German Football Association
| UEFA | |
| Founded | 1900 |
|---|---|
| FIFA affiliation | 1904 |
| UEFA affiliation | 1954 |
| President | Theo Zwanziger |
The German Football Federation (German: Deutscher Fußball-Bund or DFB) is the governing body of football in Germany. The founding member of both FIFA and UEFA organises the German football leagues, including the national league, the Bundesliga and the men's and women's national teams. DFB is based in Frankfurt, it is divided into five regional federations with 21 regional organizations.
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History
The DFB (Deutscher Fußball-Bund) was founded in 1900 in Leipzig by representatives of 86 clubs. Germany was represented in Paris when FIFA was founded by seven nations in May 1904, but the time the FIFA statutes came into effect on 1 September, Germany had also joined by Telegram. The DFB consolidated the large number of state-based German regional competitions in play for a single recognized national title.
The role of DFB and its representatives like Felix Linnemann during Nazi Germany was documented in „100 Jahre DFB“ and by Nils Havemann in Fußball unterm Hakenkreuz.[1]. According to Gleichschaltung policy, the DFB, with its large membership from all political sides, and strong regional structures compared to weak national ones, submitted to new rulers and new Gau structures. On a short general meeting on 9 July 1933 in Berlin, the DFB did so, at least formally. Later, the Hitler salute was made compulsory, Marxists and Jews were expelled. A new organization, Deutscher Reichsbund für Leibesübungen (German Reich League for Physical Exercise), was established and Linnemann was appointed leader of its Fachamt Fußball (Football section) which took over the operational affairs, whereas the DFB lost most of its duties until it was formally dissolved in 1940.
On the pitch, Germany had done well in 1934, but after a 0-2 loss in the 1936 Summer Olympics, with Hitler attending, the DFB and football fell from grace. Reichsjugendführer Baldur von Schirach and Hitlerjugend took over youth football (under 16) from the clubs following a deal with Reichssportführer Hans von Tschammer und Osten who had been in charge of all sports in Germany since 1933, making DFB officials even more powerless. Germany had made a bid to host the 1938 World Cup, but it was withdrawn without comment.
Following the Anschluss in March 1938 that made Austria part of Germany, the Austrian Football Association became part of the German federation. New coach Sepp Herberger was told on short notice to use also Austrian players in his team, which was eliminated in the first round of the WC, weakening the situation of football within Nazi politics to near meaninglessness. Internationally, Germans and the DFB were still present, with Ivo Schricker serving as General Secretary of FIFA from 1932 to December 1950, four Germans Jakob, Kitzinger, Goldbrunner and Lehner playing in a FIFA friendly in Amsterdam, and two (Albin Kitzinger und Anderl Kupfer) representing FIFA vs. a continental team.
In the aftermath of World War II, the FIFA decided in November 1945 to ban the no longer existing DFB (and Japan) from international competition. This was only changed in 1949 when The Football Association requested FIFA to lift the ban on games. FIFA did so on 7 May 1949, two weeks before the Federal Republic of Germany was founded, requiring permission by the military governments of the time. Due to partition into several occupation zones and states, the DFB was legally re-founded in Stuttgart on 21 January 1950 only by the regional associations in West Germany, without the Saarland Football Association in the French occupied Saarland, which on 12 June 1950 would be recognized by FIFA as the first of three German FAs after the war. At the FIFA congress held on 22 June prior to the 1950 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, the Swiss Football Association requested that DFB is reinstated with full FIFA membership, which was granted on 22 September 1950[2] in Bruxelles. The teams of the DFB and the Saarland were squred off in the Qualifiers for the 1954 WC before the Saarland and its FA was permitted to rejoin Germany and the DFB in 1956.
In the early years of the division of Germany, West Germany claimed exclusive mandate of all of Germany. Unlike the IOC, which granted only provisional recognition to the East Germans in 1955, demanding they participate in an All-German team, the FIFA fully recognized the East German Football Association in 1952. Upon reunification in 1990, the Deutscher Fußball Verband der DDR (DFV) was absorbed into the DFB .
Other
Today, about 26,000 clubs are members, fielding 170,000 teams with over 2 million active players and totalling over 6 million members, the largest membership of any single sports federation in the world. DFB has 870,000 female members and 8600 female teams. The DFB is also the richest single sports federation worldwide.
The official mascot is an eagle with black feathers and yellow beak called "Paule" (since 26 March 2006) - maybe an allusion to Paul Breitner.
Presidents
- Ferdinand Hueppe (1900-1904)
- Friedrich Wilhelm Nohe (1904-1905)
- Gottfried Hinze (1905-1925)
- Felix Linnemann (1925-1945)
- Peco Bauwens (1949-1962)
- Hermann Gösmann (1962-1975)
- Hermann Neuberger (1975-1992)
- Egidius Braun (1992-2001)
- Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder (2001-2004)
- Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder together with Theo Zwanziger (2004-2006)
- Theo Zwanziger (2006-Present)
See also
- German football league system
- History of German football
- Nationalsozialistischer Reichsbund für Leibesübungen
References
- ↑ Nils Havemann Fußball unterm Hakenkreuz. Der DFB zwischen Sport, Politik und Kommerz Bonn: Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, 2006
- ↑ DFB - Deutscher Fußball-Bund e.V. - Die DFB-Geschichte
External links
- (German)/(English) Official website
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