BFC Germania 1888
Other teams which were formed before Germania including Berliner Cricket-Club 1883, BFC Frankfurt 1885, and SC Germania zu Hamburg 1887 (one of the predecessor sides which formed SV Hamburg in 1919) were also first organized to play other sports – cricket, rugby, and athletics respectively. Of these three clubs only "Hamburg" is still playing.BFC Germania 1888 has a rich sporting heritage and played an important role in the early development of football in Germany.
List of German football champions
Brought to the country by English expatriates, the sport had taken root in the cities of Berlin, Hamburg, Stuttgart, and Leipzig in the 1890s, leading to the growth of city, regional, and academic leagues, each with their own championships. Following the establishment of the German Football Association (Deutscher Fußball Bund) in 1900, the first recognized national championship match was hosted by Hamburg club Altona 93 in 1903 in which VfB Leipzig defeated DFC Prag 7–2, and was awarded the Viktoria, the championship trophy from 1903 to 1944. Before the formation of the Bundesliga in 1963, the championship format was based on a knockout competition, contested between the winners of each of the country's top regional leagues. Since 1963, the first-place finisher in the Bundesliga has been recognized as the national champion.