Germany Olympic football team

Germany

Nickname(s)	Nationalelf (national eleven) DFB-Elf (DFB Eleven) (Die) Mannschaft (The Team)
Association	German Football Association (Deutscher Fußball-Bund – DFB)
Confederation	UEFA (Europe)
Most caps	Christian Schreier (22)
Top scorer	Gottfried Fuchs Frank Mill (10 goals each)
FIFA code	GER
First colours Second colours
Summer Olympic Games
Appearances	9 (first in 1912)
Best result	Silver medalists, 2016
Medal record 2016 Rio de Janeiro Team 1988 Seoul Team

The Germany Olympic football team represents Germany in international football competitions in Olympic Games. It has been active since 1908, and first competed in 1912. Olympic football was originally an amateur sport, and as the pre-World War II German national team was also amateur, it was able to send a full national team to the games. After the war, Germany was divided, but until 1964 East and West competed under the name of "United Team of Germany", although without a combined squad. From 1968 West Germany began to compete on its own, but were still forced to send an amateur team, who were not able to match the success of their professional counterparts in the World Cup and European Championship. The rules on amateurism were relaxed in the 1980s, which allowed West Germany some success, notably a bronze medal finish in 1988. Since 1992 the tournament has been competed by under-23 teams, making Germany's Olympic qualification dependent on the results of the under-21 team. Only in 2016 the Germans returned to the Olympic stage, with a silver medal after losing on a penalty shoot-out to hosts Brazil. Reunified Germany is now the only World Cup champion without the Olympic gold.

History

Pre-World War II (1912–1938)

Germany first sent a football team to the Olympics in 1912, where they were defeated in the first round, losing 5–1 against neighbours Austria. They entered a consolation tournament, however, where they recorded a 16–0 win over Russia, with 10 goals from forward Gottfried Fuchs – this is still the national team's highest margin of victory. They were eliminated in the next round, though, with a 3–1 defeat against Hungary. After World War I, Germany was banned from the 1920 Olympics, and didn't compete in 1924, returning to action in 1928, when they were eliminated in the quarter finals by eventual winners Uruguay. Uruguay would go on to win the inaugural World Cup two years later.

Football wasn't included in the 1932 Olympics, but returned for the 1936 games, in Berlin. As hosts, and having finished third at the previous World Cup, hopes of a German success were high. It wasn't to be, though: after a 9–0 win against Luxembourg, Germany were eliminated in the quarter finals, losing 2–0 to Norway. The result cost coach Otto Nerz his job, being replaced by his assistant Sepp Herberger.

Division and unity (1948–1980)

Flag of the United Team of Germany 1956–1964

Following World War II, Germany were banned from the 1948 Olympics, but were back in 1952. By this point Germany was divided into three states – East Germany and the Saar protectorate having broken away, with what was left of the country commonly referred to as West Germany. Saar competed independently in 1952, but East Germany were unable to, and refused to represent a united German team. Consequently, the German Olympic team in 1952 was made up entirely of athletes from the west. The growth of professionalism in German football meant that the team they sent was no longer a senior national team squad, instead an amateur team. Despite this, Germany achieved their best result so far, reaching the semi-finals, where they were beaten by Yugoslavia. They lost 2–0 against Sweden in the bronze medal match.

Political tension between East and West Germany increased over time and this had an effect on sports as well. For the 1956 Summer Olympics, the west's football association delayed the negotiations for the process of forming a combined team for such a long time that the east's representatives gave up and let West Germany nominate the complete team for the United Team of Germany. At the qualifying tournament, West Germany had a wild card and thus qualified. The team lost its initial game against the USSR and came 9th equal alongside the other two losers of the initial round.

Qualification games were held in 1960 and they are amongst the most bizarre games of football ever played by German teams, known as the "Geisterspiele" ("ghost games"). It was the first time that East and West German football teams competed, and the games were held in East Berlin (West Germany won 2–0) and, one week later, in Düsseldorf (West Germany won 2–1). This thus qualified the West German team. The stadiums were all but empty, with access available to journalists and officials only; no spectators were given access. In the subsequent European qualifying tournament, the West German team was in group two with Poland and Finland. The top team would qualify and Poland was successful.

The pre-qualification process repeated itself in 1964 but this time, spectators were allowed. East Germany won the first game in Karl-Marx-Stadt (now Chemnitz) with 3–0, and West Germany won 2–1 in Hanover. Thus, East Germany won the right to go to the European qualifying championships. In round one, East Germany beat the Netherlands. In round two, East Germany and the Soviet Union drew twice and needed a play-off in Warsaw that was won 4–1 by East Germany, thus qualifying the East German team for the Olympics for the first time. At the 1964 Olympic Games, the East German team won the bronze medal. As the East German league was technically amateur, even though the athletes were state-sponsored and trained full-time, the same as all other Eastern Bloc countries, it was able to send an "A" national team.

From 1968, East and West Germany competed separately, but West Germany failed to qualify for the 1968 games, losing against the United Arab Emirates in qualification. The 1972 Olympics were held in Munich, and West Germany qualified automatically as hosts – the amateur team, which contained future World Cup winner Uli Hoeneß and Champions League-winning coach Ottmar Hitzfeld, reached the second round, where they were eliminated in a group containing East Germany, who went on to win the bronze medals. West Germany did not qualify for either the 1976 or 1980 Olympics, losing against Spain and Norway respectively.

Olympiaauswahl (1984–1988)

The strict rules on amateurism had favoured Communist countries, who were able to send their senior national teams to the Olympics, as their leagues technically had amateur status. These rules were relaxed for the 1984 games: countries could select professional players, but only those who hadn't played in the finals of the World Cup. As such, West Germany selected a team known locally as the Olympiaauswahl (Olympic selection), similar in make-up to the B international team. Initially West Germany failed to qualify for the 1984 games, but were granted a reprieve following the boycott by Eastern Bloc countries. A team including future World Cup winners Andreas Brehme and Guido Buchwald reached the quarter-finals, losing 5–2 against Yugoslavia.

West Germany qualified for the 1988 Olympics, where they achieved their best ever result: third place. Having emerged from a group including China, Sweden and Tunisia, they beat Zambia 4–0 in the quarter finals. After losing on penalties to Brazil in the semi-finals, they beat Italy 3–0 to take the bronze medals: to date, this is the team's only tournament victory against Italy. Three strikers from the Olympic squad – Jürgen Klinsmann, Frank Mill and Karlheinz Riedle – would go on to win the World Cup two years later, along with midfielder Thomas Häßler.

Reunification (1992–present)

A Germany squad at the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Germany was reunified in 1990, and the 1992 Olympics saw another rule change: football squads would be made up of players under the age of 23, with three overage players allowed. On 23 June 2015 Germany was qualified for the first time after reunification for the 2016 Olympic games. The last time an Olympic team was specifically selected was in 1998 (a 1–0 defeat against Portugal). Olympic qualification is now decided by the under-21 team in the UEFA Under-21 Championship.

In the 2016 games held in Rio de Janeiro, Germany won the silver medal after losing to Brazil by 5–4 on penalty shoot-out; this was the first football game played between the two countries since the 2014 FIFA World Cup semifinal in which Germany beat Brazil 7–1. The German team also achieved the largest victory of the tournament, thrashing Fiji by a score of 10–0 in the group stage.

Overall record

Games	Performance	Competing as	Squad	Coach
1912 – Stockholm	1st Round	Germany	Squad	DFB Committee
1920 – Antwerp	Banned
1924 – Paris	Banned
1928 – Amsterdam	Quarter-final	Germany	Squad	Otto Nerz
1936 – Berlin	Quarter-final	Germany	Squad	Otto Nerz
1948 – London	Banned
1952 – Helsinki	Fourth place	Germany	Squad	Sepp Herberger
1956 – Melbourne	1st Round	United Team of Germany	Squad	Sepp Herberger
1960 – Rome	Did not qualify
1964 – Tokyo	Did not qualify
1968 – Mexico City	Did not qualify
1972 – Munich	2nd Round	West Germany	Squad	Jupp Derwall
1976 – Montreal	Did not qualify
1980 – Moscow	Did not qualify
1984 – Los Angeles	Quarter-final	West Germany	Squad	Erich Ribbeck
1988 – Seoul	Bronze	West Germany	Squad	Hannes Löhr
1992 – Barcelona	Did not qualify
1996 – Atlanta	Did not qualify
2000 – Sydney	Did not qualify
2004 – Athens	Did not qualify
2008 – Beijing	Did not qualify
2012 – London	Did not qualify
2016 – Rio de Janeiro	Silver	Germany	Squad	Horst Hrubesch

Current squad

The following 18 players were called up for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Lars Bender, Sven Bender and Nils Petersen were the three selected over 23 years old players.

Caps and goals correct as of 20 August 2016.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	1GK	Timo Horn	(1993-05-12) 12 May 1993	6	0	1. FC Köln
2	2DF	Jeremy Toljan	(1994-08-08) 8 August 1994	6	0	1899 Hoffenheim
3	2DF	Lukas Klostermann	(1996-06-03) 3 June 1996	6	1	RB Leipzig
4	2DF	Matthias Ginter	(1994-01-19) 19 January 1994	5	2	Borussia Dortmund
5	2DF	Niklas Süle	(1995-09-03) 3 September 1995	6	0	1899 Hoffenheim
6	3MF	Sven Bender	(1989-04-27) 27 April 1989	6	0	Borussia Dortmund
7	3MF	Max Meyer (Captain)	(1995-09-18) 18 September 1995	6	4	Schalke 04
8	3MF	Lars Bender	(1989-04-27) 27 April 1989	6	0	Bayer Leverkusen
9	4FW	Davie Selke	(1995-01-20) 20 January 1995	5	2	RB Leipzig
10	3MF	Leon Goretzka INJ	(1995-02-06) 6 February 1995	1	0	Schalke 04
11	3MF	Julian Brandt	(1996-05-02) 2 May 1996	6	0	Bayer Leverkusen
12	1GK	Jannik Huth	(1994-04-15) 15 April 1994	0	0	Mainz 05
13	2DF	Philipp Max	(1993-09-30) 30 September 1993	3	1	FC Augsburg
14	2DF	Robert Bauer	(1995-04-09) 9 April 1995	1	0	FC Ingolstadt
15	3MF	Max Christiansen	(1996-09-25) 25 September 1996	2	0	FC Ingolstadt
16	3MF	Grischa Prömel	(1995-01-09) 9 January 1995	4	0	Karlsruher SC
17	3MF	Serge Gnabry	(1995-07-14) 14 July 1995	6	6	Arsenal
18	4FW	Nils Petersen	(1988-12-06) 6 December 1988	6	6	SC Freiburg

See also

• Germany national football team
• Germany national football B team
• Germany national under-21 football team