Originally published March 19, 2014 – revised and updated
History remembers Germany for its triumphs. Four World Cups. Three European Championships. Bern, Munich, Rome, and Rio de Janeiro—these cities have become shorthand for footballing immortality. The heroes of 1954, 1974, 1990, and 2014 live permanently in the pantheon of the German game.
Even defeat has its honored place. The heartbreak of Wembley 1966. The so-called “Game of the Century” in Mexico 1970. These teams, despite falling short, are still spoken of with reverence—etched into what Germans like to call football’s Hall of Fame.
And yet, in one of football history’s great paradoxes, Germany’s very first legendary national team is almost entirely forgotten.
Its name rarely appears in modern debates. Its home city no longer belongs to Germany. Its story was buried—quite literally—by war, borders, and history itself.
This was the Breslau-Elf.
Erased by History
In ancient Rome, the punishment known as damnatio memoriae aimed to erase a person from existence—names removed, statues destroyed, memory forbidden.
The Breslau-Elf (or literally Breslau-Eleven) suffered a similar fate.
After World War II, Breslau ceased to exist as a German city. It became Wrocław, in modern-day Poland. Type “Breslau” into Google today and football will not be the first result—if it appears at all.
For decades, the team vanished from public memory.
It would have disappeared entirely, if not for one man.
The Diaries of Sepp Herberger
Josef “Sepp” Herberger—Germany’s greatest pre-war coach and the architect of the 1954 Miracle of Bern—was meticulous to the point of obsession. He wrote everything down.
Lineups. Tactical thoughts. Conversations. Doubts.
After his death in 1977, his personal notes were preserved in the archives of the German Football Association (DFB). Inside those pages lay the forgotten story of a team that, for one brilliant year, redefined German football.
To understand the Breslau-Elf, we must travel back more than three-quarters of a century.
Berlin Olympics 1936: A Shock That Changed Everything
Before the 1930s, German football remained a developing project rather than an established power. The national team had little standing on the European stage and, more importantly, no clear playing identity. Germany competed, but it did not yet represent a recognizable idea of football.
That contrast was especially apparent at club level. In the 1930s, Schalke 04 were the dominant force in German football. Their Kreisel system—based on constant movement, short passing, and collective coordination—set them apart from their domestic rivals. Between 1933 and 1942, Schalke won six national championships, and their core players—captain Fritz Szepan, Ernst Kuzorra, Adolf Urban, and Rudi Kupfer—formed the most coherent unit in the country.
Logically, the national team might have been built around that group. It was not.
Otto Nerz, Germany’s first national-team coach, was unconvinced by Schalke’s approach. He favored a more traditional English style: fast, physical, and direct, with an emphasis on early balls into the penalty area. Under Nerz, the German team reflected those preferences, and Schalke players—whose strengths lay in combination play rather than speed and power—were largely marginalized. Szepan remained an exception, retained not because he fit the system, but because his quality was undeniable.
Germany’s unexpected third-place finish at the 1934 World Cup gave Nerz’s team international credibility and raised expectations at home. By the time Berlin hosted the 1936 Olympic Games, Germany were widely viewed as gold-medal contenders.
The political context made those expectations heavier. Germany was now under Nazi rule, and Adolf Hitler, who had little interest in football itself, saw sport primarily as a vehicle for propaganda. That made the outcome of the Olympic tournament all the more damaging. Germany were eliminated by Norway in the second round, losing 2–0 in one of the rare matches Hitler attended in person.
It was a national humiliation. The response was swift.
Otto Nerz was removed from his post, and his assistant, Sepp Herberger, was appointed to take charge of the national team.
The Birth of a Legend
Otto Nerz had led the German national team for a decade. As head coach, he was ultimately held responsible for the failure at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. But he was not inclined to step aside quietly. Nerz argued for a gradual transition and insisted on continuing to work alongside Sepp Herberger.
The German Football Association agreed to a compromise. Nerz was formally relieved of his role as head coach and reassigned to teaching duties at the National Academy of Physical Education. In practice, however, his influence remained significant. Nerz retained the final say over training plans and team selections, while Herberger assumed responsibility for the day-to-day supervision of the squad. This uneasy arrangement lasted for 18 months after the Olympic disappointment, until Nerz formally withdrew from national-team affairs in 1938.
Despite lacking full authority, Herberger began to reshape the team, particularly in its approach to the game. From late 1936 onward, Schalke 04 players were gradually reintegrated into the national side. Adolf Urban, Rudi Gellesch, and captain Fritz Szepan became central figures in what increasingly resembled a new Germany under Herberger—one that drew heavily on Schalke’s Kreisel principles and moved away from the English-influenced directness that had defined the Nerz era.
Germany opened 1937 with a draw, followed by four consecutive victories, before a scheduled friendly against Denmark in Breslau (now Wrocław, Poland). After a celebratory dinner in Zurich following a win over Switzerland, Nerz handed Herberger a small slip of paper. On it was a proposed lineup for the Denmark match:
Jakob — Billmann, Münzenberg — Kupfer, Goldbrunner, Kitzinger — Lehner, Siffling, (Hohmann/Lenz), Szepan, Urban.
Nerz was still undecided between Hohmann and Lenz in attack.
Herberger reviewed the list and made three changes.
He replaced Billmann with Paul Janes of Fortuna Düsseldorf, inserted Rudi Gellesch into central midfield, and moved Otto Siffling into the role of center forward. He returned the revised lineup to Nerz, who nodded his approval.
Neither man could have known that, on the night of May 2, 1937, in Zurich, they had effectively produced the birth certificate of what would become Germany’s first legendary national team. The side was shaped by Herberger’s footballing philosophy and, as he later described it, carried the tacit blessing of its “grandfather,” Otto Nerz—a term Herberger himself used to define Nerz’s role in the team’s creation.
May 16, 1937: The Day Everything Changed
The match kicked off at 2 p.m. at the Silesian Arena in Breslau. Forty thousand spectators filled the stands on a warm Sunday afternoon.
Within seven minutes, Ernst Lehner scored.
Then Otto Siffling took over.
Three goals before halftime. Two more in the second half. Five goals in just over thirty minutes—an explosion of finishing never before seen in a German shirt.
Urban added another. Captain Fritz Szepan made it eight.
Germany 8. Denmark 0.
It was the biggest win in German history at the time—and remains Denmark’s heaviest defeat to this day.
Herberger later wrote:
“The Breslau-Elf played exactly according to my ideas.”
An Unstoppable Team—Stopped by Politics
Germany finished 1937 unbeaten:
10 wins, 1 draw.
To this day, with a 91% win rate, 1937 remains the most successful undefeated calendar year in the history of the German national team.
And yet, the team’s greatness ensured its own destruction.
In March 1938, Nazi Germany annexed Austria (Anschluss). Austria withdrew from the World Cup. The DFB received orders from above: the national team must merge German and Austrian players—5:6 or 6:5.
Herberger knew instantly:
The Breslau-Elf was dead.
The forced hybrid collapsed at the 1938 World Cup, eliminated by Switzerland in the first round. It remains Germany’s worst World Cup performance.
Immortality Without a Trophy
The Breslau-Elf never won a title. No World Cup. No medal.
But legacy is not always measured in silver.
Their names were once memorized by schoolchildren like the alphabet:
Jakob – Janes, Münzenberg – Kupfer, Goldbrunner, Kitzinger – Lehner, Gellesch, Siffling, Urban, Szepan.
Borders changed. Cities vanished. Players passed away.
Yet the Breslau-Elf endures—Germany’s first truly great team, the blueprint for everything that followed, from Bern to Rio.
Four World Cups later, their place in history remains secure.
Forgotten—but never erased.
Breslau-Elf Lineup (1937)
Goalkeeper
Hans Jakob (Jahn Regensburg)
Defenders
Paul Janes (Fortuna Düsseldorf)
Reinhold Münzenberg (Alemannia Aachen)
Midfielders
Andreas Kupfer (Schweinfurt 05)
Ludwig Goldbrunner (Bayern Munich)
Albin Kitzinger (Schweinfurt 05)
Inside Forwards
Rudi Gellesch (Schalke 04)
Fritz Szepan (Schalke 04)
Forwards
Ernst Lehner (Schwaben Augsburg)
Otto Siffling (Waldhof Mannheim)
Adolf Urban (Schalke 04)
Goals vs Denmark
Lehner 7’
Siffling 33’, 40’, 44’, 48’, 65’
Urban 70’
Szepan 78’
Die Mannschaft 