No handball yet: When the first football match was played in Germany | OneFootball

Braunschweig is also referred to as the unofficial birthplace of German football—and for a simple reason. Exactly 151 years ago today, on September 29, 1874, the first football match was played in Braunschweig.

Football in its infancy—quite literally. The match took place during a school lesson at the Martino-Katharineum in Braunschweig.

The two teachers, Konrad Koch and August Hermann, supervised the game and explained the most important rules to their students. As reported by ‘NDR’, Koch threw a ball onto a meadow near St. Leonhard, just outside the city gates, on that day. He later recounted that the game was so well received that people soon began meeting regularly to play football.

According to the ‘NDR’ report, the ball was an ox bladder covered in leather, which the physical education teacher had obtained from England—the English were already more enthusiastic about football than people in Germany at that time.

Incidentally, Konrad Koch, who initiated this first football match in Germany, also presented the first set of football rules in Germany a year later. According to ‘NDR’, these rules still allowed players to pick up and carry the ball by hand. It wasn’t until 1882 that it was decided that only the foot could be used to touch the ball.

By now, many of the original similarities to rugby have disappeared, and German football, as we know it today, is for many of us the most beautiful triviality in the world. Accordingly, we congratulate it today on its 151st birthday and look back at its moment of birth on September 29, 1874.

When did you play football for the first time? Tell us in the comments.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.

📸 Maja Hitij - 2025 Getty Images