In 1948, sport returned to the country - the first East German championship was held, two teams from each of the five regions included in the GDR fought for victory. In the finals of the tournament, “Planitz” defeated “Freimfelde Halle” with a score of 1: 0. A year later, the German Sports Committee became the organizer of the national championship - at first the competition was named after the Konen League, then the DS League, and finally the GDR Oberliga.
The first GDR champion was Horch from Zwickau , who won the decisive match Dresden-Friedrichstadt in April 1950 with a score of 5: 1. Most of the championships of the GDR were won by Dynamo Berlin, which became the first 10 times in a row - from 1978/79 to 1987/88. Dresden Dynamo won the league title eight times, and the Forverts from Berlin - six. The first owner of the Cup of the country was Waggonbau ( Dessau ), in August 1949, prevailed with a minimum score over the Hera-Süd. “ Magdeburg ” and “ Dynamo ” ( Dresden ) won the GDR Cup seven times, and the Leipzig “Lok” won this trophy five times.
On the international stage, the GDR team did not immediately debut. Only at the FIFA Congress in 1952 did the Football Section of the GDR (FSH) become a member of the world football union. Two years later, in Basel, the FSH acted as one of the founders of UEFA .
The GDR team held its first international match on September 21, 1952 in Poland and lost 0-3 to the hosts. The 293rd and last match of the national team was the game in Brussels - on September 12, 1990, the Germans prevailed over Belgium with a score of 2: 0. The most matches for the GDR team were played by the Rostock “ Hansa ” and “Magdeburg” football player Joachim Streich - 102. He, with 55 goals, remained the most productive player in the national team. The record holder for the number of meetings in the GDR championship with 440 fights was Eberhard Vogel , who defended the colors of Karl Zeiss for most of his career. The best scorer in the history of the championships of the GDR was also Streich - on his account 229 goals.
The GDR Football Association (FAG), which replaced the FSH, was founded in 1958 in Berlin. At first, the organization was not easy, because the country's main attention was paid to Olympic medals, but football retained its weight. At the Olympics in Tokyo (1964), the United German team, which mainly included amateur football players from East Germany, won bronze medals. Even the government understood how important this sport was at the national and international level. In 1966, with the help of the ruling party, ten clubs were founded, which gave a new impetus to the development of football in the GDR.
The GDR team only once participated in the final stage of the world championships - this happened in 1974, when the tournament was held in Germany. In the first stage match in Hamburg, the GDR team defeated the hosts with a score of 1: 0, who eventually became world champions. The only goal then scored JĂĽrgen Sparvasser .
The Olympic successes of the GDR national team came in the 1970s: at the Olympics-72 in Munich, East German soccer players shared bronze medals with Soviet soccer players; 4 years later, in Montreal, the GDR team defeated the 1972 Olympic champions in the finals of the Poles and won gold medals; at the Moscow Olympics-80, the team again reached the final, but lost to Czechoslovakia, receiving silver.
The reunification of Germany put an end to the 40-year history of the GDR Football Association, which was dissolved on November 20, 1990 at an extraordinary meeting. At that time, the country had 4412 clubs, numbering 17 thousand teams and 390 thousand members. Soon, the Northeast Football Association was created, which a little later became part of the German Football Union . It included six regional federations - in Thuringia, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and the united Berlin.