This is a topical new book critically analyzing the significance of football in German sporting and cultural life. It examines football's place in post-war and post-reunification Germany up to the successful bid to host the 2006 World Cup Finals.

1. German Football: A cultural history 2. Germany Versus Austria: Football, urbanism and national identity 3. A Tale of Two Germanys: Football culture and national identity in the GDR 4. Soccer Hooliganism in the German Democratic Republic 5. Turkish Immigrants in German Amateur Football 6. The Future of Football is Female!? On the past and present of women's football in Germany 7. The Europeanization of German Football 8. German Football: A media-economic survey - The impact of the Kirchmedia company on football and television in Germany 9. A Game of Nations? Football and national identities 10. Fandom and Sub-cultural Media 11. Selling Sex or Dealing with History? German football in literature and film and the quest to normalize the nation 12. Germany 1974: On the eve of the goldrush 13. All around the Globus: A foretaste of the German football imagination c.2006 14. German Football: Theatre, performance, memory - A philosophical epilogue