Germany celebrates football reunification

Football history was written 20 years ago: on 21 November 1990, exactly 49 days after German reunification, the game in Germany also became whole again.

At an extraordinary general meeting of the German Football Association (DFB) in Leipzig, the East German Football Association (DFV) – which had been disbanded the previous day – joined the DFB as a new regional association, the Northeast German Football Association.

Two decades on from that historic date the DFB is marking the anniversary with two special events. On Saturday 20 November, the FIFA World Cup stadium in Leipzig will host a match between members of West Germany's 1990 World Cup-winning side and a team of East German or DDR legends from the same era. The game will be played under the slogan: Wir gegens uns (meaning, us against ourselves).

Then, on Sunday 21 November, a football gala will be held at the Leipzig congress centre to celebrate the jubilee. This will feature official speeches from DFB president Dr Theo Zwanziger, UEFA president Michel Platini, former DFV president and DFB vice-president Hans-Georg Moldenhauer, and Rudolf Seiters, a high-ranking politician at the time the Berlin Wall fell.

A football forum with experts discussing the significance of the sporting reunification also forms part of a two-and-half hour programme of activities, which will be screened live on regional television station MDR.

The DFB has also published a book charting the 42 years of East German football, including stories of individual players and coaches from the period. Spiel ohne Grenze – 20 Jahre Fußball-Einheit (A game without frontiers – 20 years of football unity) examines what was often a shared history of the two Germanies and also analyses the state of the game in the five eastern German regions today. The book was launched at a DFB press conference heralding the weekend's commemorative events.

For DFB vice-president Moldenhauer, who played a crucial role in the footballing reunification as DFV president, the festivities in Leipzig represent a particularly worthy undertaking: "The reunification period was a fantastic time with many great moments I still think about today. This celebration is a day for remembrance, but also an opportunity to thank everyone who made unity in German football possible."