2023-08-24 08:57:00
The first match of the Bundesliga took place on August 24, 1963. 13 months earlier, the delegates of the state associations, after long discussions at the congress of the German Football Association (DFB), decided to create a professional nationwide League, including 16 teams. “I am pleased with this decision. We finally have it,” German football magazine DFB quoted West Germany coach Sepp Herberger as saying. He participated in the decision as a delegate of the South West German Football Association. The German Football Association has become one of the last major associations to form its own professional championship. In England, the Football League Division One (later renamed the Premier League) has existed since 1892. The Italian League A was created in 1898, the Spanish Primera Division in 1929, and the French Ligue 1 in 1932. Even East Germany controlled by the USSR was in this sense faster than the FRG: the first season there was launched in 1949 (even before the creation of the GDR).
Why was the Bundesliga organized?
Many functionaries and fans were sorry to abandon the old system in which the German champion was determined from 1903. Then at the end of the season (with some exceptions), first eight and then 16 teams played for relegation according to the playoff system. The winners of the regional championships got into the final round. This practice led to the fact that the two best teams in the country – in the 30s it was, for example, “Nürnberg” (Nürnberg) and “Schalke 04” (FC Schalke 04) – did not play with each other, but met one- the only time in the final round. The new championship was supposed to change everything. At the same time, the identification of the champion at the end of the games of the whole season seemed to many fairer than the victory in the relegation games, when each match was decisive. The old system was even called the lottery. German football needed a major transformation.
How the 16 participating teams were determined
A total of 74 clubs then played in the upper echelons, 46 of which applied for participation in the first championship. The German Football Association had previously decided that three teams from the north of the country, five each from the west and south, two from the southwest and one from Berlin would be represented in the top league. At the same time, the Bundesliga commission, which consisted of five people, made a decision based on sports, economic and technical criteria. However, this did not help to avoid controversy. Because the German Football Association did not discuss its decisions publicly and did not always adhere to the agreements.
Bayern Munich won the 2022/23 football Bundesliga for the 11th time in a row, beating Cologne on May 27 in the last round with a score of 2: 1Photo: Thilo Schmuelgen/REUTERS
As a result, there were several cases where the decision-making was not transparent and logically explicable. The disputes between the teams that eventually managed to get into the Bundesliga and which were deprived of this opportunity lasted for many years. Proposals to increase the number of teams from 16 to 18 or even 20 did not find support. A total of 13 clubs that did not qualify for the Bundesliga filed a protest. Including Bayern Munich (Bayern München), but this was not successful.
Who played in the first season of the Bundesliga
North Germany in the Bundesliga was represented by Hamburger SV, Werder Bremen and Eintracht Braunschweig. Eintracht Frankfurt, Karlsruhe (Karlsruher SC), Nuremberg (1. FC Nürnberg), 1860 Munich (TSV 1860 München) and Stuttgart (VfB Stutgart) came from the south. From the west – Borussia Dortmund (Borussia Dortmund), Cologne (1. FC Köln), Duisburg (MSV Duisburg), Preußen Münster and Schalke 04 (FC Schalke 04). The opportunity to play in the Bundesliga was also given to Kaiserslautern (1. FC Kaiserslautern) and Saarbrücken (1. FC Saarbrücken), as well as Herta Berlin (Herta BSC). The first Bundesliga champion was a club from Cologne.
After two championships, the number of teams in the Bundesliga was increased to eighteen. It was in the 1965/66 season that Bayern Munich, who previously played in the regional league South, entered the standings. In 1991, after the reunification of Germany, teams from the former GDR also received the opportunity to play in the Bundesliga. The last champion of the GDR Higher League, Hansa Rostock, and vice-champion from Dresden, Dynamo Dresden, were the first to take part in the tournament. During one season, 20 teams played in the Bundesliga, but at the end of the season, four clubs left the top division at once, so the standings again became 18 participants. The last founding team of the Bundesliga to leave after 55 years of continuous involvement was a club from Hamburg (Hamburger SV). Bayern München and Werder Bremen have played the most games in the Bundesliga. For them, the current 61st season has already become the 59th in a row.
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