The German football champions are the annual winners of the highest
association football competition in
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. The history of the German football championship is complex and reflects the turbulent history of the country through the course of the 20th century.
Brought to the country by English expatriates, the sport had taken root in the cities of
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
,
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
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,
Stuttgart, and
Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...
in the 1890s,
leading to the growth of city, regional, and academic leagues, each with their own championships. Following the establishment of the
German Football Association (Deutscher Fußball Bund) in 1900,
the first recognized
national championship final was hosted by
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
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club
Altona 93 in 1903 in which