Fussball: Soccer in Germany

Without question, Fußball (soccer) is Germany's most beloved, most watched, and most played sport. Germans consider soccer to be their national sport, while joking that talking politics etc. is their second national sport.

Germany boasts one of the world's best soccer teams, having won the World Cup several times, and frequently winning European championships. After Brazil, Germany (sometimes as West Germany) has appeared as a team in the World Cup more than any other nation in the world.

You could say that soccer is to Germany what baseball is to America, although that would not be quite exactly parallel: Baseball has always been hailed America's favorite pastime, while in reality, sports fans are fairly divided among several highly popular sports in the U.S., namely football, baseball, basketball, and hockey, to name the big guys. Still others such as golf, boxing, and race car driving attract legions of spectators. Soccer has a following in the U.S., but it seems to be more popular as a participatory sport as opposed to a spectator sport: soccer remains hugely popular in American high schools as a team sport as well as a sport played in gym class for many students. Germany, on the other hand, is far more intensely wed to soccer as its truly national sport. Germans from all walks of life enjoy the sport, and intense discussions are had about games for days afterwards, much like the sports conversations in America. Young German children can often name their favorite players and give detailed accounts of scores, goals, and players' histories. Regional teams have intensely loyal followings, and as in other European countries such as the United Kingdom, for example, where soccer is also hugely popular, crowds can sometimes get famously rowdy, and violent outbursts have even been known to take place. Although ironically violence among sports spectators has been relatively unusual in America (which societally has much higher levels of crime than Germany and her sister E.U. neighbors), it is becoming more frequent. Last year's World Series between the New York Yankees and the New York Mets (the Subway Series) saw the odd outbreak of demonstrated animosity all over New York state.

Some of Germany's most famous and valuable players include Franz Beckenbauer, Gerd Müller, the record-holding player with 14 World Cup goals, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Rudi Völler, Lothar Matthäus, with 25 appearances in the World Cup, and Jürgen Klinsmann. Germany saw its biggest World Cup victory in 1978 against Mexico, crushing the Mexicans 6 to 0. Germany last hosted the World Cup in 1974.

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