Soccer Betting - German Bundesliga History
History - Facts - Teams - Winners - Calendar - Standings
Prior to the creation of the Bundesliga, German football was played at an amateur level in a large number of regional leagues. Oberliga (Upper League) champions played a series of playoff matches for the right to compete in a final game for the national championship.
Then in 1900, the Deutscher Fussball Bund (DFB or German Football Association), was founded in Leipzig with 86 member clubs. The first recognized national championship team was VfB Leipzig who beat DFC Prague (7:2) in a game played in Hamburg on May 31st, 1903.
Between the years of 1963-64 to 1969-70, seven different teams won the championship. The 1965-66 season saw the promotion of Bayern Munchen to the top league and in 1968-69 they won their first championship.
The German league then entered a decade of sounded scandals as there was evidence of players being bribed to affect the outcome of games. Allegations were that a number of clubs, including Bielefeld, Hertha, Schalke, and Köln, were involved. DFB investigations led to the banning of many players as well as the Arminia Bielefeld club which was stripped of all points they had earned during the 1971-72 season and then relegated to the lower league.
Enthusiasm for the sport was restored by host West Germany's win in the 1974 World Cup and the first wins by Bundesliga sides in the European Champions Cup (a triple by Bayern Munchen in 1974, 1975 and 1976) and the UEFA Cup (Borussia Mönchengladbach in 1975).
Bayern Munchen became the first three-time champion with wins in 1971-72, 1972-73 and 1973-74. Borussia Mönchengladbach then turned a triple of its own over the following three seasons.
During the 80s, there was a decline in attendance throughout the league; by 1985-86 it bottomed out to just 17,600 spectators per game. The country's football was also affected by the general European problem of hooliganism and the appearance of neo-Nazi fan groups. During this time, Bayern Munich took six of ten titles in the 80s.
Major changes were required at the Bundesliga and the end of the decade the league signed its first rich television contract and German re-unification and the subsequent merger of the football leagues of East and West Germany was on the horizon for a new beginning.