The 2014 World Cup victory is the first to be won since German unification, following three triumphs for West Germany in the post-war era. It will also demonstrate how the World Cup has, several times, helped Germany’s sense of national identity to evolve. Football has provided the showcase moments at which a changing story of modern Germany has been told to the world, and ratified at home. But it has also played the crucial role in reassuring Germans themselves that they can fly the flag with pride.
In the beginning, there was a miracle. Germany was once a plucky underdog. Their 1954 World Champions were the Costa Rica of their day. That West German side still remain, by some distance, the most unlikely of winners that the World Cup has ever seen, having still been banned from the community of nations for the previous tournament in 1950. After all, Hungary had already beaten West Germany 8-3 in the first round when the teams took the field for the 1954 final, for a rematch which everybody assumed was the formality of crowning the great Puskas and the “Mighty Magyars” as champions.
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