Lost In Time Futbol

Between 1949 and 1990 Germany suffered the political consequences of World War II. Its land was divided in occupied zones: some parts were annexed by Poland, while modern-day German territories were divided between the two post war blocs. The Western and Southern parts of the country were given to the Allies, while the Eastern part ended up under Soviet control. Even Berlin was split in half by its famous wall. Nowadays the country is reunited, but the effects of the divide are still extremely visible in terms of economy, politics, demographics, religion and the most important of all: football. Football in Eastern Germany A new top-flight football league was established in East Germany in 1949 ,  as separate sports competitions were created following the division of the country. The DDR-Oberliga, as it was called from 1958 onwards, was contested for most of its history by 14 teams. 12 different clubs won the league over this period, but the most successful were BFC Dynamo Berlin, w...

  Most nations in the world have a top division filled with historic clubs with a glorious past which have won most of the domestic trophies in the country's history, it feels almost natural to have them at the top and everyone else fighting to just stay in the league. England's bix six are the most common example, but the same can be said for the Italian strisciate (the "striped teams", AC Milan, Inter Milan and Juventus) and for Spain's big three, although Atletico's success is more recent than Barcelona and Real Madrid's perennial quest for trophies. This natural almost gravitational-like attraction between the top teams and the top of the table sometimes feels inevitable, to the point that even clubs like Sampdoria and Valencia, who have had a glorious past reaching the Champions League final, will cause a massive shock relegating to Serie B or the Segunda, although at the time I'm writing this post Valencia are only 4 points away from safety. Th...