List: All-time Bundesliga + German titles
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By Bill Turianski on 25 October 2018; twitter.com/billsportsmaps.
Sources…
-Germany – Bundesliga All-Time Tables 1963/64-2017/18 (rsssf.com).
-All-time Bundesliga table;
-List of German football champions/Performance by club;
-Bundesliga (en.wikipedia.org).
-Small kit illustrations from each team’s page at en.wikipedia.org.
This chart is similar to the one I made for England earlier this year {here: England, 1st division – all-time: List of all clubs with at least one season in the English 1st division (120 seasons/since 1888-89/65 clubs).}.
The German chart here is a bit more complicated than the England chart. That is because Germany did not have a country-wide national (pro) league until the Bundesliga was instituted in 1963-64. Before that, starting in 1903, the German football title was decided by round-robin tournaments with representative teams from the several regional leagues. So unlike in England, in Germany, there were national football titles long before there was a national 1st division league.
There are 7 clubs that won German titles in the pre-Bundesliga era (1903-63), that ended up never playing in the Bundesliga. Those clubs are shown in the section at the foot of the chart. Most of these clubs have evolved into small and amateur lower-leagues clubs. The exceptions are Holstein Kiel, a 2nd division side; and Austrian club Rapid Vienna. (SK Rapid Vienna [Wein] played in the German football system from 1938-45; Rapid Vienna currently play in the Austrian Bundesliga [Div I, Austria].)
There are a few other things different on this All-time-1st-Div-Germany list than on the All-time-1st-Div-England list…
A). At the centre of the chart, I combined two columns: the column for “Consecutive Seasons in the 1st Division” is now combined with the column for “Last season that the club was previously in the 1st Division”. I combined them because it is an either/or situation.
B). I had to scrap the column, at the right-centre of the chart, that shows a segment of the jersey worn by each club from the most recent season that the club was in the 1st division {via historicalkits.co.uk}. I had to scrap that because, to my knowledge, no such imagery exists online for any country on the Continent. So I had to settle for the primitive kit illustrations that Wikipedia uses for football clubs. The plus side of this is that it is easier to tell which clubs on the chart are currently [2018-19] in the top flight.
C). Clubs are listed with their most popularly-used name at the far left of the chart, and with their full name at the far right of the chart.
I will continue on with this format with All-time-1st-Div-Italy, to be posted in mid-December 2018. All posts in this format will be in the new category >Football: All-time 1st Div, which can be found near the very top-right of the Categories list.
I also have ones ready for All-time-1st-Div-France (to be posted in mid-January 2019), plus one for All-time-1st-Div-Spain.
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Below: the 10 clubs in German football with the most seasons spent in the Bundesliga…
Sources: club-membership numbers from worldfootball.net/competition/bundesliga, in the Profile section on each club’s page there; attendance figures from european-football-statistics.co.uk/attn.htm; population figures from en.wikipedia.org.
Joint-1st. Werder Bremen (55 of 56 Bundesliga seasons). A founding member of the Bundesliga in 1963-64, Werder Bremen are from Bremen, which is a city-state in the northwest of Germany. (Bremen is one of 3 city-states in Germany, and is the smallest of the 16 federal states of Germany.) Bremen has a population of around 568,000 and a metro-area population of around 2.4 million {2017 figures}. Werder Bremen claims 36,500 members, which is slightly less their recent average attendances (Bremen drew 38.7 K last season and drew 40.8 K in 2016-17). Werder Bremen have only been relegated once, in 1980, and they bounced straight back to the Bundesliga the following year. Werder Bremen have won 4 German titles (1965, 1988, 1993, 2004). Werder Bremen wear Blue/Green-with-White.
Joint-1st. Hamburg (55 of 56 Bundesliga seasons.) A founding member of the Bundesliga, Hamburger SV are from the city-state of Hamburg in northwest Germany. (Hamburg is the 2nd-largest city in Germany after Berlin.) For years, Hamburg took pride in the fact that they were the sole German club to have played in every season of the Bundesliga. They even had a clock at their stadium which displayed how long, consecutively, they had been in the top flight. As the decade of the 2010s wore on, that clock became an albatross on the shoulders of the team. {See this article from the New York Times from Feb. 2017, Time and a Relentless Clock Weigh on Hamburg Soccer Team (by Andrew Keh at nytimes.com/soccer).} And so the relegation that Hamburg had been flirting with for years, became a reality, in the spring of 2018. Hamburg have won 6 German titles (1923, 1928, 1957, 1976, 1980, 1983). That last title in 1983 coincided with their winning of the 1983 European Cup. Hamburg sport a flag-shaped blue crest which features a black and white diamond, but despite that, their primary colour is red: they wear White-and-Red-with-Blue-socks.
3rd. Bayern Munich (54 of 56 Bundesliga seasons). Fußball-Club Bayern München are called Bayern Munich in the Anglophone world. In Germany, because of the giant shadow they cast – and all the drama they create, and all the self-entitlement they project – they are often called FC Hollywood. Bayern Munich are basically one of the most successful football clubs in the world, with 28 German titles [the most by far] and 4 European titles (last in 2013). They could easily be called the New York Yankees of Germany. Bayern Munich have the most club-members by far in Germany – over 290,000. Bayern Munich are the second-best-drawing club in Germany (behind only Dortmund), and they always play to 100% capacity, drawing exactly 75 K, in their space-age Allianz Arena (or so they say). The odd thing is, the club was not selected to join the inaugural season of the Bundesliga in 1963-64. That was because of the rule which stipulated that only one club per city could be part of the first Bundesliga…and at that point in the mid-1960s, the now-3rd-division club 1860 Munich was the most successful club from the Bavarian city of Munich. Bayern Munich did not join the Bundesliga until the 3rd season. Since then, Bayern Munich have essentially dominated German football. The club currently has a 6-consecutive-titles streak, but that streak is in jeopardy this season, as there is looking to be a multi-team title race, and Dortmund, or Bremen, or ‘Gladbach (or Leipzig), could wrest the title from Bayern Munich come April 2019. Bayern Munich’s crest features the white-and-blue-diamonds that are on the flag of the Free State of Bavaria (which is the largest state in Germany). They wear Red-with-White-trim, and often feature dark-blue trim.
4th. Stuttgart (53 of 56 Bundesliga seasons). A founding member of the Bundesliga, VfB Stuttgart are from Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, in the southwest of Germany. (Stuttgart is called the cradle of the automobile and is home to Mercedes-Benz and Porsche.) Stuttgart were a founding member of the Bundesliga; they have been relegated twice: in 1974-75 (spending 2 seasons in the 2nd tier), and in 2015-16 (bouncing straight back to the top flight). Stuttgart have won 5 German titles (1950, 1952, 1984, 1992, 2007). Stuttgart wear White-with-Red; their badge features black deer antlers on a yellow field. (Deer antlers are part of the coat of arms of Württemberg. By the way, deer antlers are also featured on the Porsche logo.)
5th. Dortmund (52 of 56 Bundesliga seasons). A founding member of the Bundesliga, Borussia Dortmund are the highest-drawing football club in Germany, and have been drawing between 79 K and 81 K per game since 2010-11. In fact, Dortmund are the highest-drawing football-club in the whole of Europe, and have been filling their 81.3-capacity Westfalenstadion in excess of 97-percent-capacity for eight straight seasons. Dortmund have 155,000 club members, which is basically the same amount as their nearby rivals Schalke, and only Bayern Munich have more club members. Dortmund are from Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany, which is part of the Rhine-Ruhr mega-city, the largest urban area in Germany, with a population exceeding 5 million {see this en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhine-Ruhr}. (Each season in the Bundesliga there are usually around 4 or 5 top-flight clubs which are from the Rhine-Ruhr region, and in 2018-19 there are 6 Rhine-Ruhr clubs: Dortmund, Schalke, Mönchengladbach, Köln, Bayer Leverkusen, and Fortuna Düsseldorf.) Dortmund have won 8 German titles, and have been repeat-champions twice (1995 & 1996, 2011 & 2012). Dortmund wear Yellow-and-Black.
Joint-6. Schalke (51 of 56 Bundesliga seasons). A founding member of the Bundesliga, FC Schalke 04 are from Gelsenkirchen, in the Rhine-Ruhr mega-city, only about 22 miles, by road, west of Dortmund. Schalke and Dortmund contest the Revierderby. Schalke are the 3rd-highest-drawing club in Germany, usually drawing between 60 and 61 K, and they boast over 155,000 club members. But Schalke have under-achieved for years, and have not won a German title in over half a century: the last of their 7 titles was won pre-Bundesliga, in 1958. Scalke wear Blue-with-White.
Joint-6. Mönchengladbach (51 of 56 Bundesliga seasons). Borussia Mönchengladbach are from the far-western edge of the Rhine-Ruhr mega-city, very close to the border with the Netherlands. ‘Gladbach’s glory days were in the early-to-mid-1970s, when they won 5 titles in 8 seasons, including back-to-back-to-back titles in 1975-77. (Bayern Munich are the only other club to have won 3 Bundesliga titles in a row.) Their nickname of Die Fohlen (the Foals) came from this era, reflecting the squad’s youth and dynamism. But the club evolved into a bottom-half of the table side by the 1990s, and suffered relegations in 1999 and in 2007. But since moving into their 54-K-capacity stadium in 2004, ‘Gladbach’s fortunes have, in general, improved. Borussia Mönchengladbach boasts 83,000 members, and by that metric, are the 6th biggest club in Germany. They wear White-with-Green-and-Black-trim.
8th. Eintracht Frankfurt (50 of 56 Bundesliga seasons). A founding member of the Bundesliga, Eintracht Frankfurt are from Frankfurt, Hesse (the 5th-largest city in Germany after Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, and Cologne). (“Eintracht” means harmony, and is the German equivalent of a club having “United” in its name.) Frankfurt may have participated in the lion’s share of Bundesliga seasons, but (like Schalke) they have never won the competition: Eintracht’s sole German title came in 1959. But the Eintracht Frankfurt team these days is rather competitive, and they won the DFB-Pokal [German Cup] in 2018. Eintracht Frankfurt usually wear Red-and-Black, but are sporting Black-and-Grey this season.
9th. Köln (48 of 56 Bundesliga seasons). A founding member of the Bundesliga, 1. FC Köln, are currently in the 2nd division. Köln are from Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, on the southern edge of the Rhine-Ruhr mega-city. (Köln are often called Cologne in the English-speaking sports world.) FC Köln have 102,000 members, making them, by that measurement, the 4th largest club in Germany. But that is a bit misleading, because Koln usually are the 7th or 8th-best drawing team in the country, drawing between 46 and 48 K. Since the mid-1990s, the team has periodically imploded, and they have suffered 4 relegations in the last 31 years. Köln were relegated in 1998, in 2006, in 2012, and once again in 2018. Köln have won 2 German titles (in the inaugural season of the Bundesliga in 1964, and in 1978). Köln wear White-with-Red-trim, and sport a crest that features a billy-goat (their mascot) and a silhouette image of the Cologne Cathedral (Germany’s most-visited landmark).
10th. Kaiserslautern (44 of 56 Bundesliga seasons). A founding member of the Bundesliga, Kaiserslautern, are currently in the 3rd division. They are from Kaiserslautern, Rhineland-Palatinate in western Germany. Kaiserslautern are probably most renowned for being the most-recent team in the Big Five Western European leagues to gain promotion to the 1st division and then go on to win the title the following season. This happened in 1997-98. (The most recent team to achieve this unique accomplishment in England was, of course, Nottingham Forest in 1977-78; and before that it was Ipswich Town in 1961-62.) Kaiserslautern are the team in this top ten list that is from the smallest city, by a large margin: the city of Kaiseslautern has a population of only 99,000 {2017 figure}. So it is not surprising that Kaiserslautern have had a tough time of maintaining their status as a top-flight club, and indeed, they found themselves relegated to the 3rd division in 2018. Kaiseslautern wear Red-with-White.
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Thanks to all at the links below…
Germany – Bundesliga All-Time Tables 1963/64-2017/18 (rsssf.com).
All-time Bundesliga table; List of German football champions/Performance by club; Bundesliga (en.wikipedia.org).
