999 international matches, countless stories, successes and exactly 12,153 minutes with Lothar Matthäus – before the 1000th international match of the German national soccer team against the Ukraine (listen live from 6 p.m.), here are important facts and useless knowledge.
GAMES: 999. In short: 578 wins, 207 draws, only 214 defeats, plus 17 overtimes, 8 penalties (balance 6:2). The most common result after a maximum of 120 minutes was a 1:1 (91x), the most common match day was October 11 (16x). The longest winning streak lasted twelve games in 1979 and 1980, and the German team suffered seven defeats in a row from 1912 to 1915. The “Miracle of Bern” and the “Shame of Cordoba” became legends.
FEATURED GAMES: Useless knowledge: The four World Cup titles brought the international matches 223, 396, 567 and 892. Germany became European champions with 373, 453 and 642. The 16:0 against Russia, the highest win ever, was the 22, the 0:9 in Game 4 against England the highest defeat to date. Number 436 was canceled after 60 minutes because of fog: Helmut Schön’s farewell game in 1978.
The 1978 international match had to be canceled due to heavy fog
NO GAMES: Canceled – 12 German internationals were scheduled but never played. Among other things, because of fear of riots on Adolf Hitler’s birthday (against England, April 20, 1994), a terror warning (Netherlands, 2015) or the corona pandemic (3 games, 2020).
PLACES: The balance sheet of the capital is very modest. 46 of a total of 440 home games were played in Berlin, but only 18 of them were won. Eight cities have only hosted once, including Aachen, Wuppertal and Erfurt. Abroad, Vienna (19) leads just ahead of Basel (18) and Budapest (17).
OPPONENT I: Germany’s “adversary in fate” is clearly Switzerland. On April 5, 1908, she was the first German opponent (3:5) – and the first after both world wars. They have played more games (53) and won more (36) against no other team. The last duel so far, a 3: 3 in Cologne 2020, was Toni Kroos’ 100th international match.
OPPONENT II: The vast majority came from the European continental association (842), followed by games against South American teams (78). Germany even played two international matches against the Saarland, one against the GDR: a 0:1 on the way to the World Cup title in 1974 (sparing water!). The German record against big players like Argentina or Brazil is negative, but also against Egypt (only one game) or Algeria (3). And, of course, the GDR.
GATES: Then it goes boom, as Gerd Müller once sang. The national team scored 2250 goals, 71 of them Miroslav Klose, 68 in just 62 games Müller himself. They conceded only 1174 goals, including 31 own goals. Thomas Helmer, Arne Friedrich, Oliver Kahn and Mats Hummels even undercut two. Nine national players scored a “Goal of the Year” in the DFB jersey, Klaus Fischer, the king of overhead kicks, did it twice. Gottfried Fuchs’ ten goals in one game have not been equaled since 1912.
Klaus Fischer scores two “Goal of the Year” in the DFB jersey
THE LATER THE BETTER: In the first quarter of an hour, Germany scored a total of 296 goals, then every 15 minutes it becomes a bit more dangerous for the opponent – 434 goals were scored from the 76th minute. But that’s where overtime counts too.
PLAYER: 968 players were used, 26 times there was a field expulsion (among the opponents: 46, two of them in the World Cup final in 1990). Thomas Berthold, Jerome Boateng, Carsten Ramelow and Christian Wörns were sent off twice.
CAPTAINS: Fritz Walter never wore the captain’s armband – this was only introduced in the 1960s. Record holder (75 times) is of course Lothar Matthäus. In 2008, four players wore the DFB bandage in a game due to substitutions.
FEDERAL COACH: 11 – all male, white and above all: German. Only Otto Nerz, Erich Ribbeck, Joachim Löw and Hansi Flick were not national players before. Because they didn’t have a license, Franz Beckenbauer and Rudi Völler ran under the name “Team Manager”. The DFB has not yet fired a national coach, most have resigned themselves.
YOUNG AND OLD: Lothar Matthäus is not only a record national player (150/12,153 minutes of play), a constant nickname like “Bahnboss”, but also the oldest player (39 years, 91 days) and goalscorer (38 years, 128 days) in DFB history. The youngest player since 1908 is Willy Baumgärtner (17 years, 104 days), the youngest goalscorer since 1910 is Marius Hiller (17 years, 241 days).
HONOR MATCH LEADER: Six people are gathered in this most elite of all circles, only Uwe Seeler made it without a formative role in a world title. In order of appointment: Fritz Walter, Seeler, Franz Beckenbauer, Lothar Matthäus, Jürgen Klinsmann, Philipp Lahm.
BANG START: Six players scored three goals on their debut: Otto Dumke (1911), Josef Pöttinger (1926), Fritz Walter (1940), Heinz Strehl (1962), Dieter Müller (1976) and Serge Gnabry (2016). Gerd Müller scored four times – but in his second game.