Northern Ireland v Germany, Thurs 5th October

GERMANY

FACTFILE

Words Nigel Tilson and Roy Kitson

Germany are one of the powerhouses of world football - and the statistics bear that out.

With a 100% record to date in Qualifying Group C for FIFA World Cup Russia 2018, Germany are looking to better the record they set in the qualifiers for the 1982 finals in Spain. The then West Germany won all eight matches in qualification - against Austria, Bulgaria, Albania and Finland, scoring 33 goals and conceding three (the only team to win all their matches in a 10-game European qualifying group were Spain who then went on to win the 2010 World Cup Final). Germany’s top flight, the Bundesliga, is among the top leagues in Europe - and it’s the league with the highest average stadium attendance in the world. The league has been dominated by Bayern Munich over the past decade. They have won the title seven times in that period, with five of them coming in the past five years. And Bayern also hold the record of most title wins with 26. Heroes of Hamburg Northern Ireland’s greatest victory over a German team to date came in Hamburg in 1983. On 18 November that year a Northern Ireland team managed by Billy Bingham defeated the then West Germany, who were reigning European champions and runners-up at the 1982 World Cup, by a goal to nil in their own backyard. The goal was scored in the 50th minute of the game by 18-year-old Manchester United midfielder/ striker Norman Whiteside. Legendary Northern Ireland manager Bingham, who played for his country at the 1958 World Cup and managed Northern Ireland at the 1982 and 1986 World Cup tournaments, later said: “In my view the victory in Hamburg was our greatest achievement.

Currently ranked number one in the world, they have been one of the most consistent performers on the world stage for more than 50 years. As West Germany or Germany they have won the World Cup four times - 1954, 1974, 1990 and 2014. And down the years they have produced some of the finest players on the planet, from midfield maestros Lothar Matthaus (Ballon d’Or winner in 1990), Matthias Sammer (Ballon d’Or 1996), Thomas Hassler, Michael Ballack and Bastian Schweinsteiger to goal machines Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (Ballon d’Or 1980 and 1981), Gerd Muller (Ballon d’Or 1970), Oliver Bierhoff and Jurgen Klinsmann. And let’s not forget about top class defenders such as classy sweeper Franz Beckenbauer (Ballon d’Or 1972 and 1976), Jurgen Kohler, Berti Vogts and Andreas Brehme, not to mention legendary keepers Sepp Maier and Oliver Kahn. In more recent times their line-ups are like a Who’s Who? of world class players, from supremely talented goalkeeper Manuel Neuer to classy defensive players Philipp Lahm, Per Mertesacker, Mats Hummels and Jerome Boateng, midfield artisans Toni Kroos and Mesut Ozil to goal getters Thomas Muller and Miroslav Klose, who scored an incredible 71 goals at international level. Apart from winning World Cups, the Germans have also been runners-up on four occasions - in 1966, 1982, 1986 and 2002. And they have won the European Championship three times, in 1972, 1980 and 1996. They have also been runners-up at the Euros three times, in 1976, 1992 and 2008. In addition they have won the Confederations Cup once, their success coming back in the summer of this year in Russia.

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