On the road to the future of football

1900: founded in Leipzig 

The first football match in Germany was documented back in 1874: both teams in this premiere game were made up of pupils from the Martino-Katharineum Grammar School in Braunschweig. Largely infected by England - the “motherland of football” - enthusiasm for the sport also grows in Germany, and on 28 January 1900 representatives of 86 regional associations and clubs gather in Leipzig to found the DFB. 

1940: disbanded under the Nazis 

After coming into power in 1933, the Nazis weaken the DFB, transfer many of its duties to the “Fachamt Fußball” (football section) and force the football association to disband on 1 July 1940. It is only in early 1951 that the DFB is lawfully reestablished in Stuttgart. 

1954: return to the global community 

The International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) had already decided in 1950 to readmit the DFB, which was in the process of being reestablished. In 1954, for the first time in 16 years, Germany took part in a World Cup tournament again - achieving a sensational 3:2 victory over the favourites Hungary in the final. 

1970: recognition of women’s football 

The DFB officially includes women’s football in its statutes on 31 October 1970, having previously prohibited the sport. TuS Wörrstadt becomes the first women’s football champions in 1974, and the DFB women’s team plays its first international against Switzerland in 1982. Germany’s national women’s team goes on to take eight European Championship and two World Cup titles – and one of the DFB’s central objectives in 2025 is to continue strengthening women’s football. 

1974: Germany hosts World Cup 

Germany hosts a football World Cup for the first time in the summer of 1974. Captained by Franz Beckenbauer, the West German men’s team loses the only international against the GDR in its history in the first round – but takes the World Cup crown against the Netherlands in the final two weeks later. 

1990: Germany also united in sport 

Following the fall of the Wall in 1989, football fans from West and East Germany are already able in the summer of 1990 to jointly celebrate the victory of the West German men’s team against Argentina in the World Cup final. On 20 November the football association of the GDR is dissolved and its successor joins the DFB.  

2025: anniversary with record number of members 

On 24 January, the DFB celebrated its 125th anniversary in Leipzig, the site of its foundation, with numerous guests of honour from Germany and abroad. Around 2.3 million players, 58,000 referees and 140,000 teams are organised via the DFB, which currently has over 7.7 million members – more than ever before in its history.