017/18 Bundesliga , who, however had not yet played an international match. Due to injury, he had to do without Lars Stindl and Emre Can , who had played in two of the four test matches. During the training camp, a test match in Austria against the Austrians who did not qualify for the World Cup was lost 2-1, after which the squad was reduced to 23 players. Petersen, who made his debut against Austria, was also deleted, as was Leroy Sane , England's young professional of the year . Of the 2014 world champions, there were Jérôme Boateng, Julian Draxler, Matthias Ginter (without commitment in 2014), Sami Khedira, Toni Kroos, Mats Hummels, Thomas Müller, Manuel Neuer and Mesut Özil in the squad. Shortly before leaving for the World Cup , the team from Saudi Arabia, who are 67th in the FIFA world rankings , was able to win the only preparatory game 2-1 in Leverkusen without showing a convincing performance.

In the final round, the German team lost their opening game against Mexico with 0-1, in the second game against Sweden after 0-1 deficit a 2-1 victory was achieved by a goal by Toni Kroos after a free kick in the fifth minute of Added time has been reached. Since Mexico and Schweiden had defeated South Korea, the third group opponent each with one goal difference, the German team needed a victory with two goals difference against the Asians in order to reach the knockout round on their own. The German team did not manage to score a single goal against the South Koreans. Instead, she conceded two goals in stoppage time and was eliminated by the 2-0 defeat as bottom of the group and for the first time ever and as defending champion in the preliminary round.

German World Cup players

Ranking list of German World Cup players with at least 10 appearances

55 German players played at least ten World Cup games. No player from any other team played more games than Lothar Matthäus and Miroslav Klose.

01. Lothar Matthäus - 25 appearances in 5 tournaments

02. Miroslav Klose - 24 appearances in 4 tournaments

03. Uwe Seeler - 21 appearances in 4 tournaments

04. Philipp Lahm , Bastian Schweinsteiger - 20 appearances each in 3 tournaments

06. Per Mertesacker , Wolfgang Overath , Karl-Heinz Rummenigge , Berti Vogts - 19 appearances each in 3 tournaments

10. Franz Beckenbauer , Thomas Berthold , Pierre Littbarski , Sepp Maier - 18 appearances each in 3 tournaments

14. Jürgen Klinsmann , Karl-Heinz Schnellinger - 17 appearances each in 3 and 4 (Schnellinger) tournaments

16. Andreas Brehme , Thomas Müller , Manuel Neuer , Mesut Özil - 16 appearances each in 3 tournaments

20. Lukas Podolski , Hans Schäfer †, Rudi Völler - 15 appearances each in 3 tournaments

23. Jérôme Boateng , Paul Breitner , Karlheinz Förster , Thomas Häßler , Sami Khedira , Toni Kroos , Toni Schumacher , Bernd Schneider - 14 appearances each in 2 or 3 (Boateng, Häßler, Khedira, Kroos) tournaments

31. Hans-Peter Briegel , Arne Friedrich , Torsten Frings , Manfred Kaltz , Jürgen Kohler , Christoph Metzelder , Gerd Müller , Oliver Neuville , Willi Schulz - 13 appearances each in 2 tournaments

40. Bodo Illgner - 12 appearances in 2 tournaments

41. Michael Ballack , Klaus Fischer , Jürgen Grabowski , Dietmar Hamann , Fritz Walter - 11 appearances each in 2 tournaments

46. Oliver Bierhoff , Rainer Bonhof , Guido Buchwald , Horst Eckel , Herbert Erhardt †, Horst-Dieter Höttges , Jens Jeremies . Felix Magath , Helmut Rahn †, Horst Szymaniak † - 10 appearances each in 2 or 3 (Höttges) tournaments

Ranking of the German World Cup players with the most goals

01. Miroslav Klose - 16 goals ( world record since 2014)

02. Gerd Müller - 14 goals (world record from 1974 to 2006)

03. Jürgen Klinsmann - 11 goals

04. Thomas Müller , Helmut Rahn † - 10 goals each

06. Karl-Heinz Rummenigge , Uwe Seeler - 9 goals each

08. Rudi Völler - 8 goals

09. Hans Schäfer † - 7 goals

10. Helmut Haller †, Lothar Matthäus , Max Morlock † - 6 goals each

13. Franz Beckenbauer , Lukas Podolski - 5 goals each

The most goals after substitution were scored by André Schürrle (3/2014) and Rudi Völler (2/1986).

Germany provided the World Cup top scorer three times (1970 / Gerd Müller, 2006 / Miroslav Klose and 2010 / Thomas Müller). Only Brazil (4 ×) was the top scorer more often.

Finals and semi-finals

Lothar Matthaus and Pierre Littbarski were 1990 world champion, having previously twice been runner-up (1982, 1986). Franz Beckenbauer , Wolfgang Overath (both 1966, 1974), Paul Breitner (1974, 1982), Toni Schumacher , Karlheinz Förster , Hans-Peter Briegel , Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (all 1982, 1986), Pierre came in two World Cup finals Littbarski (1982, 1990), Lothar Matthäus (1986, 1990) and Miroslav Klose (2002, 2014). The players who reached the finals in 1982 and 1986 lost both finals, everyone else won a final and lost one. Paul Breitner scored one goal in the final in both 1974 and 1982.

Franz Beckenbauer, Jürgen Grabowski , Horst-Dieter Höttges , Sepp Maier , Wolfgang Overath (all 1974/1., 1966/2., 1970/3., Whereby Grabowski and Maier were not used in 1966) were world champions, vice world champions and third place in the World Championship ) and Miroslav Klose (2014/1., 2002/2., 2006/3. and 2010/3.).

Miroslav Klose was the first player in World Cup history to appear four times in a semi-final (2002, 2006, 2010, 2014).

Captains

• 1934: Fritz Szepan
• 1938: Hans Mock / Fritz Szepan
• 1954: Fritz Walter
• 1958 and 1962: Hans Schäfer
• 1966 and 1970: Uwe Seeler
• 1974: Franz Beckenbauer
• 1978: Berti Vogts
• 1982: Karl-Heinz Rummenigge
• 1986: Karl-Heinz Rummenigge / Toni Schumacher
• 1990 and 1994: Lothar Matthäus
• 1998: Jürgen Klinsmann
• 2002: Oliver Kahn
• 2006: Michael Ballack / Bernd Schneider / Oliver Kahn
• 2010 and 2014: Philipp Lahm
• 2018: Manuel Neuer

Players banned from World Championships

• At the 1938 World Cup, Johann Pesser from Vienna was sent off for a revenge foul in the first game against Switzerland (final score 1: 1) and was banned from the replay. He was sent home by the head of the department, Felix Linnemann .
• Erich Juskowiak was sent off in the 1958 semifinals against Sweden after a revenge foul on Kurt Hamrin .
• Thomas Berthold received the red card in the quarter-finals against Mexico in 1986 after a revenge foul and was suspended for the semi-finals against France.
• Rudi Völler saw the red card in the 1990 round of 16 against the Netherlands after an argument with Frank Rijkaard and was suspended for one game.
• Christian Wörns received the red card in the quarter-finals against Croatia in 1998 after a foul ("emergency brake"). Germany then dropped out, so the card had no further effect at the World Cup.
• Carsten Ramelow received the yellow-red card in the preliminary round match against Cameroon in 2002 after repeated foul play. He was suspended for the round of 16.
• Miroslav Klose received the yellow and red card in the preliminary round match against Serbia in 2010 after repeated foul play.
• Jérôme Boateng received the yellow-red card in the preliminary round match against Sweden in 2018 after repeated foul play.
• After 2 yellow cards the following players were blocked for a game:
  • 1990: Andreas Brehme "provoked" the second yellow card in the second group game in 1990 and was banned from the third group game against Colombia.
  • 1994: Stefan Effenberg for the round of 16 against Belgium (played after Effenberg's suspension), Thomas Helmer and Martin Wagner for the semi-finals, in which Germany was not involved.
  • 1998: Michael Tarnat for the semi-finals, in which Germany was not involved.
  • 2002: Christian Ziege and Dietmar Hamann for the round of 16, Michael Ballack for the final.
  • 2010: Thomas Müller for the semi-finals.
• Franz Beckenbauer received two warnings at the 1966 World Cup and would actually have been banned from the final after the second card received in the semifinals. However, FIFA “overlooked” this warning and so Franz Beckenbauer could be used in the final.
• Mike Hanke was banned for the first two games of the 2006 World Cup after receiving a red card in the game for 3rd place at the 2005 Confederation Cup.
• Torsten Frings was banned from the World Cup 2006 by the disciplinary committee of the world association FIFA for an assault against the Argentine Julio Cruz after the quarter-final match against Argentina for two games. Since the suspension for the second game was suspended for six months, the suspension only affected the semi-final game against Italy. The verdict was controversial, on the one hand because the FIFA regulations stipulate a minimum suspension of two games and do not include the possibility of probation, and on the other hand because the allegedly attacked Argentinian player, according to his own admission, did not feel a punch.

Share of players playing abroad in the World Cup squad

Although German players had been playing abroad since the early 1950s ( Ludwig Janda in Italy, Bert Trautmann in England), Horst Szymaniak from CC Catania was the first to join the squad in 1962, a player who did not play in the domestic top leagues. In 1994 there were 6 players in the squad who did not play in the Bundesliga. Then the number fell again, and in 2010, for the first time since 1978, only players from the Bundesliga were in the squad, as Michael Ballack, who was under contract with Chelsea FC until 2010 , was not appointed due to an injury in the English Cup final . In 2014, a new record was reached - also due to the failure of Marco Reus , for whom Shkodran Mustafi, who played in Italy, was re- nominated. Most of these foreign players moved to England , Italy and Spain after the 2010 World Cup . Even before that, the selection was limited to " legionnaires " who played in the top leagues of these three countries as well as France . Robert Huth and Shkodran Mustafi are the only ones of these legionnaires who have never played in the top German league. All nominated legionaries were deployed at least once. Jürgen Klinsmann was appointed legionnaire most often (17 times) and played in three different leagues (Italy, France and England). Only Javier Mascherano (20 ×), Lionel Messi and Ronaldo (19 × each) and Carlos Dunga (18 ×) played more often as legionnaires for their team at World Cup tournaments.

Year (games)	Number (countries)	Players (stakes)
1934-1958	0
1962 (4)	1 (Italy)	Horst Szymaniak (3)
1966 (6)	3 (Italy)	Albert Brülls (2), Helmut Haller (5), Karl-Heinz Schnellinger (6)
1970 (6)	2 (Italy)	Helmut Haller (1), Karl-Heinz Schnellinger (5)
1974 (7)	1 (Spain)	Günter Netzer (1)
1978 (6)	0
1982 (7)	1 (Spain)	Uli Stielike (7)
1986 (7)	2 (Italy)	Hans-Peter Briegel (6), Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (7)
1990 (7)	5 (Italy)	Thomas Berthold (7), Andreas Brehme (6), Jürgen Klinsmann (7), Lothar Matthäus (7), Rudi Völler (6)
1994 (5)	6 (4 in Italy, 2 in France)	Stefan Effenberg (3), Thomas Häßler (5), Jürgen Kohler (5), Andreas Möller (4), Jürgen Klinsmann (5), Rudi Völler (3)
1998 (5)	4 (2 in Italy, 1 in England, 1 in France)	Oliver Bierhoff (5), Christian Ziege (4), Jürgen Klinsmann (5), Andreas Köpke (5)
2002 (7)	3 (2 in England, 1 in France)	Dietmar Hamann (6), Christian Ziege (5), Oliver Bierhoff (5)
2006 (7)	2 (England)	Jens Lehmann (6), Robert Huth (1)
2010 (7)	0
2014 (7)	7 (4 in England, 2 in Italy, 1 in Spain)	Mesut Özil (7), Per Mertesacker (6), André Schürrle (6), Lukas Podolski (2), Miroslav Klose (5), Shkodran Mustafi (3), Sami Khedira (5)
2018 (3)	8 (3 in England, 2 in France, 1 in Italy, 2 in Spain)	İlkay Gündoğan (1), Mesut Özil (2), Antonio Rüdiger (1); Julian Draxler (2), Kevin Trapp ; Sami Khedira (2); Toni Kroos (3), Marc-André ter Stegen

Games

Germany has played 109 World Cup games against 46 different opponents so far. Only Brazil played against more (47) different opponents. 67 games were won, 22 lost and 20 ended in a draw. Games had to be extended eleven times because a winner had to be determined, most often against England (3 ×). Only three games were regularly won in extra time (two of them at the 2014 World Cup), plus four games on penalties. Three games were lost in extra time, the most common against Italy (2 ×). A game was replayed and lost in the replay.

Germany took part in the first or opening game of the World Cup four times (1938, 1978, 1994 and 2006), only Mexico (5 times) played the first or opening game more often. The German team has the most home games at world championships: 14. They had to play 7 times against the hosts, once in the preliminary round (1962), the intermediate round (1982), in the quarter-finals (1986) and in the final (1966) and three times in the Semi-finals (1958, 2002 and 2014). Four games were won and one game after overtime on penalties. (Only Italy could win four times against the hosts, but also lost once on penalties and four times after 90 minutes or by golden goal ). Germany met the defending champions twice and won both games: in 1970 against England after extra time in the quarter-finals and in 1990 against Argentina in the final. In both cases it was the repetition of the final pairing of the previous World Cup.

Germany lost six times to eventual world champions: 1966 (final), 1982 (final), 1986 (final), 2002 (final), 2006 (semi-final) and 2010 (semi-final)

Germany met newcomers to the World Cup the most (15 times): 1934 (when you were a newcomer yourself) / Sweden, Czechoslovakia and Austria, 1954 / Turkey, 1958 / Northern Ireland, 1970 / Morocco, 1974 / Australia and GDR, 1978 / Tunisia , 1982 / Algeria, 1986 / Denmark, 1990 / United Arab Emirates, 1998 / BR Yugoslavia and Croatia and 2010 / Serbia.

Germany has so far played against teams from all confederations, which only Brazil, Chile, Italy, Croatia, Scotland and the USSR achieved. Germany is the only team that has played against all South American World Cup participants so far, first against Argentina in 1958 and most recently against Ecuador in 2006. 15 wins, one win on penalties and only two games (finals 1986 and 2002) were lost.

Germany also played against all other German-speaking World Cup participants: Austria (1934, 1954, 1978, 1982), Switzerland (1938, 1962, 1966) and GDR (1974). Only Brazil, Chile and the Netherlands played against them and Germany.

Germany played most often (12 times) in the first World Cup games only against teams from its own continent.

The most frequent opponents are Argentina (7 times), Yugoslavia (6 times, including the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia) as well as England, Italy and Sweden (5 times each).

So far, Germany has played in 62 World Cup cities - no team has played in more World Cup cities. Germany played most often (6 times) in Milan (1934/1 ×, 1990/5 ×).

Eternal table of all World Cup games in Germany with opponents

Pl.	team	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points	Finals	1/2 finals	1/4 finals
1.	Argentina	7th	4th	2	1	012: 500	+7	14th	3	0	2
2.	Yugoslavia / Yugoslavia	6th	4th	1	1	011: 400	+7	13	0	0	3
3.	Sweden	5	4th	0	1	011: 700	+4	12	0	1	0
4th	Uruguay	4th	3	1	0	009: 300	+6	10	0	0	1
5.	Austria	4th	3	0	1	012: 600	+6	09	0	1	0
6th	Chile	3	3	0	0	007: 100	+6	09	0	0	0
7th	United States	3	3	0	0	004-000	+4	09	0	0	1
8th.	England	5	2	2	1	010: 800	+2	08th	1	1	1
9.	Mexico	4th	2	1	1	008: 200	+6	07th	0	0	1
10.	Switzerland	4th	2	1	1	010: 600	+4	07th	0	0	0
11.	Netherlands	3	2	1	0	006: 400	+2	07th	1	0	0
12.	Poland	3	2	1	0	002-000	+2	07th	0	1	0
13.	Spain	4th	2	1	1	005: 400	+1	07th	0	1	0
14th	France	4th	2	1	1	009: 900	± 0	07th	0	2	1
15th	Turkey	2	2	0	0	011: 300	+8	06th	0	0	0
16.	Australia	2	2	0	0	007-000	+7	06th	0	0	0
17th	Portugal	2	2	0	0	007: 100	+6	06th	0	0	0
18th	Belgium	2	2	0	0	008: 400	+4	06th	0	0	0
19th	Morocco	2	2	0	0	003: 100	+2	06th	0	0	0
20th	South Korea	3	2	0	1	004: 400	± 0	06th	0	1	0
21st	Ghana	2	1	1	0	003: 200	+1	04th	0	0	0
22nd	Czechoslovakia	3	1	1	1	004: 500	−1	04th	0	1	1
23.	Saudi Arabia	1	1	0	0	008-000	+8	03	0	0	0
24.	Brazil	2	1	0	1	007: 300	+4	03	1	1	0
25th	United Arab Emirates	1	1	0	0	005: 100	+4	03	0	0	0
26th	Ecuador	1	1	0	0	003-000	+3	03	0	0	0
27.	Bulgaria	2	1	0	1	006: 400	+2	03	0	0	1
28.	Costa Rica	1	1	0	0	004: 200	+2	03	0	0	0
29	Peru	1	1	0	0	003: 100	+2	03	0	0	0
30th	Iran	1	1	0	0	002-000	+2	03	0	0	0
30th	Cameroon	1	1	0	0	002-000	+2	03	0	0	0
32.	Scotland	1	1	0	0	002: 100	+1	03	0	0	0
32.	Soviet Union	1	1	0	0	002: 100	+1	03	0	1	0
34.	Bolivia	1	1	0	0	001-000	+1	03	0	0	0
34.	Paraguay	1	1	0	0	001-000	+1	03	0	0	0
36.	Algeria	2	1	0	1	003: 300	± 0	03	0	0	0
37.	Hungary	2	1	0	1	006:100	−4	03	1	0	0
38.	Italy	5	0	2	3	004: 900	−5	02	1	2	0
39.	Northern Ireland	1	0	1	0	002: 200	± 0	01	0	0	0
40.	Ireland	1	0	1	0	001: 100	± 0	01	0	0	0
40.	Colombia	1	0	1	0	001: 100	± 0	01	0	0	0
42.	Tunisia	1	0	1	0	000-000	± 0	01	0	0	0
43.	German Democratic Republic	1	0	0	1	000: 100	−1	00	0	0	0
43.	Serbia	1	0	0	1	000: 100	−1	00	0	0	0
45.	Denmark	1	0	0	1	000: 200	−2	00	0	0	0
46.	Croatia	1	0	0	1	000: 300	−3	00	0	0	1
As of June 27, 2018

Note: Teams in italics no longer exist, teams in bold became world champions at least once

All World Cup games
No.	date	Result	opponent		venue	occasion	Remarks
1	May 27, 1934	5: 2	Belgium	*	Florence ( ITA ), Stadio Giovanni Berta	Round of 16	first World Cup game against Belgium
2	May 31, 1934	2: 1	Sweden	*	Milan ( ITA ), San Siro	Quarter finals	first World Cup game against Sweden
3	0June 3, 1934	1: 3	Czechoslovakia	*	Rome ( ITA ), Stadio Nazionale	Semifinals	first international match, first World Cup match, first defeat, only competitive game defeat and highest defeat against Czechoslovakia
4th	0June 7, 1934	3: 2	Austria	*	Naples ( ITA ), Stadio Giorgio Ascarelli	3rd place match	first World Cup game against Austria
5	0June 4, 1938	1: 1 a.d.	Switzerland	*	Paris ( FRA ), Prinzenparkstadion	Round of 16	First World Cup game, first World Cup game against Switzerland, replay required
6th	0June 9, 1938	2: 4	Switzerland	*	Paris ( FRA ), Prinzenparkstadion	Round of 16 (replay)	only competitive game defeat against Switzerland
7th	June 17, 1954	4: 1	Turkey	*	Bern ( SUI ), Wankdorf Stadium	Preliminary round	first World Cup game against Turkey
8th	June 20, 1954	3: 8	Hungary	*	Basel ( SUI ), St. Jakob Stadium	Preliminary round	first World Cup game and biggest loss against Hungary highest loss in a World Cup game
9	June 23, 1954	7: 2	Turkey	*	Zurich ( SUI ), Hardturm	Decision game for the quarter-finals	highest victory against Turkey
10	June 27, 1954	2-0	Yugoslavia	*	Geneva ( SUI ), Stade des Charmilles	Quarter finals	first World Cup game against Yugoslavia
11	June 30, 1954	6: 1	Austria	*	Basel ( SUI ), St. Jakob Stadium	Semifinals	highest victory against Austria
12	04th July 1954	3: 2	Hungary	*	Bern ( SUI ), Wankdorf Stadium	final	first world championship title “ Wunder von Bern ”, so far last competitive game against Hungary
13	0June 8, 1958	3: 1	Argentina	*	Malmö ( SWE ), Malmö Stadium	Preliminary round	first international match, first World Cup match and first victory against Argentina, first victory against a non-European team
14th	June 11, 1958	2: 2	Czechoslovakia	*	Helsingborg ( SWE ), Olympia	Preliminary round
15th	June 15, 1958	2: 2	Northern Ireland	*	Malmö ( SWE ), Malmö Stadium	Preliminary round	first international match and first World Cup match against Northern Ireland
16	June 19, 1958	1-0	Yugoslavia	*	Malmö ( SWE ), Malmö Stadium	Quarter finals
17th	June 24, 1958	1: 3	Sweden	A.	Gothenburg ( SWE ), Ullevi Stadium	Semifinals	" Battle of Gothenburg " only competitive defeat against Sweden 61st and last international game by Fritz Walter
18th	June 28, 1958	3: 6	France	*	Gothenburg ( SWE ), Ullevi Stadium	3rd place match	highest defeat and first World Cup game against France
19th	May 31, 1962	0-0	Italy	*	Santiago de Chile ( CHI ), National Stadium	Preliminary round	first World Cup game between two former world champions, first World Cup game against Italy
20th	0June 3, 1962	2: 1	Switzerland	*	Santiago de Chile ( CHI ), National Stadium	Preliminary round
21st	0June 6, 1962	2-0	Chile	A.	Santiago de Chile ( CHI ), National Stadium	Preliminary round	first World Cup game against Chile
22nd	June 10, 1962	0: 1	Yugoslavia	*	Santiago de Chile ( CHI ), National Stadium	Quarter finals
23	July 12, 1966	5-0	Switzerland	*	Sheffield ( ENG ), Hillsborough	Preliminary round
24	July 16, 1966	0-0	Argentina	*	Birmingham ( ENG ), Villa Park	Preliminary round
25th	July 20, 1966	2: 1	Spain	*	Birmingham ( ENG ), Villa Park	Preliminary round	first World Cup game against Spain
26th	July 23, 1966	4-0	Uruguay	*	Sheffield ( ENG ), Hillsborough	Quarter finals	first World Cup game against Uruguay
27	July 25, 1966	2: 1	Soviet Union	*	Liverpool ( ENG ), Goodison Park	Semifinals	only World Cup game against the USSR
28	July 30, 1966	2: 4 a.d.	England	A.	London ( ENG ), Wembley Stadium	final	" Wembley Goal " first World Cup game against England
29	03rd June 1970	2: 1	Morocco	*	León ( MEX ), Estadio Guanajuato	Preliminary round	first World Cup game against Morocco
30th	0June 7, 1970	5: 2	Bulgaria	*	León ( MEX ), Estadio Guanajuato	Preliminary round	first World Cup game against Bulgaria
31	June 10, 1970	3: 1	Peru	*	León ( MEX ), Estadio Guanajuato	Preliminary round	first international match and first World Cup match against Peru
32	June 14, 1970	3: 2 a.d.	England	*	León ( MEX ), Estadio Guanajuato	Quarter finals	first World Cup game that Germany was able to win without penalty shoot-out in extra time
33	17th June 1970	3: 4 a.d.	Italy	*	Mexico City ( MEX ), Aztec Stadium	Semifinals	The game of the century
34	June 20, 1970	1-0	Uruguay	*	Mexico City ( MEX ), Aztec Stadium	3rd place match
35	June 14, 1974	1-0	Chile	H	Berlin , Olympic Stadium	1. Final round
36	June 18, 1974	3-0	Australia	H	Hamburg , Volksparkstadion	1. Final round	first international match and first World Cup match against Australia
37	June 22, 1974	0: 1	GDR	H	Hamburg , Volksparkstadion	1. Final round	only World Cup game and international match against the GDR
38	June 26, 1974	2-0	Yugoslavia	H	Düsseldorf , Rheinstadion	2nd final round
39	June 30, 1974	4: 2	Sweden	H	Düsseldorf , Rheinstadion	2nd final round
40	03rd July 1974	1-0	Poland	H	Frankfurt , Waldstadion	2nd final round	Water battle of Frankfurt first World Cup game against Poland
41	0July 7th 1974	2: 1	Netherlands	H	Munich , Olympic Stadium	final	second world championship title first World Cup game against the Netherlands 100th World Cup goal for Germany by record scorer Gerd Müller as well as his 62nd and last international game and 14th World Cup goal (thus World Cup record goal scorer until June 27, 2006)
42	0June 1, 1978	0-0	Poland	*	Buenos Aires ( ARG ), El Monumental	1. Final round (opening game)
43	0June 6, 1978	6-0	Mexico	*	Córdoba ( ARG ), Estadio Córdoba	1. Final round	highest win and first World Cup game against Mexico
44	June 10, 1978	0-0	Tunisia	*	Córdoba ( ARG ), Estadio Córdoba	1. Final round	first international match and first World Cup match against Tunisia
45	June 14, 1978	0-0	Italy	*	Buenos Aires ( ARG ), El Monumental	2nd final round
46	June 18, 1978	2: 2	Netherlands	*	Córdoba ( ARG ), Estadio Córdoba	2nd final round
47	June 21, 1978	2: 3	Austria	*	Córdoba ( ARG ), Estadio Córdoba	2nd final round	Shame of Cordoba
48	June 16, 1982	1: 2	Algeria	*	Gijón ( ESP ), El Molinón	1. Final round	first World Cup game against Algeria
49	June 20, 1982	4: 1	Chile	*	Gijón ( ESP ), El Molinón	1. Final round	highest win against Chile
50	June 25, 1982	1-0	Austria	*	Gijón ( ESP ), El Molinón	1. Final round	Gijón Non-Aggression Pact
51	June 29, 1982	0-0	England	*	Madrid ( ESP ), Estadio Santiago Bernabéu	2nd final round
52	02nd July 1982	2: 1	Spain	A.	Madrid ( ESP ), Estadio Santiago Bernabéu	2nd final round
53	0July 8, 1982	3: 3 n. E.	France	*	Seville ( ESP ), Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán	Semifinals	Night of Seville
54	July 11, 1982	1: 3	Italy	*	Madrid ( ESP ), Estadio Santiago Bernabéu	final
55	04th June 1986	1: 1	Uruguay	*	Querétaro ( MEX ), Estadio La Corregidora	Preliminary round
56	0June 8, 1986	2: 1	Scotland	*	Querétaro ( MEX ), Estadio La Corregidora	Preliminary round	first World Cup game against Scotland
57	June 13, 1986	0: 2	Denmark	*	Querétaro ( MEX ), Estadio La Corregidora	Preliminary round	first World Cup game against Denmark
58	June 17, 1986	1-0	Morocco	*	Monterrey ( MEX ), Estadio Universitario	Round of 16
59	June 21, 1986	0: 0 n.V., 4: 1 i. E.	Mexico	A.	Monterrey ( MEX ), Estadio Universitario	Quarter finals
60	June 25, 1986	2-0	France	*	Guadalajara ( MEX ), Estadio Jalisco	Semifinals
61	June 29, 1986	2: 3	Argentina	*	Mexico City ( MEX ), Aztec Stadium	final	95th and last international match by Karl-Heinz Rummenigge
62	June 10, 1990	4: 1	Yugoslavia	*	Milan ( ITA ) San Siro	Preliminary round	last international match against (whole) Yugoslavia
63	June 15, 1990	5: 1	United Arab Emirates	*	Milan ( ITA ) San Siro	Preliminary round	first international match and first World Cup match against the United Arab Emirates
64	June 19, 1990	1: 1	Colombia	*	Milan ( ITA ) San Siro	Preliminary round	first international match and first World Cup match against Colombia
65	June 24, 1990	2: 1	Netherlands	*	Milan ( ITA ) San Siro	Round of 16
66	0July 1, 1990	1-0	Czechoslovakia	*	Milan ( ITA ) San Siro	Quarter finals
67	04th July 1990	1: 1 n.V., 4: 3 i. E.	England	*	Turin ( ITA ), Stadio delle Alpi	Semifinals
68	0July 8, 1990	1-0	Argentina	*	Rome ( ITA ), Stadio Olimpico	final	third world title 66th and last international game under team boss Franz Beckenbauer
69	June 17, 1994	1-0	Bolivia	*	Chicago ( USA ), Soldier Field	Opening game	first international match and first World Cup match against Bolivia
70	June 21, 1994	1: 1	Spain	*	Chicago ( USA ), Soldier Field	Preliminary round
71	June 27, 1994	3: 2	South Korea	*	Dallas ( USA ), Cotton Bowl	Preliminary round	first international match and first World Cup match against South Korea highest win against South Korea
72	02nd July 1994	3: 2	Belgium	*	Chicago ( USA ), Soldier Field	Round of 16
73	July 10, 1994	1: 2	Bulgaria	*	East Rutherford ( USA ), Giants Stadium	Quarter finals	90th and last international match by Rudi Völler
74	June 15, 1998	2-0	United States	*	Paris ( FRA ), Prinzenparkstadion	Preliminary round	first World Cup game against the USA
75	June 21, 1998	2: 2	BR Yugoslavia	*	Lens ( FRA ), Stade Félix Bollaert	Preliminary round	the only game against (remaining) Yugoslavia, is counted as a game against Yugoslavia according to the DFB
76	June 25, 1998	2-0	Iran	*	Montpellier ( FRA ), Stade de la Mosson	Preliminary round	first international match and first World Cup match against Iran
77	June 29, 1998	2: 1	Mexico	*	Montpellier ( FRA ), Stade de la Mosson	Round of 16
78	04th July 1998	0: 3	Croatia	*	Lyon ( FRA ), Stade Gerland	Quarter finals	first World Cup game and biggest defeat against Croatia 100th international match under national coach Berti Vogts ; 108th and last international match by Jürgen Klinsmann ; 105th and last international match by Jürgen Kohler ;
79	0June 1, 2002	8-0	Saudi Arabia	*	Sapporo ( JPN ), Sapporo Dome	Preliminary round	first World Cup game and highest win against Saudi Arabia; highest win in a World Cup game
80	0June 5, 2002	1: 1	Ireland	*	Kashima ( JPN ), Kashima Soccer Stadium	Preliminary round	first World Cup game against Ireland
81	June 11, 2002	2-0	Cameroon	*	Fukuroi ( JPN ), Shizuoka Ecopa Stadium	Preliminary round	first international match and first World Cup match against Cameroon
82	June 15, 2002	1-0	Paraguay	*	Seogwipo ( KOR ), Jeju World Cup Stadium	Round of 16	first international match and first World Cup match against Paraguay
83	June 21, 2002	1-0	United States	*	Ulsan ( KOR ), Ulsan Munsu football stadium	Quarter finals
84	June 25, 2002	1-0	South Korea	A.	Seoul ( KOR ), Seoul World Cup Stadium	Semifinals
85	June 30, 2002	0: 2	Brazil	*	Yokohama ( JPN ), International Stadium	final	first World Cup game against Brazil
86	0June 9, 2006	4: 2	Costa Rica	H	Munich , Allianz Arena	Opening game	first international match and first World Cup match against Costa Rica
87	June 14, 2006	1-0	Poland	H	Dortmund , Westfalenstadion	Preliminary round
88	June 20, 2006	3-0	Ecuador	H	Berlin , Olympic Stadium	Preliminary round	first international match and first World Cup match against Ecuador
89	June 24, 2006	2-0	Sweden	H	Munich , Allianz Arena	Round of 16
90	June 30, 2006	1: 1 a.d., 4: 2 in E.	Argentina	H	Berlin , Olympic Stadium	Quarter finals
91	04th July 2006	0: 2 a.d.	Italy	H	Dortmund , Westfalenstadion	Semifinals
92	0July 8, 2006	3: 1	Portugal	H	Stuttgart , Gottlieb Daimler Stadium	3rd place match	first World Cup game against Portugal 34th and last international match under national coach Jürgen Klinsmann ; 86th and last international match by Oliver Kahn
93	June 13, 2010	4-0	Australia	*	Durban ( RSA ), Moses Mabhida Stadium	Preliminary round	highest win against Australia
94	June 18, 2010	0: 1	Serbia	*	Port Elizabeth ( RSA ), Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium	Preliminary round	first and highest defeat and first World Cup game against Serbia
95	June 23, 2010	1-0	Ghana	*	Johannesburg ( RSA ), Soccer City	Preliminary round	first duel between two brothers at a soccer World Cup between Jérôme Boateng and Kevin-Prince Boateng, first World Cup game against Ghana
96	June 27, 2010	4: 1	England	*	Bloemfontein ( RSA ), Free State Stadium	Round of 16	highest victory against England; "Reversed Wembley goal ", highest World Cup defeat for England 50th international goal by Miroslav Klose
97	0July 3, 2010	4-0	Argentina	*	Cape Town ( RSA ), Green Point Stadium	Quarter finals	highest victory against Argentina; 100th international match by Miroslav Klose ; 200th World Cup goal by Thomas Müller and 14th World Cup goal by Miroslav Klose (setting of the German record by Gerd Müller)
98	0July 7, 2010	0: 1	Spain	*	Durban ( RSA ), Moses Mabhida Stadium	Semifinals
99	July 10, 2010	3: 2	Uruguay	*	Port Elizabeth ( RSA ), Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium	3rd place match
100	June 16, 2014	4-0	Portugal	*	Salvador da Bahia ( BRA ), Arena Fonte Nova	Preliminary round	100th game at a world championship
101	June 21, 2014	2: 2	Ghana	*	Fortaleza ( BRA ), Estádio Plácido Aderaldo Castelo	Preliminary round	Miroslav Klose sets Ronaldo's record with his 70th international and 15th World Cup goal ; 100th international match by Per Mertesacker
102	June 26, 2014	1-0	United States	*	Recife ( BRA ), Arena Pernambuco	Preliminary round
103	June 30, 2014	2: 1 a.d.	Algeria	*	Porto Alegre ( BRA ), Estádio Beira-Rio	Round of 16	First win against Algeria
104	04th July 2014	1-0	France	*	Rio de Janeiro ( BRA ), Estádio do Maracanã	Quarter finals
105	0July 8, 2014	7: 1	Brazil	A.	Belo Horizonte ( BRA ), Estádio Governador Magalhães Pinto	Semifinals	50th World Cup knockout game, highest win against Brazil, first win in Brazil against Brazil, highest home defeat for Brazil, highest defeat of a World Cup host, 16th World Cup goal by Miroslav Klose, 2000th goal for Germany by Thomas Müller , the first World Cup game in which two players (Klose and Müller) played who had scored 10 or more goals in World Cup tournaments, thanks to Toni Kroos' 4-0 , Germany as the second team (after Brazil) has a goal difference of +100 in World Cup games.
106	July 13, 2014	1: 0 a.d.	Argentina	*	Rio de Janeiro ( BRA ), Estádio do Maracanã	final	fourth world championship first European team becomes world champion in America 113th and last international game by Philipp Lahm 137th and last international game by Miroslav Klose 104th and last international game by Per Mertesacker
107	17th June 2018	0: 1	Mexico	*	Moscow ( RUS ), Luzhniki Stadium	Preliminary round
108	June 23, 2018	2: 1	Sweden	*	Sochi ( RUS ), Sochi Olympic Stadium	Preliminary round
109	June 27, 2018	0: 2	South Korea	*	Kazan ( RUS ), Kazan Arena	Preliminary round	First out in the preliminary round

Balance sheets

(As of June 27, 2018)

Balance against the other world champions at world championships

•  Argentina : 7 games (3 × finals, 2 × quarter-finals), 4 wins, 2 draws (1 win n.E.), 1 defeat, 12: 5 goals (4: 2 p.
•  England : 5 games (1 × final, 1 × semi-finals, 1 × quarter-finals, 1 × round of 16), 2 wins, 2 draws (1 win n.E.), 1 defeat, 10: 8 goals (4: 3 p .)
•  Italy : 5 games (1 × final, 2 × semi-finals, 1 × 2nd final round), 2 draws, 3 defeats, 4: 9 goals
•  Uruguay : 4 games (1 x quarter-finals, 2 x 3rd place), 3 wins, 1 draw, 9: 3 Goals
•  Spain : 4 games (1 × semi-finals). 2 wins, 1 draw, 1 loss, 5: 4 goals
•  France : 4 games (2 × semi-finals, 1 × 3rd place, 1 × quarter-finals), 2 wins, 1 draw (1 win i. E.), 1 loss, 9: 9 goals (5: 4 i. E.)
•  Brazil : 2 games (1 × final, 1 × semi-final), 1 win, 1 loss, 7-3 goals

Germany was the only world champion to play against the other world champions at least once in the semifinals (Brazil 2014, England 1990, France 1982 and 1986, Italy 1970 and 2006, Spain 2010), game for third place (France 1958, Uruguay 1970 and 2010) or final (Argentina 1986, 1990 and 2014, Brazil 2002, England 1966, Italy 1982).

Balance sheets against other teams at world championships with at least two games

•  Yugoslavia / BR Yugoslavia : 6 games (3 × quarter-finals and 1 × 2nd final round), 4 wins, 1 draw, 1 defeat, 11: 4 goals 
•  Sweden : 5 games (1 × semi-finals, 1 × 2nd final round of the best 8 teams, 1 × round of 16), 4 wins, 1 loss, 11: 7 goals
•  Austria : 4 games (1 × semi-finals, 1 × 3rd place, 1 × 2nd final round of the best 8 teams), 3 wins, 1 loss, 12: 6 goals
•  Mexico : 4 games (1 × quarter-finals, 1 × round of 16), 2 wins, 1 draw (1 win n.E.), 1 loss, 8-2 goals
•  Switzerland : 4 games (1 × round of 16), 2 wins, 1 draw, 1 defeat, 10: 6 goals
•  Chile : 3 games, 3 wins, 7-1 goals
•  United States : 3 games (1 × quarter-finals), 3 wins, 4-0 goals
•  Netherlands : 3 games (1 × final, 1 × 2nd final round, 1 × round of 16), 2 wins, 1 draw, 6-4 goals
•  Poland : 3 games (1 × 2nd final round of the best 8 teams), 2 wins, 1 draw, 2-0 goals
•  South Korea : 3 games (1 × semi-finals), 2 wins, 1 defeat, 4: 4 goals
•  Czechoslovakia : 3 games (1 × semi-finals, 1 × quarter-finals), 1 win, 1 draw, 1 defeat, 4-5 goals
•  Turkey : 2 games, 2 wins, 11-3 goals
•  Australia : 2 games, 2 wins, 7-0 goals
•  Portugal : 2 games (1 × 3rd place), 2 wins, 7: 1 goals
•  Belgium : 2 games (2 × round of 16), 2 wins, 8: 4 goals
•  Morocco : 2 games (1 × round of 16), 2 wins, 3-1 goals
•  Bulgaria : 2 games (1 × quarter-finals), 1 win, 1 defeat 6: 4 goals
•  Ghana : 2 games, 1 win, 1 loss, 3-2 goals
•  Algeria : 2 games (1 × round of 16), 1 win, 1 loss, 3: 3 goals
•  Hungary : 2 games (1 × final), 1 win, 1 loss, 6:10 goals

After Argentina, Yugoslavia is the most frequent opponent of the German team in World Cup tournaments, three times in a row in the quarter-finals - 1954 (2: 0), 1958 (1: 0) and 1962 (0: 1). This is followed by Sweden with five, Austria and Switzerland with 4 matches each.

Of the 24 teams that Germany played more than once, only against Australia, Belgium, Chile, Morocco, Portugal and Turkey without conceding points and only against Australia, Poland and the USA without conceding a goal.

In 1954 Germany played against Hungary and Turkey twice against the same opponent during the same tournament: after the preliminary round there was a playoff against Turkey and Hungary was played against the final opponent during the preliminary round.

Balance sheets against the World Cup hosts

•  Sweden : semi-finals 1958 - 1: 3
•  Chile : preliminary round 1962 - 2-0
•  England : Final 1966 - 2-4 a.s.l.
•  Spain : Intermediate round 1982 - 2-1
•  Mexico : quarter-finals 1986 - 4-1 i. E.
•  South Korea : Semifinals 2002 - 1-0
•  Brazil : Semi-finals 2014 - 7-1 (biggest loss for a World Cup host)

In 18 World Cup participations, Germany has met the respective World Cup hosts seven times, only once in the preliminary round. Only in the draws for the 1954, 1962 and 1970 tournaments was there a possibility that Germany would meet the hosts in the group stage, which only happened in 1962. While they were defeated by the hosts at the 1958 World Cup in Sweden in the semi-finals and in the 1966 in England in the final , Germany was able to prevail against the hosts five times: at the 1962 World Cup , hosts Chile were defeated in the preliminary round in the last group game, making the German team as Group winners reached the quarter-finals, but Chile also made it to the knockout round and ended up third, while Germany was eliminated in the quarter-finals. At the 1982 World Cup , hosts Spain were eliminated in the second round after a defeat against Germany, in 1986 in Mexico Germany won the quarter-finals against the hosts on penalties , in 2002 in Japan and South Korea Germany defeated co-hosts in South Korea in the semifinals and in 2014 sat in Brazil Germany beat the hosts again in the semi-finals .

As the host of the 1974 World Cup , Germany won the title , while in 2006 they were eliminated from eventual world champions Italy in the semi- finals and ultimately came third.

Records

(As of June 27, 2018)

team

• Germany and Brazil played the most World Cup games: 109 each
• Germany managed (together with Brazil / 1930–1958) the longest series with at least one goal per game: 1934–1958 and 1986–1998 18 games each
• Germany played the most knockout games: 51, of which 36 won (4 on penalties), 1 draw (game was then repeated)
• Germany and Italy played the most overtime games: 11 each
• Germany and Argentina won the most penalty shootouts: 4 out of 4 and 4 out of 5, respectively
• Germany became the first country to become world champions for the first and second time in the country of another world champion: in Italy in 1990 and in Brazil in 2014.
• Germany became the first European team to become world champions on the American continent: 2014
• Germany became the first reigning European champion to become world champion: 1974
• Germany became the first world champions to win an official opening game: in 1994 1-0 against Bolivia .
• Germany was most frequently among the top eight teams (17 out of 19 = 89%)
• Germany was most often in the semi-finals or among the top four teams (13 times)
• Germany was the first team to reach the semi-finals four times in a row (2002-2014)
• Germany was most often in the final (8 ×)
• Germany came second and third most frequently (4 × each)
• Germany was the only team in all the decades in which world championships were held (1930s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and 2010s) at least once in the semi-finals and reached at least 3rd place.
• The most frequent pairing in the final: Germany - Argentina (3 ×: 1986, 1990 and 2014)
• Most frequent pairing in the game for 3rd place: Germany - Uruguay (2 ×)
• The most common semi-final pairings (each 2 ×) were Germany against France and Germany against Italy.
• The most common quarter-final pairing was Germany against Yugoslavia (3 ×)
• The game between Germany and Italy in 1962 (preliminary round) was the first and the game between Germany and Uruguay in 1966 (quarter-finals) was the second game between two former world champions at a World Cup. Since the game ended in a draw in 1962, the 4-0 win in 1966 was the first victory of a former world champion against a former world champion at a World Cup.
• Germany was the first team to reach the finals 3 times in a row: 1982, 1986, 1990
• Germany was the first European team and so far the only European team to win a World Cup final against a South American team in a neutral position: 1990 against Argentina in Rome ( Italy )
• Germany became the first European team to win a World Cup final in South America against a South American team: against Argentina in Rio de Janeiro in 2014.
• Biggest win against a World Cup host and biggest win in a semi-final: 7-1 against Brazil in 2014
• Germany eliminated the hosts most often (4 ×): 1982 Spain in the second final round, 1986 Mexico in the quarter-finals, 2002 South Korea and 2014 Brazil in the semi-finals
• Most goals in the shortest time: 4 goals in 6 minutes in a 7-1 win against Brazil (2014)
• The highest wins in four tournaments:
  • 1966: Germany - Switzerland 5-0 preliminary round (also with the 4-0 win against Uruguay in the quarter-finals, the second highest victory)
  • 1978: Germany - Mexico 6-0 preliminary round (in the second round also Argentina - Peru 6-0)
  • 2002: Germany 8-0 Saudi Arabia (preliminary round)
  • 2014: Germany 7-1 Brazil (semi-finals)
• Most goals in four tournaments, being the only team two and three times in a row:
  • 1990: 15
  • 2006: 14
  • 2010: 16
  • 2014: 18
• Germany scored eight times (1934, 1954, 1966, 1990, 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014) four or more goals in opening games. Brazil (1938, 1950, 1954 and 1970) and Hungary (1934, 1938, 1954 and 1982) only managed to do this 4 ×.
• Germany is the second team with a goal difference of +100 in World Cup games. This was achieved on July 8, 2014 with the meanwhile 4-0 in the 7-1 semi-final victory over Brazil. The goal difference is now +104. Only after beating Hungary 3: 8 in the first round match in 1954 did Germany have a negative goal difference (−1). The first team with a goal difference of +100 is Brazil, which reached this mark on June 4, 2002 with the 4-0 final score against China, before the semi-finals in 2014 it was +128 and now at 124. The next team Italy has one Goal difference of +51.
• Germany is the first country to win the FIFA World Cup trophy , which has been awarded since 1974, for the third time. Unlike the Coupe Jules Rimet , which went to Brazil's first three-time winner in 1970, the FIFA World Cup trophy remains permanently in the possession of FIFA.
• Fewest defeats in qualifying matches: 2 (no defeat away from home)

player

• Most World Cup goals: Miroslav Klose - 16 out of 4 tournaments
• The first player to score a "flawless" hat trick at a World Cup: Edmund Conen on May 27, 1934 in the game against Belgium , final score 5: 2
• Only player with at least four goals each in three world championships: Miroslav Klose : 2002 (5), 2006 (5), 2010 (4)
• First player to score at least three goals each in three world championships: Jürgen Klinsmann: 1990 (3), 1994 (5), 1998 (3)
• First player with at least one and only player with at least two goals each at four world championships: Uwe Seeler : 1958 (2), 1962 (2), 1966 (2) and 1970 (3) and Miroslav Klose : 2002 (5), 2006 (5), 2010 (4), 2014 (2)
• Most players with at least 10 World Cup goals: Miroslav Klose (16), Gerd Müller (14), Jürgen Klinsmann (11), Helmut Rahn (10), Thomas Müller (10)
• Most players with at least 4 World Cup goals: 19
• Thomas Müller is the first World Cup top scorer to score 5 goals in the next World Cup.
• Most knockout games: Miroslav Klose: 14 (2002–2014)
• Most wins (excluding wins in penalty shootouts): Miroslav Klose 17 (as of July 15, 2018)
• Most participations in World Cup tournaments: Lothar Matthäus (1982–1998), Antonio Carbajal and Rafael Márquez (both Mexico, 1950–1966 and 2002–2018) and Gianluigi Buffon (Italy, 1998–2014) 5 each
• Most World Cup games: Lothar Matthäus - 25
• The only player to have reached the semi-finals four times: Miroslav Klose (2002, 2006, 2010, 2014)
• Most headed goals in a World Cup tournament: Miroslav Klose - 5 out of 5 goals from headers in 7 matches at the 2002 World Cup.
• Three German players score three goals in opening games:
  • Edmund Conen ( 1934 )
  • Miroslav Klose ( 2002 )
  • Thomas Müller (2014)
• Two German players scored World Cup anniversary goals:
  • 400th goal: Max Morlock - the 6: 1 at 7: 2 in the playoff against Turkey on June 23, 1954
  • 800th goal: Gerd Müller - the 5: 1 in the 5: 2 against Bulgaria in the preliminary round on June 7, 1970
• Germany is the first team to have played four players with more than 100 international matches in a World Cup final: 2014 - Miroslav Klose (137th and last game), Philipp Lahm (113th and last game), Bastian Schweinsteiger (108th) and Per Mertesacker (104th and last game, substituted on in the 120th minute)

Trainer

• Most coaching games: 25, Helmut Schön (1966–1978).
• Most wins as a coach: 16, Helmut Schön
• German coaches played 139 World Cup games, all 109 of which were for the German team on the sidelines. Only Brazilian coaches play more World Cup games (158).

Negative records

• Most total goals conceded: 125
• Most goals conceded in two tournaments:
  • 1934: 08 in 4 games
  • 1970: 10 in 6 games
• Most defeats in knockout games (including decision-making and placement games, as of July 15, 2018): 14, including 3 times in overtime
• Most cautions in a tournament: 1966 - 4 in 6 games

Highest victories and defeats

The German team achieved their highest victories (including three at the 2010 World Cup and three at the 2014 World Cup) against the following countries in World Cup tournaments:

•  Algeria : Round of 16 2014 - 2-1 (first win against Algeria after two defeats)
•  Argentina : quarter-finals 2010 - 4-0 (biggest defeat for Argentina in a knockout round)
•  Australia : preliminary round 2010 - 4-0 (biggest World Cup defeat for Australia)
•  Bolivia : Preliminary round 1994 - 1-0 (only game so far)
•  Brazil : Semi-finals 2014 - 7-1 (one of the two biggest defeats for Brazil, biggest loss for a World Cup host)
•  Chile : preliminary round 1982 - 4-1 (one of the two biggest World Cup defeats for Chile)
•  Costa Rica : Preliminary round 2006 - 4-2 (only game so far)
•  Ecuador : Preliminary round 2006 - 3-0 (first game against Ecuador, highest World Cup defeat for Ecuador)
•  England : Round of 16 2010 - 4-1 (highest World Cup defeat for England)
•  Iran : Preliminary round 1998 - 2: 0 (also a friendly game with identical result)
•  Mexico : preliminary round 1978 - 6-0 (highest World Cup defeat for Mexico)
•  Austria : semi-finals 1954 - 6: 1 (highest World Cup defeat for Austria)
•  Paraguay : Round of 16 2002 - 1-0 (first game against Paraguay)
•  Peru : Preliminary round 1970 - 3-1 (first game against Peru)
•  Portugal : preliminary round 2014 - 4-0 (biggest World Cup defeat for Portugal)
•  Saudi Arabia : preliminary round 2002 - 8: 0 (highest German World Cup victory, highest World Cup defeat for Saudi Arabia)
•  South Korea : preliminary round 1994 - 3-2 and semi-finals 2002 - 1-0
•  Turkey : preliminary round 1954, play-off - 7-2 (highest World Cup defeat for Turkey)

The German team suffered their biggest defeats at World Cup tournaments against the following countries. Against all of them it's the only defeat at a World Cup. After two of these defeats (1954 and 1974) Germany became world champions.

•  German Democratic Republic : preliminary round 1974 - 0: 1 (only game against the GDR)
•  France : Match for 3rd place 1958 - 3: 6 (Germany's only defeat in a match for 3rd place)
•  Croatia : quarter-finals 1998 - 3-0 (up to 2014 highest World Cup victory for Croatia, highest defeat for Germany in a quarter-finals)
•  Serbia : Preliminary round 2010 - 0: 1 (only defeat against Serbia, only World Cup victory for Serbia)
•  South Korea : Preliminary round 2018 - 2-0 (also a 3-1 defeat in a friendly)
•  Czechoslovakia : semi-finals 1934 - 1: 3 (first defeat in a World Cup, only defeat in a World Cup against Czechoslovakia)
•  Hungary : preliminary round 1954 - 3: 8 (highest German World Cup defeat, only defeat in the group stage until 1974)

Discography

Since the soccer World Cup in the Federal Republic of Germany in 1974 up to and including 1994, the national team recorded "World Cup songs" with well-known producers and musicians.

→ Main article : German national soccer team / discography

See also

• German national soccer team at European championships
• German national soccer team at the Olympic Games
• German national soccer team for women / world championships

Web links

• Football World - Statistics - Germany on fifa.com
• 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia ™: Milestones and Superlatives (PDF; 7 MB)

References and footnotes

1. ↑ Won four games on penalties .
2. ↑ From 1974 to 2006 Gerd Müller was the record scorer in the World Cup .
3. ↑ The placements from 5th place onwards (given in brackets) were determined by FIFA without any placement games. See: All-time FIFA World Cup Ranking 1930–2014 (PDF; 195 kB; English).
4. ↑ Five Reichsmarks and a glass of orange juice per day. In: dfb.de. German Football Association , February 13, 2014, accessed on June 8, 2014 . 
5. ↑ dfb.de: Conen's record in the very first World Cup game
6. ↑ dfb.de: "World Cup Series: Germany - Sweden 1934"
7. ↑ dfb.de: "World Cup Series: Germany - Czechoslovakia in the semi-finals 1934"
8. ↑ dfb.de: "1934: The fastest German goal in World Cup history"
9. ↑ Germany - Luxembourg 2-1
10. ↑ ^{a b} dfb.de: "1938: First expulsion in German World Cup history"
11. ↑ ^{a b} dfb.de: "1938: World Cup out in the repeat game"
12. ↑ dfb.de: "1954: The beginning of the miracle of Bern"
13. ↑ dfb.de: "3: 8 against Hungary: Herberger's big bluff"
14. ↑ dfb.de: "7: 2 against Turkey: With a bang in the quarter-finals"
15. ↑ dfb.de: "Quarter-finals against Yugoslavia: Toni Turek's big day"
16. ↑ dfb.de: "6: 1 against Austria: Walter Festival in the semifinals 1954"
17. ↑ dfb.de: "Finale 1954: The Miracle of Bern"
18. ↑ dfb.de: "WM 1958: Uwe Seeler enters the world stage"
19. ↑ youtube.com: 1958 (June 8) West Germany 3-Argentina 1 (World Cup)
20. ↑ dfb.de: "2: 2 against Czechoslovakia: Final hero Rahn saves the draw"
21. ↑ dfb.de: "2: 2 against Northern Ireland: back behind again, not lost again"
22. ↑ dfb.de: "World Cup 1958: And again a quarter-final victory against Yugoslavia"
23. ↑ ^{a b} dfb.de: "WM 1958: semi-final drama against Sweden"
24. ↑ dfb.de: "1958: nine-goal spectacle against France"
25. ↑ dfb.de: 0-0 against Italy: Herberger plan works
26. ↑ "World Cup 1962: Germany's hard-won 2: 1 against Switzerland"
27. ↑ dfb.de: "1962: With a victory against Chile in the quarter-finals"
28. ↑ youtube.com: “World Cup quarter-finals 1962 Germany-Yugoslavia 0-1; Quarter-final 1962 "
29. ↑ dfb.de: Third quarter-finals against Yugoslavia in a row, first out
30. ↑ dfb.de: "WM 1966:" The fabulous Franz ""
31. ↑ dfb.de: "WM 1966: The Invention of the Yellow and Red Card"
32. ↑ dfb.de: "World Cup 1966: Emmerich's dream goal against Spain"
33. ↑ dfb.de: "WM 1966: With a lot of toughness into the semifinals"
34. ↑ dfb.de: "WM 1966: The jump to Wembley"
35. ↑ dfb.de: "World Cup 1970: Laborious start against Morocco"
36. ↑ dfb.de: "World Cup 1970: Dream football after a tremor"
37. ↑ dfb.de: "3: 1 against Peru: Müller hits with right, left and the head"
38. ^ All international matches by Helmut Haller
39. ↑ dfb.de: "Victory against England: Revenge for Wembley"
40. ↑ dfb.de: "3: 4 against Italy:" The game of the century ""
41. ↑ dfb.de: "WM 1970: Overath secures third place"
42. ^ All international matches by Horst Wolter
43. ^ All of Max Lorenz's international matches
44. ↑ dfb.de: "1974: Bumpy start in home World Cup"
45. ↑ dfb.de: "3-0 against Australia: It mulls again"
46. ↑ dfb.de: "1974: Historic defeat against the GDR"
47. ↑ dfb.de: "GDR game checked off: With a win against Yugoslavia in the final round"
48. ↑ dfb.de: "World Cup 1974: Spectacle against Sweden"
49. ↑ dfb.de: "Water battle against Poland: Thanks to Müller in the 1974 World Cup final"
50. ↑ ^{a b} dfb.de: "Müller does it: World Champion at the home World Cup"
51. ↑ dfb.de: "WM 1978: The Shame of Cordoba"
52. ↑ dfb.de: "World Cup 1978: Maier keeps the zero at the beginning"
53. ↑ dfb.de: "0-0 against Tunisia: Nice and the" powerlessness on the bench ""
54. ↑ dfb.de: "6-0 against Mexico: The good game in Cordoba"
55. ↑ dfb.de: "Against Italy: Fourth World Cup game, third 0-0"
56. ↑ dfb.de: "2: 2 against the Netherlands: Fourth draw in the fifth game"
57. ↑ ^{a b} dfb.de: "WM 1982: Algeria shock at the beginning"
58. ↑ dfb.de: "WM 1982:" Rummenigge and ten robots ""
59. ↑ dfb.de: "Victory against Austria: No reason to be happy"
60. ↑ dfb.de: "0-0 against England: Fears about the semi-finals"
61. ↑ dfb.de: "2: 1 against Spain: Waiting for the semi-finals"
62. ↑ ^{a b} dfb.de: "5: 4 vs. France: The "Thriller of Seville" "
63. ↑ dfb.de: No chance in the World Cup final against Italy
64. ↑ dfb.de:Allofs saves the opening draw against Uruguay
65. ↑ dfb.de: 2-1 against Scotland: Victory after falling behind
66. ↑ dfb.de: "Friday the 13th: defeat against Denmark"
67. ↑ dfb.de: "" Hell of the North ": Matthew's free kick to victory"
68. ↑ ^{a b} dfb.de: "World Cup 1986: Schumacher's Gala against Mexico"
69. ↑ dfb.de: "1986: Again over France into the final"
70. ↑ dfb.de: "Final defeat against Argentina: Maradona crowns Magic World Cup"
71. ↑ dfb.de: Matthäus-Gala in the "Milan Scala"
72. ↑ ^{a b} dfb.de: “5: 1! It's raining goals against the Emirates "
73. ↑ dfb.de: "World Cup 1990: A damper at the right time"
74. ↑ dfb.de: "World Cup 1990: Klinsmann's magical evening against the Netherlands"
75. ↑ dfb.de: "World Cup 1990: A Matthew penalty is enough for the semifinals"
76. ↑ youtube.com: ARD review World Cup 1990 Italy part 5
77. ↑ dfb.de: "World Cup 1990: Legendary duel against England"
78. ↑ dfb.de: "World Cup 1990: Penalty. Brehme. World Champion."
79. ↑ Men's world rankings on June 14, 1994
80. ↑ "World Cup 1994: Lucky Gate in Heated Battle"
81. ↑ dfb.de: "World Cup 1994:" Germany is Klinsmann ""
82. ↑ dfb.de: "Against South Korea 1994: trembling game after 3: 0"
83. ↑ dfb.de: "World Cup 1994:" Völler mit dem Böller ""
84. ↑ dfb.de: "Against Bulgaria 1994:" Catapulted out within ten minutes ""
85. ↑ Men's world rankings July 21, 1994
86. ↑ dfb.de: "World Cup 1998: Perfect tournament start thanks to Möller and Klinsmann"
87. ↑ dfb.de: "Yugoslavia game in Lens: When football becomes a minor matter"
88. ↑ dfb.de: "World Cup 1998: Via Iran to group victory"
89. ↑ dfb.de: Against Mexico: "Bad start, good end"
90. ↑ ^{a b} dfb.de: Red for Wörns and quarter-final against Croatia
91. ↑ dfb.de: "World Cup 2002: Klose Show against Saudi Arabia"
92. ↑ dfb.de: "Last minute goal for Ireland: Keane shocks Kahn and Co."
93. ↑ ^{a b} dfb.de: "WM 2002: Outnumbered in the second round"
94. ↑ dfb.de: "1-0 against Paraguay: Neuville's first big World Cup moment"
95. ↑ dfb.de: "World Cup 2002: Thanks to Ballack in the semi-finals"
96. ↑ ^{a b c} dfb.de :: "Entry into the finals thanks to Ballack: The tragic hero"
97. ↑ dfb.de: "Final defeat against Brazil 2002: Drama about" Titan "Kahn"
98. ↑ dfb.de: "4: 2 against Costa Rica: The" Summer Tale 2006 "begins"
99. ↑ dfb.de: Neuville is causing the football nation to explode
100. ↑ "dfb.de: Home World Cup 2006: Perfect Group Phase"
101. ↑ dfb.de: "2-0 against Sweden: Assists Klose, Tore Podolski - quarter finals"
102. ↑ dfb.de: Lehmann and the famous note
103. ↑ dfb.de: Italy ends dream of the home title
104. ↑ dfb.de. "Third at the home World Cup: Kahn hext, Schweinsteiger meets"
105. ↑ dfb.de: "WM 2010: Young team with a great start"
106. ↑ ^{a b} dfb.de: "WM 2010: Poldi forgives, DFB team loses"
107. ↑ dfb.de: "1-0 against Ghana: Thanks to Özil into the last sixteen"
108. ↑ dfb.de: "WM 2010: The Revenge for Wembley"
109. ↑ dfb.de: "WM 2010: When even Arne met Friedrich"
110. ↑ dfb.de: "WM 2010: Puyol's goal destroys title dream"
111. ↑ dfb.de: Bronze at the 2010 World Cup, but the future shimmers golden
112. ↑ dfb.de: "4-0 against Portugal: dream start on the way to the title"
113. ↑ dfb.de: Record scorer Klose saves draw against Ghana
114. ↑ dfb.de: Löw wins coach duel with Klinsmann
115. ↑ dfb.de: "Round of 16 against Algeria: With fighting spirit and new to victory"
116. ↑ dfb.de: "World Cup 2014: Hummels' golden header"
117. ↑ dfb.de: "World Cup 2014: Historic 7: 1 against Brazil"
118. ↑ dfb.de: Germany gets the fourth star
119. ↑ Klose ends his career in the national team. In: dfb.de. German Football Association , August 11, 2014, accessed on August 19, 2014 . 
120. ↑ ^{a b} The pairing Germany - Argentina is (next to Sweden - Brazil) the most common pairing at world championships.
121. ↑ In many statistics, the games against Yugoslavia are now attributed to Serbia, which means that the preliminary round defeat at the 2010 World Cup is added and there are then seven games.
122. ↑ 1974 (and 1978) there was no semi-finals, but a second group game round. The 1974 game against Poland de facto decided on the final, but was not a semi-final game.
123. ↑ Brazil was only 6 times in a final, with 5 titles and in 1998 as a loser. The 1950 defeat against Uruguay was the final group game that would decide the title, but not a final.