On 22 June 1974, East Germany played West Germany in Hamburg as part of the first group stage of the 1974 FIFA World Cup. East Germany won the match 1–0, in what is regarded as one of the greatest upsets in FIFA World Cup history. The match is also the only time East and West Germany ever played each other in top-level senior international competition.

Background Going into the match, both East and West Germany were already assured of progressing to the second round. East Germany had defeated Australia 2–0 and drawn with Chile 1–1. Host nation West Germany had beaten Chile 1–0 and Australia 3–0, which some fans had seen as unconvincing. West Germany were considered by pundits to be clear favorites.

According to journalist Ulrich Hesse, West German players knew that their manager Helmut Schön, who had been born in Dresden in East Germany, "wanted – no, needed – to win this match at all costs". The East German government viewed the match as a class struggle and politically significant, according to author Thomas Blees.

The senior national teams of East and West Germany had never met before, though the countries did play each other at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, where West Germany was represented by an amateur side. East Germany won this game 3–2.

Match

Summary West Germany dominated the early chances, though East Germany also had scoring opportunities, including by Hans-Jürgen Kreische who missed an open goal at close range. West German Gerd Müller subsequently hit the post. In the 77th minute, East German Jürgen Sparwasser received a long diagonal pass and ran toward the West German goal, shooting the ball over goalkeeper Sepp Maier into the roof of the net. Sparwasser did a somersault in celebration, and later said it was the first time he had ever done one.

Around 1,500 East German citizens attended the match, including hundreds of Stasi members, who were instructed to cheer on East Germany with the chant "7, 8, 9, 10, Klasse!" ("7, 8, 9, 10, Great!").

Details

GK 1 Jürgen Croy SW 3 Bernd Bransch (c)RB 18Gerd KischeCB 4Konrad WeiseLB 12Siegmar WätzlichCM 13Reinhard LauckCM 16Harald Irmscher CM 2Lothar KurbjuweitAM 10Hans-Jürgen KreischeCF 14Jürgen Sparwasser CF 20Martin HoffmannSubstitutions:CM 17 Erich Hamann Manager:Georg Buschner GK 1 Sepp MaierSW 5Franz Beckenbauer (c)RB 2Berti VogtsCB 4 Hans-Georg Schwarzenbeck LB 3Paul BreitnerCM 14Uli HoeneßCM 8Bernhard CullmannCM 12Wolfgang Overath RW 9Jürgen GrabowskiLW 15Heinz FloheCF 13Gerd MüllerSubstitutions:CB 6 Horst-Dieter Höttges CM 10 Günter Netzer Manager:Helmut Schön

Linesmen: Armando Marques (Brazil) Luis Pestarino (Argentina) |}Match rules: 90 minutes Maximum of two substitutions

Aftermath

The players of both teams swapped shirts after the match, though not on the pitch as this was officially forbidden.

According to West German striker Gerd Müller, "all hell broke loose" in the West German training camp after the loss. East Germany's win gave them the top spot in their group, but paradoxically resulted in them getting a more difficult group in the second round. East Germany was eliminated in the second round, while West Germany went on to win the entire tournament.

Sparwasser became a national hero in East Germany, with his goal simply being known as "The Sparwasser Goal". In 1988, Sparwasser defected to West Germany. Sparwasser later said that "If one day my gravestone simply says 'Hamburg 74', everybody will still know who is lying below". East Germans used to commonly ask each other "Where were you when Sparwasser scored?".

East German striker Hans-Jürgen Kreische met West German politician Hans Apel on a flight immediately after the game, and the two men made an informal bet – Kreische correctly predicted the West would win the trophy and Apel sent him some whisky, unaware of the difficulties this would cause. Kreische later found he had been excluded from the subsequent national squad for the 1976 Olympic Games due to the Stasi being aware of his correspondence with Apel, which was forbidden by the East German authorities.

The match is considered to be one of the most politically charged to ever take place in the World Cup. East and West Germany would never play each other again.

See also East Germany–West Germany football rivalry

References

Match reports