German football champions

The coronation of the first Champions in imperial Germany in 1903 established the tradition of a successful footballing nation. Since 1903, 93 championships have been decided: 49 clubs share the honour of having been amongst the nations top two teams. Only 28 clubs reached the ultimate pinnacle and got to call themselves "Meister" (champion).Borussia Mönchengladbach in the 1969-70 season was the last club to win their maiden championship.

From 1903 to 1944, the teams played for the "Viktoria" donated by Crown Prince Wilhelm of Prussia. The trophy was originally intended to be awarded on an annual alternating basis to the championship teams of the German Football Association and the nation's rugby union teams, but the trophy stayed with the footballers as that game became dominant.

The last team to win the Viktoria was Dresdner SC who trounced the air force club Luftwaffen SV Hamburg in Berlin's Olympic Stadium 4:0 at the end of the 1943-44 competition. In the confusion at the end of World War II, the trophy disappeared. It was re-discovered decades later in an East German bank safe-deposit box where it had been placed by a Dresden supporter for safekeeping. It has since been returned to the German association. In the meantime, a new championship trophy, the Meisterschale ("Championship Plate"), was created in 1949. 1. FC Nuremberg, the first post-war champions had to make do with a pennant, in the frugal spirit of the times

Champions of the Bundesliga Era

The following is a list of teams who have become, since its inception in 1963, champions of the German football Bundesliga. The top three teams, plus the teams relegated to the Second Bundesliga, are indicated in the table below. The number of points earned by each top-three club is also included.

Performance by club

One German championship:
*Union 92 Berlin
*Freiburger FC
*Chemnitzer FC^a
*FSV Zwickau^a
*Hansa Rostock^a
*Phoenix Karlsruhe
*Karlsruher FV
*Holstein Kiel
*Fortuna Düsseldorf
*Rapid Wien^b
*VfR Mannheim
*Eintracht Frankfurt
*Rot-Weiss Essen
*1860 München
*Eintracht Braunschweig

"Notes"
*^a Championships won as member of the East German league.
*^b Rapid Wien is a club from Austria. The league set-up included clubs from Austria during Germany's annexation of Austria.

ee also

* Southern German football championship
* German women's football champions

References