This article is about the men's team which competed as West Germany. For the East German team, see East Germany at the FIFA World Cup. For the women's team, see Germany at the FIFA Women's World Cup.
Germany celebrating victory in the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil
This is a record of the men's Germany and West Germany's results at the FIFA World Cup. For Germany's World Cup history, FIFA considers only the teams managed by the German Football Association, comprising three periods: Germany (during Nazi era), West Germany and reunified Germany. The men's Germany national football team is one of the most successful national teams at the FIFA World Cup, winning four titles, earning second-place and third-place finishes four times each and one fourth-place finish. Germany's 12 podium finishes (3rd place or better) in 20 tournaments add up to at least three more than any other nation. In addition, until they failed to reach the round of 16 in 2022 and 2026, Germany was the only team to stand on the podium at least once during the completed decades in which at least one tournament was held (1930s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and 2010s). Along with Argentina, Brazil and Spain, they are one of the four national teams to win outside their continental confederation, with the title of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in South America. The team qualified for every FIFA World Cup tournament they have entered (21 out of the 23), the second most frequent, and only failed to reach the quarter-finals four times, in 1938, 2018, 2022 and 2026. With this, Germany's 8th place or better (quarter-finals) in 17 out of 20 tournaments (85%) ranks the second highest in FIFA World Cup finals history, only behind Brazil (19 out of 22 tournaments for a 86%). It makes Germany the best team in the history of the tournament in terms of final positions, if points were awarded proportionally for a title, runner-up finish, third-place finish and semi-final and the second best team in terms of quarter-final appearances.
Records
1930–1938 as → → Germany
1950–1990 as West Germany
1994–present as Germany
ChampionsRunners-up Third place
Tournament played fully or partially on home soil
*Denotes draws including knockout matches decided via penalty shoot-out.
Germany's World Cup record
First match
Germany 5–2 Belgium
(27 May 1934; Florence, Italy)
Biggest win
Germany 8–0 Saudi Arabia
(1 June 2002; Sapporo, Japan)
Biggest defeat
Hungary 8–3 West Germany
(20 June 1954; Basel, Switzerland)
Best result
Champions in 1954, 1974, 1990, and 2014
Worst result
First round exits in 1938 (straight knockout format), 2018 and 2022 (both group stage exits).
Winning World Cups
Year
Manager
Captain
Winning goalscorer(s)
1954
Sepp Herberger
Fritz Walter
Helmut Rahn
1974
Helmut Schön
Franz Beckenbauer
Gerd Müller
1990
Franz Beckenbauer
Lothar Matthäus
Andreas Brehme
2014
Joachim Löw
Philipp Lahm
Mario Götze
FIFA World Cup finals
1954 World Cup Final v Hungary
Main article: 1954 FIFA World Cup Final
Only 14 days before the final, West Germany played the favoured Hungarian Golden Team in the first round of the tournament and suffered a 3–8 loss, which remains their largest World Cup defeat. In the final, Hungary was up by two goals after only eight minutes, so it came as a surprise that the West German team not only quickly equalised but turned the game around in the 84th minute with a goal scored by Helmut Rahn.
The strongly contested game between host nation England and West Germany went into extra time after a score of 2-2 after 90 minutes. Geoff Hurst's goal in the 101st minute is one of the most controversial in football history: His shot bounced off the cross-bar onto the ground and back away from the goal. After a brief discussion with the Azerbaijani linesman Tofiq Bahramov, referee Gottfried Dienst awarded the goal. With the West Germans forced to press for the equalizer, Hurst converted a counterattack in the 120th minute and decided the match for England.
West Germany reached the final as host nation in 1974 and were facing their neighbours and rivals from the Netherlands. After an early penalty scored by Johan Neeskens, West Germany turned the game around to win their second World Cup trophy.
Paul Breitner became only the third player in World Cup history to have scored in two separate finals, but only after the Italians had already taken a 3–0 lead after 81 minutes.
With the highest attendance ever at a FIFA World Cup final, West Germany faced Argentina in Mexico City. Although the Argentinian star player Diego Maradona was closely guarded by the West German team, he assisted the decisive 3-2 scored by Jorge Burruchaga, ensuring his country's second World Cup win. Late during the match, three yellow cards were given to Argentinians for time wasting.
For this re-match of the 1986 Final, Argentina played extremely defensively. Defender Pedro Monzón became the first player ever to receive a red card in a World Cup final, only to be joined by teammate Gustavo Dezotti 22 minutes later. Although West Germany was the dominating side with 23:1 shots, it is fitting that the rough match was decided by a penalty kick taken by Andreas Brehme.
Franz Beckenbauer achieved the feat to lose and then win a World Cup final each as player (1966, 1974) and manager (1986, 1990).
With only one goal conceded during the six matches leading up to the final, hopes were on the German defence to withstand Brazil's star quality strikers. Germany's playmaker Michael Ballack was suspended for the final after picking his second yellow card of the tournament in the semi-final against South Korea. Two goals from Ronaldo in the middle of the second half decided the match in favour of the South Americans and ensured their record fifth title.
Despite defeating host country Brazil 7–1, Germany was supported by the home fans due to Brazil's rivalry with Argentina. This record third match-up of two teams in World Cup finals saw good chances for both sides in regular time, but stayed goalless until substitute striker Mario Götze scored during the second half of extra time, in the 113th minute. The fourth title was the first since Germany's reunification in October 1990.
Lothar Matthäus is Germany's all-time record appearance maker at World Cups, with 25 matches played. He is also the only German player alongside Manuel Neuer to be fielded in five FIFA World Cups.
Miroslav Klose, who is only one match behind Matthäus, also holds the record for most victories at FIFA World Cups (17).
1 Have been member of multiple confederations. 2 Considered a successor team by FIFA, or have competed under another name(s). 3 Team and national federation no longer exist.