Football is one of the most popular sports in the world. Football, known as Fußball in the German language, is the national sport of Germany. In this post, we will introduce you to some of the football clubs in Germany.
German football culture has roots deep in history. Germany was crowned world champion in 1954, 1974, 1990 and 2014. The success of Germany in global football has its roots in the club football structure.
The German pipeline for footballers has been globally recognized and has been attracting players from every corner of the world to the German Bundesliga. The German Bundesliga is one of the most popular and successful sporting leagues in the world with an average viewership of more than 2 million.
Let us have a look at the Top 5 Football Clubs in Germany
Eintracht Frankfurt
Located in the financial capital of Germany which is Frankfurt, Eintracht has emerged to be one of the biggest football clubs in Germany. It was founded in the year 1899.
Sportgemeinde Eintracht or SGE Frankfurt has had a decorated past in the top-flight with 1 Bundesliga, 5 DFB Pokal and 1 UEFA Europa League titles, the most recent of which was in the 2017-18 season, when they caused an incredible upset in the DFB Pokal final against Bayern München.
They have been a regular in the UEFA Europa League in the past few years, the highlight being their incredible run into the semi-finals of the 2018-19 season. Even in the 2021-22 season, they were in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Europa League.
The major reason for their success is a talented squad with players like Filip Kostic, Daichi Kamada, Martin Hinteregger and Kevin Trapp.
Bayer Leverkusen
Bayer Leverkusen was founded in 1904 in Leverkusen, Nordrhein-Westfalen by the pharmaceutical company Bayer. It is one of the very few football clubs in Germany to be privately owned by a company. They hold the record in the Bundesliga to finish second the most times without ever going all the way.
The final week in the 2001-02 season will be remembered in Leverkusen history as the worst week of football. They were enroute to completing a treble of Bundesliga, DFB Pokal and UEFA Champions League but faltered in the very last moment. In that week, they lost 2 finals and the Bundesliga title and earned the title of ‘Neverkusen’.
In recent years, they have reached the UEFA Europa League semi-finals and the DFB Pokal final. The club has produced incredibly talented players like Kai Havertz and promoted them to the first team. Their team has a spectacular core of young players like Florian Wirtz, Patrik Schick and Moussa Diaby.
RB Leipzig
Based in Leipzig, RB Leipzig is perhaps the only team from East Germany to be at the Spitze of German football at the moment. Having been founded in 2009, it is the youngest football club in the top tier of football in Europe’s top 5 leagues.
Due to its ownership (Red Bull with 99% of stake), the club has been a center of a lot of controversy and debate among the German public. It has been condemned to be against the German football traditions where clubs are owned by the fans and not by private ownership.
Nevertheless, on sporting grounds, the rise of RB Leipzig has been absolutely marvelous. Within 7 years, they rose from the 5th division of German football to the Bundesliga. Since then, have been a regular feature in Europe. Their run to the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League in the 2019-20 season is the highest point in their club’s short history. They have finished runners-up in the DFB Pokal and the Bundesliga on 2 occasions as well.
Their core of players has remained fairly constant during that time with players like Emil Forsberg, Yussuf Poulsen, Peter Gulasci and Marcel Halstenberg. The recent signings of Christopher Nkunku and Dominik Szoboszlai has also made a huge impact.
Borussia Dortmund
Founded in 1909 in Dortmund, Nordrhein-Westfalen, BVB is the second biggest football club in Germany. It is the only other club to win the Bundesliga in the past decade apart from Bayern Munich. It is well known for its fanbase.
The Signal Iduna Park, their home stadium is the biggest one in Germany housing more than 81000 fans. BVB has the highest average fan attendance in the world in club football. The Yellow Wall in the south stand, with 25000 standing fans, is one of the most intimidating atmospheres to play against.
BVB have famed themselves in recent years as a breeding ground for new young talents from across the world. Their recent graduates include the likes of Christian Pulisic of the USA and Jadon Sancho of England. They have an amazing blend of youth and experience with the likes of Erling Haaland, Jude Bellingham and Gio Reyna along with Mats Hummels and Marco Reus. Their free-flowing attacking style has attracted a lot of neutral fans towards them and made them a fan favorite to watch.
Bayern München
Bayern is deservedly called the Rekordmeister in Germany as they have won the Bundesliga a record number of times. Based in Munich, Bavaria, Bayern has become the poster for the Bundesliga and Germany in world football boasting their trophy collection of 31 Bundesliga titles, 20 DFB Pokal and 6 UEFA Champions Leagues. They are also the only other club along with FC Barcelona to have completed a European treble twice! In the historic 2019-20 season, they won every trophy available to them and completed the sextuple of Bundesliga, DFB Pokal, Champions League, DFL Supercup, UEFA Supercup and FIFA Club World Cup.
Bayern is home to the best players in Germany as well as the world. Their star man Robert Lewandowski has won the FIFA Best award for 2 consecutive years, 2020 and 2021. Other key members of the squad include Manuel Neuer, Thomas Müller, Joshua Kimmich and Leon Goretzka.
Bayern has won the Bundesliga for the past 9 consecutive seasons and this domestic domination does not seem to be ending anytime soon.
That was all about the popular football clubs in germany. Over the years, German football has evolved very much and we can see an increased representation of the German clubs on the European stage. In the new era of the post-pandemic sports world, the German clubs are set to dominate European football.
Did you know that Beer is the most popular drink associated with football? Read about the popular beers in Germany here.
