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Max Mueller Bhavan | India

Football
 More Than a Game

For millions around the world, football isn’t just entertainment—it’s personal. The team you follow, the club you believe in, the player you defend, and the anthem that stays with you. Here, we celebrate those connections and ask what really shapes the sport we love.

European Football Championship © Goethe-Institut e. V./Illustration: Tobias Schrank

Society & Identity

Images of Masculinity

Real Men

Everything used to be so much simpler: you could be sure that the soccer players you would see on the pitch were real men. And these days? Though social debates have now found their way into sport, soccer is still battling with outdated gender role concepts. We take a look at the status quo.

Image of two soccer players hugging. © Goethe-Institut, Ricardo Roa © Goethe-Institut, Ricardo Roa

  • Patriotism

    To Fly the Flag or Not?

    Germany’s national flag was rarely seen in everyday life for decades. When the men’s soccer World Cup was held in 2006, however, the country unexpectedly erupted in a euphoric blaze of black, red and gold – a phenomenon that had already died down again by the time Germany staged EURO 2024. So what happened?

    An illustration of a person seen from behind, holding up a scarf in the colors of the German flag. © Goethe-Institut, Ricardo Roa © Goethe-Institut, Ricardo Roa

  • Between Integration and Exclusion

    Identity on the Sidelines

    Soccer is more than a game — it often becomes a mirror of larger social debates. Few other spaces reflect as clearly how a society negotiates diversity. The sport’s immense emotional power is especially evident in the national team, where questions of integration and belonging become visible.

    Grafik zweier Personen, die zusammen ein Trikot halten, auf dem der Name des deutschen Nationalspielers Özil steht. © Goethe-Institut, Ricardo Roa © Goethe-Institut, Ricardo Roa

  • Diversity in football

    “Voy, voy, voy, voy, voy, voy”

    Girls' teams, clubs for the blind, queer fan clubs: Football shows its integrative potential above all away from the big stage. The movie “Elf Mal Morgen” takes a look at eleven different football stories in Germany.

    The female players of Türkiyemspor Berlin in the dressing room Foto (Detail): © Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin Foto (Detail): © Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin

Football Through German Eyes

Few sports mean as much to Germany as football. But what is really behind that passion? Here we tell the stories that make the game so special in this country.

Football and Music

Football is Our Life

There’s music in football: as we approach the men’s Euro 2024 in Germany, we take a look at football songs, some dodgy and some successful, and the stories behind them.

A completely normal sight for decades: the German national football team in the recording studio - here with Udo Jürgens in December 1989. © picture-alliance/ dpa/dpaweb | Marcus Thelen © picture-alliance/ dpa/dpaweb | Marcus Thelen

  • East-West German Football History

    Separated by Politics, United by Football

    Ronald Reng has written a football book that is about much more than football. 1974 – Eine deutsche Begegnung is a captivating portrait of divided Germany in the 1970s.

    1974: International match between the FRG and the GDR as part of the Football World Cup © picture-alliance / dpa | Werner Baum © picture-alliance / dpa | Werner Baum

  • Football in the Ruhr

    In the Land of 1,000 Derbies

    Matches will also be played at two stadiums in the Ruhr region during the 2024 European Football Championship. It’s not really surprising – this area in the far west of Germany is considered the nucleus of German football, especially away from the bright lights of the modern arenas.

    The Ruhr region is characterised by heavy industry. This is also unmistakable in football - here at a demonstration by miners in Bochum's Ruhrstadion in 1997. © picture alliance / augenklick/firo Sportphoto | Jürgen Fromme © picture alliance / augenklick/firo Sportphoto | Jürgen Fromme

  • Cherrypicker | Literature

    Women footballers against all odds

    The history of women’s football in Germany is full of pioneering women whose stories have long gone unnoticed. Torsten Körner met many of them for his new book, giving them a voice at last.

    Scene from the first international women's football match between Germany and the Netherlands on 23 September 1956 at the Mathias Stinnes Stadium in Essen © picture alliance / SZ Photo | Horstmüller © picture alliance / SZ Photo | Horstmüller

A Sport in Motion

Something is shifting in football. Not on the pitch but behind it. We take a look at what is changing and why it matters.

  • Sport Psychology

    The Head Decides

    The mental strategies elite athletes rely on can be just as powerful in everyday life. Prof. Markus Raab of the German Sport University Cologne explains how to build resilience and manage stress effectively.

    An illustration of a person meditating, wearing a top with the word “Focus” on it, sitting cross-legged with their hands on their knees. Circles of increasing size are forming around the person. © Goethe-Institut, Ricardo Roa © Goethe-Institut, Ricardo Roa

  • Sustainablity

    Green Goals

    FIFA is promising a greener World Cup. Yet the 2026 tournament will be bigger than ever before. Air travel, high temperatures and social issues make it clear just how difficult it is to make global soccer sustainable.

    An illustration of an airplane flying over a soccer field and leaving a dark trail of exhaust behind it. © Goethe-Institut, Ricardo Roa © Goethe-Institut, Ricardo Roa

A SELECTION OF FOOTBALL DOCUMENTARIES

  • 2023, documentary, 30 min, OV with German subtitles

    Tore für die Umwelt

    In the Bundesliga, the call for more sustainability is ever growing louder. This concerns issues like waste management, mobility, and energy. Watch on ZDF Mediathek until 13.01.2028.

    Tore für die Umwelt © ZDF/Julian Prahl © ZDF/Julian Prahl

  • 2022, documentary, 19 min, OV with German subtitles

    FIFA, Rapper und Trikots - Woher der Hype um Fussball?

    This episode of HYPECULTURE is focused on football, rappers, and jerseys: featuring rappers playing football, footballers rapping, and the tracksuit as the street's tuxedo. Watch on funk until 28.11.2027.

    FIFA, Rapper und Trikots - Woher der Hype um Fussball? © funk © funk

  • 2021, documentary, 44 min, OV with German subtitles

    Das dunkle Erbe – Nazis im deutschen Fußball

    This episode of Terra X-History explores a dark chapter in the post-war history of German football: the legacy of the Nazi era. Watch on ZDF Mediathek until 27.11.2026.

    Das dunkle Erbe – Nazis im deutschen Fußball © ZDF/Wolfgang Morell © ZDF/Wolfgang Morell

  • 2022, documentary, 15 min, OV with German subtitles

    Fußball im Nationalsozialismus

    This episode of MrWissentogo Geschichte sheds light on how football was used as a propaganda tool and to suppress specific groups under the Nazi regime.
    Watch on funk until 11.08.2027.

    Fußball im Nationalsozialismus © funk © funk

  • 2021, documentary, 44 min, OV with German subtitles

    Fußballprofi - Traum und Wirklichkeit

    This documentary follows young football talents in Germany on their way to becoming professional football players, highlighting the challenges, opportunities, risks and realities of the football industry. Watch on ARD Mediathek until 01.01.2099.

    Fußballprofi - Traum und Wirklichkeit © NDR © NDR

  • 2023, documentary, 9 min, OV

    Ein Tag im Leben eines Schiedsrichters!

    Einfach Fußball follows referee Felix Zwayer on a match day, providing insights into his daily life on and off the pitch. Watch on funk until 05.10.2033.

    Ein Tag im Leben eines Schiedsrichters! © funk © funk