35 years after Berlin Wall, East German football struggling

East Germany’s political collapse was mirrored in football, but a focus on youth brings hope for the future.

Just over 50 years ago, 1. FC Magdeburg were lifting the European Cup Winner's Cup – a feat no other East German side has replicated. Now, after a long journey in the lower leagues, the club sits in the second division.

"I think it was impossible to see back then what would happen to football in the east after the wall came down, including when it came to individual careers. I think people may have been a bit naive," Carsten Müller, who played at Magdeburg prior to and following reunification and now runs their academy, told DW.

Magdeburg's transformation from continental kings to a second-tier side reflects the fate of many of their east German counterparts. Of the 56 professional teams in Germany's top three leagues, only six hail from the east. Decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the geographical divisions of men's and women's football remain.

A rude awakening

"When the industries surrounding a club break away and the economic situation in the city and region only get more difficult, you're suddenly hit with a wave of challenges. Players and clubs have to fight just to survive," said Müller.

The all-encompaning privatizing shock that overtook East German industry after the Berlin Wall collapsed impacted football as well. Formerly state-ran clubs in the east suddenly had to compete with cash-flush western sides on the open market.

"Lots of players from the east were quickly brought into the Bundesliga by western clubs," former Dynamo Dresden player and current academy boss Marco Hartmann told DW. "That meant Dynamo's best players were also quickly poached back then, and also at a fairly low price, which meant it didn't really benefit the club much."

Eight-time East German champions Dynamo Dresden, now playing in the third division, became just another part of the eastern clearance sale for rich Bundesliga sides. Things only deteriorated from there.

"There was extreme financial mismanagement at many clubs in the east. I think it was down to all the new possibilities that hadn't previously been available due to state financing," Hartmann said.

Relegations and bankruptcies – often going hand in hand – became commonplace. The region's only two Bundesliga sides, Union Berlin and RB Leipzig, are both outliers. Union, in the top flight since 2019, benefit from the broader infrastructure and increased financial opportunities at their disposal as a capital-city side compared to most former GDR teams. Leipzig's controversial, commercialized foreign ownership and lack of Cold War history makes their path to regular Bundesliga contenders hardly comparable.

Different path, similar destination

While eastern men's clubs were doing their best to stay afloat, a women's side from the former GDR rose to the top of the game. Turbine Potsdam won six Bundesliga and two Champions League titles between 2004 and 2012, in part because women's football was a significantly more level playing field.

"I think in women's football you didn't have to invest as much compared to a men's team," former player Anja Mittag told DW.

Mittag believes the club flourished because because of the influence of coach Bernd Schröder, who helmed the side from its founding in 1971 until 2016. Success helped the club establish vital support and infrastructure.

"We still needed good sponsorship and attendance to earn money. That was big, we had a city that was really backing us in Potsdam. And if you're successful, you attract players. I think winning the Champions League was a huge advantage. Plus, it's not as though there were a lot of other top teams to choose from back then. Especially compared to men's football," Mittag said.

Turbine have since struggled to keep up with various men's clubs that have recently invested heavily in women's football, the vast majority of which are in the west. Mittag's former club underwent a decade of slow decline that finally saw them relegated in 2023.

The most successful eastern women's team is now RB Leipzig, where Mittag is a coach. The former Germany international joined the club as a player in the third division and accompanied Leipzig through 2023's Bundesliga promotionin the dugout.

"I think it's important for the region to create different opportunities. I think it really creates a lot of possibilities for young players and makes things more attractive," she said.

Focused on the future

According to Mittag, Leipzig are focusing on their youth system in order to shore up their squad and reach their mid-term goal of Champions League qualification. And while European qualification is a pipe dream for most former GDR men's teams, success at the academy level might be the only way to become more competitive in an increasingly-imbalanced environment.

"It's about developing first-team players that identify with the club and are passionate about playing for Dynamo Dresden. It's really important for our members and fans that we have players from the region, and ideally fans themselves, in the team," said Marco Hartmann.

"I don't see being considered a developmental club as a bad thing," said Carsten Müller. "We've got to find a way to develop players for our first team. [Magdeburg] has a lot of potential and has invested heavily in the future."

While the financial gap between established western Bundesliga sides and most eastern clubs remains insurmountable, investment in youth football is beginning to pay off. According to German public broadcaster ZDF, 22% of the 880 players to represent Germany at youth level in the last decade are from the east. Given only 18% of Germany's population hails from eastern states, the overrepresentation in youth football is a sign things are moving in the right direction.

Whatever the future holds, eastern clubs – and their fans – will take it in stride.

"Football in the east has always shown that we rarely devolve into whining. Instead we've always shown that regardless of how difficult things get, we keep our chins up. And that's what people are proud of," said Müller.

Edited by: Jonathan Harding