The Heritage of Carolus Magnus: France-Germany matches 1931-2024


Introduction
Official Matches
Overviews

Introduction

The Franks were a Germanic tribe (as were the Burgunder, nowadays mostly known for producing excellent wines) and so French and Germans have more in common than they would care to admit (not unlike Jews and Arabs or Serbs and Croats). Both like to claim Charlemagne viz. Karl der Große as their own, as belligerent an individual as they come or ever came – if perhaps not responsible for quite as much death and devastation as some of his fellow war criminals and mass murderers, say basileús Aléxandros ho Mégas, proconsul Gaius Iulius Caesar, Genghis Khan or Amir Timur (the Lame).
Roi Louis Quatorze and Kaiser Wilhelm II. were both extremely unpleasant neighbours, sharing an authoritarian disposition and next to no moral sense, while there are undeniable similarities between the military endeavours of Italian upstart Napoleone di Buonaparte and failed Austrian painter Adolphus Hitler, whose destructive attempts to "unite" Europe even beyond the borders of the empire once created by Carolus Magnus were defeated by Russian winters.

Nevertheless, dislike (and worse) between the two nations dates back a long time and was occasionally reinforced by the odd football match, most notoriously the 1982 World Cup semi-final in Spain which only the Germans remember for their remarkable comeback victory, while everyone else has but a single image in mind: that of German 'keeper Schumacher crashing into Battiston in an apparent attempt at manslaughter, strangely unpunished by an inept Dutch referee.

Both twice hosted the World Cup, once winning the tournament at home and once suffering elimination by the azzurri, who went on to win instead, and while Germany's participations in France in 1938 and 1998 both were unmitigated disasters, the French, who failed to qualify for the 1974 tournament after finishing last in their qualifying group behind the Soviet Union and Ireland, had a good run in 2006 before star player Zidane lost it in the final, collecting his second direct red card at a World Cup tournament (noone else managed that so far) and the fourteenth sending off in his career (and that as a midfield player), thus reinforcing the French reputation as cugini antipatici among their southeastern neighbours.

While the overall balance favours the French (irrespective of whether or not one considers West Germany between 1945 and 1990 separately; however, East Germany had the better of the exchanges in the six qualifying matches they played against les bleus), the last three World Cup meetings (in 1982, 1986 and 2014) all went the way of die Mannschaft, whose only World Cup defeat against France came in the first, fairly meaningless such encounter, in 1958 between the two semi-final losers (which also saw the record number of goals for the fixture, four alone by Just Fontaine).


Official Matches

All matches between French and German teams are included: pre-war Germany, West Germany (FR Germany here, considered the successor of Germany as the football association (DFB) remained the same), East Germany (German DR here) and unified Germany (officially after the 1990 World Cup, and considered the successor of West Germany). All matches are friendlies unless stated otherwise.

Game   Date      Venue                        Result                 Remark

  1. 15- 3-1931  Paris              France      1-0 Germany      
  2. 19- 3-1933  Berlin             Germany     3-3 France     
  3. 17- 3-1935  Paris              France      1-3 Germany 
  4. 21- 3-1937  Stuttgart          Germany     4-0 France     
  5.  5-10-1952  Paris              France      3-1 FR Germany   
  6. 16-10-1954  Hannover           FR Germany  1-3 France
  7. 28- 6-1958  Göteborg           France      6-3 FR Germany      [World Cup]
  8. 26-10-1958  Paris              France      2-2 FR Germany   
  9. 24-10-1962  Stuttgart          FR Germany  2-2 France
 10. 27- 9-1967  Berlin             FR Germany  5-1 France
 11. 25- 9-1968  Marseille          France      1-1 FR Germany
 12. 13-10-1973  Gelsenkirchen      FR Germany  2-1 France
E 1. 16-11-1974  Paris              France      2-2 German DR       [European Champ. Qual.]
E 2. 12-10-1975  Leipzig            German DR   2-1 France          [European Champ. Qual.]
 13. 23- 2-1977  Paris              France      1-0 FR Germany 
 14. 19-11-1980  Hannover           FR Germany  4-1 France
 15.  8- 7-1982  Sevilla            FR Germany  3-3 France      [*] [World Cup]
 16. 18- 4-1984  Strasbourg         France      1-0 FR Germany 
E 3.  8-12-1984  Paris              France      2-0 German DR       [World Cup Qualifier]
E 4. 11- 9-1985  Leipzig            German DR   2-0 France          [World Cup Qualifier]
 17. 25- 6-1986  Guadalajara        FR Germany  2-0 France          [World Cup]
E 5. 19-11-1986  Leipzig            German DR   0-0 France          [European Champ. Qual.]
 18. 12- 8-1987  Berlin             FR Germany  2-1 France  
E 6. 18-11-1987  Paris              France      0-1 German DR       [European Champ. Qual.]
E 7. 24- 1-1990  Kuwait City        France      3-0 German DR       [Kuwait Tournament]
 19. 28- 2-1990  Montpellier        France      2-1 FR Germany 
 20.  1- 6-1996  Stuttgart          Germany     0-1 France
 21. 27- 2-2001  Paris              France      1-0 Germany   
 22. 15-11-2003  Gelsenkirchen      Germany     0-3 France
 23. 12-11-2005  Paris              France      0-0 Germany       
 24. 29- 2-2012  Bremen             Germany     1-2 France
 25.  6- 2-2013  Paris              France      1-2 Germany         
 26.  4- 7-2014  Rio de Janeiro     Germany     1-0 France          [World Cup]
 27. 13-11-2015  Paris              France      2-0 Germany         
 28.  7- 7-2016  Marseille          France      2-0 Germany         [European Championship]
 29. 14-11-2017  Köln               Germany     2-2 France 
 30.  6- 9-2018  München            Germany     0-0 France          [European Nations League]
 31. 16-10-2018  Paris              France      2-1 Germany         [European Nations League]  
 32. 15- 6-2021  München            Germany     0-1 France          [European Championship]   
 33. 12- 9-2023  Dortmund           Germany     2-1 France
 34. 23- 3-2024  Lyon               France      0-2 Germany

[*] aet, FR Germany won 5-4 on penalties

Overviews


Total record:

France               34 15  8 11  51- 50  38

Germany              19  6  4  9  21- 23  16
FR Germany           15  5  4  6  29- 28  14

France                7  2  2  3   8-  7   6
German DR             7  3  2  2   7-  8   8

Some more stats:

Germany/FRG          Pd  F  D  G  FG- GG

In France:           15  9  3  3  20- 13  
In Germany:          15  5  4  6  22- 28
Elsewhere:            4  1  1  2   9-  9

German DR            Pd  F  D  G  FG- GG

In France:            3  1  1  1   4-  3
In German DR:         3  0  1  2   1-  4
Elsewhere:            1  1  0  0   3-  0


East Germany - List of International Matches
(West) Germany - List of International Matches
France - List of International Matches


Prepared and maintained by Karel Stokkermans for the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation

Author: Karel Stokkermans (karel.rsssf@gmail.com)
Last updated: 24 Mar 2024

(C) Copyright Karel Stokkermans and RSSSF 2017/24
You are free to copy this document in whole or part provided that proper acknowledgement is given to the author. All rights reserved.