The German football champions are the annual winners of the highest association football competition in Germany.

History

The history of the German football championship is complex and reflects the turbulent history of the country through the course of the 20th century.

Brought to the country by English expatriates, the sport took root in the cities of Berlin, Hamburg, Stuttgart, and Leipzig in the 1890s,^[1] leading to the growth of city, regional, and academic leagues, each with their own championships. Following the establishment of the German Football Association (Deutscher Fußball Bund) in 1900,^[2] the first recognized national championship match was hosted by Hamburg club Altona 93 in 1903 in which VfB Leipzig defeated DFC Prag 7–2,^[3] and was awarded the Viktoria, the championship trophy from 1903 to 1944.^[4] Before the formation of the Bundesliga in 1963, the championship format was based on a knockout competition, contested between the winners of each of the country's top regional leagues. Since 1963, the first-place finisher in the Bundesliga has been recognized as the national champion.^[5]

Championship play was suspended twice; from 1915 to 1919 due to World War I and again from 1945 to 1947 due to World War II.^[5] Following World War II, Germany was occupied by the victorious Allies and two German football competitions emerged when the country was divided as a result. The historical tradition of the DFB was continued in what was known as West Germany, while a second national championship was contested in Soviet-controlled East Germany under the auspices of the DFV (Deutscher Fußball-Verband or German Football Federation).^[3] Following the reunification of the country in 1990, the two separate football competitions were merged and a single national championship was restored.^[3]

Bayern Munich hold the record for the most championships with 33, all but one of these (1932) coming in Bundesliga competition. BFC Dynamo claimed 10 titles in the former East Germany, winning these championships in consecutive seasons (1979–88).^[5]

Champions

Early German football championships (1903–32)

The new English game of football quickly caught on in late 19th-century Germany, which had previously been a nation of gymnasts and fencers. The earliest attempt at organizing some form of national championship came in 1894, when city champions Viktoria 89 Berlin invited FC Hanau 93 to play a challenge match. The Hanauers were unable to afford the cost of the trip and so were unable to take up the invitation.^[1] In 2007, the 1894 final was replayed and Viktoria were crowned the official 1894 champions.^[6]

After its formation in 1900, the DFB began to establish its authority over the myriad city and regional leagues springing up throughout the country and organized the first officially recognized national championship in 1903.

The prize of German football was the Viktoria, a trophy statue of a seated Roman goddess of victory, donated by the committee that organized German participation in the 1900 Olympic Games in Paris – and originally intended to be shared with teams playing the rugby version of football.^[2] The formation of the DFB helped establish for the first time a clear divide between association football and its close cousin.

To qualify for the German championship finals, a club had to win one of the regional championships, which, in some cases, predate the national one. Those were:

• Southern German football championship – formed in 1898
• Brandenburg football championship – formed in 1898
• Central German football championship – formed in 1902
• Western German football championship – formed in 1903
• Northern German football championship – formed in 1906
• South Eastern German football championship – formed in 1906
• Baltic football championship – formed in 1908

One other regional championships briefly existed:

• March football championship – existed from 1903 to 1911

From 1925 onwards, the runners-up of those competitions were also qualified for the German championship finals, which had been expanded to sixteen clubs. The two strongest regions, South and West were also allowed to send their third-placed team. This system of regional championships was abolished in 1933 and superseded by the Gauliga system.

German football championships in Nazi Germany (1933–45)

With the beginning of the 1933–34 season, top-flight German football was reorganized into 16 regional Gauligen with each of these leagues sending their champion to the national playoffs.^[5] New Gauligen were created as the Reich expanded its border through the Anschluss with Austria. This expanded the national championship competition with the addition of regional champions from the new circuits.^[5] It also introduced previously foreign clubs into German domestic competition where Viennese Austrian sides made a notable impression. Competition during the war was also characterized by the formation of military-based clubs including the Luftwaffe side LSV Hamburg which appeared in the era's last national championship match at the end of the 1943–44 season.^[5] Unlike the United Kingdom, where play was suspended early on, national football competition continued on in Germany in some form through the course of the war. Play finally collapsed as the war drew to its conclusion and no champion was declared in 1944–45.

It was also during this period that a national cup competition was introduced; the Tschammerpokal was named for Reichssportführer (Sports Chief of the Reich) Hans von Tschammer und Osten and is predecessor to the modern-day DFB-Pokal (German Cup). The first cup competition was staged in 1935 and won by 1. FC Nürnberg.^[5]

Key

German football championships from post-war to the Bundesliga (1946–63)

In the immediate aftermath of World War II, German football was in complete disarray. Occupying Allied authorities ordered the dissolution of most organizations in the country.^[1]

However, many football clubs were soon re-established and new sides formed; play was tentatively resumed. By 1948, a new first division league structure, the Oberligen, was in place in most of the Western zone of occupation. The restored competition maintained the German game's historical practice of play in regional leagues. An exception was in French-occupied Saarland where attempts by France to annex the state were manifested in the formation of a separate, but short-lived, football competition that staged its own championship. Saarland briefly had its own representation under FIFA, forming Olympic and World Cup sides, before re-joining German competition in 1956.^[1]

In the Soviet-occupied East zone, a more enduring separation took place that was not mended until the reunification of Germany in 1990. As a result, Eastern-based clubs did not take part in the German national championship under the DFB, vying instead for a different prize. The country's capital city of Berlin was similarly divided and clubs based in West Berlin took part in western-based competition.^[1]

The Viktoria disappeared at war's end, although it would eventually reappear and be held in East Germany. A new trophy – the Meisterschale – was introduced in the west in 1949. The first post-war champions were 1. FC Nürnberg (2–1 over 1. FC Kaiserslautern in Köln) who were also, coincidentally, the first champions following World War I.^[5]

Over time, the notion of professionalism – long anathema to German sports – made inroads in the country. A consequence of this was that by 1956, a distinct national amateur championship was established, open to teams playing below the Oberliga level in second- and third tier leagues.