Germany–France football rivalry

The Germany–France football rivalry is long-standing rivalry between the two European sides. The first match was an international friendly played on 15 March 1931 in Paris, France won the game 1-0 as German defender Reinhold Münzenberg scored an own goal in the 15th minute of the game.

Background

One of the reason behind this rivalry is the political tensions that both countries have shared since the Franco-German War of 1870 which led to Unification of Germany in 1871. Occupation of the Ruhr in 1923 by French forces after World War I and German occupation of most of the French territories in World War II adds fuel to the rivalry.

Rivalry

The rivalry in football started in 1982 FIFA World Cup semi-finals where West Germany controversially knocked the undefeated French side out of the tournament 5-4 on penalties as the match ended 3-3 after extra minutes. Controversy arose when French defender Patrick Battiston made a run and tapped the ball past the charging West German keeper Harald Schumacher, although the shot went wide but controversial collision on a breakaway with goalkeeper, knocked Battiston unconscious and forced him from the game with two missing teeth, three cracked ribs, and damaged vertebrae (though no foul was given on the play), added to the tension on the field.

Major Tournaments

1958 FIFA World Cup

The first match in a major tournament between two sides was in the 1958 FIFA World Cup when both France and Germany faced-off for third place after getting knocked out of semi-finals by Brazil and Sweden respectively. The match ended with a 6-3 victory for France as Fontaine their star player and tournament's top-scorer scored 4 goals for them, scoring in 16th, 36th, 78th and 89th minute respectively. The French side finished third in World Cup ahead of West Germany who finished fourth and Fontaine finished the campaign as top-scorer with 13 goals.

1982 FIFA World Cup

The next encounter between both sides was a controversial one that came in the semi-finals of 1982 FIFA World Cup. The game stated W=with West Germany's captain and European Footballer of the Year Karl-Heinz Rummenigge benched from the start due to a hamstring injury, West Germany was nonetheless the first to score in the 17th minute. With Klaus Fischer charging in to challenge French goalkeeper Jean-Luc Ettori from about 12 yards out, the ball rebounded to Pierre Littbarski, who scored with his first-touch shot from 18 yards.

At 27 minutes, Bernd Förster was whistled for holding Dominique Rocheteau and France was awarded a penalty, which was converted by Platini.

Despite several good chances for both sides, including Manuel Amoros hitting the crossbar in stoppage time, the score remained at 1–1 at the end of regulation. The teams then played two 15-minute periods of extra time. In the second minute of the first period, Marius Tresor struck an 11-yard volley off of a deflected free kick from just outside the box to put France ahead for the first time in the match, 2–1. Rummenigge entered the game shortly afterwards in place of Hans-Peter Briegel, but it was France who struck once again at the 98 minute mark, with Alain Giresse firing a first-touch shot from 18 yards off of Schumacher's right post and into the goal to give France a 3–1 advantage.

Four minutes later, West Germany began its comeback, with Rummenigge flicking home an outside-of-the-foot volley from six yards that cut France's lead to 3–2. Three minutes into the second extra time period, Fischer scored by a bicycle kick from six yards, and the teams were level once more at 3–3, where the score remained through the end of extra time.

The shootout began with Giresse converting the first kick for France, which was answered by West Germany's Manfred Kaltz. Amoros for France and Paul Breitner for West Germany both converted, but in the third round, Uli Stielike's shot was blocked by Ettori, following Rocheteau's successful strike, giving France a 3–2 lead. However, in the fourth round, France failed to capitalize: Schumacher was able to block Didier Six's shot, and Littbarski scored for West Germany. Platini and Rummenigge both scored in the fifth round, and the shootout, tied at 4–4, moved to sudden-death shooting. In the sixth round, Maxime Bossis's shot was blocked, and Horst Hrubesch converted to give West Germany the win.

1986 FIFA World Cup

Both faced each other in semi-finals of the 1986 FIFA World Cup. West Germany defeated the French team 2-0 after goals from Andreas Brehme and Rudi Völler in the 9th and 89th minutes respectively. This marked West Germany knocking France out of World Cup in a back-to-back semi-finals of a back-to-back World Cup.

2014 FIFA World Cup

The next major fixture between two sides came in 2014 FIFA World Cup in the quarter-finals, twenty eight years after their last meeting in 1986 FIFA World Cup. The only goal came in the 13th minute when Mats Hummels got ahead of his marker Raphaël Varane to head Germany into the lead from ten yards out after a free-kick from Toni Kroos on the left. Karim Benzema had a shot in second half injury time from the left which he hit straight at Manuel Neuer.

Germany advanced to the semi-finals where they would face Brazil. They became the first team to reach four straight World Cup semi-finals, breaking the record of three shared by their predecessor West Germany (1982, 1986, 1990) and Brazil (1994, 1998, 2002). Germany was also guaranteed their 13th top four finish, the most by any nation.

2016 UEFA Euro

Their first ever clash in the UEFA European Championship came in the 2016 edition held in France, they met in the semi-finals. France won the game 2-0 after French striker and tournament's top scorer Antoine Griezmann scored two goals. Griezmann converted a penalty 45+2 minute and scoring second in the 72nd minute, securing his brace and France's place in the finals.

This match was their third match in the semi-finals of major tournaments with two of them coming in the 1982 and 1986 edition of FIFA World Cup. This was also French side's first victory in a major tournament over Germany since 1958 FIFA World Cup.

Statistics

Overall

Note: *West Germany defeated France in 1982 World Cup semi-finals via penalty-shootouts after matche ended 3-3 after extra time.

Honours

Germany's first major title came in 1954 FIFA World Cup when they won the tournament as West Germany. France won their first major title in the 1984 edition of UEFA European Championship.

Overall Statistics

France

Germany

• Germany won the gold medal at the 1976 Olympics as East Germany.
• Germany won the silver medal at the 1980 Olympics as East Germany.
• Germany won the bronze medals at the 1964 Olympics, 1972 Olympics and 1988 Olympics as United Team of Germany, East Germany (shared with Soviet Union) and West Germany respectively.