History of German football
Encyclopedia
The History of German football is one that has seen many changes. Football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

 was a popular game from early on, and the German sports landscape was dotted with hundreds of local sides. Local sports associations or clubs are a longtime feature of the culture of German athletics. Each club would participate in, and field teams from, one or more sports, depending on local interest and resources.

Early history

Prior to the formation of the Bundesliga
Fußball-Bundesliga
The Fußball-Bundesliga is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of Germany's football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. It is contested by 18 teams and operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the 2. Bundesliga...

, German football was played at an amateur level in a large number of sub-regional leagues (until 1945) which, in post-war times, had a top layer of semi-professional regional Oberligen
Oberliga (football)
The Oberliga is currently the name of the fifth tier of the German football leagues. Before the introduction of the 3rd Liga in 2008, it was the fourth tier...

 (Premier Leagues). Regional champions and, from 1925 onwards, runners-up played a series of playoff matches for the right to compete in a final game for the national championship. On January 28, 1900, a national association, the Deutscher Fussball Bund
German Football Association
The German Football Association is the governing body of football in Germany. A founding member of both FIFA and UEFA, the DFB organises the German football leagues, including the national league, the Bundesliga, and the men's and women's national teams. The DFB is based in Frankfurt and is...

 (DFB) was founded in Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...

 with 86 member clubs
Founding Clubs of the DFB
The DFB was formed January 28, 1900 in Leipzig. The commonly accepted number of founding clubs represented at the inaugural meeting is 86, but this number is uncertain. The vote held to establish the association was 62:22 in favour . Some delegates present represented more than one club, but may...

. From the start, the DFB was - and still is - a federation of regional associations. The first recognised national championship team was VfB Leipzig, who beat DFC Prague 7-2 in a game played in Altona on May 31, 1903.

The nascent German association permitted teams from outside the country in their new championship, as long as they were members of one of its regional associations. This is how Prague, a team from Austria-Hungary, managed an appearance in the German national final. Once the DFB joined FIFA
FIFA
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association , commonly known by the acronym FIFA , is the international governing body of :association football, futsal and beach football. Its headquarters are located in Zurich, Switzerland, and its president is Sepp Blatter, who is in his fourth...

 (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) in 1904, clubs from outside the country were no longer permitted to play in Germany.
From 1903 to 1944, teams played for the Viktoria Meisterschaftstrophäe (Victoria Championship Trophy). In 1908, a cup competition named Kronprinzenpokal for the regional representative XIs was started, the trophy having been donated by Crown Prince Wilhelm of Prussia. The Viktoria was originally intended to be awarded, on an annual alternating basis, to the championship teams of the DFB and the nation's rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 teams; however, football became the more dominant sport, the Rugby clubs left the federation and the trophy stayed with the DFB. Championship play skipped a year in 1904, was interrupted by World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 between 1914 and 1918, and again at the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 between 1944 and 1946.

The last team to win the Viktoria was Dresdner SC
Dresdner SC
Dresdner SC is a German multisport club playing in Dresden, Saxony. Founded on 30 April 1898, the club was a founding member of the German Football Association in 1900...

, who beat the air-force club Luftwaffen SV Hamburg in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

's Olympiastadion 4-0 to end the 1943–44 competition. In the confusion at the end of World War II, the trophy disappeared. It was re-discovered decades later in an East German bank safe-deposit box where it had been placed by a Dresden supporter for safekeeping. It has since been returned to the DFB. In the meantime, a new championship trophy, the Meisterschale ("Championship Plate"), sometimes nicknamed "die Salatschüssel" (the salad bowl), was created in 1949.

In 1919, there were 150,000 registered football players in Germany; by 1932, there were more than a million. In spite of the formation of a national association, German football held to an ideal of amateurism built around regional and local sports associations who felt that professionalism would diminish sportsmanship and local participation in the game. In the early 1930s, the DFB's president, Felix Linnemann
Felix Linnemann
Felix Linnemann was the fourth Deutscher Fußball-Bund president, serving from 1925 to 1945....

, pushed for the creation of a professional league, or Reichsliga
Reichsliga
The Reichsliga was a proposed nation-wide German association football league, first suggested in 1932 by Felix Linnemann, president of the German Football Association, the DFB, at the time...

, in which the country's best teams would compete for the national championship. The idea was rebuffed by the regional federations dominating the sport.
German Football League structure / 1903 to present
Germany Germany West Germany West Germany West Germany Germany Germany East Germany
Class 2008–present 1994–2008 1974–1994 1963–1974 1946–1963 1933–1945 1903–1932 DDR 1949–1991
I Bundesliga Bundesliga Bundesliga Bundesliga Oberliga Gauliga Verbandsliga DDR Oberliga
II 2.Bundesliga 2.Bundesliga 2.Bundesliga Regionalliga 2.Oberliga Bezirksliga Bezirksliga DDR Liga
III 3.Liga Regionalliga Am. Oberliga 1. Amateurliga 1. Amateurliga ▼ ??? ▼ ??? Bezirksliga
IV Regionalliga Oberliga Landesliga/
Verbandsliga¹
2. Amateurliga 2. Amateurliga Bezirksklasse
V Oberliga Landesliga/
Verbandsliga¹
Landesliga A-Klasse A-Klasse Kreisklasse
VI Landesliga Bezirksoberliga² ▼ ??? B-Klasse B-Klasse
VII Bezirksoberliga Bezirksliga C-Klasse C-Klasse
VIII Bezirksliga Kreisliga³
IX Kreisliga Kreisklasse A / 1. Kreisklasse
X Kreisklasse A / 1. Kreisklasse Kreisliga A / 2. Kreisklasse
XI Kreisliga A / 2. Kreisklasse Kreisliga B / 3. Kreisklasse
XII Kreisliga B / 3. Kreisklasse Kreisliga C / 4. Kreisklasse
XIII Kreisliga C / 4. Kreisklasse

¹ called "Landesliga" in some parts of the country, "Verbandsliga" in others, and in some parts there is a Verbandsliga (V) and a Landesliga (VI).

² the Bezirksoberliga is not established in all areas of the country, e.g. in Mittelrhein
Middle Rhine
Between Bingen and Bonn, Germany, the Rhine River flows as the Middle Rhine through the Rhine Gorge, a formation created by erosion, which happened at about the same rate as an uplift in the region, leaving the river at about its original level, and the surrounding lands raised...

.

³ the Kreisliga is not established in all areas of the country, e.g. in Mittelrhein.

German football under the Third Reich

The reach of Germany's totalitarian Nazi
National Socialist German Workers Party
The National Socialist German Workers' Party , commonly known in English as the Nazi Party, was a political party in Germany between 1920 and 1945. Its predecessor, the German Workers' Party , existed from 1919 to 1920...

 regime stretched into social institutions at all levels, including their football leagues. Most sports and football associations were disbanded or replaced by Nazi-sponsored organisations. To join a DFB club, a player required recommendations from two non-Marxists to be permitted to play. The DFB gradually lost its independence as it was assimilated into the Deutscher Reichsausschuss für Leibesübungen (DRA) (Reich Committee for Physical Education).

Under Hans von Tschammer und Osten
Hans von Tschammer und Osten
Hans von Tschammer und Osten was a German sport official, SA leader and a member of the Reichstag...

 as Reichssportsführer, appointed by the Nazis, formerly independent sports organisations became departments of a new organisation which replaced the DRA — Deutscher Reichsbund für Leibesübungen (DRL, later NSRL or Nationalsozialistischer Reichsbund für Leibesübungen
Nationalsozialistischer Reichsbund für Leibesübungen
The Nationalsozialistischer Reichsbund für Leibesübungen , more rarely "NSRBL", , known as Deutscher Reichsbund für Leibesübungen until 1938, was the umbrella organization for sports during the Third Reich.The NSRL was led by the Reichssportführer, who after 1934 was...

). As in most of German society at the time, sports associations and football teams took part in the purge of Jews
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...

 from their organisations as ordered by the regime. A few clubs, such as Alemannia Aachen
Alemannia Aachen
Alemannia Aachen is a German football club from the western city of Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia. A long term fixture of the country's second division, Alemannia enjoyed a three-year turn in the top flight in the late 1960s and, after a successful 2005–06 campaign, returned to first division play...

 and Bayern Munich, moved to support or protect their members in the face of these actions.

Football was re-organised into sixteen Gaue (DRL sub-divisions) in the Gauliga, which was in place from 1933 to 1945. The overall effect of this was positive for German football. Prior to 1933, nearly 600 clubs competed in the top flight. League re-organisation reduced this to about 170 sides and significantly raised the level of competition. This was the beginning of a process of consolidation of the myriad of small regional leagues that would culminate in a stronger, unified national league structure. The German Cup
DFB-Pokal
The DFB-Pokal or DFB Cup is a German knockout football cup competition held annually. 64 teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2nd Bundesliga. It is considered the second most important national title in German football after the Bundesliga...

 was introduced in 1935. Known initially as the Tschammerpokal, after Hans von Tschammer, the first cup winner was 1. FC Nuremberg. Play for the Tschammerpokal went on until 1943 and was not resumed again until 1953, under its new name.

The pre-war period saw a number of German sides from Saarland
Saarland
Saarland is one of the sixteen states of Germany. The capital is Saarbrücken. It has an area of 2570 km² and 1,045,000 inhabitants. In both area and population, it is the smallest state in Germany other than the city-states...

, Danzig and the Memel Region playing in German league and cup competitions even though the Versailles Treaty had handed those regions over to the League of Nations
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...

 after the end of World War I; football-wise, they had remained within the DFB (or DRL, respectively). In post-war times, 1. FC Saarbrücken
1. FC Saarbrücken
1. FC Saarbrücken is a German association football club based in the city of Saarbrücken, Saarland. The club began its existence as the football department of Turnverein Malstatt formed in 1903...

 (formerly FV Saarbrücken) played in the French Second Division
Ligue 2
Ligue 2 , formerly known as Division 2, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de Football Professionnel , the other being Ligue 1, the country's top football division...

 for one season. They won that division handily but were denied promotion to the First Division
Ligue 1
Ligue 1 , is the French professional league for association football clubs. It is the country's primary football competition and serves as the top division of the French football league system. Ligue 1 is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de Football Professionnel, the other being Ligue 2....

. The Saarland was to be granted its own FIFA membership until it was re-united with Germany in 1956.

Twenty years back, FC Schalke 04
FC Schalke 04
Fußball-Club Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04, commonly known as simply FC Schalke 04 or Schalke , is a German, association-football club originally from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia. Schalke has long been one of the most popular football teams in Germany, even though major...

 dominated German football during the Nazi era and was often held up for propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....

 purposes as an example of the new Germany. As the Reich expanded through conquest, teams from Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

, Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...

, Alsace-Lorraine
Alsace-Lorraine
The Imperial Territory of Alsace-Lorraine was a territory created by the German Empire in 1871 after it annexed most of Alsace and the Moselle region of Lorraine following its victory in the Franco-Prussian War. The Alsatian part lay in the Rhine Valley on the west bank of the Rhine River and east...

 and Luxembourg
Luxembourg
Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...

 were incorporated into the Gauliga. After the Anschluss
Anschluss
The Anschluss , also known as the ', was the occupation and annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in 1938....

, the forced union of Austria with Germany, Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

's Rapid Wien captured the Tschammerpokal in 1938 and the German national championship in 1941, the latter with a 4-3 win over Schalke, who had been three goals ahead with just fifteen minutes to play in the game.

During the war, football was used as a morale booster for the population and was supported by the regime. Many teams were sponsored by the Luftwaffe, the SS, or other branches of the military. As the tide turned against Germany, the Gauliga began to crumble as players were called away to military service or were killed in the conflict, stadiums were bombed and travel became difficult. The original sixteen Gauligen broke up into over thirty smaller, more local circuits. The level of play deteriorated and lopsided scores became common, the record being a 32-0 win by Germania Mudersbach over FV Engen. The 1943–44 championship was initially cancelled but eventually went ahead after widespread protest. The 1944–45 season began less than two weeks later, rather than after the usual three-month summer break. The last recorded match in the Third Reich was on April 23, 1945 as Bayern Munich defeated 1860 Munich 3:2. Less than three weeks later, Germany surrendered unconditionally.

Postwar football

Under Allied occupation all organizations, including sports clubs and associations, were initially banned. However, within a year, sports-only organizations without political affiliation were permitted, and in the American, British and French occupation zones, most pre-war clubs were reconstituted. Oberliga play resumed in 1945–46 on a regional basis in the South and South-West; Berlin and the other regions followed and, in 1948, 1. FC Nuremberg defeated 1. FC Kaiserslautern 2:1 to become the first post-war national champions. At the time, there was no "prize" to play for. The Viktoria trophy traditionally awarded to the nation's best side had gone missing in the chaos of post-war Germany. In 1949, Nuremberg and each winning side since VfB Leipzig in 1903, would have their names engraved on the newly created Meisterschale, nicknamed "the salad bowl" for its shape. The German Cup competition introduced prior to the war also returned, with Rot-Weiss Essen
Rot-Weiss Essen
Rot-Weiss Essen is a German association football club based in Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia.- Early years :The club was formed as SV Vogelheim on 1 February 1907 out of the merger of two smaller clubs: SC Preussen and Deutsche Eiche. In 1910, Vogelheim came to an arrangement with Turnerbund...

's 2:1 victory over Alemannia Aachen
Alemannia Aachen
Alemannia Aachen is a German football club from the western city of Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia. A long term fixture of the country's second division, Alemannia enjoyed a three-year turn in the top flight in the late 1960s and, after a successful 2005–06 campaign, returned to first division play...

 in 1953.

Through the 1950s, there were continued calls for the formation of a central professional league, especially as professional leagues in other countries began to draw Germany's best players away from the amateur domestic leagues. At the international level the German game began to falter as German teams often fared poorly against professional teams from other countries. A key supporter of the central league concept was national team head coach Sepp Herberger who said, "If we want to remain competitive internationally, we have to raise our expectations at the national level."
In spite of this, Germany (as West Germany) managed to win its first World Cup in 1954 defeating heavily favoured Hungary
Hungary national football team
The Hungary national football team represents Hungary in international football and is controlled by the Hungarian Football Federation....

 3:2, the only "amateur" (i.e. semi-professional) side ever to do so. The unexpected victory was called "The Miracle of Bern
The Miracle of Bern
The Miracle of Bern is a 2003 film by Sönke Wortmann, which tells the story of a German family and the unexpected West German miracle victory in the 1954 World Cup Final in Bern, Switzerland.The film can be regarded as a portrait of post-war Germany...

" by a delighted nation. An oddity of the 1954 World Cup preliminary rounds was the fielding of a separate side
Saarland national football team
The Saarland national football team was the association football team representing Saarland from 1950 to 1956 during the French occupation following World War II...

 by the German state of Saarland
Saarland
Saarland is one of the sixteen states of Germany. The capital is Saarbrücken. It has an area of 2570 km² and 1,045,000 inhabitants. In both area and population, it is the smallest state in Germany other than the city-states...

, which was occupied by the French and did not become a part of West Germany again until after a plebiscite and treaty negotiation. The Saarlanders acquitted themselves well, finishing second in their group ahead of Norway and behind group winner West Germany.

Meanwhile, in East Germany, a separate league was established with the formation of the DS-Oberliga
DDR-Oberliga
The DDR-Oberliga was, prior to German reunification in 1990, the elite level of football competition in the DDR , being roughly equivalent to the Oberliga or Bundesliga in West Germany.-Overview:Following World...

 (Deutscher Sportausschuss Oberliga or German Sports Association) in 1949. The league was re-named the Football Oberliga DFV in 1958 and was generally referred to simply as the DDR-Liga or DDR-Oberliga. The league fielded 14 teams with 2 relegation spots.

The Formation of the Bundesliga

The defeat of the national team by Yugoslavia (0:1) in a 1962 World Cup quarter final game in Chile was one impetus (of many) to the formation of a national league. Under new DFB president Hermann Gösmann (elected that very day) the Bundesliga was created in Dortmund on July 28, 1962 to begin play starting with the 1963–64 season. The new German professional league was modelled on the long-established English league, which had been set up in 1888.

At the time, there were five Oberligen, or Premier leagues, in place representing West Germany's North, South, West, Southwest, and Berlin. East Germany, under Soviet occupation, maintained its separate league structure. Forty-six clubs applied for admission to the new league. Sixteen teams were selected based on their success on the field, economic criteria and representation of the various Oberligen.
  • From Oberliga Nord
    Oberliga Nord (1947-63)
    The Oberliga Nord was the highest level of the German football league system in the north of Germany from 1947 until the formation of the Bundesliga in 1963. It covered the states of Lower Saxony, Bremen, Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein.-Overview:...

    : Eintracht Braunschweig
    Eintracht Braunschweig
    Eintracht Braunschweig is a German association football club based in Braunschweig, Lower Saxony. The club was one of the founding members of the Bundesliga in 1963 and won the national title in 1967.-History:...

    , SV Werder Bremen
    SV Werder Bremen
    SV Werder Bremen is a German sports club best known for its association football team playing in Bremen, in the northwest German federal state of the same name. The club was founded on 4 February 1899 as Fußballverein Werder by a group of sixteen vocational high school students who had won a prize...

    , Hamburger SV
    Hamburger SV
    Hamburger Sport-Verein, usually referred to as HSV in Germany and Hamburg in international parlance, is a German multi-sport club based in Hamburg, its largest branch being its football department...

  • From Oberliga West
    Oberliga West (1947-63)
    The Oberliga West was the highest level of the German football league system in the west of Germany from 1947 until the formation of the Bundesliga in 1963...

    : Borussia Dortmund
    Borussia Dortmund
    Ballspielverein Borussia Dortmund, commonly BVB, are a German sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. Dortmund are one of the most successful clubs in German football history. Borussia Dortmund play in the Bundesliga, the top league of German football...

    , 1. FC Köln
    1. FC Köln
    1. FC Köln is a German association football club based in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia. It was formed in 1948 as a merger of the clubs Kölner Ballspiel-Club 1901 and SpVgg Sülz 07....

    , Meidericher SV (now MSV Duisburg
    MSV Duisburg
    MSV Duisburg is a German association football club based in Duisburg, North Rhine-Westphalia. Nicknamed "the Zebras" for their traditional striped jerseys, the club was one of the original members of the Bundesliga when it was formed in 1963.-Early years:...

    ), SC Preußen Münster
    SC Preußen Münster
    SC Preußen Münster are a German association football club based in Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia.-History:The club was founded as FC Preussen in 1906 and has its roots in a group formed at the Johann-Conrad-Schlaun Grammar School...

    , FC Schalke 04
    FC Schalke 04
    Fußball-Club Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04, commonly known as simply FC Schalke 04 or Schalke , is a German, association-football club originally from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia. Schalke has long been one of the most popular football teams in Germany, even though major...

  • From Oberliga Südwest
    Oberliga Südwest (1945-63)
    The Oberliga Südwest was the highest level of the German football league system in the southwest of Germany from 1945 until the formation of the Bundesliga in 1963. It covered the two states of Rheinland-Pfalz and Saarland.-Overview:...

    : 1. FC Kaiserslautern
    1. FC Kaiserslautern
    1. Fußball-Club Kaiserslautern, also known as 1. FCK, FCK or simply Kaiserslautern, is a German association football club based in Kaiserslautern, Rhineland-Palatinate. On 2 June 1900, Germania 1896 and FG Kaiserslautern merged to create FC 1900...

    , 1. FC Saarbrücken
    1. FC Saarbrücken
    1. FC Saarbrücken is a German association football club based in the city of Saarbrücken, Saarland. The club began its existence as the football department of Turnverein Malstatt formed in 1903...

  • From Oberliga Süd
    Oberliga Süd (1945-63)
    The Oberliga Süd was the highest level of the German football league system in the south of Germany from 1945 until the formation of the Bundesliga in 1963.It covered the three states of Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and Hessen.-Overview:...

    : Eintracht Frankfurt
    Eintracht Frankfurt
    Eintracht Frankfurt is a German sports club, based in Frankfurt, Hesse that is best known for its association football club.- Club origins :...

    , Karlsruher SC
    Karlsruher SC
    Karlsruher SC is a German association football club, based in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg. KSC rose out of the consolidation of a number of predecessor clubs. They currently play in the 2...

    , 1. FC Nuremberg, TSV 1860 München
    TSV 1860 München
    Turn- und Sportverein München von 1860, commonly known as TSV 1860 München or 1860 Munich, is a German sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. The club's football team plays in the Second Bundesliga, after relegation from the Bundesliga following the 2003–04 season...

    , VfB Stuttgart
    VfB Stuttgart
    Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart, is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club is best known for its football team, which has participated in all but two Bundesliga seasons...

  • From Oberliga Berlin
    Oberliga Berlin (1945-63)
    The Oberliga Berlin was the highest level of the German football league system in the city of West-Berlin in Germany from 1945 until the formation of the Bundesliga in 1963. It was by far the smallest of the five Oberligas.-Overview:...

    : Hertha BSC Berlin
    Hertha BSC Berlin
    Hertha Berliner Sport-Club von 1892, commonly known as Hertha BSC or Hertha Berlin, is a German association football club based in Berlin. A founding member of the German Football Association in Leipzig in 1900, the club has a long history as Berlin's best-supported side...



The first Bundesliga games were played on August 24, 1963. Early favorite 1. FC Köln (45:19) was the first Bundesliga champion over second place clubs Meidericher SV and Eintracht Frankfurt (both 39:25).
Season Bundesliga-Champion
1963/64
Fußball-Bundesliga 1963/64
The 1963–64 Fußball-Bundesliga season was the inaugural season for a single division highest tier of football in West Germany. It began on 24 August 1963 and ended on 9 May 1964. The first goal was scored by Friedhelm Konietzka for Borussia Dortmund in their game against Werder Bremen. The...

1. FC Köln
1. FC Köln
1. FC Köln is a German association football club based in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia. It was formed in 1948 as a merger of the clubs Kölner Ballspiel-Club 1901 and SpVgg Sülz 07....

1964/65
Fußball-Bundesliga 1964/65
The 1964–65 Fußball-Bundesliga is the second season of the Fußball-Bundesliga, West Germany's premier football league. It began on 22 August 1964 and ended on 15 May 1965. 1. FC Köln were the defending champions.-Season overview:...

SV Werder Bremen
SV Werder Bremen
SV Werder Bremen is a German sports club best known for its association football team playing in Bremen, in the northwest German federal state of the same name. The club was founded on 4 February 1899 as Fußballverein Werder by a group of sixteen vocational high school students who had won a prize...

1965/66
Fußball-Bundesliga 1965/66
Fußball-Bundesliga 1965–66 was the third season of the Fußball-Bundesliga, West Germany's premier football league. It began on 14 August 1965 and ended on 28 May 1966. Werder Bremen were the defending champions.-Competition modus:...

TSV 1860 München
TSV 1860 München
Turn- und Sportverein München von 1860, commonly known as TSV 1860 München or 1860 Munich, is a German sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. The club's football team plays in the Second Bundesliga, after relegation from the Bundesliga following the 2003–04 season...

1966/67
Fußball-Bundesliga 1966/67
Fußball-Bundesliga 1966–67 was the fourth season of the Fußball-Bundesliga, West Germany's premier football league. It began on 20 August 1966 and ended on 3 June 1967. Werder Bremen were the defending champions.-Competition modus:...

Eintracht Braunschweig
Eintracht Braunschweig
Eintracht Braunschweig is a German association football club based in Braunschweig, Lower Saxony. The club was one of the founding members of the Bundesliga in 1963 and won the national title in 1967.-History:...

1967/68
Fußball-Bundesliga 1967/68
Fußball-Bundesliga 1967–68 was the fifth season of the Fußball-Bundesliga, West Germany's premier football league. It began on 18 August 1967 and ended on 28 May 1968. Eintracht Braunschweig were the defending champions.-Competition modus:...

1. FC Nuremberg
1968/69
Fußball-Bundesliga 1968/69
Fußball-Bundesliga 1968–69 was the sixth season of the Fußball-Bundesliga, West Germany's premier football league. It began on 17 August 1968 and ended on 7 June 1969. 1. FC Nuremberg were the defending champions.-Competition modus:...

FC Bayern Munich
FC Bayern Munich
FC Bayern Munich , is a German sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional football team, which is the most successful football club in Germany, having won 22 national titles and 15 cups....

1969/70
Fußball-Bundesliga 1969/70
-League table:-Results:...

Borussia Mönchengladbach
Borussia Mönchengladbach
Borussia Mönchengladbach is a German association football club based in Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-Westphalia. The team plays in the Bundesliga and is one of the country's most well-known, well-supported, and successful teams. Borussia Mönchengladbach has over 40,000 members and is the sixth...

1970/71
Fußball-Bundesliga 1970/71
Fußball-Bundesliga 1970–71 was the eighth season of the Fußball-Bundesliga, West Germany's premier football league. It began on 15 August 1970 and ended on 5 June 1971. Borussia Mönchengladbach were the defending champions.-Competition modus:...

Borussia Mönchengladbach
Borussia Mönchengladbach
Borussia Mönchengladbach is a German association football club based in Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-Westphalia. The team plays in the Bundesliga and is one of the country's most well-known, well-supported, and successful teams. Borussia Mönchengladbach has over 40,000 members and is the sixth...

1971/72 FC Bayern Munich
FC Bayern Munich
FC Bayern Munich , is a German sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional football team, which is the most successful football club in Germany, having won 22 national titles and 15 cups....

1972/73
Fußball-Bundesliga 1972/73
-League table:-Results:...

FC Bayern Munich
FC Bayern Munich
FC Bayern Munich , is a German sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional football team, which is the most successful football club in Germany, having won 22 national titles and 15 cups....

1973/74
Fußball-Bundesliga 1973/74
-League table:-Results:...

FC Bayern Munich
FC Bayern Munich
FC Bayern Munich , is a German sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional football team, which is the most successful football club in Germany, having won 22 national titles and 15 cups....

1974/75
Fußball-Bundesliga 1974/75
-League table:-Results:...

Borussia Mönchengladbach
Borussia Mönchengladbach
Borussia Mönchengladbach is a German association football club based in Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-Westphalia. The team plays in the Bundesliga and is one of the country's most well-known, well-supported, and successful teams. Borussia Mönchengladbach has over 40,000 members and is the sixth...

1975/76
Fußball-Bundesliga 1975/76
Notes#The VfL Bochum played six of their 1976 home games at Stadion am Schloss Strünkede in Herne and one at the Westfalenstadion in Dortmund because the field at their Stadion an der Castroper Straße had become unplayable due to the 1976–1979 expansion of the stadium.-League table:-Results:...

Borussia Mönchengladbach
Borussia Mönchengladbach
Borussia Mönchengladbach is a German association football club based in Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-Westphalia. The team plays in the Bundesliga and is one of the country's most well-known, well-supported, and successful teams. Borussia Mönchengladbach has over 40,000 members and is the sixth...

1976/77
Fußball-Bundesliga 1976/77
-League table:-Results:...

Borussia Mönchengladbach
Borussia Mönchengladbach
Borussia Mönchengladbach is a German association football club based in Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-Westphalia. The team plays in the Bundesliga and is one of the country's most well-known, well-supported, and successful teams. Borussia Mönchengladbach has over 40,000 members and is the sixth...

1977/78
Fußball-Bundesliga 1977/78
-League table:-Results:...

1. FC Köln
1. FC Köln
1. FC Köln is a German association football club based in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia. It was formed in 1948 as a merger of the clubs Kölner Ballspiel-Club 1901 and SpVgg Sülz 07....

1978/79
Fußball-Bundesliga 1978/79
-League table:-Results:...

Hamburger SV
Hamburger SV
Hamburger Sport-Verein, usually referred to as HSV in Germany and Hamburg in international parlance, is a German multi-sport club based in Hamburg, its largest branch being its football department...

1979/80
Fußball-Bundesliga 1979/80
1860 Munich played their first matches in Olympiastadion until renovation at their primary venue had been completed.-League table:-Results:...

FC Bayern Munich
FC Bayern Munich
FC Bayern Munich , is a German sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional football team, which is the most successful football club in Germany, having won 22 national titles and 15 cups....

1980/81
Fußball-Bundesliga 1980/81
-League table:-Results:...

FC Bayern Munich
FC Bayern Munich
FC Bayern Munich , is a German sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional football team, which is the most successful football club in Germany, having won 22 national titles and 15 cups....

1981/82
Fußball-Bundesliga 1981/82
-League table:-Relegation/Promotion play-off:Bayer Leverkusen and third-placed 2. Bundesliga team Kickers Offenbach had to compete in a two-legged relegation/promotion play-off...

Hamburger SV
Hamburger SV
Hamburger Sport-Verein, usually referred to as HSV in Germany and Hamburg in international parlance, is a German multi-sport club based in Hamburg, its largest branch being its football department...

1982/83
Fußball-Bundesliga 1982/83
-League table:-Relegation/Promotion play-off:FC Schalke 04 and third-placed 2. Bundesliga team Bayer 05 Uerdingen had to compete in a two-legged relegation/promotion play-off...

Hamburger SV
Hamburger SV
Hamburger Sport-Verein, usually referred to as HSV in Germany and Hamburg in international parlance, is a German multi-sport club based in Hamburg, its largest branch being its football department...

1983/84
Fußball-Bundesliga 1983/84
Fußball-Bundesliga 1983–84 was the 21st season of the Fußball-Bundesliga, West Germany's premier football league. It began on 12 August 1983 and ended on 26 May 1984. Stuttgart won the championship. Defending champions, Hamburg finished second...

VfB Stuttgart
VfB Stuttgart
Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart, is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club is best known for its football team, which has participated in all but two Bundesliga seasons...

1984/85
Fußball-Bundesliga 1984/85
Waldhof Mannheim played their matches in nearby Ludwigshafen because their own ground did not fulfil Bundesliga requirements.-League table:-Relegation/Promotion play-off:...

FC Bayern Munich
FC Bayern Munich
FC Bayern Munich , is a German sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional football team, which is the most successful football club in Germany, having won 22 national titles and 15 cups....

1985/86
Fußball-Bundesliga 1985/86
Waldhof Mannheim played their matches in nearby Ludwigshafen because their own ground did not fulfil Bundesliga requirements.-League table:-Relegation/Promotion play-off:...

FC Bayern Munich
FC Bayern Munich
FC Bayern Munich , is a German sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional football team, which is the most successful football club in Germany, having won 22 national titles and 15 cups....

1986/87
Fußball-Bundesliga 1986/87
Waldhof Mannheim played their matches in nearby Ludwigshafen because their own ground did not fulfil Bundesliga requirements.-League table:-Relegation/Promotion play-off:...

FC Bayern Munich
FC Bayern Munich
FC Bayern Munich , is a German sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional football team, which is the most successful football club in Germany, having won 22 national titles and 15 cups....

1987/88
Fußball-Bundesliga 1987/88
Waldhof Mannheim played their matches in nearby Ludwigshafen because their own ground did not fulfil Bundesliga requirements.-League table:-Relegation/Promotion play-off:...

SV Werder Bremen
SV Werder Bremen
SV Werder Bremen is a German sports club best known for its association football team playing in Bremen, in the northwest German federal state of the same name. The club was founded on 4 February 1899 as Fußballverein Werder by a group of sixteen vocational high school students who had won a prize...

1988/89
Fußball-Bundesliga 1988/89
Waldhof Mannheim played their matches in nearby Ludwigshafen because their own ground did not fulfil Bundesliga requirements.-League table:-Relegation/Promotion play-off:...

FC Bayern Munich
FC Bayern Munich
FC Bayern Munich , is a German sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional football team, which is the most successful football club in Germany, having won 22 national titles and 15 cups....

1989/90
Fußball-Bundesliga 1989/90
-League table:-Relegation/Promotion play-off:VfL Bochum and third-placed 2. Bundesliga team 1. FC Saarbrücken had to compete in a two-legged relegation/promotion play-off...

FC Bayern Munich
FC Bayern Munich
FC Bayern Munich , is a German sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional football team, which is the most successful football club in Germany, having won 22 national titles and 15 cups....

1990/91
Fußball-Bundesliga 1990/91
Wattenscheid played their first six home matches at Ruhrstadion because their own ground was upgraded to meet Bundesliga requirements.-League table:-Relegation/Promotion play-off:...

1. FC Kaiserslautern
1. FC Kaiserslautern
1. Fußball-Club Kaiserslautern, also known as 1. FCK, FCK or simply Kaiserslautern, is a German association football club based in Kaiserslautern, Rhineland-Palatinate. On 2 June 1900, Germania 1896 and FG Kaiserslautern merged to create FC 1900...

1991/92
Fußball-Bundesliga 1991/92
-League table:-Top goalscorers:22 goals Fritz Walter 20 goals Stéphane Chapuisat 17 goals Roland Wohlfarth 15 goals Anthony Yeboah ...

VfB Stuttgart
VfB Stuttgart
Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart, is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club is best known for its football team, which has participated in all but two Bundesliga seasons...

1992/93
Fußball-Bundesliga 1992/93
-League table:-Top goalscorers:20 goals Ulf Kirsten Anthony Yeboah 17 goals Wynton Rufer 15 goals Stéphane Chapuisat ...

SV Werder Bremen
SV Werder Bremen
SV Werder Bremen is a German sports club best known for its association football team playing in Bremen, in the northwest German federal state of the same name. The club was founded on 4 February 1899 as Fußballverein Werder by a group of sixteen vocational high school students who had won a prize...

1993/94
Fußball-Bundesliga 1993/94
-League table:-Top goalscorers:18 goals Stefan Kuntz Anthony Yeboah 17 goals Stéphane Chapuisat Paulo Sérgio Toni Polster -League table:-Top goalscorers:18 goals Stefan Kuntz (1. FC Kaiserslautern) Anthony Yeboah (Eintracht Frankfurt)17 goals Stéphane Chapuisat (Borussia Dortmund) Paulo Sérgio...

FC Bayern Munich
FC Bayern Munich
FC Bayern Munich , is a German sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional football team, which is the most successful football club in Germany, having won 22 national titles and 15 cups....

1994/95
Fußball-Bundesliga 1994/95
1860 Munich played four high risk home matches at Olympiastadion.-League table:-Top goalscorers:20 goals Mario Basler Heiko Herrlich 17 goals Toni Polster ...

Borussia Dortmund
Borussia Dortmund
Ballspielverein Borussia Dortmund, commonly BVB, are a German sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. Dortmund are one of the most successful clubs in German football history. Borussia Dortmund play in the Bundesliga, the top league of German football...

1995/96 Borussia Dortmund
Borussia Dortmund
Ballspielverein Borussia Dortmund, commonly BVB, are a German sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. Dortmund are one of the most successful clubs in German football history. Borussia Dortmund play in the Bundesliga, the top league of German football...

1996/97
Fußball-Bundesliga 1996/97
-League table:-Top goalscorers:22 goals Ulf Kirsten 21 goals Toni Polster 19 goals Fredi Bobic ...

FC Bayern Munich
FC Bayern Munich
FC Bayern Munich , is a German sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional football team, which is the most successful football club in Germany, having won 22 national titles and 15 cups....

1997/98
Fußball-Bundesliga 1997/98
-League table:-Top goalscorers:22 goals Ulf Kirsten 21 goals Olaf Marschall 14 goals Stéphane Chapuisat Michael Preetz ...

1. FC Kaiserslautern
1. FC Kaiserslautern
1. Fußball-Club Kaiserslautern, also known as 1. FCK, FCK or simply Kaiserslautern, is a German association football club based in Kaiserslautern, Rhineland-Palatinate. On 2 June 1900, Germania 1896 and FG Kaiserslautern merged to create FC 1900...

1998/99
Fußball-Bundesliga 1998/99
-League table:-Results:While Bayern Munich clearly dominated the league and secured the championship in round 31, the season is well remembered for the struggle against relegation which remained close until the final whistle...

FC Bayern Munich
FC Bayern Munich
FC Bayern Munich , is a German sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional football team, which is the most successful football club in Germany, having won 22 national titles and 15 cups....

1999/00
Fußball-Bundesliga 1999/2000
-League table:-Top goalscorers:19 goals Martin Max 17 goals Ulf Kirsten 14 goals Élber Ebbe Sand ...

FC Bayern Munich
FC Bayern Munich
FC Bayern Munich , is a German sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional football team, which is the most successful football club in Germany, having won 22 national titles and 15 cups....

2000/01
Fußball-Bundesliga 2000/01
-League table:-Top goalscorers:22 goals Sergej Barbarez Ebbe Sand 19 goals Claudio Pizarro 16 goals Michael Preetz ...

FC Bayern Munich
FC Bayern Munich
FC Bayern Munich , is a German sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional football team, which is the most successful football club in Germany, having won 22 national titles and 15 cups....

2001/02
Fußball-Bundesliga 2001/02
- Final table :The final table of the 1st Bundesliga, Season 2001/02- Final table :The final table of the 1st Bundesliga, Season 2001/02- Final table :...

Borussia Dortmund
Borussia Dortmund
Ballspielverein Borussia Dortmund, commonly BVB, are a German sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. Dortmund are one of the most successful clubs in German football history. Borussia Dortmund play in the Bundesliga, the top league of German football...

2002/03
Fußball-Bundesliga 2002/03
- Final table :The final table of the 1st Bundesliga, Season 2002/03- Final table :The final table of the 1st Bundesliga, Season 2002/03- Final table :...

FC Bayern Munich
FC Bayern Munich
FC Bayern Munich , is a German sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional football team, which is the most successful football club in Germany, having won 22 national titles and 15 cups....

2003/04 SV Werder Bremen
SV Werder Bremen
SV Werder Bremen is a German sports club best known for its association football team playing in Bremen, in the northwest German federal state of the same name. The club was founded on 4 February 1899 as Fußballverein Werder by a group of sixteen vocational high school students who had won a prize...

2004/05 FC Bayern Munich
FC Bayern Munich
FC Bayern Munich , is a German sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional football team, which is the most successful football club in Germany, having won 22 national titles and 15 cups....

2005/06
Fußball-Bundesliga 2005/06
Fußball-Bundesliga 2005–06 was the 43rd season of the Fußball-Bundesliga, Germany's premier football league.-Participating Teams:* 1. FC Kaiserslautern* 1. FC Köln* 1...

FC Bayern Munich
FC Bayern Munich
FC Bayern Munich , is a German sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional football team, which is the most successful football club in Germany, having won 22 national titles and 15 cups....

2006/07
Fußball-Bundesliga 2006/07
Fußball-Bundesliga 2006–07 was the 44th season of the Fußball-Bundesliga, Germany's premier football league. It began on 11 August 2006 and ended on 19 May 2007...

VfB Stuttgart
VfB Stuttgart
Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart, is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club is best known for its football team, which has participated in all but two Bundesliga seasons...

2007/08 FC Bayern Munich
FC Bayern Munich
FC Bayern Munich , is a German sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional football team, which is the most successful football club in Germany, having won 22 national titles and 15 cups....

2008/09 VfL Wolfsburg
VfL Wolfsburg
VfL Wolfsburg is a professional German association football club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, who play in the Bundesliga football competition. Wolfsburg have won the Bundesliga once in their history, in the 2008–09 season, and were DFB-Pokal runners-up in 1995. The current head coach is Felix...


The 1960s

The new league was met with enthusiasm early on and large crowds came out to watch the nation's top teams. No single team was able to dominate through the 1960s — in seven seasons from 1963–64 through to 1969–70, seven different teams won the championship. The 1965–66 season saw the promotion of Bayern München to the top league and in 1968–69 they won their first championship on their way to becoming the most dominant side in Bundesliga history.

The 1960s also saw one of the strangest incidents in the history of the Bundesliga. The licence of Hertha BSC Berlin was revoked for the 1964–65 season and the team relegated to the Regionalliga Berlin (Regional leagues being the leagues below the Bundesliga at the time) for breaking the league's player salary rules, partially in an attempt to entice players to Berlin at the time of the construction of the Berlin Wall and high Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...

 tensions. The last place clubs, Karlsruher SC and FC Schalke 04, tried to avoid being demoted by laying claim to Hertha's place. It was decided to suspend relegation for one season and increase the number of teams in the league from 16 to 18 to accommodate the two teams which would normally be promoted from the Regionalligen. The politics of the Cold War era led to a space being held open for a Berlin side to replace Hertha in a show of solidarity with the former capital city. What followed was the debacle of the promotion of Tasmania 1900 Berlin
Tasmania 1900 Berlin
SC Tasmania 1900 Berlin was a German association football club based in the Berlin district of Neukölln.- Tasmania 1900 :The team was founded on 2 June 1900 as Rixdorfer TuFC Tasmania 1900, changing its name when Rixdorf was re-named Neukölln in 1912...

, which went on to the worst season in league history.

West Germany made another appearance in the final
1966 FIFA World Cup Final
The 1966 FIFA World Cup Final was the final match in the 1966 FIFA World Cup, the eighth football World Cup. The match was contested by England and West Germany on 30 July 1966 at Wembley Stadium in London, and had an attendance of 98,000. England won 4–2 after extra time to win the Jules Rimet...

 of the World Cup in 1966
1966 FIFA World Cup
The 1966 FIFA World Cup, the eighth staging of the World Cup, was held in England from 11 July to 30 July. England beat West Germany 4–2 in the final, winning the World Cup for the first time, so becoming the first host to win the tournament since Italy in 1934.-Host selection:England was chosen as...

, losing (4:2) to England
England national football team
The England national football team represents England in association football and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in England. England is the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside Scotland, whom they played in the world's first...

 in extra time that included a famously controversial goal.

The 1970s

The young league got off to a difficult start in the decade as a scandal broke with Kickers Offenbach president Horst Gregorio Canellas putting forward evidence of players being bribed to affect the outcome of games. Allegations were that a number of clubs, including Bielefeld, Hertha, Schalke, and Köln, were involved. The scandal caused a disastrous loss of confidence in the Bundesliga and game attendance plummeted. Investigations by the DFB led to the banning of many players, although most of these sentences were commuted. Arminia Bielefeld
Arminia Bielefeld
DSC Arminia Bielefeld is a German sports club from Bielefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia. Arminia offers the sports of football, field hockey, figure skating and cue sports. The club has 11,394 members and the club colours are black, white and blue...

, identified as the club central to the scandal, was stripped of all points they had earned during the 1971–72 season and then relegated to the league below.

Enthusiasm for the sport was restored by host West Germany's win in the 1974 World Cup and the first wins by Bundesliga sides in the European Champions Cup (a triple by Bayern München in 1974, 1975 and 1976) and the UEFA Cup (Borussia Mönchengladbach in 1975). Attendance rose steadily after the end of the bribery scandal, putting some teams on solid enough financial footings to be able to attract the first foreign stars to the league in the 1977–78 season.

The Bundesliga was dominated by two sides through the 1970s. Borussia Mönchengladbach
Borussia Mönchengladbach
Borussia Mönchengladbach is a German association football club based in Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-Westphalia. The team plays in the Bundesliga and is one of the country's most well-known, well-supported, and successful teams. Borussia Mönchengladbach has over 40,000 members and is the sixth...

 became the first team to successfully defend its title with its win in 1970–71. Bayern Munchen became the first three-time champion with wins in 1971–72, 1972–73 and 1973–74. Borussia Mönchengladbach then turned a triple of its own over the following three seasons. After wins by Köln and Hamburg, Bayern closed out the decade by matching Mönchengladbach's five titles.

The 1980s

The 1980s were a rather bleak decade for the Bundesliga. There was a general decline in attendance throughout the league: in the 1977–78 season average attendance for a Bundesliga match was over 26,000 — the best since 1964–65. By 1985–86 that figure bottomed out at just 17,600 spectators per game. The country's football was also affected by the general European problem of hooliganism and the appearance of neo-Nazi fan groups. The German domestic game became a graceless, rough-edged, brute physical contest devoid of the kinds of star players fans had enjoyed watching in earlier decades. The best German players were regularly lured south to play in Serie A
Serie A
Serie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...

 by cash-rich Italian clubs. Bayern Munich's domination of the Bundesliga became numbingly repetitive as they took six of ten titles in the 1980s.

But by the end of the decade the stage was set for some fundamental changes to the Bundesliga. The league signed its first rich television contract and German re-unification and the subsequent merger of the football leagues of East and West Germany was on the horizon.

The 1990s

In 1991, a year after German reunification, East Germany's Deutscher Fußball-Verband der DDR
Deutscher Fußball-Verband der DDR
The Deutscher Fußball-Verband der DDR was since the 1950s the football association of the German Democratic Republic, fielding the East Germany national football team until 1990 before rejoining its counterpart, the German Football Association DFB, which had been founded in 1904....

, or Football Federation of the German Democratic Republic, was merged into West Germany's DFB. East German sides were seeded and assigned to various levels within the West German league structure, which was itself modified to accommodate the influx of new clubs. To facilitate the union with the eastern league the Bundesliga temporarily expanded to 20 clubs in the 1991–92 season and added the DDR-Oberliga
DDR-Oberliga
The DDR-Oberliga was, prior to German reunification in 1990, the elite level of football competition in the DDR , being roughly equivalent to the Oberliga or Bundesliga in West Germany.-Overview:Following World...

's top two sides, Dynamo Dresden
Dynamo Dresden
SG Dynamo Dresden are a German association football club, based in Dresden, Saxony. They were founded in 1950, as a club affiliated with the East German police, and became one of the most popular and successful clubs in East German football, winning eight league titles...

 and Hansa Rostock. The Bundesliga returned to an 18 team slate in the following season with Dresden managing to stick in the top league, while Rostock was relegated. These two teams continued to make appearances in the Bundesliga through the 1990s. The only other former East German sides to earn promotion to the Bundesliga to date are FC Energie Cottbus and VfB Leipzig, while a half dozen others of these clubs have played in 2.Bundesliga.

Beginning with the 1995–96 season, the league adopted a new scoring system. Teams were now awarded three points for a win rather than two as had been traditional, with a view toward encouraging more effort through a greater reward in the standings.

Since the beginning of the 1990s, the Bundesliga again enjoyed increasing popularity in Germany. This was on one hand due to the success of the German national football team (third World Cup title in 1990 and third European Championships
UEFA European Football Championship
The UEFA European Football Championship is the main football competition of the men's national football teams governed by UEFA . Held every four years since 1960, in the even-numbered year between World Cup tournaments, it was originally called the UEFA European Nations Cup, changing to the current...

 title in 1996). The Bundesliga also began to take a more deliberate approach to marketing and promoting itself and its member clubs, following the example of other more widely recognized European leagues.

Into the new millennium

Until 2001, the Bundesliga was directly under the control German football's governing body the Deutscher Fußball-Bund
German Football Association
The German Football Association is the governing body of football in Germany. A founding member of both FIFA and UEFA, the DFB organises the German football leagues, including the national league, the Bundesliga, and the men's and women's national teams. The DFB is based in Frankfurt and is...

 (DFB or German Football Association). This changed with the formation of the Deutsche Fußball-Liga (DFL or German Football League) when the Bundesligen came under the auspices of this new body. The DFL, while remaining subordinate to the DFB, manages Germany's professional leagues and is responsible for the issuing of licences to clubs, general fiscal oversight of the Bundesligen, and marketing rights for the two upper leagues.

Since the launch of the Bundesliga on August 24, 1963 forty-nine clubs have played in the league ranks. To help celebrate the 40th anniversary of the league, two clubs with distinguished Bundesliga histories met in a game on August 24, 2003: Hamburger SV
Hamburger SV
Hamburger Sport-Verein, usually referred to as HSV in Germany and Hamburg in international parlance, is a German multi-sport club based in Hamburg, its largest branch being its football department...

, known as the "dinosaur" for being the only club which has played in every season of the leagues' existence, and Bayern Munich
FC Bayern Munich
FC Bayern Munich , is a German sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional football team, which is the most successful football club in Germany, having won 22 national titles and 15 cups....

, the most successful side in German football, which had just won their seventeenth Bundesliga title.

In 2005, German football was once again overshadowed by the discovery of a match-fixing scandal involving second division referee
Referee
A referee is the person of authority, in a variety of sports, who is responsible for presiding over the game from a neutral point of view and making on the fly decisions that enforce the rules of the sport...

 Robert Hoyzer
Robert Hoyzer
Robert Hoyzer is a retired German football referee, who scandalized German football by fixing matches in the Bundesliga scandal of 2005.-Early life:...

, who confessed to fixing and betting on matches in the 2. Bundesliga, the DFB-Pokal (DFB or German Cup), and the Regionalliga (III). The games included a DFB Cup first-round match between regional side Paderborn
SC Paderborn 07
SC Paderborn 07 is a German association football club based in Paderborn, North Rhine-Westphalia, currently playing in the 2. Bundesliga.-History:...

 and Bundesliga heavyweights Hamburg
Hamburger SV
Hamburger Sport-Verein, usually referred to as HSV in Germany and Hamburg in international parlance, is a German multi-sport club based in Hamburg, its largest branch being its football department...

 on August 21, 2004. Hamburg lost (2:4) through penalties and a red-card charged to the side and was eliminated from the lucrative competition.

Hoyzer was banned for life and received a 29-month prison sentence. He soon implicated other officials, players, and a group of Croatian-based gamblers, leading to an on-going investigation. To this point, at the end of 2005, it appears that the scandal did not directly involve the Bundesliga and was confined to lower divisions:
  • referee Dominik Marks was banned for life and received an 18-month sentence for his involvement
  • one-time Bundesliga player Jürgen Jansen received a fine and 9-month suspended sentence for accepting bribes to influence games he played in
  • three Croatian brothers orchestrating the scheme received varying sentences (35 months to 12 months — suspended)
  • referee Torsten Koop received a three-month ban for not promptly reporting an approach from Hoyzer
  • Hamburger SV
    Hamburger SV
    Hamburger Sport-Verein, usually referred to as HSV in Germany and Hamburg in international parlance, is a German multi-sport club based in Hamburg, its largest branch being its football department...

     will receive compensation worth a minimum of 2 million Euros for its forced early exit from the DFB Cup, compensation arrangements are planned for certain other teams affected
  • after review, replays have been ordered for a number of lower division games, while other results will stand
  • a number of changes have been put in place to ensure closer oversight of referees and other game officials


Despite the scandal, the Bundesliga continues to set new attendance records. In the Bundesliga's 43rd season, total attendance was about 12.41 million in 306 games for an average of 40,572 per game, a 6.9% increase over the preceding year, making the 2005–06 season the 5th consecutive record attendance year. After a decrease in 2006–07 and a slight recovery in 2007–08, new records were set in 2008–09, with 12.82 million total attendance and a per-game average of 41,904. The 2008–09 figure makes the Bundesliga the best-attended national football league in the world by per-game attendance. It is also third in per-game attendance among major professional sports leagues in the world, slightly ahead of the Australian Football League
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...

 (Australian rules
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...

) and well behind the second-ranked Indian Premier League
Indian Premier League
The Indian Premier League is a professional league for Twenty20 cricket competition in India. It was initiated by the Board of Control for Cricket in India , headquartered in Mumbai, and is supervised by BCCI Vice President Rajeev Shukla, who serves as the league's Chairman and Commissioner...

 (Twenty20
Twenty20
Twenty20 is a form of cricket, originally introduced in England for professional inter-county competition by the England and Wales Cricket Board , in 2003. A Twenty20 game involves two teams, each has a single innings, batting for a maximum of 20 overs. Twenty20 cricket is also known as T20 cricket...

 cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

) and top-ranked NFL
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

 (American football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

) in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Top drawing clubs based on average attendance included: Borussia Dortmund 72,850; FC Bayern München 67,214; FC Schalke 04 61,177; and Hamburger SV 53,298. Interest in the league was piqued by the 2006 FIFA World Cup
2006 FIFA World Cup
The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which won the right to host the event in July 2000. Teams representing 198 national football associations from all six...

 hosted in Germany. An ambitious program of stadium upgrades was undertaken in preparation for the tournament.

The Second Bundesliga saw an enormous increase in popularity in 2006–07, drawing about 4.67 million spectators for an average of 15,253. This not only smashed the league's previous attendance record, but also marked an increase of more than 20% over the 2005–06 season. The league saw another huge increase in popularity in 2007–08, drawing 5.55 million spectators for an average of 18,140, an increase of almost 19% over the previous season, which briefly made the Second Bundesliga the most-attended second-level professional sports league in the world on a per-game basis. However, the league would lose almost all of these gains in 2008–09, with total attendance of 4.76 million and an average of 15,550. Although the Second Bundesliga is now second in attendance to England's Football League Championship
Football League Championship
The Football League Championship is the highest division of The Football League and second-highest division overall in the English football league system after the Premier League...

 among second-level professional sports leagues, it still draws more spectators per game than the top leagues in such established footballing nations as Turkey, Russia
Russian Premier League
The Russian Premier League , currently called SOGAZ Russian Football Championship due to sponsorship reasons, is the top division of Russian football. There are 16 teams in the competition...

, and Portugal
Portuguese Liga
The Primeira Liga , formerly called Primeira Divisão, currently named Liga ZON Sagres after their main sponsors, is the top professional association football division of the Portuguese football league system...

.

Starting with the 2008-09 season, a new third-level league, the 3. Liga
3rd Liga
The 3rd Liga is the third division of football in Germany. The league started with the beginning of the 2008–09 season, when it replaced the Regionalliga as the third tier football league in Germany. In the German football league system, it is positioned between the 2...

, was launched, slotting between the 2. Bundesliga and the Regionalliga in the league pyramid
German football league system
The German football league system, or league pyramid, refers to a series of hierarchically interconnected leagues for association football clubs in Germany that consists of over 2,300 men's divisions, in which all leagues are bound together by the principle of promotion and relegation...

. Unlike the Bundesligen, the 3. Liga is operated directly by the DFB. At the same time, the Regionalliga went from two divisions to three.

One of the problems currently facing the league is in the performance and fate of clubs from the former East Germany, which are finding it difficult to compete with the wealthy, established western sides. One-time DDR clubs are unable to attract lucrative sponsorships, cannot afford the salaries needed to hold on to their "homegrown" talent, and find themselves playing in crumbling or primitive stadium facilities. Of the 36 clubs in the top two levels of the league system in the 2010–11 season, three will be from the former East Germany, the same number as in 2009–10. However, as in 2009–10, none will be in the First Bundesliga. The three former Eastern clubs in the 2. Bundesliga will be Energie Cottbus
Energie Cottbus
FC Energie Cottbus is a German association football club based in Cottbus, Lusatia . It was founded in 1963 as SC Cottbus in what was, at the time, East Germany...

, who last appeared in the First Bundesliga in 2008–09; Union Berlin
1. FC Union Berlin
1. FC Union Berlin is a German association football club based in Berlin. It is one of two sides in the city bearing the name Union that emerged during the Cold War and played in East Germany, while the other played in the west. The club currently plays in the 2. Fußball-Bundesliga.-Foundation to...

, from the former East Berlin, who remained in the 2. Bundesliga after having been promoted as champions of the inaugural season of the 3. Liga; and Erzgebirge Aue
FC Erzgebirge Aue
FC Erzgebirge Aue is a German football club based in Aue, Saxony. The former East German side was a charter member of the 3. Liga in 2008–09, after being relegated from the 2. Bundesliga in 2007–08. The city of Aue has a population of about 18,000 making it one of the smallest cities to ever...

, promoted as runners-up in the 2009–10 3. Liga
2009–10 3rd Liga
The 2009–10 3rd Liga season was the second season for the newly formed tier III of the German football league system. The season began on 25 July 2009 and ended on 8 May 2010.-Exchange between 2nd Bundesliga and 3rd Liga:...

. Five other eastern clubs will play in the 2010–11 3. Liga—Hansa Rostock
FC Hansa Rostock
F.C. Hansa Rostock is a German association football club based in the city of Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. They have emerged as one of the most successful clubs from the former East Germany and have made several appearances in the 1. Bundesliga. Rostock currently compete in the 2. Bundesliga...

, Carl Zeiss Jena
FC Carl Zeiss Jena
FC Carl Zeiss Jena is a German association football club based in Jena, Thuringia.-History:The club was founded in May 1903 by workers at the Carl Zeiss AG optics factory as the company-sponsored Fussball-Club der Firma Carl Zeiss. The club underwent name changes in 1911 to Fussball Club Carl Zeiss...

, Dynamo Dresden
Dynamo Dresden
SG Dynamo Dresden are a German association football club, based in Dresden, Saxony. They were founded in 1950, as a club affiliated with the East German police, and became one of the most popular and successful clubs in East German football, winning eight league titles...

, Rot-Weiß Erfurt, and the Potsdam
Potsdam
Potsdam is the capital city of the German federal state of Brandenburg and part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. It is situated on the River Havel, southwest of Berlin city centre....

 club Babelsberg
SV Babelsberg 03
SV Babelsberg 03 is a German association football club based in Potsdam-Babelsberg, on the outskirts of Berlin. The team was founded as Sport-Club Jugendkraft 1903 and again as SG Karl-Marx Babelsberg in 1948 as successor to the pre-war side SpVgg Potsdam 03.-History:Playing as SV Nowawes the team...

. In preparations for the 2006 World Cup, an attempt to fairly balance the number of venues between the eastern and western halves of the country had to face up to the reality of there not being enough suitable facilities (not limited to stadiums, but including hotels, restaurants and other visitor needs, and transportation infrastructure) in the old DDR, with the result that the east finds itself underrepresented. Only one of the 2006 venues was in the former East Germany (in Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...

). Similarly, only one of the nine venues for the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup, to be held in Germany, is in the former East Germany (in Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....

). The situation fits into the broader context of the effects of German reunification
German reunification
German reunification was the process in 1990 in which the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic of Germany , and when Berlin reunited into a single city, as provided by its then Grundgesetz constitution Article 23. The start of this process is commonly referred by Germans as die...

 on East Germany and the resentment that many Ossi
Ossi
-Organisations:*OSSI-Safenet Security Services - a private military company and a joint venture between US-based Overseas Security & Strategy Information, Inc...

s feel for their western cousins.

The 2005–2006 season saw FC Bayern München
FC Bayern Munich
FC Bayern Munich , is a German sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional football team, which is the most successful football club in Germany, having won 22 national titles and 15 cups....

 become the first club ever to repeat both as Bundesliga and DFB Pokal champions.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK