German-Italian football rivalry

Sepp Maier (left) and Dino Zoff (right) were outstanding national goalkeepers who belonged to the absolute top of the world and were each world champion once (Maier 1974 and Zoff 1982).

The German-Italian soccer rivalry developed mainly due to the fact that both nations make up the leading national soccer teams in Europe. With four World Cup titles each, they have only one success less than record world champions Brazil , who have been successful five times. All other European world champions could only win the world title once ( England 1966 and Spain 2010) or twice ( France 1998 and 2018 ). Therefore, Italy's long-time national goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon described the encounter between Germany and Italy as the “ Derby of Europe”.

Italy was successful for the first time at the soccer World Cup held in its own country in 1934 and was able to successfully defend the title in 1938 . The other successes came in 1982 and 2006 .

Germany won its first title through the miracle of Bern at the 1954 World Cup . The second success, by which the German team at the time equaling the first time for titles with the Italians succeeded in in their own country discharged 1974 FIFA World Cup . In the further successes ( 1990 and 2014 ) the Germans again drew level with the previously successful Italians in terms of the number of World Cup titles they won. From 1990 to 1994 both nations were record world champions together with Brazil; an honor that the Italians held from 1934 to 1970.

It is interesting to note that Italy (1934) and Germany (1974) each used their home advantage and won the title at the World Cup held in their own country, but surrendered the title to their rivals at the second World Cup held in their own country had to. In 1990 Germany was successful in Italy (after Italy had previously lost to Argentina in the semi-finals ) and in 2006 Italy won the title in Germany, with the Azzurri beating the hosts in the semi-finals.

International game history

On May 31, 1962, the two senior national teams of the Italian Football Association and the German Football Association met for the first time in a competitive match in group B of the 1962 World Cup . The game ended goalless, but in the end Germany moved into the final round as group winners, while Italy was eliminated early as third in the group.

Commemorative plaque for the game of the century on June 17, 1970

Their next competitive match took place on June 17, 1970 in the semi-finals of the 1970 World Cup and led to the first high point in the history of the rivalry. Of the previous 13 matches, Germany could only win two games. The Italians were successful eight times and three games ended in a draw. Also in the meeting at the Aztec stadium of Mexico City it looked for a rather unspectacular 1: 0 win the Azzurri out by an early goal from since the eighth minute , Roberto Boninsegna were in the lead. But in stoppage time of the second half, shortly before the actual final whistle, Karl-Heinz Schnellinger was able to equalize with his only international goal. In the subsequent extra time , events rolled over, making the game go down in history in both countries and in Mexico as the game of the century . It ended with a 4-3 win for the Italians, who - weakened accordingly by the long and dramatic season - were clearly defeated 4-1 by Brazil in the final.

After another 0-0 in an intermediate round match at the 1978 World Cup , in which the Azzurri finished fourth and the German team was eliminated in the second round due to the shame of Cordoba , both teams met in the 1982 World Cup final on each other, where the Italians could clearly prevail 3-1.

In 1988 , both teams met for the first time in a preliminary round game of a European football championship . The opening game of Group 1 ended 1: 1, and in the end both teams qualified tied for the final round. There Germany was subject to the Netherlands and Italy to the Soviet Union .

Eight years later , the two teams met again in the preliminary round of a European Championship. The German team could not win this competitive game either, but decided in their favor, as the 0-0 win helped them to win the group (on the way to the later tournament victory) and Italy gave them an early elimination.

Ten years later, the Azzurri took revenge. In the semi-finals of the Football World Cup 2006 on July 4, 2006 in the Westfalenstadion after 118 minutes in an even game with many chances it was still goalless before two late goals by Fabio Grosso and Alessandro Del Piero the Italians a 2-0 win and the associated final.

Germany also lost to the Italians in the semi-finals of the 2012 European Football Championship . After two quick hits from Mario Balotelli in the first half, the German team only managed to hit the connection in the second minute of stoppage time with a penalty from Mesut Özil . Until then, the German team could not win any of its eight competitive games against the Italians, who are therefore Germany's number one opponent.

In the quarter-finals of the European Football Championship 2016 , Germany prevailed for the first time in a knockout game against Italy. After the score was 1: 1 after 90 minutes and overtime remained goalless, Germany prevailed 6-5 on penalties, which lasted nine rounds and was characterized by seven unsuccessful attempts.

All international matches at a glance

Games of the German national team against Italy

In the 35 games played so far, the German national team has won nine games. 11 games ended in a draw and 15 were won by Italy.

No.	date	Result	opponent		venue	occasion	Remarks
01	0Jan. 1, 1923	1: 3	Italy	A.	Milan ( ITA ), Campo di Viale Lombardia		first international match and at the same time first defeat against Italy
02	Nov 23, 1924	0: 1	Italy	H	Duisburg , Wedaustadion
03	Apr 28, 1929	2: 1	Italy	A.	Turin ( ITA ), Stadio Filadelfia		First win against Italy Heinrich Stuhlfauth becomes the record national player with his 19th international match (previously Eugen Kipp , who has held the record several times since 1910), the first radio broadcast of a German international match
04th	02nd Mar 1930	0: 2	Italy	H	Frankfurt am Main , Waldstadion
05	0Jan. 1, 1933	1: 3	Italy	A.	Bologna ( ITA ), Stadio Littoriale
06th	Nov 15, 1936	2: 2	Italy	H	Berlin , Olympic Stadium		first game in front of at least 100,000 spectators
07th	26th Mar 1939	2: 3	Italy	A.	Florence ( ITA ), Stadio Giovanni Berta
08th	Nov 26, 1939	5: 2	Italy	H	Berlin , Olympic Stadium		first win against a reigning world champion highest win against Italy
09	0May 5, 1940	2: 3	Italy	A.	Milan ( ITA ), San Siro
10	30th Mar 1955	1: 2	Italy	H	Stuttgart , Neckar Stadium
11	Dec 18, 1955	1: 2	Italy	A.	Rome ( ITA ), Stadio dei Centomila
12	May 31, 1962	0-0	Italy	*	Santiago de Chile ( CHI ), National Stadium	World Cup 1962 preliminary round	first World Cup game between two former world champions, first World Cup game against Italy
13	13 Mar 1965	1: 1	Italy	H	Hamburg , Volksparkstadion
14th	17th June 1970	3: 4 a.d.	Italy	*	Mexico City ( MEX ), Aztec Stadium	World Cup 1970 semi-finals	The "Century Game"
15th	Feb. 26, 1974	0-0	Italy	A.	Rome ( ITA ), Stadio Olimpico
16	0Oct 8, 1977	2: 1	Italy	H	Berlin , Olympic Stadium
17th	June 14, 1978	0-0	Italy	*	Buenos Aires ( ARG ), El Monumental	World Cup 1978 intermediate round
18th	July 11, 1982	1: 3	Italy	*	Madrid ( ESP ), Estadio Santiago Bernabéu	World Cup 1982 final
19th	May 22, 1984	1-0	Italy	*	Zurich ( SUI ), Letzigrund		Anniversary game "80 years of FIFA "
20th	0Feb. 5, 1986	2: 1	Italy	A.	Avellino ( ITA ), Stadio Partenio
21st	Apr 18, 1987	0-0	Italy	H	Cologne , Müngersdorfer Stadium
22nd	June 10, 1988	1: 1	Italy	H	Düsseldorf , Rheinstadion	EM 1988 preliminary round
23	25th Mar 1992	0: 1	Italy	A.	Turin ( ITA ), Stadio delle Alpi
24	23 Mar 1994	2: 1	Italy	H	Stuttgart , Gottlieb Daimler Stadium
25th	June 21, 1995	2-0	Italy	*	Zurich ( SUI ), Letzigrund		200th game without conceding a goal
26th	June 19, 1996	0-0	Italy	*	Manchester ( ENG ), Old Trafford	Euro 1996 preliminary round
27	Aug 20, 2003	0: 1	Italy	H	Stuttgart , Gottlieb Daimler Stadium
28	01st Mar 2006	1: 4	Italy	A.	Florence ( ITA ), Stadio Artemio Franchi		highest defeat against Italy
29	04th July 2006	0: 2 a.d.	Italy	H	Dortmund , Westfalenstadion	World Cup 2006 semifinals
30th	0Feb 9, 2011	1: 1	Italy	H	Dortmund , Westfalenstadion
31	June 28, 2012	1: 2	Italy	*	Warsaw ( POL ), Narodowy Stadium	Euro 2012 semi-finals
32	Nov 15, 2013	1: 1	Italy	A.	Milan ( ITA ), Stadio Giuseppe Meazza		100th international match under national coach Joachim Löw
33	29 Mar 2016	4: 1	Italy	H	Munich , Allianz Arena		Germany's first victory in more than 20 years and highest victory since 1939
34	02nd July 2016	7: 6 n.e.	Italy	*	Bordeaux , Stade Matmut-Atlantique	Euro 2016 quarter-finals	Germany's first victory in a competitive game against Italy
35	Nov 15, 2016	0-0	Italy	A.	Milan , Stadio Giuseppe Meazza		First use of a video referee in an international match for the national team

Games of the GDR selection against Italy

While the West and all-German selection shows a negative balance against Italy, the balance between the GDR and Italy is balanced. Both teams won once of four games, the other two games ended in a draw.

No.	date	Result	opponent		venue	occasion	comment
1	29 Mar 1969	2: 2	Italy	H	Berlin , Walter Ulbricht Stadium	World Cup 1970 qualification	First game against Italy
2	Nov 22, 1969	0: 3	Italy	A.	Naples ( ITA ), Stadio San Paolo	World Cup 1970 qualification
3	Apr 19, 1981	0-0	Italy	A.	Udine ( ITA ), Friuli Stadium
4th	Apr 14, 1982	1-0	Italy	H	Leipzig , central stadium

Legend

This section serves as a legend for the preceding tables.

• A = away game
• H = home game
• * = Play on a neutral place
• WM = World Championship
• EM = European Championship
• n / a = after extension
• green background color = victory of the German team
• yellow background color = tie
• red background color = defeat of the German team

Web links

• The results of all international matches between Germany and Italy on RSSSF
• The results of the soccer world championships at RSSSF
• The results of the European Football Championships at RSSSF

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Lars Wallrodt, Oliver Birkner: Germany has left its eternal rival Italy behind . Welt Online , February 9, 2011
2. ↑ Lukas Heimbach: Italy versus Germany: Against the old rival complex . fussballtransfers.com, November 15, 2013
3. ↑ Alberto Polverosi: Buffon: Italia-Germania è il derby d'Europa ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Corriere dello Sport , November 14, 2013 (Italian)