Germany

The Germany national football team are a four-time World champions. Germany are one of the most powerful and titled teams in the FIFA World Ranking. Lothar Matthaus, Miroslav Klose, Lukas Podolski, Philipp Lahm, Juergen Klinsmann, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Juergen Kohler, Per Mertesacker, Franz Beckenbauer and Thomas Hassler all have over a hundred caps for the national team.

Lothar Matthaus holds the record for the largest number of games played, 150. But Franz Beckenbauer is the leader in the number of games in a row, his record is 60 games.

The Germany national football team played on the world scene for the first time in Italy in 1934 and finished third. The team proved itself as a strong contestant, not willing to yield to opponents regardless of their status. Germany won bronze four times: in 1970, 1974, 2006 and 2010.

The team was runner-up in 1966, 1982, 1986, 2002 and won four World Cups in 1954 in Switzerland, in 1974 in Germany, in 1994 in Italy and in 2014 in Brazil.

Germany succeeded in European Championships. It became runner-up three times in 1976, 1992, 2008 and won the European Championship in Belgium in 1972, in Italy in 1980 and in England in 1996.

Joachim Low is the team’s head coach and under his spell the Mannschaft have been the main contenders for the World Cup and the European Championship titles. In 2014 Low managed to guide the team to the World Cup title in Brazil, beating such powerhouses as Portugal, France, Brazil and Argentina on their way.

Miroslav Klose is a top-scorer with 71 goals.