International football match between Switzerland and Germany, 1908
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The international soccer match between Switzerland and Germany in 1908 took place on April 5th between the national teams of both countries in Basel's Landhof Stadium. It was the first international match for the German national team , the third international match and the first victory for the Swiss . The game ended 5-3.
prehistory
On November 30, 1872, England and Scotland played the first international match in football history. The other two British associations, Wales and Ireland, followed in 1876 and 1882. There was also an unofficial international match between the USA and Canada in North America as early as 1885. In South America, the first international match took place in 1902 between Argentina and Uruguay. Also in 1902, the first international match in Europe outside the British Isles between Austria and Hungary was played.
At the Summer Olympics in 1900 and 1904 there was a football demonstration competition, but only club teams took part.
The Swiss Football Association , founded in 1895 , was one of the founding members of FIFA on May 21, 1904 . After a few unofficial encounters, the Swiss played their first official international match against France in 1905 in Paris . The second international match did not follow until 1908 in Geneva, also against the French.
Football had a long tradition in Switzerland , after British students founded a football club in Lausanne in 1860. The further spread of football in continental Europe was largely due to foreign students who had got to know football in the Swiss elite schools and universities. One of them was the German Walther Bensemann , who between 1898 and 1901 had organized seven “international football competitions” against French and English teams in Germany , but they had no official character and were later referred to as the “ original international matches ”. During this time, on January 28, 1900, the German Football Association was founded.
When Germany and Switzerland met for their first international match on April 5, 1908, other associations, especially the British, had already played several international matches (see list of the first international football matches ). It was the third for Switzerland.
In Germany, football was organizationally still in its infancy, despite four German championships. A national coach who nominated the players did not yet exist, the DFB game committee under Hugo Egon Kubaseck was responsible for the selection of the players . Since the influence of the regional associations in the DFB was very high, the game committee had to take into account the weighting of the associations when putting them together. Four players came from the then largest regional association, the Association of South German Football Associations , three came from the West German Game Association , two came from Central Germany and one each from Northern Germany and Berlin . No player was nominated from the area of the recently founded Baltic Lawn Sports Association .
It was not until February 1908 that the German Football Association decided to hold international matches. Therefore, the game date could only be set a few weeks before kick-off and many of the best German players were prevented from playing. Seven designated national players alone could not take part in the international match, as two Berlin city selection teams competed against teams from Vienna and Leipzig. In addition, the experienced Heinrich Riso was injured a week before the game . Riso, who was part of the well-established defensive duo of the two-time German champions VfB Leipzig with Walter Hempel , was replaced by the 24-year-old Magdeburg left-back Ernst Jordan , whose poor performance and own goal were later blamed for the defeat.
Some of the players who were nominated first found out about this through the newspaper before they received the official invitation from the DFB a few days before the game. Fritz Becker later reported:
“After it was published in the newspaper, I didn't hear about my line-up for the international competition for over a week. Two Frankfurt-based members of the DFB board and the VSFV could only confirm that my nomination for the international match was correct. Finally on Thursday the long-awaited news came from the DFB. [...] Then the final decision finally came on Friday afternoon, not even 24 hours before the train left for Basel. In a nutshell: On Saturday I would be given the ticket for my trip to Basel at the platform barrier (train comes from Berlin). "
Most of the players only got to know each other on the train ride to Basel or right before the game and had not even trained together in this composition. Only on the morning of the game did the team meet in Basel, after all the players had traveled individually and at their own expense - the DFB only provided 20 marks for expenses. The official report of the DFB said, among other things, about the course of the match day:
“On Sunday morning at 9 o'clock there was a clothing roll with Mr. Behm, who supervised the“ measurements ”etc.“ all in white ”. The first breakfast was all delicious. Around 10 o'clock the Swiss gentlemen lined up to pick us up for a happy ride through the city. Afterwards we were shown the zoological garden and the chances for the competition were discussed over a glass of beer, but no agreement could be reached because each party 'wanted' to lose. The players then drove to the hotel for lunch. At 2.45 a.m. we went to the square, past endless crowds. About 5000 people greeted the German team when they appeared. "
The tactical route of the Germans for the game was set by captain Arthur Hiller , who hardly knew any of his teammates.
The game
The Basel venue was set two weeks in advance. A Swiss chocolate factory financed an extra grandstand for 700 spectators, on which the advertising slogan “LUCERNA chocolate eats the whole world!” Was emblazoned in large letters.
The Swiss wore red with a white cross on their chest, the Germans wore black jerseys with white sleeves and a large imperial eagle on the front.
When the game in the Landhof Stadium was kicked off by referee HP Devitte in front of 3500 spectators , it was rainy weather in Basel. The Swiss were offended. The 1-0 for Germany fell with one of the first attacks by the Germans in the 6th minute: A cross from right winger Gustav Hensel directed Fritz Förderer towards the goal and Fritz Becker , who slipped into this shot, completed. The thrown together German team around captain Hiller played quite well at the beginning, but in the 21st minute Switzerland equalized through Hans Kämpfer .
Shortly afterwards, a heavy hail shower set in, followed by heavy continuous rain that softened the ground and made it slippery. In the 28th minute of the game, the Swiss were awarded a free kick after a failed back pass by the Germans. The Swiss captain Siegfried Pfeiffer hit the ball sharply in front of the German goal on the head of fighter and the 1.90 meter tall defender Jordan also extended the ball with his head into his own goal. Just four minutes later Pfeiffer scored the 3-1 for Switzerland.
After the half-time break, the Swiss became weaker, so that Fritz Förderer scored the 2: 3 for Germany in the 52nd minute, single-handedly across the entire field. But Switzerland got stronger again and shot 4-2 in the 57th minute through Pfeiffer. With a shot in the far corner, the German Fritz Becker managed the 3: 4. In the 89th minute, the Swiss Hans Kämpfer made the final score with his goal to make it 5: 3.
After the game
The observers and the media identified the German defense as responsible for the German defeat, in particular Ernst Jordan, who was appointed for the injured Heinrich Riso.
“The Germans lost to their backers. Jordan was the weakest point. "
"If the back Jordan hadn't failed like that, it would have been possible to get a tie."
For the Germans Fritz Baumgarten , Fritz Becker , Gustav Hensel , Ernst Jordan and Karl Ludwig it was the only international match. Most of the international matches from this team were played by Eugen Kipp , who made 18 internationals and was at times a record international player. With an average age of 22 years and 33 days, it is the third youngest starting eleven in German international history. Only on March 13, 1909 in the biggest defeat (0: 9 against the English amateur team, 21 years and 357 days) and on May 13, 2014 (0: 0 against Poland in preparation for the World Cup, 21 years, 317 days) the average age of the starting XI is lower.
For the German national team, it was the only defeat in Basel against Switzerland for 104 years , only against Hungary in the group stage of the 1954 World Cup in the group stage with a 3: 8 loss. In addition to ten wins and a draw against Switzerland, there are victories against Austria (6-1 in the 1954 World Cup semi-finals), Portugal (3-2 in the 2008 EM quarter-finals) and Turkey (3-2 in the 2008 EM semi-finals) . The next defeat in Basel against Switzerland was on May 26, 2012, when, like in the first international match, they lost 5-3.
Switzerland was not only Germany's first opponent , but also played both by the First and the Second World War was the first country again against Germany. The German women also played their first international match against Switzerland, but were able to win it 5-1 in 1982.
For the German team, the Swiss team is the most common international opponent. Germany is the second most frequent opponent - after Italy - Switzerland. On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the first game, both teams met again on March 26, 2008 in Basel. It was the 800th international match for the DFB and the 679th international match for Switzerland.
See also
- List of international matches for the German national soccer team
- List of international matches for the Swiss national football team
Web links
- Statistics of the game on the website of the German Football Association
- International game premiere 1908: The black day of Basel - Article in einestages ( Spiegel Online )
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f International game premiere in 1908: The black day of Basel. In: one day. Spiegel Online, March 26, 2008, accessed March 21, 2014 .
- ↑ quoted from Ulrich Matheja: Schlappekicker and Himmelsstürmer. Verlag Die Werkstatt, Göttingen 2007, ISBN 978-3-89533-538-9 , p. 31f.
- ^ Carl Koppehel: History of the German football sport. DFB (Ed.), Frankfurt am Main 1959, p. 117
- ↑ Kicker: 100 Years of the German National Games, Olympia-Verlag 2008, page 17
- ↑ dfb.de: Switzerland - Germany 5: 3 (3: 1)
- ↑ dfb.de: "Starting eleven statistics: The youngest national teams in DFB history"