Three-time FIFA World Cup™ winners Germany are usually there or thereabouts when the honours are handed out, and the current national squad will head for South Africa with their sights and expectations set appropriately high. After triumphing in Switzerland in 1954, on home soil in 1974 and in Italy in 1990, the team now coached by Joachim Low are aiming to hoist the most prestigious trophy in the world's favourite sport for the fourth time.

The Germans' consistent success is based on deep reserves of experience, finely-honed tactical know-how, and the ability to rise to the occasion when the chips are down. Their qualifying campaign merely served to emphasise the enduring nature of those attributes. Michael Ballack will be utterly determined to lead his country to a major international title after the runners-up spot at the 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan, third on home soil in 2006, and another second place at UEFA EURO 2008 in Austria and Switzerland.

That would not merely be the crowning glory of the Germany captain's already illustrious career, it would elevate him to membership of an elite group of FIFA World Cup-winning captains, legendary trio Fritz Walter, Franz Beckenbauer and Lothar Matthaus. Apart from Ballack, German hopes rest largely on striker Miroslav Klose, a goal-getter with the uncanny ability to hit peak form bang on time for the FIFA World Cup, and former talented youngsters turned senior pros Philipp Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Lukas Podolski.

The road to South Africa
Clinical efficiency and unbending resolve rather than sparkling skill were the hallmarks as Low's men marched to first place in European qualifying Group 4 for the FIFA World Cup 2010 in South Africa. The Germans dropped points only in their home and away meetings with an awkward Finnish side. Klose's hat-trick dragged his side level three times in a 3-3 draw in Helsinki, and Podolski netted a face-saving last-minute equaliser in a 1-1 stalemate in Hamburg. However, that was the final qualifying fixture, and Ballack and company were already guaranteed top spot, as Wales, Azerbaijan and Liechtenstein had all been despatched with the minimum of fuss.

By contrast, in the two meetings with closest rivals Russia, Germany showed all the class that has made them such formidable opponents down the years. In Dortmund, Low's men produced their best attacking half of football since their rousing displays at the 2006 FIFA World Cup and held on to win 2-1. In the crunch return in Moscow on the penultimate matchday, it was almost inevitably Klose who netted the only goal of the game to seal the Russians' first-ever home defeat in FIFA World Cup qualifying. Renowned Sbornaja boss Guus Hiddink mused afterwards on Germany's "utter determination" and named Low's side as contenders in South Africa.

The star players
Chelsea midfielder Ballack rates as the undisputed leader of the team. The 33-year-old national captain has earned 97 senior caps to date and is determined to lead his men to a major trophy after falling at the final hurdle at the FIFA World Cup in 2002 and the EURO in 2008. In all probability, the showdown in South Africa will be Ballack's last chance on a major stage.

Despite his unassuming public persona, Bayern Munich striker Klose comes next in the dressing room hierarchy. His record of 48 goals in 93 internationals puts him third in the Germany all-time scoring chart, behind only living legend Gerd Muller (68 goals) and former GDR goal-getter Joachim Streich (55). Events in South Africa will show whether fellow Bayern men Lahm and Schweinsteiger, and Podolski, who returned home to Cologne from Munich in summer 2009, have what it takes to acquire world-class billing. Diminutive but exceptionally versatile full-back Lahm looks the best bet of the three.

The coach
Joachim Low, Jurgen Klinsmann's assistant at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, long ago emerged from the shadow thrown by the former world-class striker. On stepping up to the top job on 12 July 2006, the 49-year-old named winning EURO 2008 and continuing Klinsmann's attacking philosophy as his primary goals. Neither target has been fully hit, but the SC Freiburg all-time leading scorer has earned huge respect for his calm, knowledgeable and sympathetic manner of dealing with stars, press and public alike. "Meticulous and painstaking hard work is the only way to succeed," he has said, true to his reputation as a skilled tactician and all-round sage of the game, and neatly summing up the soul of German football into the bargain.

Previous FIFA World Cups
- Germany have won the FIFA World Cup three times (1954, 1974 and 1990), a figure bettered only by Brazil (5) and Italy (4).

- Apart from the 1930 and 1950 tournaments, which they did not enter, Germany have contested every FIFA World Cup finals.

Records
- Germany have reached the FIFA World Cup Final seven times, a record they share with Brazil.

- Germany have contested four penalty shoot-outs at the FIFA World Cup finals, winning all of them.

What they said
"We've been very successful in the past, and that's an inspiration to the next generations. You only have to look at Germany's record at major tournaments. We won the World Cup in 1954, '74 and '90, and the European Championship in '72, '80 and '96. We've made it through to finals at least as often. We've grown up with the conviction that Germany are always good enough to reach the Final. We're definitely among a group of countries with a chance of taking the Trophy. We were third at the World Cup and second at the EURO, so our goal for 2010 is to make the Final and win the Trophy." Philipp Lahm, interviewed exclusively by FIFA.com

- Source: Fifa.com

As the western occupation zones moved to unity in the last years of the 1940s, it became obvious that the governmental entity which would develop would adopt the black-red-gold of the Weimar Republic and indeed, it was established as the National Flag on 9 May 1949, two weeks before the Federal Republic came into existence. Unlike the Weimar period, there has been no serious opposition. Most of the 1949 flags are still in use.
Norman Martin, Feb 1998

The official name of the German flag is Bundesflagge (federal flag). However, this name is mainly used by authorities or in very official announcements. The name given on the page about names of flags, Schwarz-Rot-Gold (black-red-gold), is not very usual; it is more a poetic term. Most Germans simply call the flag Deutschlandfahne (Germany flag).
Carsten Linke, 2 May 1996

Sport sailors in Germany call their national flag Adenauer (first chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany).
Jens Wessel, 3 Jan 2001

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Hanging of the German Flag


images by Thorsten, 5 Apr 2003

I would like to discuss the description of hanging German flags. I can't speak for all regions of Germany (e.g., the main contributor/editor of the Germany page seems to reside in Bavaria), but at least in the northeastern parts of the country (i.e. the former GDR including Berlin, the national capital), (true) vertical flags (i.e., flags hanging from a horizontal bar) are extremely rare.

However, it is very common to hoist very tall and narrow flags (the German term for this kind of flag is "Knatterfahne") on a regular flag pole.
This particular kind of flag is so popular, that many government offices use it exclusively. I can only speculate as to the rationale. Real estate is in short supply in Germany and many office buildings have "their" flagpoles on very narrow sidewalks in front of the building. If "regular" flags of sufficient size would be flown, they might brush against trees, the next flag pole, or the building facade.

Two different variants are used. The most popular option is to "rotate" (and; slightly stretched) the flag. In other words, the black stripe of the German flag would run along the flagpole <1>. In the less frequent variant, the stripes are still arranged horizontally, leading to "stripes" whose individual ratios are roughly 1:1!<2>

In addition to the national flag, govt. buildings usually also fly a (very tall and narrow) European Union flag. State office buildings also fly their state flag. Since my home state is Saxony-Anhalt, I have included the two variants of that flag (which can appear with or without the state CoA, so that there would actually be four variants.)

I noticed that the shade for the yellow stripe on the Saxony-Anhalt state flag is identical to the shade used for the German national flag. This choice seems unfortunate, as the the color is given explicitely as yellow and not gold. Whenever you see a Saxony-Anhalt flag flying next to the German black-red-gold, it is very obvious that the yellow in the Sax-Anh. flag is lighter. (I don't have any official specification, but the yellow from the Belgian national flag seems just about right.).

Perhaps ironically, a tall flag hoisted on a flag pole is given for a fringe political party, when such flags are actually very common, not just for EU, Germany, and states, but many flags hoisted in front of buildings, e.g., political flags, commercial flags etc.
Thorsten, 5 Apr 2003

World Cup 2010 Games where you can see the German Team in action:

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