German Football History :
The German National Football team called “Die deutsche Fußballnationalmannschaft” in German, was founded in 1900. Governed by the German Football Association, it has represented the country in international competition since 1908.
The team was re-established in 1949 and since then it has been representing the Federal Republic of Germany. There were two separate national teams, namely the West German team and the East German team recognized by FIFA until the reunification of Germany in 1990. (There was also a Saarland team which played separately from 1950 to 1956. This merged into Germany in 1957.) The East and West German teams merged into one in 1990 and the official code name was shortened to GER (Germany) which was previously known as FRG (Federal Republic of Germany).
German national football started to compete in the Olympics in the year 1912. Prior to 1984, it was just an amateur event in which only non-professional players were able to participate. Because of this West Germany was unable to achieve the same success as in the World Cups, but East Germany did won a gold and a silver medal. Besides this, two bronze medals were also won in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and in the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
German’s Success Story :
The football team has been critically acclaimed across the world as one of the most successful national teams having won three FIFA World Cups in the years 1954, 1974 and 1990 respectively. It has finished as a runner-up four times in the year 1966, two times consecutively in 1982 & 1986 and last time in the year 2002. As far as the European Championship is concerned it has won this competition thrice in 1972, 1980, and 1996 and finished as runners-up three times in 1976, 1992 and 2008. Germany is the only nation in the history of the FIFA World Championship to win both men’s and women’s World Cups. The German national football team has now qualified for the upcoming 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil which would be its 18th World Cup since 1934.
Germany squad |
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| Goalkeepers: | Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich) Roman Weidenfeller (Borussia Dortmund) Ron-Robert Zieler (Hannover) |
Defenders: | Jerome Boateng (Bayern Munich) Erik Durm Kevin Grosskreutz (both Borussia Dortmund) Benedikt Howedes (Schalke) Mats Hummels (Borussia Dortmund) Marcell Jansen (Hamburg) Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich) Per Mertesacker (Arsenal) Shkodran Mustafi (Sampdoria) Marcel Schmelzer (Borussia Dortmund) |
| Midfielders: | Lars Bender (Bayer Leverkusen) Julian Draxler (Schalke) Mario Gotze (Bayern Munich) Leon Goretzka (Schalke) Andre Hahn (Augsburg) Sami Khedira (Real Madrid) Toni Kroos (Bayern Munich) Max Meyer (Schalke) Thomas Muller (Bayern Munich) Mesut Ozil (Arsenal) Marco Reus (Borussia Dortmund) Andre Schurrle (Chelsea) Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich) Kevin Volland (Hoffenheim) Matthias Ginter (Freiburg) |
Forwards: | Lukas Podolski (Arsenal) Miroslav Klose (Lazio) |
Germany’s performance in all FIFA World Cups :
| World Cup Year | World Cup Hosting Nation | FIFA Qualification | Quarter Final Birth | Semi Final Birth | Third Place Secured | Reached Final | Title Won |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | South Africa | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | – |
| 2006 | Germany | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | – |
| 2002 | South Korea | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Lost |
| 1998 | France | Yes | Yes | No | – | – | – |
| 1994 | United States | Yes | Yes | No | – | – | – |
| 1990 | Italy | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Won |
| 1986 | Mexico | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Lost |
| 1982 | Spain | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Lost |
| 1978 | Argentina | Yes | No | – | – | – | – |
| 1974 | West Germany | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Won |
| 1970 | Mexico | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | – |
| 1966 | England | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Lost |
| 1962 | Chile | Yes | Yes | No | – | – | – |
| 1958 | Sweden | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | – |
| 1954 | Switzerland | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Won |
| 1950 | Brazil | Banned | Banned | – | – | – | – |
| 1938 | France | Yes | No | – | – | – | – |
| 1934 | Italy | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | – |
| 1930 | Uruguay | Did Not Play | Did Not Play | – | – | – | – |
| Total | 19 World Cups | 17 | 15 | 12 | 4 | 7 | 3 |
