THE BUNDESLIGA-ANNIVERSARY

West Germany's 1954 World Cup win was done with players who were not professionals, from a country that did not have a National League organised. In 1960 Eintracht Frankfurt had reached the European Cup Final losing comfortably to Real Madrid 6-3. Nuremberg had been thumped 6-0 by Eusebio's Benfica in the 1960 European Cup competition and Werder Bremen had met Athletico Madrid in the Cup Winners' Cup losing 2-4. Cologne had crashed out of the UEFA Cup to Internazionale. In 1962, the National team had lost the quarter-final tie of the World Cup to Yugoslavia 1-0. Something had to change.

Prior to the formation of the Bundesliga, German football was played at an amateur level in a large number of sub-regional leagues until in 1949, part-time (semi-) professionalism was introduced and only five regional Oberligen (Premier Leagues) remained spread across the country. Regional champions and runners-up played a series of playoff matches for the right to compete in a final game for the national championship. 

On 28 January 1900, a national association, the Deutscher Fusball Bund (DFB) had been founded in Leipzig, with 86 member clubs. The first recognised national championship team was VfB Leipzig who beat DFC Prague 7–2 in a game played at Altona on 31 May 1903. The two world wars had a significant influence on the history of the nation's league structure.

Through the 1950s, there were continued calls for the formation of a central professional league, especially as professional leagues in other countries began to draw Germany's best players away from the semi-professional domestic leagues. 

At the international level, the German game began to falter as German teams often fared poorly against professional teams from other countries. A key supporter of the central league concept was national team head coach Sepp Herberger who said, "If we want to remain competitive internationally, we have to raise our expectations at the national level."

Meanwhile, in East Germany, a separate league was established with the formation of the DS-Oberliga (Deutscher Sportausschuss Oberliga) in 1950. The league was renamed the Football Oberliga DFV in 1958 and was generally referred to simply as the DDR-Liga or DDR-Oberliga. The league fielded 14 teams with two relegation spots. Below the distribution of major clubs:

The Bundesliga was founded in 1962 in Dortmund and the first season started in 1963. The structure and organisation of the Bundesliga, along with Germany's other football leagues, have undergone frequent changes. The regional Oberliga had to be restructured altering the cumbersome arrangement designed to cope with a large country that had been divided into regions. On August 24th 1963, a new era in German football began. Following the "reunification" in 1990, the East German leagues were merged into the West German system. Dynamo Dresden and FC Hansa Rostock were immediately seeded into the top-tier Bundesliga division, with other clubs sorted into lower tiers.

The players were licensed which meant they could earn a capped salary and the new league had 16 clubs, this time not including Bayern Munich, who conjected but whose complaint held no sway with the league officials. There was a fear that the new league would be dominated by the top clubs but the first eight championships were won by eight different champions. On August 24th 1963, a new era in German football had begun.

The Bundesliga sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga or 1. Bundesliga is a professional association football league. At the top of the German football system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary football competition. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams and operates on a system of promotion and relegation. Seasons run from August to May. Most games are played on Saturdays and Sundays, with a few games played on weekdays. All of the Bundesliga clubs qualify for the DFB-Pokal (The Cup). The winner of the Bundesliga qualifies for the DFL-Supercup, a one off tie between the Winners of the Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal Cup.

Fifty-six clubs have competed in the Bundesliga since its founding. Bayern Munich has won the title 30 times, the most among Bundesliga clubs. However, the Bundesliga has seen other champions, with Borussia Dortmund, Hamburger SV, Werder Bremen, Borussia Monchengladbach, and VfB Stuttgart most prominent among them. 

The Bundesliga is ranked fourth in Europe according to UEFA's League Coefficient ranking based on performances in European competitions over the past five seasons. Bundesliga led the UEFA ranking from 1976-84 and in 1990. It has also produced the European top clubs six times. Bundesliga clubs have won eight UEFA Champions' Leagues, six UEFA Europa Leagues, four European Cup Winners' Cups, two UEFA Super Cups, two FIFA World Cups and three Intercontinental titles. Its players have accumulated nine Ballon d'Or awards, one The Best FIFA Men's awards, three European Golden Shoes and three UEFA Mens' Best Player awards including UEFA Club Footballer of the Year. 

WORLD CUP PLACING: 1934 3rd; 1938 1st; 1950 Banned; 1954 Champs; 1958 4th; 1962 Q-f; 1966 Rup; 1970 3rd; 1974 Champs; 1978 6th; 1982 2nd; 1986 2nd; 1990 Champs; 1994 Q-f; 1998 Q-f; 2002 Rup; 2006 3rd; 2010 3rd; 2014 Champs; 2018 22nd!