BFC Germania 1888
BFC Germania 1888 was part of the country's first football league, the BDF (Bund Deutscher Fußballspieler or Federation of German Football Players) which was formed in November 1890 and was active until February 1892. The league was made up of the Berlin-based clubs BFC Vorwärts 1890, BFC Askania 1890, BFC Borussia 1890, BFC Concordia 1890, BFC Hellas 1890, BFC Tasmania 1890 and BFC Teutonia 1891. Germania emerged the winner in a tournament staged by the league, and as the DBF was the only football league in the country at the time, can lay claim to being Germany's first champion. Club records indicate that "BFC" then defended their title, but no supporting evidence has been found.
SC Germania Hamburg
On 20 Oktober 1894 the "Hamburg-Altonaer Fußball-Bund", the "Football Association of Hamburg and Altona" - Altona was Prussian city, immediately to the west of Hamburg, that like Wandsbek should be merged with Hamburg in 1937 - was founded and as the third German football association outside the imperial capital Berlin after the short-lived south-west German "Süd-Westdeutsche Fußball-Union". The team of SC Germania, dominated by foreigners, mostly Britons, secured itself in 1896 and 1897 the first two championships of the association - undefeated on both occasions. In that period the "Heiligengeistfeld" and the "Exerzierweide" in Altona, the latter was also venue of the first national German championship final in 1903, found use as homegrounds.
SC Germania, like "Hamburger FC 1888" were amongst the 86 clubs who founded on 28 January 1900 the national German football association Deutscher Fussball-Bund. Both, like all clubs, from the Hamburg-Altona association and Bremen, were represented at the assembly in Leipzig by Walter Sommermeier.