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The East Germany national football team was from 1952 to 1990 the national football team of the German Democratic Republic, playing as one of three post-war German teams, along Saarland and Germany (Federal Republic). It ceased to exist after joining (West) Germany and its traditional DFB association in the reunification of Germany in late 1990.
The Eastern team was not as successful as its Western counterpart, except in the Olympic games, where it won each kind of medal once. It never made the finals of the European Championship and only qualified for 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 and emotionally charged match in Hamburg, East Germany beat West Germany 1-0, on a goal by Jürgen Sparwasser. Both German teams advanced to the second round, East Germany was 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.
World Cup record
European Championship record
Player records
Most capped players
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.| # | Player | East Germany career | Caps |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joachim Streich | 1969-1984 | 102 |
| 2 | Hans-Jürgen Dörner | 1969-1985 | 100 |
| 3 | Jürgen Croy | 1967-1981 | 94 |
| 4 | Konrad Weise | 1970-1981 | 86 |
| 5 | Eberhard Vogel | 1962-1976 | 74 |
| 6 | Bernd Bransch | 1967-1976 | 72 |
| 7 | Peter Ducke | 1960-1975 | 67 |
| 8 | Martin Hoffmann | 1973-1981 | 66 |
| = | Lothar Kurbjuweit | 1970-1981 | 66 |
| 10 | Ronald Kreer | 1982-1989 | 65 |
| 11 | Gerd Kische | 1971-1980 | 63 |
| 12 | Matthias Liebers | 1980-1988 | 59 |
| 13 | Reinhard Häfner | 1971-1984 | 58 |
| 14 | Jürgen Pommerenke | 1972-1983 | 57 |
| 15 | Rainer Ernst | 1981-1990 | 56 |
| = | Hennig Frenzel | 1961-1974 | 56 |
| 17 | Jürgen Sparwasser | 1969-1977 | 53 |
| 18 | Andreas Thom | 1984-1990 | 51 |
| 19 | Hans-Jürgen Kreische | 1968-1975 | 50 |
| 20 | Ulf Kirsten | 1985-1990 | 49 |
Top goalscorers
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.| # | Player | Goals |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joachim Streich | 55 |
| 2 | Hans-Jürgen Kreische | 25 |
| = | Eberhard Vogel | 25 |
| 4 | Rainer Ernst | 20 |
| 5 | Hennig Frenzel | 19 |
| 6 | Martin Hoffmann | 16 |
| = | Jürgen Nöldner | 16 |
| = | Andreas Thom | 16 |
| 9 | Peter Ducke | 15 |
| 10 | Ulf Kirsten | 14 |
| = | Jürgen Sparwasser | 14 |
Players with caps for both East Germany and unified Germany
The numbers are from the website of DFB.| Player | East Germany | Unified Germany | Overall | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Caps | Goals | Caps | Goals | Caps | Goals | |
| Ulf Kirsten | 49 | 14 | 51 | 20 | 100 | 34 |
| Matthias Sammer | 23 | 6 | 51 | 8 | 74 | 14 |
| Andreas Thom | 51 | 16 | 10 | 2 | 61 | 18 |
| Thomas Doll | 29 | 7 | 18 | 1 | 47 | 8 |
| Dariusz Wosz | 7 | 0 | 17 | 1 | 24 | 1 |
| Olaf Marschall | 4 | 0 | 13 | 3 | 17 | 3 |
| Heiko Scholz | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| Dirk Schuster | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
Coaches
- 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
See also
External links
- DFB statistics of the national team (contains information on East Germany caps and goalscorers)
- RSSSF archive of East Germany results
- RSSSF history of East Germany national team
Former national football teams | East Germany | Football in Germany
Fußballnationalmannschaft der DDR | Selección nacional de fútbol de Alemania Democrática | Équipe d'Allemagne de l'Est de football | Nazionale di calcio della Germania dell'Est | נבחרת מזרח גרמניה בכדורגל | VDR futbola izlase | サッカー東ドイツ代表 | Oost-Duits voetbalelftal | Reprezentacja Niemieckiej Republiki Demokratycznej w piłce nożnej | Östtysklands herrlandslag i fotboll | 民主德国国家足球队
"East Germany national football team"