The was the national
Football team of the
German Democratic Republic , playing from
1952 to
1990 , until it ceased to exist after the
Reunification Of Germany . The team was not as successful as its
Western counterpart. It never made the finals of the
European Championship and only made one
World Cup , in
1974 .
Ironically, that tournament was staged in
West Germany , and both German teams were drawn in the same group in the first round. Meeting on
22 June 1974 in a politically charged match in
Hamburg , East Germany beat West Germany 1-0, on a goal by
Jürgen Sparwasser . East Germany advanced to the second round and were eliminated there, while West Germany eventually went on to win the tournament.
East Germany achieved some success in
Olympic Football . They won the gold medal in
1976 , the silver medal in
1980 , and the bronze medal in
1964 (representing combined Germany) and
1972 .
After the reunification, some players from the East Germany national team, most notably
Matthias Sammer and
Ulf Kirsten , played for the new unified
German Team . See
Players With Caps For Both East Germany And Unified Germany .
Below is a list of the 20 players with the most
Caps for East Germany. The numbers are from the website of
DFB , which include eight qualifying and final tournament games of the Olympics that are no longer counted by
FIFA .
Below is a list of the 10 top goalscorers for East Germany. The numbers are from the website of
DFB , which include goals scored in eight qualifying and final tournament games of the Olympics that are no longer counted by
FIFA .
The numbers are from the website of
DFB .
- 1952-1953 Willi Oelgardt
- 1954 Hans Siegert
- 1955-1957 János Gyarmati
- 1958-1959 Fritz Gödicke
- 1959-1961 Heinz Krügel
- 1961-1967 Károly Soós
- 1967-1969 Harald Seeger
- 1970-1981 Georg Buschner
- 1982-1983 Rudolf Krause
- 1983-1988 Bernd Stange
- 1988-1989 Manfred Zapf
- 1989-1990 Eduard Geyer
East Germany National Under-21 Football Team
