Soccer in Germany
Football isby far the most popular sport in Germany . Six and a half million people (over eight percent of the population) are members of one of the more than 27,000 football clubs. There is a league system , at the top of which are the Bundesliga founded in 1963, the 2nd Bundesliga introduced in 1974and, since the 2008/09 season, the single-track 3rd division for men. In the Bundesliga is German champion determined. There are also national tournaments such as the DFB Cup .
historical overview
The beginning in the 19th century
The sport of football came to Germany from the British Isles in 1873, ten years after the FA ( The Football Association ) was founded, and was initially played mainly by high school students. At that time, doing sport was a privilege of the noble people, and sport in the gymnastics and sports clubs primarily understood gymnastics in groups with the aim of harmony and discipline. The competitive sport of football, in which the individual performance of an athlete is also in the foreground, was in stark contrast to these ideals, it was called "louting" or "English disease" and its practice was initially banned in clubs almost everywhere.
Konrad Koch , a progressive German and classical language teacher at the Martino-Katharineum grammar school in Braunschweig , was the first to succeed in dispelling the reservations about football. For the most part, a football game played by students from the Martino-Katharineum in the autumn of 1874 under the direction of Koch and his colleague August Hermann, who brought his colleague Koch the first ball from the English islands to Braunschweig, is regarded as the first of its kind on German soil. In 1875, Koch presented the first set of soccer rules for this game, which was new in Germany, and in the same year founded Germany's first soccer club at his school . Until 1893, however, the set of rules was based on the variant known today as rugby .
Other sources that say that the first soccer game on German soil took place in Dresden in April 1874 have proven to be outdated. According to a report in the Leipziger Zeitung of April 1874, the English founded a football club Dresden English Football Club there. They met regularly on Saturdays in front of the entrance to the Great Garden, very close to today's Rudolf Harbig Stadium, and staged the game, which at the time seemed strange to most spectators. However, rugby was played in Dresden. This comes from an English source which emphasizes that the Dresden Football Club was founded in October 1873 and played according to rugby rules. The currently oldest evidence of football in today's sense ( association football ) comes from Lüneburg. There the teacher Wilhelm Görges and the Australian native Richard EN Twopenny introduced the game at the local Johanneum in August 1875. Several games are documented, the first one was also reported in the Lüneburgsche Anzeiger in September 1875. The club founded at the Johanneum only existed for a short time and was then forgotten.
The number of soccer players, who initially still had to overcome some resistance, has grown steadily since then. In the course of the 1880s , the first clubs were founded in Berlin , Hamburg and Karlsruhe . During this time Berlin was a center of the German soccer game. The BFC Germania 1888 from Berlin-Tempelhof was founded there in 1888 . Today it is the oldest still existing football club in Germany. The Association of German Football Players was also founded in Berlin in 1890 , and the South German Football Union was launched in southern Germany in 1893 . At that point in time, the two associations were almost united; However, the Berliners demanded that Berlin should become the permanent seat of the new association, which was rejected by the southern Germans.
Between 1898 and 1901, seven games organized by Walther Bensemann were played by German national teams against French and English teams, which are known as the original international matches . Since they were played before a generally recognized national sports federation was established, they are not recognized as official international matches. Only on January 28, 1900, with the founding meeting of the German Football Association in Leipzig, a nationwide umbrella organization was formed, which the regional associations gradually joined.
First championship rounds and international matches
After the founding of the German Football Association, the first final round of the German championship , won by VfB Leipzig , was held in 1903 . With VfB Leipzig and others such as Britannia Berlin , Karlsruher FV , Karlsruher FC Phönix , BFC Viktoria 1889 , Duisburger SpV and Holstein Kiel , the first big teams grew up. On April 5, 1908, the first official international match took place. Against the Swiss national team there was a 3-5 defeat in Basel . In the early years, the German national team was not very successful. Until the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, the DFB team played thirty games, of which only six were won. One of these six games won took place during the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm - Germany beat Russia 16-0 on July 1, 1912 . To date, this is the highest victory of the German national soccer team. Gottfried Fuchs scored a total of ten goals in this game - this world record lasted until 2001.
The first international match after the war on June 27, 1920 in Zurich against Switzerland was lost 4-1. In the years that followed, the German national team lost more than they won. But excellent football was already being played in German clubs. A clear focus during this time was Franconia, because from 1920 onwards, 1. FC Nürnberg and SpVgg Fürth determined top German football for almost ten years. Other successful clubs of this era were Hertha BSC and Hamburger SV , which also reached several championships and finals.
In addition to the German Football Association, the footballers also organized themselves in other associations in the early years that also organized German football championships. The Workers' Gymnastics and Sports Association (ATSB) held championships between 1919 and 1932. The association even had its own national team, which played a total of 77 international matches. In 1928 the Communist Association Rotsport , which was close to the KPD, split off from the ATSB and held its own championship from 1930. In addition, the bourgeois German gymnastics association determined its own German champions between 1925 and 1930. Then the association went to the Reichssportbund and the soccer teams to the DFB. There were also church associations that held championships. The German Youth Force (DJK) was the sports association of the Catholic Church and held championships at irregular intervals.
time of the nationalsocialism
When the National Socialists came to power in 1933, football was also robbed of its freedom. The Workers' Gymnastics and Sports Association and Rotsport were banned and functionaries such as the KPD member of the Reichstag and Rotsport chairman Ernst Grube were murdered in concentration camps. The German youth force also disbanded from 1933 and was banned across the Reich in 1935. The DFB was integrated into the Reichsbund for physical exercises as a specialist office for national football , and sport was used as a propaganda tool. The associated financial support, however, allowed the German national team to play a total of 105 international matches between 1933 and the collapse in 1945. Third place at the World Cup in Italy in 1934 remained the only major success. At the Olympic tournament in Berlin they were eliminated from the start with a 2-0 draw against Norway , and at the 1938 World Cup in France, the representation of the Greater German Reich failed with a 1-1 and 2-4 draw against Switzerland . At the national level, this was the time of the Gauligen and FC Schalke 04 , which, with one exception ( 1936 ), was in the final every time from 1933 to 1942 and won the German championship six times. Little is known so far that football was also played in the concentration camps ; there was even a league of its own in Theresienstadt .
After the Second World War
Quite quickly after the end of the Second World War , the major leagues were founded as the highest national German division. On July 10, 1949, the re-establishment of the German Football Association was proclaimed in Stuttgart for the American, British and French occupation zones. For the Soviet occupation zone, the Football Committee was constituted on July 3, 1950, which was later followed by the one on 17/18. May 1958 in Berlin founded German Football Association of the GDR followed.
The first post-war final for the (West) German championship in 1948 won 1. FC Nürnberg against 1. FC Kaiserslautern - the representative of the Soviet zone of occupation, SG Planitz , was not allowed to play in their quarter-final against Nürnberg due to political tensions between the victorious powers. At the FIFA Congress in Rio de Janeiro in 1950, the FRG was re-accepted into the world association thanks to the advocacy of Switzerland, England and the German-American Football Association; the GDR was accepted into the world association in 1952.
On November 22, 1950, the first post-war international match took place. Again that made Switzerland the beginning. This time, however, the FRG won 1-0. The first game of the GDR national team , which lost 3-0 to Poland on September 21, 1952 in Warsaw, ended less happily .
A great moment in German football was the first win of the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland, when the blatant underdog, Federal Republic of Germany, defeated Hungary's undefeated team 3-2. Although the FRG only finished fourth in Sweden in 1958 and was eliminated in the quarter-finals in Chile in 1962 , victory in the World Cup final, known as the Miracle of Bern , determined the further path of football in the Federal Republic. Good teams like 1. FC Kaiserslautern , VfB Stuttgart , Borussia Dortmund , Eintracht Frankfurt and 1. FC Köln grew up. New stars were always born. With the merger of the upper leagues of the American, French and British occupation zones to form the Bundesliga in 1963, the level of performance soared. In the Soviet occupation zone, on the other hand, the (DFV) Oberliga was retained and ten performance centers were founded in 1965/66, which were supposed to bundle talent and bring the clubs forward. Football also became more professional in the west of the country and there were further successes. In 1966 the FRG national team failed in the World Cup final against England only unluckily, in 1970 in Mexico after rousing games they came third, in 1972 they won the European Championship and in 1974 the World Cup.
On June 22, 1974 in Hamburg there was also the only comparison of the two German national teams that the GDR narrowly won with a goal from Sparwasser . The GDR national team celebrated their greatest tournament success two years later when they won the gold medal at the Olympic Games in Montreal . Meanwhile, the legendary teams of Borussia Mönchengladbach and, above all, FC Bayern Munich , which has developed into the most successful German soccer club since the 1970s, appeared in the Bundesliga and European Cup .
By winning the European championships in 1980 and 1996 as well as the 1990 World Cup in Italy and numerous successes by German club teams in the European Cup, German football continued to demonstrate its quality in the following years, although the level of performance has leveled off below that of other major football nations in recent years (Spain , Italy and England).
Germany was also able to celebrate considerable success in the youth field, for example in the summer of 2009 the reigning European champions of U17, U19 and U21 for a short time.
The German Football Association
The German Football Association (DFB) was founded on January 28, 1900 in the "Mariengarten" restaurant in Leipzig by representatives of 86 clubs from Germany and abroad. Ferdinand Hueppe , who represents DFC Prague , was elected the first president of the DFB. With the establishment of the DFB by the 86 founding clubs , there was from now on a Germany-wide management association that organized the final rounds of the German championship from 1903.
In 1904, the German Football Association joined the world football association FIFA . He joined the European Football Union UEFA in 1954. With a total of over six million members in 26,000 clubs, the German Football Association, comprising five regional and 21 state associations, is the largest national sports association in the world today.
The DFB puts together the German national soccer team and organizes the national competitions for the German championship , DFB-Pokal , DFB-Liga-Pokal and other women's, youth and amateur soccer competitions held under its roof .
Hosted the 1974 World Cup
The DFB hosted a major football tournament for the first time with the 1974 World Cup . 242 million marks (123 million euros) were spent on building or converting the nine World Cup stadiums.
Organization of the European Championship in 1988
The German Football Association (DFB) hosted the 1988 UEFA European Championship in Germany. Eight teams took part in the tournament (Group A: FR Germany, Italy, Spain, Denmark; Group B: USSR, Netherlands, Ireland, England). The Dutch team won the tournament (2-0 in the final in the Munich Olympic Stadium against the USSR). The Federal Republic made it to the semi-finals, where they lost 2-1 to the Netherlands. By far the most successful goalscorer of the tournament was Marco van Basten from the Netherlands with five goals.
Hosting the 2006 World Cup
The German Football Association hosted the 2006 World Cup . The 18th soccer world championship took place from June 9th to July 9th, 2006 in Germany . A total of twelve cities hosted the World Cup. The most modern and safest stadiums in Germany should be selected in the award procedure, and they should also be distributed across Germany. All twelve venues ( Munich , Nuremberg , Stuttgart , Kaiserslautern , Frankfurt am Main , Leipzig , Cologne , Gelsenkirchen , Dortmund , Hanover , Berlin and Hamburg ) were able to present new stadiums that were rebuilt or newly built for between 48 and 280 million euros. The state and the operators invested around 1.38 billion euros in the construction and expansion of the stadiums. Germany hoped that hosting the second largest sporting event in the world after television viewers would generate important macroeconomic impulses.
Organization of the European Championship 2024
The German Football Association will host the 17th European Football Championship in 2024 , for which the DFB was awarded the UEFA Executive Committee on September 27, 2018. The concept is based on the renewed use of those stadiums in which matches were already held at the 2006 World Cup. The 23 teams qualified alongside host Germany will compete against each other as they did 18 years earlier in Dortmund, Berlin, Frankfurt am Main, Gelsenkirchen, Hamburg, Cologne, Leipzig, Munich and Stuttgart. Only Düsseldorf is added as a venue, which was not used in 2006. In the tournament, which is expected to take place in June and July 2024, the successor to the title holder of the pan-European tournament of 2021 will be sought in 51 games .
The German national football team
The German national football team is the selection made by the national coach of the German players who represent the German Football Association (DFB) on an international level, for example in friendly matches against the teams from other national associations, but also at the European championship of the European continental association UEFA or the football team. world Cup of FIFA represented. From the 2018/19 season , it will also take part in the UEFA Nations League every two years . There she will probably start in the 1st division.
Together with Brazil and Italy, the DFB team is one of the most successful national soccer teams in the world.
The German national soccer team has been three times European soccer champions and in 1988 also hosted the competition. Germany has won four football world championships , including in 1974 in its own country. Germany hosted the 2006 World Cup for the second time .
(Between 1952 and 1990 there was also a GDR national soccer team )
Participation in the soccer world championships
(* Penalty shoot-outs counted as a victory or defeat, see 1982 to 1990 and 2006)
| year | host | Result | S. | U | N | Gates |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1934 | Italy | place 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 11: 8 |
| 1938 | France | Round of 16 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3: 5 |
| 1954 | Switzerland | World Champion | 5 | 0 | 1 | 25:14 |
| 1958 | Sweden | 4th place | 2 | 2 | 2 | 12:14 |
| 1962 | Chile | Quarter finals | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4: 2 |
| 1966 | England | Vice world champion | 4th | 1 | 1 | 15: 6 |
| 1970 | Mexico | place 3 | 4th | 1 | 1 | 17:10 |
| 1974 | Germany | World Champion | 6th | 0 | 1 | 13: 4 |
| 1978 | Argentina | Second final round | 1 | 4th | 1 | 10: 5 |
| 1982 | Spain | Vice world champion | 4th | 1 | 2 | 12:10 |
| 1986 | Mexico | Vice world champion | 4th | 1 | 2 | 8: 7 |
| 1990 | Italy | World Champion | 6th | 1 | 0 | 15: 5 |
| 1994 | United States | Quarter finals | 3 | 1 | 1 | 9: 7 |
| 1998 | France | Quarter finals | 3 | 1 | 1 | 8: 6 |
| 2002 | Japan and South Korea | Vice world champion | 5 | 1 | 1 | 14: 3 |
| 2006 | Germany | place 3 | 6th | 0 | 1 | 14: 6 |
| 2010 | South Africa | place 3 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 16: 5 |
| 2014 | Brazil | World Champion | 6th | 1 | 0 | 18: 4 |
| 2018 | Russia | Group stage | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2: 4 |
Participation in the European Football Championships
(* Penalty shoot-outs counted as a victory or defeat, see 1976 and 1996)
| year | host | Result | S. | U | N | Gates |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 | Belgium | European champion | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5: 1 |
| 1976 | Yugoslavia | Vice European champion | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6: 4 |
| 1980 | Italy | European champion | 3 | 1 | 0 | 6: 3 |
| 1984 | France | Group games | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2: 2 |
| 1988 | Germany | Semifinals | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6: 3 |
| 1992 | Sweden | Vice European champion | 2 | 1 | 2 | 7: 8 |
| 1996 | England | European champion | 5 | 1 | 0 | 10: 3 |
| 2000 | Belgium and the Netherlands | Group games | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1: 5 |
| 2004 | Portugal | Group games | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2: 3 |
| 2008 | Austria and Switzerland | Vice European champion | 4th | 0 | 2 | 10: 7 |
| 2012 | Poland and Ukraine | Semifinals | 4th | 0 | 1 | 10: 6 |
| 2016 | France | Semifinals | 4th | 1 | 1 | 13: 8 |
Participation in the FIFA Confederations Cup
| year | host | Result | S. | U | N | Gates |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Mexico | Group games | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2: 7 |
| 2005 | Germany | place 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 15:11 |
| 2017 | Russia | winner | 5 | 1 | 0 | 12: 5 |
Participation in the UEFA Nations League
| year | host | Result | S. | U | N | Gates |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018/19 | Europe | 1st division | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3: 7 |
German league football
The beginnings of organized football
Football was already played in organized leagues after the first clubs and football associations were founded in the late 19th century. The highest leagues were numerous regional relays, which were often referred to as the district league or district class, sometimes also as Gauliga. Since 1903 a final round of the German championship has been held, in which the best teams from the various regions participated. Due to the 500 "first division" teams in the individual regional leagues, the performance density of the teams was very different and at a very low level. The fragmentation into small regional leagues has repeatedly caused displeasure among the clubs. In northern Germany, the entire 1928/29 season was canceled due to the football revolution . Ten top North German clubs around Hamburger SV and Holstein Kiel had introduced their own game round in protest against the fragmentation. In the end, the north German “top class” was halved to just six leagues. Motivated by this, the then DFB President Felix Linnemann called for the introduction of a "Reichsliga" as early as 1932 - a professional league in which the best clubs should play off the German champions. However, the project was rejected by the regional associations, and so until the introduction of the Bundesliga in 1963, the German champions were determined in a final round with group matches and finals.
The nasty ones
After the National Socialist seizure of power, the football championship was also fundamentally reorganized. After the dissolution of the regional associations by the German Reich Association for Physical Exercise, the Gauligen were created in 1933 . The initially 16 districts, each with ten teams, corresponded to the national borders at that time. More Gauligen were later built in areas that were incorporated into the actual German Empire.
The German champion was also determined in a final round during this time. The Gaumeister were initially divided into four groups of four teams, each of which competed against each other in the first and second leg. The first placed then contested the semi-finals and final on neutral places, and from 1936 also a game for third place. Due to the newly created districts in the newly acquired areas, and the subdivision of the larger districts in the Second World War, the number of finalists rose to up to 31. From 1942 onwards, the German champions were determined without group matches in the knockout system . The opponents were not assigned to one another by lot, but according to geographical criteria.
Due to the Second World War, most of the Gauligen did not end the 1944/45 season. With the capitulation of the German Reich, the Gauligen were dissolved.
The time of the major leagues
Soon after the end of the Second World War, the Oberliga Süd was founded in the American occupation zone in 1945 , followed by the Oberligen Südwest (beginning of 1946), West and North (both 1947). There have been zone championships since 1945/46 in the American and French zones as well as in the four-zone city of Berlin since 1946/47 in the British zone and since 1947/48 in the Soviet. A final round of the German championship was held again for the first time after the 1947/48 season. In the Soviet occupation zone, the Eastern Zone Master was first played in cup mode in 1947 and 1948/49 until the DS-Oberliga was introduced in 1949 . Until the introduction of the Bundesliga in 1963, the top leagues were the top division in German football. The best-placed teams in the individual major leagues played the German champions together with the champions of the Berlin City League in a final round.
As a second German contract player class, there was a second league below the upper leagues in the south, southwest and west . Only in the north and in Berlin did these “old” second leagues not exist. The amateur leagues followed below the major league. The highest leagues in the amateur field were designated as the 1st and 2nd amateur leagues. The A, B and C classes followed among them.
Foundation of the Bundesliga
1962 - a few weeks after the German national team was eliminated in the quarter-finals at the World Cup in Chile - the later DFB President Hermann Neuberger proposed the creation of a uniform top division. On July 28, 1962, the DFB Bundestag in Dortmund finally decided to introduce the Bundesliga for the 1963/64 season. With the introduction of the Bundesliga , the upper leagues were dissolved. The teams that could not qualify for the newly created Bundesliga were classified in the regional league, which was introduced below the Bundesliga as the second highest German division .
To increase the performance density, the 2nd Bundesliga replaced the regional leagues as the foundation of the Bundesliga in 1974. In the amateur area, forces were concentrated from 1978 onwards with the introduction of the amateur leagues as the highest amateur class. In 1994 the regional leagues were reintroduced as the third highest division. In the 2008/09 season, the 3rd division was introduced as the third highest division between the 2nd Bundesliga and the regional leagues .
The German leagues today
The German cup competitions
DFB Cup
In the main round of the DFB-Pokal , all teams of the first two professional leagues and qualified amateur teams play in the knockout system for the DFB-Pokal.
Supercup
The DFB Supercup was held between 1987 and 1996 between champions and cup winners. With a double from the championship and the cup win, the cup finalist would have started. The DFL Supercup has been held since 2010 . Here, however, if a club wins a double, the runner-up takes part instead of the cup finalist.
League Cup
The German champions, the runners-up, the next five best-placed clubs in the Bundesliga final table of the previous season and the DFB club cup winners took part in the League Cup (or “Premiere League Cup”). If a club qualified twice, the remaining starting place was transferred to a new Bundesliga team. Simultaneous participation in the UEFA Intertoto Cup and the Premiere League Cup was excluded. After the event in 2007, the competition was suspended until further notice due to the lack of interest.
Hall masters
The DFB indoor cup was officially held from 1988 to 2001 under the patronage of the DFB. Bundesliga clubs, amateurs and foreign teams were allowed to play in the preliminary rounds. This was about so-called Masters points to qualify for the final round (Masters). This mostly took place in Dortmund or Munich . The hosts, the champions, the cup winners and the defending champions were all qualified for the final round. The competition mode was changed several times.
German teams in international competitions
The best German teams qualify each year for participation in the Champions League (until 1992 European Champion Clubs' Cup) and the Europa League (until 2009 UEFA Cup). There was also the European Cup Winners' Cup until 1999 . An overview of all German participants in the European Cup can be found in the list of German participants in European club competitions in football .
German club teams have been quite successful in the European cup competitions in the past. Since Borussia Dortmund won the first European Cup in 1966, eight other German teams have won a total of 19 European and four intercontinental titles:
| society | Champions League | UEFA Cup Winners' Cup | Uefa cup | UEFA Supercup | World Cup / Club World Cup |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FC Bayern Munich | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Borussia Dortmund | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Hamburger SV | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Borussia Monchengladbach | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 1. FC Magdeburg | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Werder Bremen | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bayer 04 Leverkusen | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| FC Schalke 04 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Eintracht Frankfurt | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
European Champions League and Champions League
The European Cup of National Champions (run as the Champions League since 1992/93 ), the most important European cup competition for club teams, was won by three different German clubs. FC Bayern Munich was able to enter the list of winners five times ( 1974 , 1975 , 1976 , 2001 and 2013 ). Hamburger SV ( 1983 ) and Borussia Dortmund ( 1997 ) each won the competition once .
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
The European Cup Winners 'Cup , which was the second most important European cup competition after the European Cup Winners' Cup until it was closed in 1999 , was won by a total of five German teams. The first German winner of the competition, which has been held since the 1960/61 season , was Borussia Dortmund in 1966 . This made the Dortmund team the first ever German team to win a European competition.
In addition to Borussia Dortmund, other German teams that won the European Cup Winners' Cup were FC Bayern Munich (1967) , Hamburger SV (1977) and Werder Bremen (1992) . In addition, 1. FC Magdeburg was the only team in GDR football to celebrate winning a European cup competition in 1974 with the European Cup Winners' Cup .
The European cup winners competition was discontinued after the 1998/99 season . The last German club in the final of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was the VfB Stuttgart , who this in the season 1997/98 but against Chelsea unhappy with 0: lost first
Furthermore, the following German teams lost their finals TSV 1860 Munich (1965) , Hamburger SV (1968) , Fortuna Düsseldorf (1979) , FC Carl Zeiss Jena (1981) and 1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig ( 1987 , both GDR).
UEFA Europa League
The UEFA Europa League , in which the best national teams that do not qualify for the Champions League participate, was launched in 1972 under the name UEFA Cup as a replacement for the Messestädte Cup . The competition was won six times by five different German teams. Borussia Mönchengladbach was the first German team to win the competition in 1975 and 1979 . Other German titleholders were Eintracht Frankfurt ( 1980 ), Bayer 04 Leverkusen ( 1988 ), FC Bayern Munich ( 1996 ) and FC Schalke 04 ( 1997 ). Borussia Mönchengladbach lost in the final in 1980, Hamburger SV 1982 , 1. FC Cologne 1986 , VfB Stuttgart 1989 , Borussia Dortmund 1993 and 2002 and Werder Bremen 2009 .
UEFA Supercup
The UEFA Supercup has been played once a year since 1972 between the winners of the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League (until 1999 the European Cup Winners' Cup) and is considered the opening game of the following season in European club football. So far, there have been eight finals with German participation, one of which was won by FC Bayern Munich in 2013.
World Cup and Club World Cup
The World Cup was played as an intercontinental competition between 1960 and 2004 between the winner of the European Champions League (until 1992, the European Cup for national champions) and the winner of the South American Copa Libertadores . Two German clubs won the title: FC Bayern Munich (1976 and 2001) and Borussia Dortmund (1997). Since 2005, the FIFA Club World Cup has been held, which FC Bayern Munich was the only German participant to date to win in 2013.
Football in the GDR
Football in the GDR was heavily influenced by state control. The Potsdam Agreement and the resolutions of the Allied Control Council, for example, a. As a result, in the GDR, in contrast to the FRG, all bourgeois football clubs as sub-organizations of the NSDAP were banned and dissolved in order to prevent them from becoming "planting sites of military virtue" again.
Women's soccer
Between the world wars, women's football in Germany only developed cautiously compared to some neighboring countries; under National Socialism he was ideologically undesirable; Despite winning the Men's World Cup in 1954, the newly burgeoning women's football was banned by the DFB in 1955 and only allowed again at the end of 1970.
Only in the last few years did women's football become one of the fastest growing sports in Germany. Not least thanks to the success of the national team and the club teams, it has blossomed from a fringe sport into a socially accepted sport.
Amateur and youth football
Football is also the most popular sport among children and young people. They are divided into different age groups:
- G-Juniors 4 to 6 years
- F-Juniors 6 to 8 years
- E-Juniors 8 to 10 years
- D-Juniors 10 to 12 years
- C-Juniors 12 to 14 years
- B-Juniors 14 to 16 years
- A-Juniors 16 to 18 years
Since 1997, the reference date has always been January 1st. Previously, on August 1st of each year, the class was reorganized in order to combine the jump into a new team with the school year change. The new deadline was chosen because January 1st had been introduced longer than the deadline in other countries, which meant that international comparisons with opponents who were on average almost six months older than the DFB Juniors were disadvantaged.
Since 1969 there have also been German championships for 16 to 18 year olds . Initially, the teams first had to assert themselves in their group and at the district championships. The winners of the individual districts then competed against each other to determine the national champion. The national champions in turn played the national winner, i.e. the German champions.
Regional leagues were later introduced as the top division of the A-Juniors. In 2003, the U-19 Bundesliga followed in three seasons. The champions of the squadrons and the vice-champions of the south / south-west season play the national title holder in the knockout system. The A-Juniors also have their own cup competition, the DFB-Jugend-Kicker-Pokal .
The 14- to 16-year-old B-Juniors have been determining a German champion since 1977.
The environment of football
Stages
With a capacity of 80,552 spectators including standing room (65,000 with seats only), the Westfalenstadion in Dortmund is the largest German football stadium, followed by the Olympiastadion in Berlin , which offers space for 76,000 spectators, and the Allianz Arena in Munich , which opened on May 30, 2005 (67,812 seats, 71,137 standing room).
The quality of the German stadiums is very high by international standards. This can be seen, among other things, from the fact that six German arenas carry the rating of five-star stadium and are therefore entitled to host Champions League as well as World and European Championship finals. Most of the Bundesliga stadiums were extensively modernized in the years from 2000 (partly as part of preparations for the World Cup).
Due to the strict guidelines of the DFL , the 2nd Bundesliga venues are also in good condition. The stadiums in Cologne and Kaiserslautern met the strict FIFA criteria and were among the venues for the 2006 World Cup. After the construction boom was initially mainly observed in the stadiums of the first division, new, modern stadiums are now also being built in the second and third division .
Although there is no compulsory seating in Germany, the proportion of standing room in large stadiums has decreased in recent years. At the same time, for economic reasons, VIP boxes are increasingly being included in the football stadiums. The ticket prices in Germany are significantly lower than in Italy and England , but the admission prices in Germany are rising faster than the average price level .
Fans
An interesting fan culture has developed around football in Germany. In contrast to other European countries such as England, Italy or Spain, however, this lasted in Germany until the early 1970s. Previously, the spectators in German stadiums were rather reserved. Occasionally flags were seen, and fanfares or horns were also used to cheer on one's own team. However, people usually only cheered when something happened on the square.
This changed from the 1970s onwards when fans became more and more part of the game and the two main cultures, mostly originating from England and Italy, spread across Germany. One was the hooligans , the other the ultra movement . In the 1970s and 1980s, most of the fans were so-called “ cowls ” or “ cowls ”. There were no security measures, so the different groups mixed up before and after the games, and fights broke out between rival fan groups. This was the nucleus of the hooligans in Germany, but they have since lost their importance.
With the disappearance of the “cowl wearers” and hooligans, the Ultrà movement began in German stadiums. In contrast to hooligans, ultras focus on football and not violence . Fights and fights are also part of the ultra-culture, however, some German groups distance themselves from violence, sometimes under the impression of the police action against the perpetrators. However, the stealing of opposing fan accessories, especially scarves and fence flags, is becoming more and more popular.
Germany only reached the ultra movement in the early 1990s. In the meantime, almost all clubs in the top three leagues, but also in hierarchically lower leagues, have groups that see themselves as ultras. In many fan scenes, the ultras play a dominant role simply because there are no other groups that can dispute this place for them. The resulting misunderstanding that the Ultras have a claim to sole representation of the curve and authority over the fan block repeatedly leads to conflicts between Ultras and unorganized fans.
The majority of the German ultra groups describe themselves as apolitical, which, however, does not always correspond to reality; Right-wing elements have established themselves in many stadiums in Germany, for example at Dynamo Berlin . With FC St. Pauli and 1. FC Union Berlin , however, a more left fan culture is associated. Most ultras in Germany are concerned with “improving the mood” and a sense of belonging to a fixed reference group. They see themselves as the “counterpoint to the uncritical and consuming mainstream in German football stadiums” , but the fanaticism that goes with it often leads to violence against each other, and the transitions to the hooligan scene are sometimes fluid.
Since all kinds of fireworks are banned in German stadiums, Bengal fires and similar means are now almost only used in lower leagues. In the Bundesliga , the use of pyrotechnic materials has become rare, at least in league operations. In the DFB Cup , pyrotechnics are used more often.
Corruption and betting scandal
Commercialization of football
Television / media
On December 26, 1952, the DFB-Pokal game FC St. Pauli against the Duisburg district association Hamborn 07 on Hamburg's Heiligengeistfeld (today Millerntor Stadium ), the first football game to be broadcast live on German television. The Hamborner won the round of 16 game 4: 3. The first direct television broadcast of a league point game was also broadcast from Hamburg on October 26, 1957 by the Adolf-Jäger-Kampfbahn in Altona. In the Oberliga-Nord game, Altona 93 and Holstein Kiel met (0-0).
The women's first international match was broadcast live on television on June 28, 1989 in Siegen . At the home European championship in 1989 , the German national soccer team won the semi-finals against Italy on penalties.
literature
- Hardy Greens : Encyclopedia of German League Football: From the Crown Prince to the Bundesliga 1890 to 1963 , Volume 1; AGON Sportverlag, Kassel 1996, ISBN 3-928562-85-1 .
- Hardy Greens: 100 Years of the German Championship ; The workshop, Göttingen 2003, ISBN 3-89533-410-3 .
- Hardy Greens: Encyclopedia of German League Football. Volume 7: Club Lexicon. Agon-Sportverlag, Kassel 2001, ISBN 3-89784-147-9 .
Web links
- German Football Association
- Archive of the leagues in Germany
- From the Crown Prince Cup to the propaganda game by Jürgen Ritter / Spiegel online
- Markwart Herzog : football under the swastika . In: H-Soz-u-Kult , June 15, 2011 (collective review on: Gregor Backes: “With a German Sport Greeting, Heil Hitler”. FC St. Pauli under National Socialism . Hamburg 2010 / Dietrich Schulze-Marmeling: Der FC Bayern and Its Jews. The rise and smashing of a liberal football culture . Göttingen 2011 / Jakob Rosenberg et al. (Ed.): Grün-Weiß unterm Hakenkreuz. The Rapid Sports Club under National Socialism (1938–1945) . Vienna 2011).
Supporting documents and comments
- ↑ Andreas Wittner: When the English were still winning all the time. In: welt.de. Die Welt , July 4, 2006, accessed June 27, 2007 .
- ^ Hans-Peter Hock: The Dresden Football Club and the beginnings of football in Europe. Arete-Verlag, Hildesheim 2016, ISBN 978-3-942468-69-5 , pp. 15-17.
- ^ Hans-Peter Hock, Matthias Sobottka: News about the beginnings of football in Germany. SportZeiten 17th year 2017, issue 1, pp. 53–71.
- ↑ Chronicle. In: bfcgermania88.de. BFC Germania 1888 , accessed January 20, 2012 .
- ↑ Friedhard Teuffel: The oldest association - a small association . In: Wolfgang Niersbach, Rudi Michel (Hrsg.): 100 Years of the DFB - The History of the German Football Association . Sportverlag, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-328-00850-0 , p. 483 .
- ^ Martin Krauss: Football in the concentration camp: fear opponents Poland. In: taz.de. Die Tageszeitung , June 17, 2011, accessed on September 20, 2013 .
- ^ Stefan Moser / Martin Rösch: U 21: Germany is European champion. In: Spox.com . Perform Media Deutschland GmbH, June 29, 2009, accessed October 1, 2013 .
- ↑ Hamborn 07: The first television game , ruhr-guide.de
- ↑ Cult Factor 10, holstein-kiel.de ( Memento from October 17, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
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