Germany's exit from Fifa World Cup brings back memories of the Cold War

Germany’s stunning 2- 0 loss to South Korea on Wednesday resulted in the defending champions crashing out of the World Cup. A similar surprise loss was handed out to another German team in the 1974 World Cup — but the winners were also Germans. The East and West German teams faced each other in their first — and only — international match on June 22 that year. Recalling that match in 2006, the captain of that East German team, Bernd Bransch, told Der Spiegel: “It wasn’t so important that it was West Germany.” But this is far from the truth: it was the height of the Cold War, and everything about the match was political.

The retrospective temptation for writers to make more out of sporting events than they merit is too strong to resist, but perhaps one is justified in this case. The chequered history of Germany since the end of World War  II in 1945 to the Reunification in 1990 can be conveniently — though a tad simplistically — be seen through three FIFA World Cups: 1954, 1974 and 1990. All three tournaments were won by West German teams. The first symbolised the economic and political return of a nation, devastated less than a decade earlier by a war it had started; the final one was a metaphor for a torn country coming back together. But the 1974 World Cup, hosted by West Germany, proved to be a theatre of the Cold War, especially the match between the two German teams.

It was played at the Volksparkstadion in the port city of Hamburg in West Germany. About 60,000 people had packed the stands, mostly West Germans. The East German contingent was only about 2,000-strong, comprising mostly members of the secret police, better known as the Stasi, who had been allowed to travel to the West with instructions to cheer for their team. Most East Germans were not allowed to travel to the West. They could only go to “communist” states such as Czechoslovakia or Hungary or Poland, maybe the Soviet Union if they had the right papers. Following the insidious escape of a lot of East Germans — especially their most talented or well-trained workers — to the West through Berlin, the socialist government had built the Berlin Wall in 1961. The cartographic cosmetic surgery would keep the city divided for 28 years.

Going into the historic match, the West Germans were overwhelming favourites. Besides their tournament victory 20 years earlier, they had been the runners-up in 1966, and had made it to the semi-final in 1958 and 1970. They had also won the 1974 European Championship. In comparison, the East German team had only been runners-up in the 1972 Munich Olympics. Its other sporting exploits, such as an impressive Olympics medals tally, has been recently attributed to state-sanctioned performance-enhancing drugs for athletes. Sporting victories were used by the socialist government of the German Democratic Republic (DDR) to boost its prestige, and it was more than willing to play dirty.

“Everyone thought we had no chance,” said Brausch later, “We wanted to prove that we could play football.” The match began with both teams being nervy. The situation was not helped by the tight security — armed policemen patrolled the sidelines and a police helicopter hovered overhead for the entire duration of the match. Barely two years before, during the 1972 Munich Olympics, 11 Israeli athletes had been kidnapped and killed by Palestinian terrorists.

The first half of the match ended goalless, with both teams unable to convert chances. The second half began with the West German team dominating the game, with multiple shots at the rival’s goal posts, but without success. Then, the unthinkable happened. In the 82nd minute, Erich Hamann and Jurgen Sparwasser were able to break through the West German defence, with Sparwasser netting the ball. When the match ended a few minutes later, the East German team — for whom this would be the only World Cup finals ever — had written their way into history with an unforgettable upset.

The West German team was devastated. According to some reports, they would spend the night drowning their sorrows in defeat. But it was a blessing in disguise for them, as with this defeat they were slotted into an easier group, with Poland, Sweden and Yugoslavia. They would eventually go on to win the tournament. East Germany would find themselves in a group with the Netherlands, Brazil and Argentina and would not win another match. Their victory over their Western rival, however, would be celebrated for years to come. 

Football fanatics can take a look at one of the balls used in the match and signed by Bransch, Hamann, Sparwasser and Co at the DDR Museum in Berlin. It can be a little disappointing though, being a little deflated now.