After two draws against Sweden and Uruguay, they lost 4-1 to the Netherlands in the final group game. After two convincing victories against Uruguay and Bulgaria and a 0-0 draw against Sweden, the Dutch were considered the biggest contenders for the world championship title at the end of the preliminary round. With two draws and a win over Zaire, Brazil was still able to reach the second final round. However, if two teams meet in the last group game that have the same number of points, the same goal difference and the same number of goals up to that point, and the game ends in a draw, a penalty shootout will be held to determine their final placement. The gap to the Spanish team, which had led the rankings from the European Championships to the Confederations Cup, grew larger in the following months. The 3-2 win against the "Seleçao" in August 2011 was the first win since 1993, while the 3-0 win against the Netherlands was the first win against the "Oranje" since a 1-0 win in Rotterdam in 1996. The first was against Italy They missed out on a win for almost 16 years when they played in a 1-1 draw in Dortmund in February 2011. With an average age of the World Cup squad of 29 years and 4 months, Uruguay, who had finished fourth four years earlier, showed "old-boy football" without pace and security, and only managed to win a single point against Bulgaria.

Just five years after completion, the stadium was badly damaged during the war in Ukraine in the fall of 2014. Important tournaments such as the World and European Championships, as well as the derbies between the main teams, especially the Večiti derbi, the "eternal derby" between the Belgrade clubs Red Star and Partizan, attract large crowds who watch the games either in the stadium or in the Watch TV. Indoor football has been played in Germany since the 1970s, especially among youth and amateur players. Since Pelé, as sports minister in the 1990s, was able to enforce a law against so-called slavery in professional football (Lei Pelé), footballers up to the age of 16 have been free, to change the club. In December the team fell to fourth place after the defeat against France and the canceled game against the Netherlands and since Belgium reached first place for the first time in November and Spain third place in December, Germany was until April In 2016 they were only the third best European team.

One of these six games won took place during the 1912 Stockholm Olympics – Germany beat Russia 16-0 on July 1, 1912. To date, this is the highest victory for the German national soccer team. While more than 2,000 Frankfurt schoolchildren dressed in white formed the emblem of the 1974 World Cup on the lawn, the outgoing Federal President Gustav Heinemann stood in the official gallery and opened the tournament with the words: “A warm welcome to the many thousands of guests from all parts of the world came to the Federal Republic of Germany for the Football World Cup. The trophy is now returned to FIFA immediately after the final, at the latest upon departure from the host country, and the world champion receives a replica in return. Uruguay, a former world champion and Olympic champion, didn't have much to offer other than its great tradition. Zaire's tyrannical dictator Mobutu Sese Seko was very angry with his national team's performance and threatened the players with drastic consequences if the final group game was lost by more than three goals. The decisive factor for this was the lack of goals scored against the "football dwarf" from Zaire, who were only defeated 2-0 in the first group game, while Yugoslavia won 9-0 and Brazil won 3-0 and the three direct encounters ended in a draw.

The Zaire team, which started as clear outsiders, ended the tournament with three defeats and 0:14 goals. A few days after the German team was eliminated, Toni Kroos, who had appeared in 106 games for his country, resigned as an international player. Poland showed itself very well in the first final round and was the only team without losing a point. The Netherlands were the only team that lived up to their role as favorites in the first final round. Sweden's not so highly rated football players benefited from the international experience of their strikers Roland Sandberg and Ralf Edström as well as the defense chief (liberos) Björn Nordqvist, who, together with goalkeeper Ronnie Hellström, spoiled the concept for the Dutch in the 0-0 draw. With your consent, an external podcast (Podigee GmbH) will be loaded here. It was literally a matter of life and death for the team in the game against the reigning world champions Brazil, which is clearly visible in retrospect from their duel behavior. After the event, a rumor arose that the GDR would consider withdrawing from the World Cup due to the clash with the Federal Republic team. The event was watched by around 800 million people worldwide. On the opening day, the event location was covered by thick cloud cover, so it rained almost continuously and the temperature was only 13°C.