Women in Germany have been playing football since the turn of the 18th century, but women playing sports were frowned upon by the general population and citizens. The "Sports Girl" did not come into fashion until the 1920s when women started to form their own clubs.
Lotte Specht was one of the first female to form a women's only football club.
Christa Kleinhans was another pioneer of women's football in Germany. In 1955 the
German Football Association declared that they would not permit women into the association stating that women were frail and unable to perform in the sport without injuring themselves. During the 1960s there was discussion about setting up a Woman's Football Association, but it never panned out. The DFB finally officially allowed women players on October 30, 1970, but there were modifications to the rules. Firstly, women were only allowed to play in warm weather. Secondly,
football boots with studs were banned and the ball was smaller and lighter. Lastly, the length of a match was reduced to seventy minutes. In 1971 a women's league was formed, with many other leagues established during the following years. On September 8, 1974, the first women's champion in football was awarded to
TuS Wörrstadt. The first women's
DFB Cup was held in 1981 with
SSG 09 Bergisch Gladbach defeating TuS Wörrstadt 5–0 in the final match in front of 35,000 spectators. The
women's national team (coached by
Gero Bisanz) played its first game (as West Germany) on November 10, 1982, against
Switzerland. Germany won the match 5–1. Two players who scored in the game would eventually become coaches for the national team. In 1989
West Germany hosted the
1989 European Competition for Women's Football. The German team beat the
Italian team on a penalty shoot-off. This was the first women's football game broadcast live in Germany. On July 2, 1989, the German team beat the favored
Norwegian team 4–1 in front of 23,000 spectators. This was an attendance record for a German women's team that would last until May 24, 2008, when 27,460 spectators watched
1. FFC Frankfurt defeat
Umeå IK 3–2 in the
UEFA Women's Cup. == National competition ==