Germany Bundesliga I

Before the formation of the Bundesliga, German football was played at an amateur level in a large number of sub-regional leagues until, in 1949, part-time (semi-) professionalism was introduced and only five regional Oberligen (Premier Leagues) remained. Regional champions played in a tournament of between eight and sixteen teams to crown a national champion. On 28 January 1900, a national association, the Deutscher Fußball Bund (DFB) had been founded in Leipzig with 86 member clubs. The first recognized national championship team was VfB Leipzig, who beat DFC Prague 7–2 in a game played at Altona on 31 May 1903.

Through the 1950s, there were continued calls for the formation of a single top-tier professional league for the country. Disadvantages to the tournament system included the fact that the top teams from different regions would play only once a year at most, and that single-elimination tournament meant that a less-deserving team could win if they hit a lucky streak during the tournament. Another concern was that professional leagues in other countries were drawing Germany's best players away from the semi-professional domestic leagues. At the international level, the German game began to falter as German teams often fared poorly against professional teams from other countries. A key supporter of the central league concept was national team head coach Sepp Herberger, who doubled as a delegate to the DFB national assembly from Mannheim and wanted Germany to catch up with centralized systems of Italy, Spain, and England.

Meanwhile, in East Germany, a separate league was established with the formation of the DS-Oberliga (Deutscher Sportausschuss Oberliga) in 1950. The league was renamed the Football Oberliga DFV in 1958 and was generally referred to simply as the DDR-Liga or DDR-Oberliga. The league fielded 14 teams with two relegation spots.

The defeat of the national team by Yugoslavia (0–1) in a 1962 World Cup quarter-final game in Chile was one impetus (of many) towards the formation of a national league. At the annual DFB convention under new DFB president Hermann Gösmann (elected that very day) the Bundesliga was created in Dortmund at the Westfalenhallen on 28 July 1962 to begin play starting with the 1963–64 season.

At the time, there were five Oberligen (premier leagues) in place representing West Germany's North, South, West, Southwest, and Berlin. East Germany, behind the Iron Curtain, maintained its separate league structure. 46 clubs applied for admission to the new league. 16 teams were selected based on their success on the field, economic criteria and representation of the various Oberligen.

• From Oberliga Nord: Eintracht Braunschweig, Werder Bremen, Hamburger SV
• From Oberliga West: Borussia Dortmund, 1. FC Köln, Meidericher SV Duisburg, Preußen Münster, Schalke 04
• From Oberliga Südwest: 1. FC Kaiserslautern, 1. FC Saarbrücken
• From Oberliga Süd: Eintracht Frankfurt, Karlsruher SC, 1. FC Nürnberg, 1860 Munich, VfB Stuttgart
• From Oberliga Berlin: Hertha BSC

The first Bundesliga games were played on 24 August 1963. Early favorite 1. FC Köln was the first Bundesliga champion with second place clubs Meidericher SV and Eintracht Frankfurt.

Following German reunification in 1990, the East German leagues were merged into the West German system. Dynamo Dresden and FC Hansa Rostock were seeded into the top-tier Bundesliga division ahead of the 1991–92 Bundesliga, with other clubs being sorted into lower tiers.^[]

Gazprom became a major sponsor of Bundesliga football in 2006, with Gerhard Schröder's climb to the top of the company.