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Founded	1900
FIFA affiliation	1904
UEFA affiliation	1954
President
Theo Zwanziger
Coach
Joachim Löw (2006-) (Men's) Silvia Neid (2005-) (Women's)

The German Football Federation (German: Deutscher Fußball-Bund or DFB) is the governing body of football in Germany. The founding member of both FIFA and UEFA organises the German football leagues, including the national league, the Bundesliga and the men's and women's national teams. DFB is based in Frankfurt, it is divided into five regional federations with 21 regional organizations.

Contents 1 History 2 Other 3 Presidents 4 See also 5 References 6 External links

The DFB was founded in 1900 in Leipzig by representatives of 86 clubs. Germany was represented in Paris when FIFA was founded by seven nations in May 1904, but the time the FIFA statutes came into effect on 1 September, Germany had also joined by Telegram. The DFB consolidated the large number of state-based German regional competitions in play for a single recognized national title.

The role of DFB and its representatives like Felix Linnemann during Nazi Germany was documented in „100 Jahre DFB“ and by Nils Havemann in Fußball unterm Hakenkreuz.^[1]. According to Gleichschaltung policy, the DFB, with its large membership from all political sides, and strong regional structures compared to weak national ones, submitted to new rulers and new Gau structures. On a short general meeting on 9 July 1933 in Berlin, the DFB did so, at least formally. Later, the Hitler salute was made compulsory, Marxists and Jews were expelled. Germany had done well in 1934, but after a 0-2 loss in the 1936 Summer Olympics, with Hitler attending, the DFB and football fell from grace. Reichsjugendführer Baldur von Schirach and Hitlerjugend took over, putting Reichssportführer Hans von Tschammer und Osten in charge, making DFB officials even more powerless. Germany had made a bid to host the 1938 World Cup, but it was withdrawn without comment.

Following the Anschluss in March 1938 that made Austria part of Germany, the Austrian Football Association became part of the German federation. New coach Sepp Herberger was told on short notice to use also Austrian players in his team, which was eliminated in the first round of the WC, weakening the situation of football within Nazi politics to near meaninglessness. Internationally, Germans and the DFB were still present, with Ivo Schricker serving as General Secretary of FIFA from 1932 to December 1950, four Germans Jakob, Kitzinger, Goldbrunner and Lehner playing in a FIFA friendly in Amsterdam, and two (Albin Kitzinger und Anderl Kupfer) representing FIFA vs. a continental team.

In the aftermath of World War II, the FIFA decided in November 1945 to ban the DFB (and Japan) from international competition. This was only changed in 1949 when the English Football Association requested FIFA to lift the ban on games. FIFA did so on 7 May 1949, two weeks before the Federal Republic of Germany was founded, requiring permission by the military governments of the time. Due to partition into three states, the DFB was legally re-founded in Stuttgart on 21 January 1950 by only the West German regional associations (without Saarland). The Swiss Football Association requested full DFB membership at the FIFA congress on 22 June which was granted on 22 September 1950 in Bruxelles.

In the early years of the division of Germany, West Germany claimed exclusive mandate of all of Germany. Unlike the IOC, which hesitated until 1965, the FIFA soon recognized the East German Football Association. Upon reunification in 1990, the Deutscher Fußball Verband der DDR (DFV) was absorbed into the DFB .

Today, about 26,000 clubs are members, fielding 170,000 teams with over 2 million active players and totalling over 6 million members, the largest membership of any single sports federation in the world. DFB has 870,000 female members and 8600 female teams.

The official mascot is an eagle with black feathers and yellow beak called "Paule" (since 26 March 2006) - maybe an allusion to Paul Breitner.

• Ferdinand Hueppe (1900-1904)
• Friedrich Wilhelm Nohe (1904-1905)
• Gottfried Hinze (1905-1925)
• Felix Linnemann (1925-1945)
• Peco Bauwens (1949-1962)
• Hermann Gösmann (1962-1975)
• Hermann Neuberger (1975-1992)
• Egidius Braun (1992-2001)
• Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder (2001-2004)
• Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder together with Theo Zwanziger (2004-2006)
• Theo Zwanziger (2006-Present)

• German football league system
• History of German football

• (German)/(English) Official website

Football in Germany v • d • e
League competitions National association Cup competitions Bundesliga National team DFB-Pokal 2nd Bundesliga U-21 Premiere Ligapokal Regionalliga Women's National Team Women's German Cup Oberliga League System Women's Bundesliga List of clubs Women's 2nd Bundesliga List of venues List of champions
International football v • d • e
FIFA | World Cup | Confederations Cup | U-20 World Cup | U-17 World Cup | Olympics | Asian Games | All-Africa Games | Pan American Games | Island Games | World Rankings | Player of the Year | Teams | Codes
Asia: AFC – Asian Cup      Africa: CAF – African Cup of Nations      North America: CONCACAF – Gold Cup      South America: CONMEBOL – Copa América      Oceania: OFC – Nations Cup      Europe: UEFA – European Championship      Non-FIFA: NF-Board – VIVA World Cup
National Football Associations of Europe (UEFA) v • d • e
Albania | Andorra | Armenia | Austria | Azerbaijan | Belarus | Belgium | Bosnia and Herzegovina | Bulgaria | Croatia | Cyprus | Czech Republic | Denmark | England | Estonia | Faroe Islands | Finland | France | Georgia | Germany | Greece | Hungary | Iceland | Republic of Ireland | Israel | Italy | Kazakhstan | Latvia | Liechtenstein | Lithuania | Luxembourg | FYR Macedonia | Malta | Moldova | Montenegro | Netherlands | Northern Ireland | Norway | Poland | Portugal | Romania | Russia | San Marino | Scotland | Serbia | Slovakia | Slovenia | Spain | Sweden | Switzerland | Turkey | Ukraine | Wales