The England national football team has represented England in international football since the first international match in 1872. It is controlled by The Football Association (FA), the governing body for football in England, which is affiliated with UEFA and comes under the global jurisdiction of world football's governing body FIFA. England competes in the three major international tournaments contested by European nations: the FIFA World Cup, the UEFA European Championship, and the UEFA Nations League.
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second-most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated between the Baltic and North seas to the north, and the Alps to the south; it covers an area of 357,022 square kilometres (137,847 sq mi), with a population of over 83 million within its 16 constituent states. It borders Denmark to the north, Poland and the Czech Republic to the east, Austria and Switzerland to the south, and France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands to the west. The nation's capital and largest city is Berlin, and its financial centre is Frankfurt; the largest urban area is the Ruhr.
Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country at the confluence of Western, Central and Southern Europe. It is a federal republic composed of 26 cantons, with federal authorities based in Bern. Switzerland is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. It is geographically divided among the Swiss Plateau, the Alps and the Jura, spanning a total area of 41,285 km2 (15,940 sq mi) and land area of 39,997 km2 (15,443 sq mi). Although the Alps occupy the greater part of the territory, the Swiss population of approximately 8.5 million is concentrated mostly on the plateau, where the largest cities and economic centres are, among them Zürich, Geneva, Basel and Lausanne. These cities are home to several offices of international organisations such as the WTO, the WHO, the ILO, the headquarters of FIFA, the UN's second-largest office, as well as the main building of the Bank for International Settlements. The main international airports of Switzerland are also located in these cities.
Dresden is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth largest by area, and the third most populous city in the area of former East Germany, after Berlin and Leipzig. Dresden's urban area comprises the towns of Freital, Pirna, Radebeul, Meißen (Meissen), Coswig, Radeberg and Heidenau and has around 790,000 inhabitants. The Dresden metropolitan area has approximately 1.34 million inhabitants.
Germans are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, and sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The constitution of Germany defines a German as a German citizen. During the 19th and much of the 20th century, discussions on German identity were dominated by concepts of a common language, culture, descent and history. Today, the German language is widely seen as the primary though not exclusive criterion of German identity. Estimates on the total number of Germans in the world range from 100 to 150 million, and most of them live in Germany.
The Germany national football team represents Germany in men's international football and played its first match in 1908. The team is governed by the German Football Association, founded in 1900. Between 1949 and 1990, separate German national teams were recognised by FIFA due to Allied occupation and division: the DFB's team representing the Federal Republic of Germany, the Saarland team representing the Saar Protectorate (1950–1956) and the East German team representing the German Democratic Republic (1952–1990). The latter two were absorbed along with their records; the present team represents the reunified Federal Republic. The official name and code "Germany FR (FRG)" was shortened to "Germany (GER)" following reunification in 1990.
Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund[boˈʁʊsi̯aː ˈdɔɐ̯tmʊnt], BVB, or simply Dortmund, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional football team, which plays in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German football league system. The club have won eight league championships, five DFB-Pokals, one UEFA Champions League, one Intercontinental Cup, and one UEFA Cup Winners' Cup.
The Bundesliga, sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga or 1. Bundesliga, is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary football competition. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams and operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the 2. Bundesliga. Seasons run from August to May. Most games are played on Saturdays and Sundays, with a few games played on weekdays. All of the Bundesliga clubs qualify for the DFB-Pokal. The winner of the Bundesliga qualifies for the DFL-Supercup.
Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V., commonly known as Werder Bremen, Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen, Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, they are best known for their professional football team, who will be competing in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of the German football league system, as of the 2021–22 season. Werder share the record for most seasons played in the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich, and are third in the all-time Bundesliga table, behind Bayern and Borussia Dortmund.
Siegerland Airport or Siegerlandflughafen in German is a small regional airport in Burbach in the Siegerland region near Siegen, Germany. It was formerly served by the Scheuerfeld–Emmerzhausen railway and is presently used as the maintenance base for Avanti Air.
Ralf Rangnick is a German professional football manager, sports executive, and former player who works as Head of Sports and Development at Russian club FC Lokomotiv Moscow.
Robert Lewandowski is a Polish professional footballer who plays as a striker for Bundesliga club Bayern Munich and is the captain of the Poland national team. Recognized for his positioning, technique and finishing, Lewandowski is considered one of the best strikers of all time, as well as one of the most successful players in Bundesliga history. He has scored over 500 senior career goals for club and country.
Jürgen Norbert Klopp is a German professional football manager and former player who is the manager of Premier League club Liverpool. He is widely regarded as one of the best managers in the world.
The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the European Championship competition, UEFA president Michel Platini declared that the tournament would be hosted in several nations as a "romantic" one-off event, with 11 cities in 11 UEFA countries each providing venues for the tournament. Defending champions Portugal, who won UEFA Euro 2016 in France, were eliminated in the round of 16 by Belgium. Italy won their second European Championship title by beating England on penalties in the final following a 1–1 draw after extra time.
Federal elections were held in Germany on 26 September 2021 to elect the members of the 20th Bundestag. State elections in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern were also held. Incumbent chancellor Angela Merkel, first elected in 2005, chose not to run again, marking the first time that an incumbent Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany has not sought re-election.
The Stegskopf, at 654.4 m above sea level (NHN), is the second highest mountain in the Westerwald range in Germany after the Fuchskaute. It is an extinct volcano in the municipality of Emmerzhausen in the county of Altenkirchen in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
The Trödelsteine is the name of a mountain, 613 m above sea level (NHN), in the Heller Upland near Emmerzhausen in the county of Altenkirchen in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate and in the county of Siegen-Wittgenstein in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia with its summit area in Rhineland-Palatinate.
The Trödelsteine, also called the Trödelstein, is a rock formation near Emmerzhausen in the county of Altenkirchen in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It consists of columnar basalt and a basaltic blockfield in the Heller Upland. The rock formation has been designated as a natural monument, about 0.3 hectares in area.
Trödelsteine refers to the following geographical features near Emmerzhausen in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate:
The COVID-19 pandemic in Germany is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. On 27 January 2020, the first case in Germany was confirmed near Munich, Bavaria. By mid February, the arising cluster of cases had been fully contained. On 25 and 26 February, multiple cases related to the Italian outbreak were detected in Baden-Württemberg. A carnival event on 15 February in Heinsberg, North Rhine-Westphalia, was attended by a man identified as positive on 25 February; in the outbreak which subsequently developed from infected participants, authorities were mostly no longer able to trace the likely chains of infections. On 9 March, the first two deaths in Germany were reported from Essen and Heinsberg. New clusters were introduced in other regions via Heinsberg as well as via people arriving from China, Iran and Italy, from where non-Germans could arrive by plane until 17–18 March. From 13 March, German states mandated school and kindergarten closures, postponed academic semesters and prohibited visits to nursing homes to protect the elderly. Two days later, borders to Austria, Denmark, France, Luxembourg and Switzerland were closed. By 22 March, curfews were imposed in six German states while other states prohibited physical contact with more than one person from outside one's household.
