BFC Germania
Encyclopedia
BFC Germania 1888 is a German association football club
Football in Germany
Association football is the most popular sport in Germany. The German Football Association is the sport's national governing body, with 6.6 million members organized in over 26,000 football clubs. There is a league system, with the 1. and 2. Bundesliga on top, and the winner of the first...

 from Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

. Founded on 15 April 1888, it is the oldest still active football club in the country.

History

BFC Germania 1888 was founded by 17-year-old Paul Jestram, his three brothers, and a number of their of schoolmates from Askanischen Gymnasium at a time when football was not yet common in Germany, the first football games having been played in Berlin and Hamburg in the winter of 1881–82 by expatriate Englishmen. No football pitches had yet been built so BFC played on the Tempelhofer field where an airport would later be constructed.

Germany's first unofficial champion

BFC Germania 1888 was part of the country's first football league, the DBF (Bund Deutscher Fußballspieler or Federation of German Football Players) which was formed in November 1890 and was active until February 1892. The league was made up of the Berlin-based clubs BFC Vorwärts 1890, BFC Askania 1890, BFC Borussia 1890, BFC Concordia 1890
FC Concordia Wilhelmsruh
FC Concordia Wilhelmsruh is a German association football club based in Berlin. The club was founded on 29 June 1895 as Concordia Berlin and was one of the founding members of the German Football Association in Leipzig in 1900...

, BFC Hellas 1890, BFC Tasmania 1890 and BFC Teutonia 1891
SC Teutonia Berlin
SC Teutonia Berlin was a German association football club from the city of Berlin. Established in 1899, the club was lost in 1944 in the late stages of World War II...

. Germania emerged the winner in a tournament staged by the league, and as the DBF was the only football league in the country at the time, can lay claim to being Germany's first champion. Club records indicate that BFC then defended their title, but no supporting evidence has been found.

Disagreement over whether or not to allow foreign players to participate in the championship rounds and how to manage the transfer of players between teams led to the collapse of the DBF and the formation of the DFuCB (Deutschen Fußball- und Cricket Bund or German Football and Cricket Federation) in 1891. Many of the DBF's former clubs joined the new league, a few folded, while some played in other leagues. Germania tried to join the DFuCB but was initially refused entry because of its difficult, overly nationalist attitude and inability to cooperate with other clubs while part of the DBF. It was admitted to the new circuit a year later in 1892. Over the next half dozen seasons league play was dominated by BTuFC Viktoria 89 with Germania frustratingly able only to earn four second place finishes.

Slide from prominence

In 1900 the team left to join the VDBV (Verband Deutscher Ballspiel Vereine or Federation of German Ballplay Teams) and in that same year became a founding member of the DFB
Founding Clubs of the DFB
The DFB was formed January 28, 1900 in Leipzig. The commonly accepted number of founding clubs represented at the inaugural meeting is 86, but this number is uncertain. The vote held to establish the association was 62:22 in favour . Some delegates present represented more than one club, but may...

 (Deutscher Fussball Bund or German Football Association) at Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...

. However, with the growth of the game and the arrival on the scene of many new teams Germania became less prominent. By the start of World War I the club had fallen out of Berlin's top flight competition.

BFC Germania 1888 continued to play on the local amateur circuit. After World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 occupying Allied authorities banned all organizations in the country including sports and football clubs. The team was re-established in 1946 as SG Neu-Tempelhof and appeared fleetingly in the Amateurliga Berlin (III) in 1948–49 where they were able only to earn a single point from a draw in 18 matches.

Current

Today the club plays lower tier football in the local city leagues. In 2001 they competed in the Berzirksliga Berlin (VII) and over the course of the following two seasons advanced to the Verbandsliga Berlin (V) where they spent the next three seasons. Since 2005 Germania has played in the Landesliga Berlin (VI).

Germany's oldest football club

German football clubs typically include the date of their founding in their club's name. A number of sides – for example SSV Ulm 1846
SSV Ulm 1846
SSV Ulm 1846 is a German association football club from Ulm, Baden-Württemberg and is one of the country's largest and oldest sports clubs with over 12,000 members in more than twenty different departments. The modern-day club was formed out of 5 May 1970 merger of TSG Ulm 1846 and 1...

, VfL Bochum
VfL Bochum
Verein für Leibesübungen Bochum 1848 Fußballgemeinschaft, commonly referred to as simply VfL Bochum, is a German association football club based in the city of Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia.-Founding to World War II:...

, and TSV 1860 München
TSV 1860 München
Turn- und Sportverein München von 1860, commonly known as TSV 1860 München or 1860 Munich, is a German sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. The club's football team plays in the Second Bundesliga, after relegation from the Bundesliga following the 2003–04 season...

 – have earlier founding dates, but were formed as gymnastics or athletics clubs and did not take up football until after Germania's formation.

Other teams which were formed before Germania including Berliner Cricket-Club 1883, BFC Frankfurt 1885
BFC Frankfurt 1885
BFC Frankfurt Berlin was a German association football club that played in Berlin.Founded on 5 May 1885, the club's unusual name was taken from the hometown of founder and president George Leux...

, and SC Germania zu Hamburg 1887 (one of the predecessor sides which formed SV Hamburg in 1919) were also first organized to play other sports – cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

, rugby
Rugby football
Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...

, and athletics respectively. Of these three clubs only Hamburg is still playing.

Team trivia

  • Deutscher FV 1878 Hannover
    Deutscher FV 1878 Hannover
    DSV 78 Hannover, founded as DFV Hannover in 1878, is Germany's oldest rugby club. The club played in the 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga under the name DSV 78/08 Ricklingen, having formed an on-the-field union with SV 08 Ricklingen, another club from Hannover....

     is generally recognized as Germany's oldest football team but plays rugby
    Rugby football
    Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...

    , which shares a common origin with association football. BFC Germania 1888's claim as the country's oldest club is specific to playing association football.


BFC Germania 1888 has a rich sporting heritage and played an important role in the early development of football in Germany.
  • BFC Germania 1888 players George Demmler and Fritz Boxhammer played active roles in the formation of both the BFV (Berliner Fußball-Verband or Berlin Football Federation) and the DFB (Deutscher Fussball Bund or German Football Association). Demmler went on to help found the Deutsche Sportbehörde für Leichtathletik (predecessor of the Deutscher Leichtathletik-Verband
    Deutscher Leichtathletik-Verband
    The Deutscher Leichtathletik-Verband is the governing body for the sport of athletics in Germany.- External links :*...

    ) and become its first president.

  • The goalkeeper for Germany's first national side was Germania's Fritz Baumgarten
    Fritz Baumgarten
    Fritz Baumgarten was a German footballer.He played as a goalkeeper for the Berlin club BFC Germania. On 5 April 1908, in Basel, Switzerland Baumgarten was part of the national side in Germany's first ever international match which they lost 5–3 to the Swiss. This was his only appearance for...

     – one of four club members who would be capped.

  • The founders of Hertha BSC settled on their club's name as second choice to the already taken Germania.

  • On 3 May 1889 a number of BFC Germania 1888 players left to form the new club BFC Marbert which was soon re-christened BFC Stern 1889.

  • In 1898 BFC Germania 1888 became the first football club to form a youth department.

  • German Crown Prince Wilhelm saw his first football match on 30 April 1905, a contest which pitted BFC Germania 1888 against the well-known English amateur side Civil Service London. BFC Germania 1888 won the match 3–2.

External links

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