Figure 1.--Here we see a German soccer club team about 1995. Most German boys who play team soccer play through leagues organized by sports clubs. Kneesocks with stripes at the top seem to be very popular for German soccer teams.

Schools do not appear to play an important role in German youth sports. The major factor seems to be sports clubs rather than school sports. We do not yet have much information on German sports clubs. Before World War II sports clubs appear to have been mostly for youths rather than boys. Also after the NAZIs seized power (1933), the Hitler Youth program increasingly dominated the free time of both boys and youths. I'm not sure how this affected sports clubs. Also sports clubs seem to have focused more on athletics than team sports. After the War, sports clubs developed programs for boys and soccer was an important part of that program. A German reader writes, "I noticed the new HBC pages on soccer. I read them with interest. As HBC reports, soccer is the No. 1 sport in Germany. Over 7 million people are members of soccer clubs. I played soccer in a club since I was 5 years old in the late 1989s. Like me, many of my classmates played soccer, too. Now and then we played soccer atschool, but most I played it at my soccer club. They are different groups for the youth. The first organized group is for boys from 5 to 7. It`s called the F-Jugend. (Jugend means youth) The next groups follow in intervals of two years. F-Jugend 5-7 E-Jugend 8-9 D-Jugend 10-11 C-Jugend 12-13 B-Jugend 14-15 A-Jugend 16-17. During a season you can become older. You have to look to the age at the beginning of the year. I continued playing soccer on a club team until I was 15."

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Created: 5:41 PM 7/26/2004
Last updated: 5:41 PM 7/26/2004