The German national football team (German: Die deutsche Fußballnationalmannschaft) From 1950 to 1990, the team was also informally called West Germany in English, as since World War II, the DFB is based in the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) which was commonly referred to as West Germany from 1949 to 1990. The DFB continues to field the German national team that had been fully reinstated by FIFA after the 1950 FIFA World Cup, retaining all records and traditions. Under Allied occupation and division, two other separate "national" teams had also been recognized by FIFA, the Saarland team (1950–1956), and the East German team (1952–1990). Both have been absorbed into the current national team, along with their records (caps and goal scorers). The official name and code "Germany FR (FRG)" has been shortened again to "Germany (GER)" since 1990.
Germany is one of the three most successful national teams at international competitions, having won a total of three World Cups and three European championships. They are also one of the most consistent teams. Aside from winning 3 world and continental titles, they were also runners-up 3 times in the European Championships, 4 times in the World Cup and won 3rd place in the World Cup 3 times as well. East Germany won Olympic Gold in 1976. Germany is the only nation to have won both the men's and women's World Cups.
Since their penalty shootout loss to Czechoslovakia in Euro 76, Germany has not lost a penalty shootout in major international tournaments. In fact, the last penalty missed by a German player dates back to the semi-finals of the 1982 World Cup when French goalkeeper Jean-Luc Ettori saved Uli Stielike's shot. In particular, Germany defeated England in semi-final shoouts in the 1990 World Cup and Euro 96.
German teams have something of a tradition of beginning their history against Switzerland: The first match ever of the German national team, the first match after World War I in 1920, the first match after World War II in 1950 when Germany was still banned from most international competitions, and the first match in 1990 with former East German players were all against Switzerland. Germany's first championship title was even won in Switzerland. Most of the home games (7 since 1911) were at Stuttgart's Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion. Klaus Fischer also scored Germany's ARD Goal of the Century there against the Swiss in 1977, with a bicycle kick (fallrückzieher), his trademark move (with which he also scored the important 3:3 equalizer in extra-time (108th minute) at the 1982 FIFA World Cup vs France, a goal that was not chosen for the Top 10 of the WC Goal of the Century)
At Germany's last two appearances in a Final of a major tournament prior to their reaching the final of Euro 2008 - Euro 96 and World Cup 2002 - the player who had scored the decisive goal in the semi final did so knowing they would be suspended for the Final. Andreas Möller in 1996 and Michael Ballack in 2002 both picked up decisive yellow cards in the semi finals against England and South Korea respectively. Möller scored the decisive penalty in a shoot-out against England and Michael Ballack went on to score the only goal against the Koreans.
The current coaching staff of the national team include head coach Joachim Löw, assistant coach Hans-Dieter Flick, goalkeeper coach Andreas Köpke, athletic coach Mark Verstegen, athletic coach Oliver Schmidtlein, scout Urs Siegenthaler, technical director Matthias Sammer and team manager Oliver Bierhoff.
Germany can boast of having the first and only goalkeeper to win the Player of the Tournament award following a World Cup, that being Oliver Kahn in 2002. Harald "Toni" Schumacher was runner-up for the award in 1986.
In Germany, they are typically referred to as the "Nationalmannschaft" (national team) or "Nationalelf" (national eleven), whereas in foreign media, they are regularly described as the "Mannschaft" (literally meaning "The Team").
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Germany has won the World Cup three times, behind only Brazil (five titles) and Italy (four titles). It has finished as runners-up four times, two more than any other side. In terms of semifinal appearances, Germany leads with 11, one more than Brazil's 10, which had participated in two more tournaments. In the last 14 World Cup tournaments, Germany has always reached at least the stage of the last eight teams. Germany has also qualified for every of the 16 World Cups it has entered — it did not enter the inaugural competition in Uruguay of 1930 for economic reasons, and could not qualify for or compete in the post-war 1950 World Cup as the DFB was re-instated as a FIFA member only two months after this tournament.
Germany has also won the European Championship three times (France and Spain are the only other multiple-time winners with two titles), and finished as runners-up three times as well. The Germans have qualified for every European Championship tournament except for the very first EC they entered in 1968. For that tournament, Germany was in the only group of three teams and thus only played four qualifying games. The deciding game was a scoreless draw in Albania which gave Yugoslavia the edge, having won in their neighbor country.
Germany played in the FIFA Confederations Cup twice, in 1999 (first round exit) and in 2005 (third place) as hosts.
Source from Wikipedia .
Squad of the German National Team for the match against Belgium on August, 20th in Nürnberg :
Source from www.dfb.de
Below are the German footballer i like , wish you also like it !
Franz beckenbauer
A German football coach, manager, and former player, nicknamed der Kaiser ("the emperor") because of his elegant style, his leadership qualities, his first name "Franz" (reminiscent of the Austrian emperors called Francis in English), and his dominance on the football pitch. He is generally regarded as the greatest German footballer of all time and also as one of the greatest footballers in the history of the game.
Matthias Sammer
European Footballer of the Year in 1996, the year he lead Germany to victory in the European Championship. Sammer retired with 74 total caps, 23 for East Germany and 51 for the unified side.
Jurgen Klinsmann
A German football manager and former football player, who played for several prominent clubs in Europe and was part of the German team that won the 1990 FIFA World Cup. He was one of Germany's premier strikers during the 90s.
Thomas Hassler
He won a bronze medal for West Germany at the 1988 Summer Olympics. He was the dominant figure of the Euro 92, displaying performances that were reminiscent of Diego Maradona's 1986 World Cup exploits. He displayed a specialty for scoring spectacular free kicks, tireless stamina and dazzling dribbling sprees.
Michael Ballack
http://www.michael-ballack.com/?101A1A2A100
Mirosklav Klose
The top scorer and thus the Golden Boot winner at the 2006 World Cup in Germany, with a tournament-high five goals. Klose also scored five goals in his debut World Cup, the 2002 World Cup hosted jointly by the Korea Republic and Japan, giving him a total of ten goals in World Cup finals. He is the first player representing unified Germany to finish as the World Cup's top scorer, and the only player to have scored five or more goals in consecutive World Cups.
Phillip Lahm
One of the best fullbacks in the world, as is shown by his inclusion in the Mastercard All Star Team in 2006 and the UEFA Team of the Tournament in 2008. He is well known for his pace, dribbling and crossing abilities as well as his small stature.
Lukas Podolski
The first player to receive the Gillette Best Young Player award and thus there is no predecessor .
