DFB anniversary: National football team to play 1,000th international

Germany became world champions for the first time. In a dramatic game in pouring rain, the team captained by Fritz Walter won the final against heavy favourites Hungary at the Wankdorf Stadium in Bern, with Helmut Rahn scoring the winning goal. It was the start of a story that still fascinates to this day.

A black day for all German football fans: the World Cup final at Wembley Stadium in London. In the 101st minute of play, England’s Geoff Hurst shot the ball, which hit the underside of the crossbar then bounced towards the ground before being headed away by defender Wolfgang Weber. Referee Gottfried Dienst awarded a goal and thus created a never-ending topic of discussion. With this 3-2 win, England became world champions for the first and only time.

In the preliminary round of the World Cup, the West Germany team met the East Germany team – a unique combination in the history of football. Like the millions watching on their television screens, visitors to the Volkspark Stadium in Hamburg saw the home favourites quietly lose through a goal from Jürgen Sparwasser, who then became a legend in East Germany.

The shock was beneficial. The legendary “Nacht von Malente” (Malent’s night) following the disastrous performance against East Germany mobilised new forces in coach Helmut Schön’s team. Their opponents in the World Cup final were the Netherlands, which, despite their perfect playing culture and the outstanding Johann Cruyff, had to admit defeat. The deciding 2-1 goal came from Gerd Müller. Franz Beckenbauer, as captain, received the brand new World Cup trophy.

It was late evening on a wonderful summer’s day when team captain Lothar Matthäus raised the World Cup trophy into the night sky in the Italian metropolis, while team manager Franz Beckenbauer, lost in thought, did his legendary lone lap across the turf of the Olympic Stadium in Rome. Germany had just beaten their opponents in the final, Argentina, 1-0 and become world champions for the third time. “The Emperor” Franz Beckenbauer was now a two times world champion – as player and as team manager.

Thirty years after the bitter experience at the 1966 World Cup final, the German team appeared at Wembley Stadium again, this time in a European Championship final. They were playing against the Czech Republic. After 90 minutes of play, the score was 1-1. After only five minutes of extra time, Oliver Bierhoff put the ball into the other team’s net and, with the first “golden goal” in the history of European Championship football, led Germany to its third title in a European Championship.

The picture of Oliver Kahn, sitting dejected against a goalpost after the end of the game, went around the world. The goalkeeping “titan”, who had delivered outstanding performances throughout the World Cup in Japan and South Korea and was honoured at the end of the tournament, fumbled a rebounded shot in the 67th minute of the final against Brazil, allowing grateful superstar Ronaldo to slip it into the goal. There was then nothing standing in the way of the Brazilians taking the title.

For the DFB German national team, the fairytale summer in their home country, which caused excitement worldwide, ended in the semi-final against subsequent world champions Italy. The venue was the stadium in Dortmund. Italy became world champions by beating France in Berlin. Meanwhile, the German fans just carried on celebrating, with hosts Germany becoming the “World Champions of Hearts”.

Throughout the entire World Cup tournament, Germany had already presented themselves as firm favourites for the title. But no-one expected what happened in their game against Brazil in Belo Horizonte. An outstanding German national team defeated the hosts with an incredible 7-1 score. Joachim Löw’s team was already in the lead at half-time with a score of 5-0. It was Brazilian player Oscar who scored the consolation goal for his team in the final minute.

Germany went into the final as favourites against Argentina, but everyone knew that the match would not be a sure-fire success. After 90 minutes, the score was still 0-0. The outcome was still uncertain until, in the 113th minute, substitute Mario Götze managed to make it 1-0 with his left foot after a cross from André Schürrle and thus achieved immortality. Germany became world champions and thrilled the nation.