| back to questions index |  |
The most successful teams before the second world war (until 1939) had been 1.FC Nürnberg, Schalke 04 (each 6 championships), Hertha BSC Berlin, Spvgg. Fürth, Hamburger SV, and, before the first world war, VfB Leipzig. Other prominent names were also already on the scene (Fortuna Düsseldorf, Hannover 96, Bayern Munich, Munich 1860, Karlsruhe, VfB Stuttgart, Eintracht Frankfurt).
After the second world war and until 1989 (in football until 1991), Germany was divided into an Eastern part (German Democratic Republic) and the rest (Federal Republic Of Germany).
The Eastern part with its 'Oberliga' saw its most prominent teams in Dynamo Dresden and Dynamo Berlin (today FC Berlin). After the reunion those clubs without experience in the football business and without competence and financial ressources were quickly robbed of their talents (among them players like Sammer, Kirsten) and ruined by dubious adventurers. Today the Eastern clubs are almost erased from the map of professional football. Energie Cottbus and Hansa Rostock are the only clubs left among the 36 teams of the first two divisions (Bundesliga and 2nd Bundesliga). While all other clubs try to recover in the regionally divided 3rd division, the well educated Eastern player reservoir has been exploited by the Western clubs.
In the Western part new powers emerged to add their names to the prominents list: Among them 1.FC Kaiserslautern, Borussia Dortmund, and 1.FC Köln. The championship was played out among the top teams of the regional groups and each year had a final. This system produced a considerable number of equally strong names whereas the Bundesliga today produced a structure with a dominant power (Bayern) (and a temporary counterpart) and the other clubs distributed over several levels. An evidence for the theory that a league might tend to easierly produce few-team-dominating structures: In 60 years there had been no title hattrick (3 in a row), in 35 years Bundesliga there have been 3.
The Bundesliga 1963 was formed by granting licenses to 16 teams. All regions should be represented and this meant a 'no' for some clubs who were located in the same area as a club that already had been licened. For instance from Munich it had been Munich 1860, not Bayern Munich. Two years later the number of teams was increased to 18.
There is only
1 team left that has been in Bunbdesliga all the years: Hamburger
SV.
The following
clubs have been in Bundesliga all the years and only absend 2 or less
years:
Werder Bremen,
1.FC Kaiserslautern, VfB Stuttgart, Eintracht Frankfurt (all 1963 beginners)
1.FC Köln
(Cologne) (in Bundesliga from 1963 to 1998, now fighting in 2nd Bundesliga
for repromotion)
Bayern Munich,
Borussia Mönchengladbach (in Bundesliga since 1965).
Borussia Dortmund
had been among the 1963 formers and absent for 4 consecutive years in the
1970s.
Other prominent
names seem to have now rebuild their structures but had temporarily
been several times relegated (Schalke 04) and even had dropped to 3rd division
(Hertha BSC Berlin, 1.FC Nürnberg, Munich 1860).
Also 1963
beginner is MSV Duisburg who also temporarily disappeared in the 3rd division
but came back. They are a smaller club than the before mentioned and in
the shadow of the more flamboyant clubs of the same region (Schalke, Dortmund).
The same can be said for VfL Bochum who have been there since 1971 and
also temporarily absend.
Bayer Leverkusen
has been in Bundesliga since 1979, Wolfsburg and Freiburg are names of
the 90's. Hansa Rostock had been an established name in East Germany but
not one of the big ones.
The most
succesful clubs since birth of Bundesliga 1963:
Bayern Munich
(13 championships)
Borussia Mönchengladbach
(5 championships)
Hamburger
SV, Werder Bremen (3 championships)
1.FC Köln,
1.FC Kaiserslautern, VfB Stuttgart, Borussia Dortmund (2 championships)
Munich 1860,
1.FC Nürnberg, Eintracht Braunschweig (1 championship)
Eintracht
Braunschweig is the only team that does not play in Bundesliga today. They
are fighting for promotion from 3rd division to 2nd Bundesliga.
Bayern Munich
is the only club that has been able to convert a dominance of a team of
a particular era into long term success producing structures. Whereas Bremen,
Mönchengladbach, Hamburger SV, and perharps Borussia Dortmund (much
too early to say) had only eras that were connected with an extra-ordinary
constellation, Bayern has been equally dominating in the last 3 decades
with its counterparts altering.