Germany Olympic football team

Germany first sent a football team to the Olympics in 1912, where they were defeated in the first round, losing 5–1 against neighbours Austria. They entered a consolation tournament, however, where they recorded a 16–0 win over Russia, with 10 goals from forward Gottfried Fuchs – this is still the national team's highest margin of victory. They were eliminated in the next round, though, with a 3–1 defeat against Hungary. After World War I, Germany was banned from the 1920 Olympics, and didn't compete in 1924, returning to action in 1928, when they were eliminated in the quarter finals by eventual winners Uruguay. Uruguay would go on to win the inaugural World Cup two years later.

Football wasn't included in the 1932 Olympics, but returned for the 1936 games, in Berlin. As hosts, and having finished third at the previous World Cup, hopes of a German success were high. It wasn't to be, though: after a 9–0 win against Luxembourg, Germany were eliminated in the quarter finals, losing 2–0 to Norway. The result cost coach Otto Nerz his job, being replaced by his assistant Sepp Herberger.

Flag of the United Team of Germany 1956–1964

Following World War II, Germany were banned from the 1948 Olympics, but were back in 1952. By this point Germany was divided into three states – East Germany and the Saar protectorate having broken away, with what was left of the country commonly referred to as West Germany. Saar competed independently in 1952, but East Germany were unable to, and refused to represent a united German team. Consequently, the German Olympic team in 1952 was made up entirely of athletes from the west. The growth of professionalism in German football meant that the team they sent was no longer a senior national team squad, instead an amateur team. Despite this, Germany achieved their best result so far, reaching the semi-finals, where they were beaten by Yugoslavia. They lost 2–0 against Sweden in the bronze medal match.

Political tension between East and West Germany increased over time and this had an effect on sports as well. For the 1956 Summer Olympics, the west's football association delayed the negotiations for the process of forming a combined team for such a long time that the east's representatives gave up and let West Germany nominate the complete team for the United Team of Germany.[2] At the qualifying tournament, West Germany had a wild card and thus qualified.[3] The team lost its initial game against the USSR and came 9th equal alongside the other two losers of the initial round.[4][5]

Qualification games were held in 1960 and they are amongst the most bizarre games of football ever played by German teams, known as the "Geisterspiele" ("ghost games"). It was the first time that East and West German football teams competed, and the games were held in East Berlin (West Germany won 2–0) and, one week later, in Düsseldorf (West Germany won 2–1). This thus qualified the West German team. The stadiums were all but empty, with access available to journalists and officials only; no spectators were given access.[2] In the subsequent European qualifying tournament, the West German team was in group two with Poland and Finland. The top team would qualify and Poland was successful.[6]

The pre-qualification process repeated itself in 1964 but this time, spectators were allowed. East Germany won the first game in Karl-Marx-Stadt (now Chemnitz) with 3–0, and West Germany won 2–1 in Hanover.[2] Thus, East Germany won the right to go to the European qualifying championships. In round one, East Germany beat the Netherlands. In round two, East Germany and the Soviet Union drew twice and needed a play-off in Warsaw that was won 4–1 by East Germany, thus qualifying the East German team for the Olympics for the first time.[7] At the 1964 Olympic Games, the East German team won the bronze medal.[8] As the East German league was technically amateur, even though the athletes were state-sponsored and trained full-time, the same as all other Eastern Bloc countries, it was able to send an "A" national team.

From 1968, East and West Germany competed separately, but West Germany failed to qualify for the 1968 games, losing against the United Arab Emirates in qualification. The 1972 Olympics were held in Munich, and West Germany qualified automatically as hosts – the amateur team, which contained future World Cup winner Uli Hoeneß and Champions League-winning coach Ottmar Hitzfeld, reached the second round, where they were eliminated in a group containing East Germany, who went on to win the bronze medals. West Germany did not qualify for either the 1976 or 1980 Olympics, losing against Spain and Norway respectively.

The strict rules on amateurism had favoured Communist countries, who were able to send their senior national teams to the Olympics, as their leagues technically had amateur status. These rules were relaxed for the 1984 games: countries could select professional players, but only those who hadn't played in the finals of the World Cup. As such, West Germany selected a team known locally as the Olympiaauswahl (Olympic selection), similar in make-up to the B international team. Initially West Germany failed to qualify for the 1984 games, but were granted a reprieve following the boycott by Eastern Bloc countries. A team including future World Cup winners Andreas Brehme and Guido Buchwald reached the quarter-finals, losing 5–2 against Yugoslavia.

West Germany qualified for the 1988 Olympics, where they achieved their best ever result: third place. Having emerged from a group including China, Sweden and Tunisia, they beat Zambia 4–0 in the quarter finals. After losing on penalties to Brazil in the semi-finals, they beat Italy 3–0 to take the bronze medals: to date, this is the team's only tournament victory against Italy. Three strikers from the Olympic squad – Jürgen Klinsmann, Frank Mill and Karlheinz Riedle – would go on to win the World Cup two years later, along with midfielder Thomas Häßler.

A Germany squad at the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Germany was reunified in 1990, and the 1992 Olympics saw another rule change: football squads would be made up of players under the age of 23, with three overage players allowed. On 23 June 2015 Germany was qualified for the first time after reunification for the 2016 Olympic games. The last time an Olympic team was specifically selected was in 1998 (a 1–0 defeat against Portugal). Olympic qualification is now decided by the under-21 team in the UEFA Under-21 Championship.

In the 2016 games held in Rio de Janeiro, Germany won the silver medal after losing to Brazil by 5–4 on penalty shoot-out; this was the first football game played between the two countries since the 2014 FIFA World Cup semifinal in which Germany beat Brazil 7–1. The German team also achieved the largest victory of the tournament, thrashing Fiji by a score of 10–0 in the group stage.